So I have been running my HP dv7 for a loooong time now. I have been looking for a replacement for like 6 months now but nothing seems to really live up to my expectations. I have been through 2 XPS 15's + a Razer Blade Pro. The XPS's had some serious issues, first one motherboard died within like a day of having it, and the replacement had the backlight flicker issue (common on those) + a laggy as hell desktop (intel graphics cant handle 4k?). The Razer blade.. well more on that later maybe but what a pile of garbage that was.
I do alot of video/photo editing, LIGHT gaming, full adobe suite use. Here is what I am looking for in a laptop: * 1440p or higher resolution (there goes 90% of the market) * IPS panel or something with similarly good colors (glossy preferred) - XPS screen was amazeballs * 15"+ screen size * i7 + GTX 10 series card * G-Sync preferred (because if I enable gsync on the desktop, I never have to deal with the intel graphics again. I hate that auto switching back and forth that you cant disable)
I do NOT care about: * weight or size * battery life * noise (to a degree)
So I ask you, what is there that fits this? Honestly the biggest driver for me is the screen. I am STILL drooling over that XPS screen. Honestly I am thinking about giving the XPS 15 a 3rd try. If there is a better option though I'm all ears.
I think the 9560 xps 15 is the best choice. I've HAD 9550 for a yeah and had no issues, maybe you just got verrry unlucky? I'm sure the 1060 could handle 4k video too.
Maybe Asus has some laptops that fit those specs and resolution, I've had an ideapad y910 for 8ish months now and it's overall a good machine (enough horsepower and stays cool, and I like it not looking all too 'gamey') the mechanical keyboard feels nice, but it's 1080p. Altho for a 17'' display it's good enough for me, at home I just plug it to a 2k monitor.
XPS or Macbook pro. Pick your poison. The razer blade still has a couple iterations to go before the screen is good enough for video and photography work.
The lenovo P50 used to have an option for an igzo 4K panel, but that option seemed to go away at some point. Lenovo also has a real shitty selection for model customization now. Its almost as bad as dell.
Since you don't care about weight or size and you've already blown past the $4K price point, let's focus on what you can get with little consideration of mass.
Dual GTX 10 series, desktop i7, shit-loads of storage and a 4K IPS that actually has hardware to drive it.
If you want Windows it isn't difficult to get it. Legitimate or not.
You literally cannot know that. They could be using any 3840x2160 IPS on the market with any range of quality. They sell the laptop for workstation applications and I would assume they test that it at least follows Adobe's RGB color requirements to the upper 90% requirements.
Also, OP showed that the Blade Pro, a laptop so infamous for being the end-all be-all of gaming/workstation glory in a thin laptop package also just happens to have a shit screen that was entirely worthless to them. Kinda hard to just assume something will be shit because you can't possibly know what screen will be in the laptop they get.
Sure I do. Its called doing business with them on a near regular basis and going to several system 76 boths are various linux fests to see fully speced out prototypes. I have had a couple bonobos of my own and one had a 4K screen. Trust me, they are NOT for color work.
The issue is that the only 4K screen on the market that has accurate colors an igzo panel. Everything else is OEM dog shit. Don't take my word for it. Go read reviews and articles.
System 76 had some igzo panels for a while, and so did lenovo, but they vanished, so IDK what is going on.
Here's the same Clevo chassis but sold by XMG. Since Clevo operates on ordering presets for their barebones chassis (I.E. They give options to the reseller, and the reseller picks what they provide as options to the customer) we can very safely conclude that the screen tested in this review would be the same screen included on the System76 version.
They scored it at 91%, it crushes the Blade Pro in Adobe and sRGB color and trailed only a few percent in contrast and DeltaE color.
It's important to point out that the newer revision P870KM1-G has a similar panel but is G-Sync enabled. I would bet that you can already find this option among Clevo's partners and would be an even better option for display fidelity.
Ive had several people reccomend buying a made to order Clevo style unit. I'm fairly hesitant to buy into one of those because like @Tjj226_Angel said the screen is the most important aspect to me really, and buying something sight unseen like I did with the Razer blade makes me nervous. At least with the blade I could buy it off amazon and get a return/refund with no hassle so the risk was minimal there. Buying something custom built from one of these smaller makers, even with the ones that have a return policy, there is a 15-20% restocking fee on returns. So on a $2500 laptop thats basically 500 bucks just to test if it doesnt work out. Im not sure its work the risk.
To reply to @Baz Asus did have some zenbooks with decent 4k ips panels, but I guess they have since discontinued those. I tried one out at microcenter right before I bought the first XPS.
There is also something to be said about needlessly spending money for the extra power. Im not looking for a desktop replacement, so something with a full on desktop i7 and dual 1080s is not really practical for me. The whole reason i spent the $4000 on a Blade Pro was because the screen looked really good (I had previously tried normal blades in person) those IGZO screens are just amazing. So the blade pro offered a ton of power to boot, and came in a really nice form factor, the build quality was actually top notch, screen and keyboard aside.
That IGZO UHD showed worse performance in the things that matter. So, Clevo ISN'T using shit panels. Nice!
And neither fully meet OPs requirements on specification. So what do you do? It's a toss-up between capable hardware and impeccable screen.
Edit:
With the switch to a G-Sync certified IPS the quality decreases a fair amount, but it's still showing better metrics than the IGZO the XPS comes equipped with.
Unless everything I am reading is bull shit (which is possible), the latest and greatest XPS 15 has a super high end panel with a delta E of 1.4 to 1.6 depending on the review.
The metrics I found on Notebookcheck are only 3 months old. Here's the full review:
They don't say anything bad about the laptop but comparing the metrics to others it doesn't impress. Notebookcheck and Laptopmag are the only two sites I can find that even tested the DeltaE values, and they're so significantly varied that I almost have to worry it's a quality control issue causing some screens to just look like shit.
Haven't seen any mention of the gigabyte aero 15 in this thrrad.. It's only 1080p at the moment but I've heard they are coming it with a 4k screen somewhat soon. It's got a 1060 and a Pantone certified screen. Not sure if the 4k will be certified, and I've never personally used it but it's probably worth checking out anyways.
OK so I went and picked up a 3rd XPS 15 today at microcenter. Going to try running with it again as I just cant get past this display. Apparently dell has a kickass protection program too (normally not one to buy into those) but theirs was $350 for 3 years, no deductible, covers accidental damage etc, and they will do 3 FREE replacements in that time AND give you the SSD back from the previous machine.
Was on amazon for $250. Looks pretty good for a mobile 2nd monitor. All in all everything came out to $2500 roughly after tax. Not bad I dont think. Hopefully this XPS holds up better than the first two
