Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming 7559

dowie · 24 Aug 2016 at 20:48

Been considering getting rid of my desktop and simply using a laptop going forwards, I don't play games too often these days but would like the ability to occasionally play some - I will probably keep an external monitor, keyboard, mouse.

Having always had dell laptops at work I decided to take a look at their range and the Inspiron 7559 looks like pretty good value - just looking for feedback/opinions from anyone who has one?

The XPS 15 does look pretty sexy tbh.. and I am tempted though the graphics card is a bit inferior and I'd presume with the compact chassis it would be prone to overheating. One thing that does tempt me though is the possibility of an external GPU in future should I have free time for playing games.

At the moment I'm looking at getting the inspiron, basic model and rip out the standard HD, replace with a 512GB SSD and upgrade the RAM to 16GB. Alternatively the other model (£200 more) does have 16GB as standard + a 128GB SSD/1TB HD combo - perhaps that is all I need (though am not really fussed about a higher resolution touch screen display)

terley · 25 Aug 2016 at 03:08

The thermals on the XPS as far as i can see aren't an issue and you do mention the key point about the thunderbolt 3.0 port for eGPU in the future. (there are already videos of the XPS 15 working on the razer core)

It depends really what you are planning on doing with the laptop, the XPS is roughly 1.9kg and the xps is 2.73kg.

The XPS has better and more sturdy build quality with a MUCH nicer screen.

The Dell inspiron also has the 960m but 4gb, with that GPU the extra 2gb doesn't really make much of a difference in all honesty. Its not like it will have you gaming at 1440p or 4k.

What is your budget, is battery life super important or portability?

TheHitMan-1973 · 25 Aug 2016 at 08:05

I have gone for the Inspiron 7559 4K

6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ Processor
(6M Cache, up to 3.50 GHz)

Windows 10 Home 64-bit English
16GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (8GBx2)
128GB SSD [128GB Solid State Drive] + 1TB 5.4k HDD [1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive]

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M 4GB GDDR5
15.6-inch UHD (3840 x 2160)

Truelife LED- Backlit Touch Display

Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Backlit Keyboard

dowie · 25 Aug 2016 at 14:25

terley said:
The Dell inspiron also has the 960m but 4gb, with that GPU the extra 2gb doesn't really make much of a difference in all honesty. Its not like it will have you gaming at 1440p or 4k.

What is your budget, is battery life super important or portability?

portability is going to be a factor - I am probably going to be carrying it with me most week days - I guess I need to see them both in person but I don't think either will be a major issue - so long as they fit inside my north face rucksack

budget isn't an issue, I'm just curious about people's experiences, though I might be more inclined to spend £800 -ish rather than £1200 ish if I'm only getting marginal benefits... then again seeing them in person could change that I guess

TheHitMan-1973 said:
I have gone for the Inspiron 7559 4K
[...]

Truelife LED- Backlit Touch Display

see I was tempted to get the lower end model as I'm not too fussed about a touch screen - do you find you use it much or is it just a novelty?

my idea was to get the low end one (with a discount), upgrade the RAM to 16GB and replace the HD with a 500GB SSD... total cost £800

whack the 1TB drive that comes with it into an external enclosure and use for backup + films etc..

to get the equivalent XPS model would be £1190 with a discount, then adding a 1TB external drive for backups etc.. takes it to 1200-something so nearly £400 more in total for a nicer case/screen and with a slightly poorer graphics card (2GB vs 4GB)

then again I guess I might really like that nicer case/screen - have previously used macs for my personal laptop and dell latitudes as my work laptop

only other factor is whether I will have much time for gaming and if so would I then make use of an external GPU (which again I'm not sure is necessarily value for money)

TheHitMan-1973 · 25 Aug 2016 at 16:23

dowie said:
portability is going to be a factor - I am probably going to be carrying it with me most week days - I guess I need to see them both in person but I don't think either will be a major issue - so long as they fit inside my north face rucksack

budget isn't an issue, I'm just curious about people's experiences, though I might be more inclined to spend £800 -ish rather than £1200 ish if I'm only getting marginal benefits... then again seeing them in person could change that I guess

see I was tempted to get the lower end model as I'm not too fussed about a touch screen - do you find you use it much or is it just a novelty?

