Marshallmax
New Member
Shopping around for a new laptop to use at the office and to take home when doing work from home. Would mainly be using it for Illustrator.
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Best New Laptop For Print Shop
- Thread starter Marshallmax
- Start date
I've been watching the notebook market closely for the past couple of years. My current notebook is getting pretty old, old enough that a number of components can't be replaced anymore (such as the battery). So many models, including Apple's Mac Book Pro line, have had thermal issues, making things like Core i9 CPUs a waste of money in those things. I've bought a lot of Dell systems over the years, but was completely turned off by the current Alienware M15 & M17 models, which only have FHD screens and max out at 16GB of RAM.
This week Dell released a new 15" XPS model that seems pretty good. It's available to order now on Dell's web site. It has a new body design, similar to the popular 13" XPS. But I'm more excited about the 17" XPS model that will be released sometime this summer. The XPS 17 will have a near bezel-less screen and a footprint similar in size to many 15" notebooks currently on the market. But the internal thermal design (a new vapor chamber system) is a step up from the new XPS 15 model. That's going to allow for better top end performance. Gotta wait for actual reviews to see if the Core i9 version will run well without getting too hot and throttling down the CPU like what happens on so many other high end systems. The new XPS 15 & 17 models use 10th-gen Core CPUs and support up to 64GB of RAM. The screens are 16:10 ratio, in either 1920x1200 resolution or 3840x2400 with touch and non-touch options available. The XPS 15 can be equipped with a Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q video card. The XPS 17 will allow up to a RTX 2060. These are not designed as gaming machines, so they don't offer top of the line cards. But the machines will be significantly more portable and have much better battery life than a gaming style notebook.
The only annoying downside I see with the new XPS 15 & 17 models is some standard ports have disappeared. No USB type A ports, no Ethernet jack, no HDMI. Obviously it's all about slimming down the chassis design. The 15 model has 3 USB-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a full size SD card slot. The 17 model adds a 4th USB-C port. They support Thunderbolt 3. The AC adapter plugs into a USB-C port. The models include a USB-C expansion dongle in the box featuring a HDMI port and USB type A port.
This week Dell released a new 15" XPS model that seems pretty good. It's available to order now on Dell's web site. It has a new body design, similar to the popular 13" XPS. But I'm more excited about the 17" XPS model that will be released sometime this summer. The XPS 17 will have a near bezel-less screen and a footprint similar in size to many 15" notebooks currently on the market. But the internal thermal design (a new vapor chamber system) is a step up from the new XPS 15 model. That's going to allow for better top end performance. Gotta wait for actual reviews to see if the Core i9 version will run well without getting too hot and throttling down the CPU like what happens on so many other high end systems. The new XPS 15 & 17 models use 10th-gen Core CPUs and support up to 64GB of RAM. The screens are 16:10 ratio, in either 1920x1200 resolution or 3840x2400 with touch and non-touch options available. The XPS 15 can be equipped with a Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q video card. The XPS 17 will allow up to a RTX 2060. These are not designed as gaming machines, so they don't offer top of the line cards. But the machines will be significantly more portable and have much better battery life than a gaming style notebook.
The only annoying downside I see with the new XPS 15 & 17 models is some standard ports have disappeared. No USB type A ports, no Ethernet jack, no HDMI. Obviously it's all about slimming down the chassis design. The 15 model has 3 USB-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a full size SD card slot. The 17 model adds a 4th USB-C port. They support Thunderbolt 3. The AC adapter plugs into a USB-C port. The models include a USB-C expansion dongle in the box featuring a HDMI port and USB type A port.