Studio xps 13 or Studio 14z, opinions?

trying to figure out which one is the better buy for me. I am looking for a laptop for mobility, graphics, and battery, pretty much like everyone else.

The studio 14z seems to be a little smaller and lighter than the xps 13.

14z also suppose to have a 6 hour battery life with 8 cell. better than xps 13

The xps 13 has a 9500m vs the 9400, but i heard thats only for conserving battery, or does it outperform the 9400?

also the 14z has a 900p LED screen

Let me know what you guys think, it looks like the studio 14z is better than the xps 13, but I thought xps is Dell's flagship.


oh and I dont care for the optical drive.

 

In lay men's term you can expect 9500M to provide x1.6 times the performance of 9400M

Not totally true. There are many other factors.

Truely speaking Studio 14z is sweet laptop. Provides a blend of Mobility and portability.

On other hand, Studio XPS 13 provides you a better build quality, mobility portability and yes the BADGE effect of "XPS" .. Yes its premium and totally hosts up the flagship of dell.

But do consider the cons of heating issues (as claimed by others.. it really doesnt matter to me) and considerably less battery life for a portable laptop.

Considering the screen which to opt.. Then even for a 15incher, 768p is quite good to be read.. (not small not Big).. so 900p will certainly add to more viewing area... but 768p is still workable.

Your decision should be narrowed on the basis of performance and cost.

If you are "more tending towards" games then SXPS.. Or if you are just a causal user who enjoys flicks, aero and just basic features.. Studio 14z

 

Unless you use modified drivers the 9500m is useless right now. The vast majority of games work slower on my XPS with SLI enabled.
Also it consumes more power and generates more heat because it uses a dedicated 9200 in addition to the 9400m.
There is one thing. Hardware resizing is broken on dell drivers on 9400 so movies look awful on the integrated card. Enabling SLI solves this. This and the performance problem are driver issues but the laptop has been out for 1/2 a year and dell drivers still suck, so I'm not holding my breath.

 

sxps graphics stink in hybrid mode. I'm always on power saving single GPU mode. When I'm on hybrid full power, I notice there's a general lag in moving windows around, browsing, etc.

 

so overall the sxps performs 1.6 times better in games than the 14z, and it is better quality buildwise.

So I have to justify spending $400 more to get a 50% boost in performance with bad battery and worse screen.
ah, but I game occasionally.

 

Exactly

I really wont say "worse" .. yeah technically it sounds that SXPS 13 has lower resolution screen compared to optional 900p of studio 14z.. but for an 13incher its perfect.

Also not a bad battery.. Compared to the other lineups.. 6 cell of studio XPS13 provides anything from 3.30 hrs to 4.30hrs.. which is certainly good if not better.

You should be more worried about heat though... Confirm the results from SXPS 13 users in the "official thread"

Here's a review of it.

Acording to the mentioned temperatures.. I wont say its HOT.. but yeaH.. CERTAINLY MORE WARM
Also when you see Studio 14z and SXPS 13 side to side.. you will "always" (mark my words) feel that SXPS gives better display in terms of richness and sharpness than 14z. I dont know which "x" factor (WLED may be) contributes to SXPS13 display.. but its good..

I know.. and thats really sad

 

Studio 14z...

-gets better battery life at a lighter weight with a flush sitting battery (6 hrs with an 8 cell)
-has a higher resolution screen (1660x900 vs 1280x1200), and LED is standard instead of being charged extra for it.
-the graphics card isn't as good, but not too many games can be handled by the SXPS 13 that the 14z wont handle... check this chart out (not synthetic benchmarks http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html)


The SXPS...

-has better build quality, but the 14z is very sturdy as well.
-has heating issues, unlike the 14z

 

I have had both and they are both great. I'm keeping the XPS 13 cause i do not have any issues with the hybrid sli at all. I got the drivers direct from nvida. Just remember with these machines ALWAYS do a clean install. You can read in my post in the xps13 owners thread my initial impressions. I did a clean windows install. With the 9 cell on power save power setting and onboard 9400 I get better battery life than the 14z with the 8 cell. To be fair I did not have the 14z long so I might have missed something. And the heat is slightly more with the xps13 but it gets hot when running hybrid sli and high performance but nothing serious. Also do like I did and grab a xps13 off the Dell outlet for 900-1000.00 and you will be all set