Laptop purchase feedback

[Dannar26]

Just purchased a dell inspiron 7359 new from Dell Outlet. It has 256 ssd, i7 6500u, FHD IPS display, Wireless AC & bluetooth, backlit keyboard. 560ish post tax.*

Prior to this I bought a latitude E5250 before this that I think I'll return. It's a 12.5" screen regular HD screen that allegedly isn't very bright or color accurate. i5 5300u, 128GB mSATA drive, 8gb ram, backlit kb, AC wireless and Bluetooth.*

Here's the thing though...latitude vs inspiron. The latitude will have better build quality which will likely mean better durability. I also hear this model of inspiron has wifi issues and no physical ethernet port...*

The latitude was like 480 after tax. It won't be as pretty, but it may last longer. The i5 5300u stacks up well vs the i7 6500u on gpu boss... Plus it's powering a lower res screen... Which means it will get better frames in something like DOTA.

Things move quickly at the dell outlet, so I Impulse pulled the trigger. Only one system can stay though. I'm looking for thoughts on which I should keep.

***UPDATE (because you were just *dying* to know, right?)***

Returned the latitude, kept the inspiron. The Inspiron is a pretty handsome looking thing. It's too light to really feel premium, but with the market demanding lighter tech toys, it falls in that line. Screen is pretty, keyboard backlighting is awesome, and I have no complaints about performance. I haven't put it through much, but it hasn't been a laggy experience.

In fact, it's so good that my wife has now decided that it's hers. :sneaky:

Which leaves me back at square one. So I found another sale (the people at dell outlet are likely sick of me now), and pulled the trigger on a Latitude E 5270.

This must be a fairly recent model, as there is precious little about it on the Internet. I'm going to assume that the 5270 is similar in chassis design to the 5250, albeit with a 6th gen processor. This one supports DDR4 in dual channel, so that'll be interesting. Has a M.2 slot as well, I think. I'll need to have a look-see once it arrives...

 

[nerp]

I always go for durability with laptops, so I tend to eye ThinkPads.

 

[UsandThem]

I bought an Inspiron 7559 this past winter, and it's built very well, very comparable quality-wise to my XPS from 2011 that I replaced it with.

No complaints.

 

[Gunbuster]

Latitude is not that much more durable. They pretty much just re-badge the same chassis between Lat and Insp these days.

Latitude is a more "stable platform" in that the parts/drivers don't change as much so large orgs have and easier time with maintaining things but that doesn't matter to you.

IMHO screen is a major thing, would not keep the one with the washed out crap 720 screen.

 

[Dannar26]

I always go for durability with laptops, so I tend to eye ThinkPads.

I had several bad experiences with Lenovo on their ideapad line. Maybe thinkpad would be better, but I'm still not over my bias.

I bought an Inspiron 7559 this past winter, and it's built very well, very comparable quality-wise to my XPS from 2011 that I replaced it with.

No complaints.

Well if the build quality on the 7359 is ok, then it would pretty much settle things. This laptop is going to be for me to use when I travel, and I'm an "outdoorsy" type. Thus, build quality is a bit more of a concern for me than the average person.

Latitude is not that much more durable. They pretty much just re-badge the same chassis between Lat and Insp these days.

Latitude is a more "stable platform" in that the parts/drivers don't change as much so large orgs have and easier time with maintaining things but that doesn't matter to you.

IMHO screen is a major thing, would not keep the one with the washed out crap 720 screen.

My company uses 6000 series latitudes...I repair them frequently as part of my job. I figure that business class laptops would have more ubiquitous parts, and it would be easy for me to swap things out if need be.

I won't be using a docking station so you're right about the screen. Some reports say it tops out at 161 nits, and that it's challenging to use outside or anywhere with bright lighting.

As far as raw performance...is the i5 5300U somehow in a different category than the i5 5200? In CPU Boss (which I'm not sure is the end-all-be-all of performance measuring) the i5 5300U holds up to the i7 6500U and somehow out performs it in graphics.

Also, in the latitude, I can run RAM in dual channel, which I imagine has slightly more impact given integrated graphics. The Inspiron has only one SODIMM. The inspiron is known to have wifi issues (which are solvable -- I should be more than capable of figuring it out), and lacks an Ethernet port. Maybe I'm just old school, but missing an Ethernet port? It sorta rubs me the wrong way. It's true that I won't likely be in a whole lot of situations where I plug in physically...but I don't understand the lack of Ethernet inclusion.

 

[corkyg]

Ethernet is generally a business connection. I use it at home primarily for security and speed. Inspiron is not designed to be a business tool, so lack of that port is no surprise. The Inspiron market favors wireless.

BTW, in the Lenovo world, Ideapads are below Thinkpads in their food chain. In some cases, quite a bit below.

 

[Dannar26]

Ethernet is generally a business connection. I use it at home primarily for security and speed.

Is there any other reason? =p

BTW, in the Lenovo world, Ideapads are below Thinkpads in their food chain. In some cases, quite a bit below.

I had an ideapad y410p, or somesuch. It had great specs and a smallish form factor, but it was leagues too hot. I'm done with "gaming" laptops...they don't last. Too much heat, not enough dissipation.

The customer support for my ideapad was awful. They sent me the wrong laptop once, they then shipped the correct laptop to the wrong address, and when it game back the video card no longer would kick on. They then exchanged it for a y40...which brand new out-of-the-box had a whining fan issue. I asked for a refund at that point...and months later I finally got it. Never again.

The idea for this laptop may include light gaming, but it's more of a travel tool. CPUs have gotten much more efficient, so I'm hoping the days of laptops that could keep your coffee hot are over.

 

[nerp]

I had several bad experiences with Lenovo on their ideapad line. Maybe thinkpad would be better, but I'm still not over my bias.

ThinkPads vs. the rest of the Lenovo consumer stiff is night and day difference. ThinkPads are solid as a rock. No flex, rugged, can handle extreme temps, great keyboards. Not slight difference, but a chasm. No bloatware on their factory OS images, either. Not one of the recent security problems Lenovo had with preinstalled software has ever affected any ThinkPads.

 

[Dannar26]

In otherwords their consumer grade stuff is utter crap that tries to piggyback off of the thinkpad image?

I work with Latitudes at work...specifically the 6000 series. There seems to be issues with some of the latest models regarding the longevity of their HDDs. This wouldn't be a problem for me as I never keep the HDD as my daily driver. Other than that, I can't really complain.

I haven't really worked with thinkpads. Would you say they're a notch above the latitudes?

 

[corkyg]

To place T-series Lenovos above Dell Latitudes would be very subjective depending on the user's experience. Let's just say they are competitive.

 

[Dannar26]

Right, so at that point we're discussing car brands

 

[Azuma Hazuki]

I should note this is a fairly new phenomenon; until Lenovo went full Mac-tard in 2012 with the *30 series you couldn't PAY me to use a Latitude over a Thinkpad. IMO the quality of both has dropped sharply since about 5 years ago