Locked Hardware Recommendation / Dell XPS Laptops

[MichalPlays]

I want to upgrade from my Lenovo ThinkPad X240 to something newer from Dell but I don't have a lot of experience with this brand.
I only know that the XPS line is something for me and that I had easy job on finding service manuals on Dell homepage when I repaired XPS and Latitude laptops.
Would prefer it to have at leaast 9 gen Intel or 5gen Ryzen CPU, m.2 NVME PCIE SSD slot (since SATA bottlenecks on all my devices if I compile Android AOSP firmwares to any of my high end SATA SSD's) and preferably user replacable RAM.
Does anyone have any recommendations for me?

 

[Proteus]

I can attest that BOTH families of processors will do well. Personally, for a desktop/tower I use Ryzen7 and it has been AMAZING to say the least. Paired with 32gb ram and 1tb ssd I can do anything I wish to do. Now, as far as a laptop goes, once again from personal experience, I run Intel. Ive had 3 Ryzen laptops (2 Ryzen 3 and 1 Ryzen 5) and ALL have died early spectacular deaths. I have an older i5 and an even older Core2 Duo Extreme that kick butt STILL. Long story short, and others may or may not agree, but for a DESKTOP I like AMD and for a LAPTOP I like INTEL.

You will be happy EITHER way.

 

[Cyler]

Since you want XPS (they dont come with AMD due to exclusive discounts from Intel that prohibit Dell from making AMD laptops) but you didn't mention price or other criteria better visit this page
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/sr/laptops/xps-laptops and decide for yourself. If you want to see all the lines of laptops from Dell, go a page level above and you can see Vostro, Latitude, etc
I would not go for any laptop below 16 Gb ram, the rest, like screen size, Graphic card, price, etc are up to you.

Also, check for the brands, as more or less they all have complete manuals when it comes to laptops, and even if they don't, the internet does.
The choice is yours.

 

[1ntr0v3rt3ch]

Have you tried Thinkpad T480? AFAIK, all parts are upgradeable. Planning to buy this kind of model and brand(2nd hand/used) for my personal use. My choices is i5 8th gen or i7 8th gen.

 

[MichalPlays]

Since you want XPS (they dont come with AMD due to exclusive discounts from Intel that prohibit Dell from making AMD laptops) but you didn't mention price or other criteria better visit this page
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/sr/laptops/xps-laptops and decide for yourself. If you want to see all the lines of laptops from Dell, go a page level above and you can see Vostro, Latitude, etc
I would not go for any laptop below 16 Gb ram, the rest, like screen size, Graphic card, price, etc are up to you.

Also, check for the brands, as more or less they all have complete manuals when it comes to laptops, and even if they don't, the internet does.
The choice is yours.

I see, I found there a 13 Plus with 3.5k OLED Display, which isn't bad, i7 1360p is also fine but all the current devices they offer only have USB C, which I personally hate since I already had a bad experience with only having USB C ports on a late 2019 MacBook Pro, which I sold after a month because of this (and many other reasons) but I also see that many refurbished options are limited to those ultrabook style machines.
I looked up at the Dell certified refurbished partners in EU and I found a XPS 13 9300 with i7 1065G7 and 16gb RAM but they don't state if it's dual channel and they just say if it has m.2 SATA or PCIE nvme SSD in it. However, for 211$ with a sticker slapped on the lid to cover the scarches and replaced battery, I think this might be a good deal. However, I might buy laptop keyboard stickers or somehow replace the key cap things because it's a polish keyboard layout which is a bit different. According to replacement tutorial, keyboard can be replaced but it's time consuming

 

[Proteus]

Dont know if they have pawn shops/goodwill in your area, but that is a good place to find a good used machine at a decent price. I make it a habit to stop by most of the local pawn shops at least once a month. Never know what they will take in.

 

[MichalPlays]

Have you tried Thinkpad T480? AFAIK, all parts are upgradeable. Planning to buy this kind of model and brand(2nd hand/used) for my personal use. My choices is i5 8th gen or i7 8th gen.

Looked it up and used models are way too overpiced, mostly sold by corpos.
Another option is importing it from Germany but with the customs and import taxes, I would land almost on the same price

Dont know if they have pawn shops/goodwill in your area, but that is a good place to find a good used machine at a decent price. I make it a habit to stop by most of the local pawn shops at least once a month. Never know what they will take in.

There are 4 pawn shops and only one offers XPS 13 9350 but it's same price as dell certified refurbished one (9300) and is in far worse shape and battery health on 78%
They don't even offer ThinkPads there. Probably only buy stuff from "normal" users and offer low prices that scare away people who want to sell pro machines

 

[Cyler]

Not sure why you worry about USB C when you can connect this (or any other hub)

Anyway, we are going borderline chit-chat now. I often find that the deciding factor is money and I assume since you already know your budget, go for the laptop closest to it.

 

[MichalPlays]

Not sure why you worry about USB C when you can connect this (or any other hub)

Anyway, we are going borderline chit-chat now. I often find that the deciding factor is money and I assume since you already know your budget, go for the laptop closest to it.

I had one but you have to carry it around and if you work on car's with tools like OpCom or VCDS, you have to worry about the dongle getting unplugged since USB C is easier to unplug, especially with the weight of the dongles.

My budget goes up to 690$. That's my current budget, until someone finally buys my old Käfer.

 

[warysek]

I bought yesterday Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Tablet Gen3 for something about $220 with 8gen i5 and im really impressed. Perfect design, sturdy and slim, great display and everything run so smooth, i cant believe it for that much cash Yes, battery life could be better (but 3-4 hours for already used is good), but i can recommend.

 

[MichalPlays]

I bought yesterday Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Tablet Gen3 for something about $220 with 8gen i5 and im really impressed. Perfect design, sturdy and slim, great display and everything run so smooth, i cant believe it for that much cash Yes, battery life could be better (but 3-4 hours for already used is good), but i can recommend.

Yeah, I looked into it and it seems to be a good option in my country. I just bought it for 183$ without storage and with dead battery but it seems to be the only solution for me right now, since I just run out of options now because my old VW Golf 4 launched it's piston into the space and I blew half of my money on my dream car aka. Audi A6 C5 V6 2.5 TDI S-Line. Hehe, quite funny since it's also quite old but the cops are upgrading to some slow Nissan Leaf EV's, which I could now easily outrun with this german caravan

 

[MniawY]

@MichalPlays, I See it's More Than ok For Now, Can We Close The Thread Or ?

 

[Wichestery2k]

the g7 inspiron gaming line are nice.... look for dell outlet and coupons lots of savings for 4th of July!

 

[RedDove]

I hope I'm not off topic but I've never used a Ryzen processor but I will be looking
for that when I replace my desktop/tower, as @Proteus recommends.
My fav. is my Dell vPro laptop with intel core i5 12th gen processor, 16gig memory.
I find I can do anything I want with it. I do plan on updating the memory and harddrive soon though.
Even though I could afford to get a better laptop, I wouldn't, It does everything I need like a boss.

@Cyler, now I'm going to be on the hunt for that hub in the image you showed.
That could solve so much hassle for me. One thing to connect all I need, amazing.