my idea was to get the low end one (with a discount), upgrade the RAM to 16GB and replace the HD with a 500GB SSD... total cost £800

whack the 1TB drive that comes with it into an external enclosure and use for backup + films etc..

to get the equivalent XPS model would be £1190 with a discount, then adding a 1TB external drive for backups etc.. takes it to 1200-something so nearly £400 more in total for a nicer case/screen and with a slightly poorer graphics card (2GB vs 4GB)

then again I guess I might really like that nicer case/screen - have previously used macs for my personal laptop and dell latitudes as my work laptop

only other factor is whether I will have much time for gaming and if so would I then make use of an external GPU (which again I'm not sure is necessarily value for money)

I never use touch screen , not complaining the Dell Inspiron 7559 did not cost me anything , i will upgrade both hards drives soon

Conan257 · 26 Aug 2016 at 17:32

Not a big fan of my 4k screen, Windows doesn't handle the scaling well at all...

On another note, if you're planning to put an SSD in, there's no screw shipped with a laptop that doesn't come fitted from the warehouse. I stole a screw from the main drive and that works fine.

terley · 27 Aug 2016 at 03:49

Conan257 said:
Not a big fan of my 4k screen, Windows doesn't handle the scaling well at all...

On another note, if you're planning to put an SSD in, there's no screw shipped with a laptop that doesn't come fitted from the warehouse. I stole a screw from the main drive and that works fine.

I've used a 4k display for about a year now, not had a single scaling issue to date.. I've never understood this issue everyone always refers to.

dowie · 27 Aug 2016 at 19:54

Conan257 said:
Not a big fan of my 4k screen, Windows doesn't handle the scaling well at all...

On another note, if you're planning to put an SSD in, there's no screw shipped with a laptop that doesn't come fitted from the warehouse. I stole a screw from the main drive and that works fine.

thanks, yeah that is what I'd probably do if I go for the Inspiron gaming (base model) over the XPS as the and then whack the shipped drive into an external enclosure, that basic model doesn't come with a 4k screen

I guess I do need to see these things in person

SuBo · 29 Aug 2016 at 00:33

You can find them in most erm "popular" 'personal computer world' shops, or most 'popular indian food' shops as well.

I'll admit to stopping by on more than one occasion to fiddle with the keyboard and such, as I find it very important to test the keyboard feel on laptops before commiting to buying. I for one get very annoyed if the keyboard isnt fully UK (larger enter key, the "#" and "\" keys in the correct place).

Luckily i wasnt bothered by the staff either

And the price is the same as you would pay Dell, without having to wait a week for shipping.

terley · 29 Aug 2016 at 03:49

SuBo said:
You can find them in most erm "popular" 'personal computer world' shops, or most 'popular indian food' shops as well.

I'll admit to stopping by on more than one occasion to fiddle with the keyboard and such, as I find it very important to test the keyboard feel on laptops before commiting to buying. I for one get very annoyed if the keyboard isnt fully UK (larger enter key, the "#" and "\" keys in the correct place).

Luckily i wasnt bothered by the staff either And the price is the same as you would pay Dell, without having to wait a week for shipping.

Last time i went to a "popular" 'personal computer world' shop i decided to take a look at the mac's purely out of interest.. took the guy there 20 seconds to come over to me and tell me how bad pc's are in comparison.. took me everything in my power to not shut the ****er down.

SuBo · 29 Aug 2016 at 20:55

terley said:
Last time i went to a "popular" 'personal computer world' shop i decided to take a look at the mac's purely out of interest.. took the guy there 20 seconds to come over to me and tell me how bad pc's are in comparison.. took me everything in my power to not shut the ****er down.

Good job your going people would be going in to specifically test the Dell then

JDS · 12 Oct 2019 at 22:23

Anyone here having an issue of serious battery drain recently? I think it might be the most recent Windows update.