Are you getting the XPS 15 with 4k or 1080p?

Thought I would do a poll to see what the majority plan on getting. I personally am undecided.

 

1080p. Don't want to deal with software scaling issues at all.

 

You can change resolution to 1080p instead of crappy scaling. Still get full AdobeRGB.

 

That seems to defeat the purpose of a higher-resolution screen (and paying for it), granted the sharper appearance is nice to consider. My work doesn't require the most complete colorspace or pixel peeping.

 

You can switch back to 4K when watching 4K movies or high resolution images.

 

plus you get the touch screen, it seems the 4k version is a bit more future proof, the higher brightness should make up for the glossy screen too

 

Lol. I think the fact that the 4K is touch screen is a reason NOT to get it.

In any case, I'm surprised so many people are picking the 4K screen... especially since it will absolutely murder battery life. On top of that, you get your typical DPI scaling issues in Windows, and you're going to be gaming at 1080p anyway,

 

I see the casual visual benefits of 4K but right now I'm willing to trade it away for better battery life and general overall compatibility. Seen some other people using our daily programs on 3K/4K screens and it looks like a hindrance than improvement due to the catching-up software process and poor scaling attempts.

 

Text looks sharper to me on 4K (not just high res images) than FHD, which is important to me when reading articles and documents.

 

Same here Bro ..

 

I'm seeing a lot of people who want 4K in the mentality of "Yeah, I might as well get 4K... worst case scenario, I just run it at 1080p anyway." Which is valid.

But I don't think they're realizing what that will do to battery life. A 4K screen will MURDER battery life. The XPS 13 saw a 33% hit on battery life (6 hrs vs. 9 hrs) between the 1080p and 1800p models. I'd expect the XPS 15 to see around a 25% - 40% drop in battery life, based on the fact that other laptops that offer screen options (Thinkpad X1's, Acer laptops) see similar differences in battery life when going with a high-res screen.

 

If there had been a touch model with 1080p resolution, I'd buy it without much thinking.

 

Some people just want the 4K and will probably use that most of the time. I'm not in that camp at all, but I see the allure.

 

Sure it will eat up the battery but priority for me is color accuracy, higher resolution and generally prefer a higher end lcd. I post process my photos so it's a must.

 

I have no option so had to go the 4k

 

The battery life really is the kicker with 4k it seems, especially since you can expect some degradation over time, so if it's getting 5.5 new (according to the WSJ), that could be 3.5 a year later, which is pretty unacceptable

 

4K for sure. The added sharpness from the higher pixel density is very noticeable over 1080p in a 15.6in display. If it were between 1080p and 4k in a smartphone, I'd say the extra resolution is just not noticeable but the extra pixel density absolutely makes a difference in a laptop display, especially for text. The 4k panel being the flagship display will almost certainly have got much more attention from Dell and will be far superior to the 1080p in color accuracy, contrast, etc. The scaling of applications in Windows 10 has also improved. Web browsers, first party applications and just about anything I use scales just fine now on my QHD 13.3 inch laptop so I don't think this is much of a problem anymore. The new Skylake processors also feature fixed function HW to decode 4k even in H265 very efficiently, being able to watch 4k content 1:1 relatively efficiently is going to be amazing on a very color accurate display.

The big downside of course is increased power consumption, but I'm willing to trade a solid chunk of battery life for the vastly superior display. I use a lot of high resolution and color accurate displays regularly and I can't stand lower density and inaccurate panels anymore.

 

I'd wait for real reviews before making a judgement on battery life, I don't really trust WSJ to do a proper battery test. I'm wondering if they ran chrome a bunch during that test since it is known to destroy the battery life on both Windows and OS X. I remember some reviews of the surface reported very poor battery life and it turned out to be due to heavy use of chrome. I would avoid chrome like the plague if you care about battery life.

 

damn, I use chrome exclusively

 

Google has announced that they are trying to improve the power efficiency of chrome but at the moment Safari on OS X and Edge on Windows kill chrome in battery life. Chrome also loves to eat memory. I don't use Chrome when I am trying to save power.

