Greetings OzBargainers,
I am trying to pull the trigger on buying the XPS 13… any informed insights gratefully received. :)
Background: I am living in a tropical environment and I travel a lot. I'm also trying to keep the amount and weight of what I own to the bare minimum, as I essentially live out of a couple of suitcases. I'm currently hefting around an old Samsung 15" from 2012 which I have upgraded several times (RAM/840 PRO SSD) and typically only use at a desk because it is a PITA to use otherwise. But it is still performing well. However, I would like to upgrade to something as portable as the XPS 13 for the reasons given above.
My concerns are, primarily, that I will sacrifice performance with something like the XPS 13 for the price of portability. Battery life is also crucial to me as I travel a lot, as I mentioned, and I'm also sick of being held hostage at my desk. (An overstatement, to be sure, but that is how it feels sometimes :).
So here is where I am (and what I would love input about):
I have done a ton of reading about this laptop (and others) in the last few days, and here are the two basic configs I'm trying to decide between…
1) The Skylake i7-6560u (XPS Model 9350), with IRIS 540 onboard GPU, FHD Non-Touch, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM (Which I can pick up, manufacturer refurbed, for $1500), or,
2) The Kaby Lake i5-7200u (XPS Model 9360), with IRIS 620 onboard GPU, FHD Non-Touch, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM (which comes direct from Dell for $1700 under special).
Considerations:
A. Thermal Throttling of Performance: As I mentioned, I live in a hot tropical environment, so I'm concerned that the warmer the XPS 13 operates, the more likely it is to throttle and be stuck on 'low-speed' too often.
My reading seems to indicate that the i5 Kaby Lake is reasonably equivalent in performance to the older SkyLake i7 (even with the IRIS 540) due to several 'optimisations' that Intel have performed on the new CPU. but with lower general operating temps. However, it's hard to get away from the "i7 is better" brainwashing from the past, so I'd love some input on this from someone "in the know". My understanding of this stuff is 'enthusiastic amateur' at best.
B.Battery life - my understanding is there may be little impact on battery life between the processors, except that the Kaby Lake i5 can handle video more efficiently (hardly engaging the CPU at all). However, I suspect that 90%+ of the battery life is accounted for in the base config, esp non-touch, FHD vs QHD Touch.
C. The Kaby Lake (9360) system build is slightly (negligibly?) smaller than the 9350 build. The former also sports a slightly larger battery (~60WH vs ~56WH), and a much better (anecdotally) wifi card.
So the $200 question is - is it worth it for me to go with the i5-7200u for $200 more, or get a refurb i7 with IRIS 540. Is all of the above about heat and battery differences overstated in my mind?
NOTE 1: I can also pick up the Skylake version of the Skylake i5-6200u refurb (same config), but it is exactly the same price as the i7, lol!
NOTE 2: Would also be interested in comparison systems with my requirements in mind. Eg. I read about the ThinkPad T560s too late to realise that the OzBargain offer a few days ago was brilliant. Although the T560s isn't as compact at the XPS, it seems sturdily made for travelling, and relatively light, so I may have considered it. But not for RRP of $2k+ :)
Need a TL;DR