15 or 17?

Hi everyone so I'm going to get the following config and wondering if there's any disadvantages to the 15 over the 17. I've owned an AP M15x and a M17x R4 so of course I'm familiar with size and lack of numpad. The config I want is:

6820HK, 980GTX, PCI SSD, 4K screen

In these respects the two machines are the same, I'm wondering about SSD slots (the 17 R3 has 2, how many does the 15 have?)

Power requirements (is the 15 going to throttle if I crank it up?)

Screen Quality - of course the 15.4 UHD is higher dot pitch, but what about colour quality? Are they 6bpc screens like the M17x R4? Colour quality is a deciding factor for me.

RAM - I'm looking to go for 32GB - I assume both are capable?

SSD - I'd like to have a sata boot as a fallback/compatibility choice and use the PCI SSD as a data drive - This seems identical on the 17 also (sata and PCI SSD)..

Anything else I didn't think of?

Thanks for any feedback!

 

see above in red

 

Thanks for the swift reply.. I'll look into the screen - otherwise I'm leaning towards the 15

 

Oh I forgot also one other thing - the cooling on the M17X r4 is way better than on my older M15X. Do you know if there's also a difference on the 17 vs 15? I'm assuming the 17 is better at cooling and this would probably give better OC on the GPU and CPU>?

 

The AW15R1 UHD screen was fantastic and rated as one of the best for any 15inch laptop and even surpassing the Macbook pro 15 retina screen. But I dont know what panel they are using now.

 

Everything I've read about the 15" UHD has been positive, havent seen any mention of color issues like some people are reporting with the FHD.

 

I personally regret not going with the 17 just for the more realestate and didnt think I would miss no number pad but an constantly going for it when using calculator, I know it sounds silly but it feels like it completes the expierience. Also for me screen color is important for the FHD screen and they gimped the 15 R2 FHD screen, as far as I know the 17 R3 has same nice FHD screen as the previous gen. Also to note that both the 15 and 17 are only "official" supported to 16GB of RAM. Im sure 32gb would work on either of the two no problem but that is yet to be determined since dell doesnt like to give us clear cut specs of what there machines are capable of, IE memory compatabilities and pcie slot speeds. As for cooling I can tell you that the 15 R2 is adequate for me running 6700HQ prime95 (53W power draw) and furmark at the same time cpu temps where around 80c and GPU 970M around 70c. In real world schenario both GPU and CPU wont be running at max capacity and I have not done a repaste which could drop the temps by 5c or more. I was using a laptop cooler for the above test.

 

I've downloaded the service manual for the 17 r3, and oh god, cleaning the dust bunnies will be a massive pain compared the the M17.

On the M17 you just unscrew the bottom, unplug and unscrew the fans, remove them and clean dust, then put them back again.

On the 17 r3 however, you have to remove the palm rest and display and front panel and the wireless card and the mobo (which means you'll need to repaste), good god this is such a massive pain.

 

I'd say go for the 17". I've tested the screen using an xRite i1 Display Pro, and it has 100% Adobe RGB and sRGB coverage. It's a superb screen. Without doubt, the best I've ever seen in a laptop.

Right now, I've only seen one report on here about the UHD screen in the 15", and it's supposed to be excellent too.

For me, the extra size of the 17" is what counts. It's possible to use a 150% scaling factor, and still be able to easily read things. On a 15", that's just not possible, as I tried it with my XPS15 and it's just too small.

 

I'm sure you've got plenty of reasons to go for the 17", but I would say 15" (if portability is a factor for you).
Mainly because I'm an 'always on the move' kinda guy and carrying the extra weight isn't worth it. 15 inches hits the sweet spot of having a large enough screen to do my work on while at the same time not being so huge that I don't feel like carrying it everywhere.
I also use laptops on airplanes a lot, and my current Dell XPS L502X (15") just barely manages to fit on the food tray. The Alienware 15 is almost the same size, but the 17" will be unusable.

 

I also vote for the 17. The 15 just feels too small for me. I use a 27' monitor at home and going down to 15 feels tiny. The 17 is not that much bigger (footprint wise), well worth the tradeoff for bigger screen. I also think if you can get a good deal on an r2 17 that may be better. The screen is brighter and its got 4 m.2 slots opposed to 2 slots. If you really want thunderbolt though, the r3 it is.

 

Could you post some pictures of your test ? I really appreciate that.

 

Of course. I posted my colour tests here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/index.php?posts/10116718/

 

This is exactly my thought and the reason why I would not get another 17", 15" for me provides a large enough screen and just small enough to not mind taking with me. If I rarely moved it then certainly get the biggest available.

 

17. Always.