 

Plan on getting the FHD screen, I have no need for the high resolution and still not convinced of the longevity of touch screens (just one more complex thing to eventually break). There's not much 4k content yet and the graphics card can't handle gaming at native res. Lowering the resolution still results in more power being used. But I can certainly see the appeal of QHD for photographers/graphic artists who put 100% adobe to good use, or those who can't live without a touch screen. I'm glad there's the option of either screen to cater to different users.

 

I'm not considering the XPS 15 (have not voted) but I think this is an interesting thread. The reason stated above would be the number one reason for me to buy a high-resolution display. Text (and HiDPI optimized websites) looks insanely better on a HiDPI display, especially in Windows 10 where font anti-aliasing is greyscale. I can't stand to read text anymore on a 'classic' display, shows how quickly a human is spoiled.

I have a UHD monitor on my desktop PC and the scaling with third party applications is getting better. Skype is pixellated, but recently Spotify was updated to include proper scaling. I can live with some applications looking funny for the increased sharpness in text and images.

 

I was thinking about this the other day (Chrome resource usage).

Google Chrome originally gained popularity as the fast, lightweight, low-resource alternative to the slow memory-hog that was Internet Explorer (at the time). Ironic that Google Chrome is a giant bloated elephant now, isn't it?

 

Neither.

It seems to me the new Inspiron 7000 15" is an all-around better machine. Beyond the "infinityedge" display and the USB 3.1/TB3 port, what exactly does the XPS do better than the new Inspiron?

That's not a rhetorical question by the way, I'm actually curious, since comparing specs makes the Inspiron out to be "better" by my standards.

 

It's similar to ask why the MBP is better than a Acer Aspire laptop although costing 3 times.

Spec-wise, XPS will be much more expensive. You will get: Infinity Edge display (if it's cheap and easy to do, other brands have copied it already), better build quality, better keyboard, better display (brightness, color accuracy, color space), 800g lighter, better network card,... and probably better durability. If they are not worth in your standard to pay a lot more, choose Inspiron.

 

2-3lb heavier to start. That is enough to stop many people from buying if portability is a priority.

 

The Inspiron 15" 7000 and the XPS 15 aren't competitors. The one key area where they differ is size and portability.

If all you care about on a laptop is paper specifications, then the Inspiron 15" 7000 is viable. But it's also larger in all dimenions, and 2 pounds heavier. The time when you'd want to buy an XPS 15 is if you value portability, and are willing to pay for that portability. The XPS 13/15 are not "paper spec" machines.

 

Certainly is ironic. I remember jumping on Chrome very early when it came on and being really impressed at how much faster it was than the other browsers. I guess it just became really bloated over the years. I do like the new Edge browser, seems very clean but I hope it gets support for extensions/plugins soon.

 

They certainly are comparable except for build materials. The XPS is spec'd higher with DDR4 memory and pcie SSDs and metal body. That's the price you pay for materials.

My 2 cents

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

The XPS 15 is tremendously lighter and will probably have higher quality trackpad, standard backlit keyboard, etc. The 4k display on the XPS is also higher quality and more color accurate (100% adobe RGB). XPS also features the Intel Alpine Ridge controller to provide charging, Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 over USB type c. There are probably some other differences too. You are certainly getting a lot of differentiating features in the XPS for the extra chunk of change you pay for it.

 

Thinking about a 1080p screen and a 4K external monitor for photo editing.

 

4K all the way. for me, 98% of the time, this box will be on my desk, plugged into the wall and to an external display. in my line of work the AdobeRGB option is a no-brainer.

 

1080p here, as I don't need the higher resolution panel...

 

4k here, I value the screen real estate and ability to put multiple toolbars up in cad/3d apps without it killing of the work space. I had opted for the high resolution option back when I bought the XPS M1530, and being mostly next to a plug, didn't regret it.

