Alternatives to Dell XPS 16?

chrismscotland

chrismscotland

chrismscotland

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I've been taking a look at getting a new laptop, ideally something with a bit of decent grunt for gaming but mainly for video, music and office stuff.

I've been looking really for a 16" screen as I feel this is the ideal size for travelling, not too big but with a good size screen as I am going to be living out of a hotel for most of the next 9 months.

Everything I've seen points to the Dell XPS 16, but I am a little concerned about build quality and the reports I've seen that it gets very very hot compared to other laptops,

Really I'm just trying to see if there are any 16" alternatives to the XPS 16, I've briefly looked at the Acer's but again they feel quite plasticky and flimsy but if this isn't the case I'd love to hear from some Acer owners.

Chris
 
My brother just purchased one of these, if you want I can give you some feedback on it? It's being built as we speak :p
I have heard that heat issue is not as bad as some say and that the build quality is pretty good, especially on the new models. They also recently updated the graphics to a 1GB ATi 4670, so I'd be interested in the alternatives, and surprised if anything can equal it for the price.
 
That ati 4670 is probably the best performing GPU I've seen in a laptop thats not a pure gaming machine. there seems to be little out there that could match that to be honest.
 
I'm not too up on the mobile GPUs, but I'll take your word for it :p It does seem like a nice system, and by most accounts a step up from their previous levels of build quality. Once my brother gets it, he wants to try Crysis on it :o
 
I have a sxps 16. I love it.

The build quality is amazing and it feels very sturdy. The screen quality is out of this world and now I have a backlit keyboard I couldnt buy another laptop without.

The heat is an issue though. If you are just surfing the base gets hot and the trackpad gets really hot.

Whilst gaming it gets incredibly hot, I have had to apply AS5, undervolt the cpu and raise the back to stop the cpu hitting 93c and downclocking. ( I do have a P9500 cpu)
The touchpad, palmrest, keyboard and base all reach approx 45-50c. I have just ordered a notebook cooler to try and reduce the heat as it is uncomfortable to game for extended periods on it.

I may just have a lemon so if you guys find it runs cooler than mine I will call dell and complain.
 
ninja2000 said:
I have a sxps 16. I love it.

The build quality is amazing and it feels very sturdy. The screen quality is out of this world and now I have a backlit keyboard I couldnt buy another laptop without.

The heat is an issue though. If you are just surfing the base gets hot and the trackpad gets really hot.

Whilst gaming it gets incredibly hot, I have had to apply AS5, undervolt the cpu and raise the back to stop the cpu hitting 93c and downclocking. ( I do have a P9500 cpu)
The touchpad, palmrest, keyboard and base all reach approx 45-50c. I have just ordered a notebook cooler to try and reduce the heat as it is uncomfortable to game for extended periods on it.

I may just have a lemon so if you guys find it runs cooler than mine I will call dell and complain.
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when I was reading reviews, some where saying "its really hot", others were saying "I dont get why everyone is saying its so hot, sure its warm but not that bad".

Appart from this being subjective, I dont understand what could be causing such a big difference.

Ninja, if you watch the videos the guy says his gets to around 75oc..
 
Yeah its definately subjective but I have owned countless notebooks and this is by far the hottest.
I am going to drop a P8600 in mine to see if it runs cooler than the P9500.
 
Izi said:
crysis can play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POWNe0JO4LE&feature=related

i'm looking forward to getting mine too, but still in the pre-assembly line! gotta wait for the SSDs ahhhhhh, it kills me. Due date not untill 25th.
Click to expand...

Sweet, thanks :D My brothers is due for the 14th :p

ninja2000 said:
I have a sxps 16. I love it.
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Glad to hear of the good build quality :) My brother's has a P7350, so I will see about the heat. What res and type screen did you pick ?
 
I bought the 1080p 15.6" WLED screen, its fantastic.
Mine came with the P7350 but I whipped that out the day it arrived as I had a P9500 waiting for it (wont pay Dells ridiculous prices for upgeaded cpu's).

The stock thermal paste dell used was awful so the P7350 had high temps too. Get your brother to run HWmonitor whilst gaming to see what load temps you get with it
 
Suposidly the 16" RGB screen is really something special. Which is annoying because i feel i should have got that as well. My 15.6" comes tomorrow, was ment to come yesterday though grrr.
 
I cant fault the performance of it, in fact I havent used my desktop since I bought this.
I have played:
COD5, Forged Allicance, DOW2, TF2 all at high settings. Just wish I could get the temps down a bit.

8igdave - It is supposed to be amazing but Dell want a ridiculous amount to add it. Especially as it was $100 on the US site a little while back (good old rip off Britain)
The 1080p 15.6" is still amazing and you wont be dissapointed, its the best laptop screen I have used (but I havent tried the RGB)
 
Suposidly you cna get like £250 off if you haggle with them on the phone. Which means you could get the screen. HOW ANNOYING.

And thats kinda disgusting tbh.
 
8igdave said:
Suposidly you cna get like £250 off if you haggle with them on the phone. Which means you could get the screen. HOW ANNOYING.

And thats kinda disgusting tbh.
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i'd like to think i am a good 'haggler' but i wasnt able to get them down any further.

I had £290 quid off as a special deal they were doing, plus 5% on top. Maybe if I hadnt got these off already they would have taken some off.
 
They wouldnt give me anything other than the special offer coupons either :(
Still I am so pleased with the 1080p 15.6" I couldnt care less
 
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