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    8th gen with 8GB Ram or 7th Gen with 16 GB Ram?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Profond5, Jan 2, 2018.

  1. Profond5

    Profond5 Newbie

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    I want to buy DELL XPS 13 laptop. But i have 2 choices. First is the Intel's 8th generation processor with 8GB Ram and the second is 7th generation with 16 Gb Ram. So what u think is more better. I've heard that 8th gen is more faster and better then 7th, but what about ram? I cant get 8th gen with 16 ram. So please help me. What will be a better choice for me as a future network engineer and kinda i want to use VM with Linux to learn. Thanks for all.
     
    Profond5, Jan 2, 2018
    #1
  2. don_svetlio

    don_svetlio In the Pipe, Five by Five.

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    I'd take the 8th gen - the 8250U/8550U are over 50% more powerful than the 7202U/7500U
     
    don_svetlio, Jan 2, 2018
    #2
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  3. Profond5

    Profond5 Newbie

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    Profond5, Jan 2, 2018
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  4. slimmolG

    slimmolG Notebook Consultant

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    In all reality, it comes down to the type of work you need to do. In many cases, e.g."classic" office work, the extra processing speed won't be noticed much. On the other hand, the extra processing power will be quite handy if you're likely to do focused calculations on discrete data sets. If you plan to run multiple processes, open and calculate using large projects/images/data sets, the additional RAM will be a godsend (memory-held data processes much faster).

    Running a VM is an excellent example of the importance of RAM, and you will immediately notice how frustrating it is to run an under-provisioned VM once you see the effects. Imagine running your laptop with a VM- you click on your host and run your script. You modify your script and test it in your VM and it waits a second or two before processing,now you wonder: did I set that up right? maybe its the code? maybe it didn't install right? nahh.... who knows. Plus, most of the time you have a VM or two up and running, you'll likely be doing something on your host machine, and all of them require memory!

    Go for the RAM, unless you specifically need the slight advantage of the increased computational power.


    P.S. I wasn't going to comment on the machines themselves, but the 8th gen CPU machine only has a 256GB SSD- you're just shooting yourself in the foot there. The 512GB storage of the 7th gen laptop will be really helpful for provisioning those VMs. (A fully replicated computer system with programs can take 25-40 GB. If you save two, you're temporarily down >50-80 GB)
     
    slimmolG, Jan 2, 2018
    #4
  5. B0B

    B0B B.O.A.T.

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    I believe the RAM is soldered making the choice between the two dependent on how your software uses its hardware. I would think the 8th gen solution would offer better performance for just about anyone. But your use case scenario commands some research I think.
     
    B0B, Jan 2, 2018
    #5
  6. Silvr6

    Silvr6 Notebook Evangelist

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    Go with the 8th Gen notebook. Yes 16GB of ram is nice to have but that 7th Gen XPS also has a 7th Gen Y series processor so it is alot slower and I mean ALOT slower when it comes to processing tasks. Even though it has 16gb of ram if you are doing anything that requires 16gb of ram that processor is going to be holding you up more so than the ram ever would.

    https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=2880&cmp[]=3042
     
    Silvr6, Jan 20, 2018
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  7. wynand32

    wynand32 Notebook Consultant

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    I'll add that the Core i7 machine is actually the XPS 13 2-in-1 convertible (display folds over to become a tablet). You might want to read some reviews to learn all of the differences between the machines, such as battery life (the XPS 13 clamshell notebook has more battery capacity and hence longer battery life).
     
    wynand32, Jan 27, 2018
    #7
  8. wyvernV2

    wyvernV2 Notebook Evangelist

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    Go for 8th gen, you can upgrade the ram later anythime you want!
     
    wyvernV2, Feb 15, 2018
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  9. B0B

    B0B B.O.A.T.

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    I’m pretty sure the ram is soldered on unfortunately.
     
    B0B, Feb 15, 2018
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  10. Ryogo

    Ryogo Newbie

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    Ryogo, Mar 4, 2018
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  11. Jungstar

    Jungstar Notebook Enthusiast

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    The 7 gen is a Y processor! Run away! The other is an 8 gen U 15-25w processor. The Y is a 7-8 watt super weak processor. Go for the 8 gen!
     
    Jungstar, Mar 4, 2018
    #11
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  12. Jungstar

    Jungstar Notebook Enthusiast

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    You have obviously not read the computers he is considering - he is considering a Y processor. Also, I don't think he will be running virtual machines.... Then he would not ask..
     
    Jungstar, Mar 4, 2018
    #12
  13. slimmolG

    slimmolG Notebook Consultant

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    @Jungstar
    The only thing that is obvious, is that I was directly responding to the comment in OP's post.

    Well.. something else is also obvious; but being obvious, it doesn't merit any additional text from me.
     
    slimmolG, Mar 5, 2018
    #13
  14. Jungstar

    Jungstar Notebook Enthusiast

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    Gosh, you are right. VM's. In that case none of them are good. 16 ram plus minimum a 7 gen U processor, although I would highly suggest a new 8 gen.
     
    Jungstar, Mar 5, 2018
    #14
  15. nixliu

    nixliu Notebook Consultant

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    8th, you can upgrade ram by yourself later
     
    nixliu, Mar 8, 2018
    #15
  16. B0B

    B0B B.O.A.T.

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    Isn’t it soldered?
     
    B0B, Mar 8, 2018
    #16
  17. yotano21

    yotano21 Notebook Evangelist

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    He can download more ram in the future, makes it future proof.
     
    yotano21, Mar 13, 2018
    #17