Need help to pick between Dell Inspiron or Dell XPS models.

Question

Hello everyone, I recently broke my MacBook Pro and need to quickly buy a new laptop this weekend and decided to switch to dell. I have my choices down to a $2,000 XPS or a $1,200 Inspiron, they are both 15 inch and from what I remember they both have 512 GB storage, 16 GB of RAM, and an i7 processor both 8th gen? I believe, I just mostly remember that they both have the requirements to run all of my engineering programs, but I’m not sure which one I should pick? Money is my biggest issue, is the $2,000 XPS that much better than the $1,200 Inspiron? The Inspiron is also on sale this weekend so that’s why it’s decently cheap.

jphughan · Answer

It would help to specify the exact system models you're looking at, since there are multiple 15" Inspiron models and even multiple 15" XPS models if you count the XPS 15 2-in-1. Since you only mentioned specs, if those items are the only things you care about, then yes the Inspiron will give you similar performance for a lower cost. However, saying "an 8th gen i7 processor" isn't a precise comparison at all. Most systems use the U Series processors that are designed to operate at low power. The XPS 15 systems use H series processors that are much faster. And not all i7 processors have the same clock speed or the same number of cores. If CPU performance is important to you, I would go to ark.intel.com to check the specs of the specific CPUs you're looking at. They have a useful tool that allows you to compare them side-by-side.

But more generally, there will be (or at least might be) differences in other areas you may care about. For example, the Inspiron might use a SATA-based SSD while the XPS uses NVMe SSDs. The Inspiron might have a lower-end WiFi card (this might be harder to determine, unfortuntely). The Inspiron system will likely not have Thunderbolt 3 like the XPS 15 does. And the Inspiron will likely have a plastic chassis rather than an aluminum and carbon fiber chassis. But again, since you didn't specify the models you're looking at, it's hard to tell.

I will say that if you're used to a MacBook Pro, an XPS 15 will feel much more like what you're used to than an Inspiron system.