@aleangiulli I recommend FHD for several reasons. I bought an XPS 15 9530 in 2013 and got the 3200x1800 display for "futureproofing", but when I replaced that system with another 15" laptop in 2019, I got FHD instead. Here's why I do NOT like the 4K display:
- Although the small text issue is fixed by using display scaling, some Windows applications still don't support scaling very well, and if an application has poor support for display scaling, it can end up looking WORSE on a 4K display than an FHD display where you would not need scaling.
- The 4K display noticeably reduces your battery life, by a few hours on average.
- The 4K display is glossy rather than matte/anti-glare. I don't like seeing my own reflection or the reflection of overhead lights in my display, so I much prefer matte/anti-glare.
- The 4K display is a touchscreen, which I don't care about.
- The 4K display is thicker and heavier (partly due to the touchscreen).
- The 4K display costs more.
So for me, the 4K display is a bit list of drawbacks AND you spend more money to get it. I admit text does look very nice on the display for applications that support scaling properly, but that wasn't enough to outweigh all of those drawbacks for me. That said, if you think you will use the built-in display and external displays simultaneously, then the priority should be to choose a display that will ideally allow you to run the same scaling setting across all displays. Windows does support using different scaling settings for different displays simultaneously, but that can introduce even more scaling artifacts. I personally have a 15" FHD display and two 27" QHD/1440p displays, all of which are comfortable to use at the default 100% scaling. I don't have razor sharp text, but all of my applications work properly.
@aleangiulli You should have kept the dock. If the dock you had with the XPS 15 9500 worked for you, then you should probably just buy another one of those. Otherwise:
- If you would be ok with a dock that would only be able to run single 4K 60 Hz or dual 2560x1440 60 Hz and do NOT need to connect Thunderbolt devices to the dock such as an external GPU or an actual Thunderbolt storage device, then the WD19 or WD19S 180W would be fine.
- If you want a dock that would be able to handle dual 4K 60 Hz or triple 2560x1440 60 Hz and/or want to be able to connect Thunderbolt peripherals to your dock, then you'll want the WD19TB or WD19TBS.
The difference with the "S" models compared to the non-S models is that the newer S models removed the 3.5 mm headset jack. Something about the supply chain shortage prevented Dell from incorporating those, so they created the S models that do not have that jack in order to continue manufacturing docking stations. If you need that jack and can find a non-S model, then that would be best. If you need that jack but can't find a non-S model right now, then you can always buy simple USB to headset audio adapters. If you don't care about the headset jack at all, then you can go with an S or non-S model because they are otherwise identical.
@aleangiulli The docks that work for your XPS 15 9500 would work exactly the same way for your XPS 17 9710. So you'd want either the WD19/WD19S 180W w/ 130W PD (not the 130W w/ 90W PD version) or the WD19TB/WD19TBS, which only comes as 180W w/ 130W PD.