 

I'm leaning toward the 1080p. I am a designer and while the idea of having the extra pixels is appealing, the actual use is limiting. Yes having extra space would come in handy, but if I need a magnify glass to view type why bother? Yes there is display scaling, but again if I have to use this, why pay the extra for a fancy screen.

 

I see a lot of people in class working with a ridiculously small resolution. Spending so much time in front of a screen, I figure the last thing one wants to do is squint and trade their eyes for pixels. High resolution is cool and all but the most important asset is eyesight and once that goes bad (or worsens), it doesn't matter what screen resolutions are.

If I recall, the 1080p option is IPS. Not the worst option out there. Wish they could've added a bit more height, say to 1200p, since there's a good bit of unused empty bezel space where the logo sits.

 

I'm not 100% decided on getting an XPS 15 yet but if I do it will absolutely be the 1080p version.

I get why people in video/photo editing, etc would want the 4k, but it just doesn't do anything for me personally on a 15" laptop. I'd rather have the battery life and if I'm going to spend an extra $450 on 4k, I'm not bothering with always changing the resolution.

 

That's a good point. For $450 or a bit more one could find a 4K monitor for the times you need the extra resolution.

Battery life pretty much trumps all...at least for me.

 

Same here. Well, I wished that they would offer a 4K matte display instead of a touch (maybe the Precision line will have such an option?).

However, I am still worried that the glossy display will fail me at meetings. Hopefully the display brightness will compensate this.

Is there already a word about the model of the display? Will it be the same as as the 4K DIsplay on the old XPS 15?

 

you could get a replacement 4k screen at the same price , if you dont like the display replace after few years.

 

4K because that is the only model Dell with sell in NZ :/

 

old XPS 15 4K only has 96% sRGB and 51% adobeRGB, there is no way it's the same.

 

Is the majority battery penalty coming from the power consumption of the panel itself vs the 1080p one? or is it the GPU having to work on 4x the pixels that does it. If it is the GPU primarily, as I hope it is, I wonder if in the situations I need battery life more than anything, knocking it down to 1080 desktop resolution (which should scale perfectly) and even try and force it to use the 6700's integrated graphics will bring me back to near 1080 native battery life. Plus having opted for pure ssd, I get the bigger battery equipped.

 

High power consumption is my only reason for not to buy a touch model. My ideal XPS would be a 1080p touch. Let's see what will comment touch model's owners about your inquire.

 

One important detail that is often overlooked is the quality of the panel itself. Most standard mainstream IPS panels have light bleed. Some manufactures are worse than others, but it drives me crazy.

The Sharp 4k displays (IGZO), at least in my experience, are much better quality. I've yet to see one with light bleed.

So for me, that's pretty much the main reason its gotta be "4k." Otherwise if I heard it was a top notch 1080p panel without light bleed, I'd prefer that.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

I have been reading this thread with interest because I couldn't make my mind up but after 5 pages I have decided to go with 1080p. It was a very tough decision because I don't want to lose nice new features like 4k but I recently got two external Dell 24" (1900 x 1200px) monitors and the resolution is enough for now. In the future I could get 1 or maybe 2 - 4k screens since it has thunderbolt 3. I don't do a lot of graphical work though.

My existing laptop is 4 year old and I had to replace the battery once because of a BIOS warning. Getting a 4k new machine has to mean a reduced battery life and that kind of defeats the purpose of on the go. 4k on desktop not not on a laptop, I will just have to put up. The matte screen should be easier to view in the brightness.

The other thing is a touch screen. To be honest its a technology that is a total waste of time, give me an awesome mouse pad any day.

I just hope that the 1080p version is as good as the 4k version just without 2 components.

 

I got the 1080p version and am very happy on the quality of it. It has some ghosting tho but resolution wise it's still plenty for a 15" screen...

 

Got the 4K one, future proof.

 

Purchased with the 4K screen, mainly for watching movies. Need to upgrade from 56w battery to a 84w one though

 

Question: if you get the 1080p version , can it plug in to an external 4k monitor and show 4k ?