[214324]

Dell XPS 13 2015 or rMBP 2015? XPS 13 would be like $100 less than rMBP but no touch screen on the MacBook... Mhmmm...

They have the Ubuntu version of the XPS 13 2015 out which cuts off $100 or more off the pricetag because no Windows.
 
I'd only recommend this if 1. you have a spare copy of Windows on hand (whether it be already there or provided by your school via Dreamspark) or 2. you plan on using Linux.

 

[214324]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1032279-REG/samsung_np940x5j_k02us_ativ_book_9_i74500_8gb_256ssd_windows_8_1_15_6.html
 
Oh wow, that is a steal for this laptop. IMO the most beautiful laptop on the market right alongside the Macbooks. I'm having urges.
 
B&H also has the i5 + 128GB SSD model but considering that's only $50 less...thank goodness for clearing out stocks.

 

[Magick Man]

Notebooks with only 8GB on non-upgradeable RAM are a bad idea.

 

[Blisse]

Welp, have been deciding for a month now. Just ordered the XPS 13 QHD+ Touch 8GB 256GB Windows 8.1 model (omg why is it so long) for $1300 after taxes which I think is a decent deal since it's usually $1300 before taxes. I ordered it but I don't think it'll process and ship in time even though I got the express option (leaving Seattle this weekend and it said to wait 7-10 days for processing.... ). I guess I'll see if they ship it tomorrow otherwise I'll probably just cancel it and buy it more expensively in Canada

I have not run into ram issues at 8GB because I don't run VMs. Maybe sometimes when I open 40 Chrome tabs but I'm pretty good with keeping that down. I'm leaning towards the rMBP because it has the 16GB ram option in case I ever do want to do heavier resource stuff... Rarely notice being limited by 8GB of ram though. The problem is really the rMBP with 16GB of ram would cost like $500 more after taxes than the option I have with the XPS 13 with 8GB of ram... and $300 more if the rMBP had 8GB. I love Apple quality but I'm not convinced that it'd be worth $300-500 more at that point.


Thanks for the link Hybrid, actually never heard of that laptop so I researched that too and it looked great. Just was hesitant on paying for a last generation model meant to be a desktop replacement whereas I'm really looking for a portable that I can program/web browse/light game on. I have a 14" T420 and wanted smaller, so I think a 15" would be away what I actually want thanks though xD

The rMBP also looks nice because I can just use OSX and Bootcamp instead of dualbooting some broken Ubuntu distro (elementary OS is so buggy atm). I have to figure out how to run a Linux server at home though so I can just SSH into it when I want to develop on commandline inside Windows, which might mean I don't always need the 16GB of ram.... If any of you are programmers, I'll have you know my .bashrc has a "alias dir=ls" entry in it so I don't mind the command prompt as much... I just wish it was clear how to add features to cmd in windows because posh is a pain...

 

[vantt1]

Welp, have been deciding for a month now. Just ordered the XPS 13 QHD+ Touch 8GB 256GB Windows 8.1 model (omg why is it so long) for $1300 after taxes which I think is a decent deal since it's usually $1300 before taxes. I ordered it but I don't think it'll process and ship in time even though I got the express option (leaving Seattle this weekend and it said to wait 7-10 days for processing....

). I guess I'll see if they ship it tomorrow otherwise I'll probably just cancel it and buy it more expensively in Canada

I have not run into ram issues at 8GB because I don't run VMs. Maybe sometimes when I open 40 Chrome tabs but I'm pretty good with keeping that down. I'm leaning towards the rMBP because it has the 16GB ram option in case I ever do want to do heavier resource stuff... Rarely notice being limited by 8GB of ram though. The problem is really the rMBP with 16GB of ram would cost like $500 more after taxes than the option I have with the XPS 13 with 8GB of ram... and $300 more if the rMBP had 8GB. I love Apple quality but I'm not convinced that it'd be worth $300-500 more at that point.


Thanks for the link Hybrid, actually never heard of that laptop so I researched that too and it looked great. Just was hesitant on paying for a last generation model meant to be a desktop replacement whereas I'm really looking for a portable that I can program/web browse/light game on. I have a 14" T420 and wanted smaller, so I think a 15" would be away what I actually want

thanks though xD

The rMBP also looks nice because I can just use OSX and Bootcamp instead of dualbooting some broken Ubuntu distro (elementary OS is so buggy atm). I have to figure out how to run a Linux server at home though so I can just SSH into it when I want to develop on commandline inside Windows, which might mean I don't always need the 16GB of ram.... If any of you are programmers, I'll have you know my .bashrc has a "alias dir=ls" entry in it

so I don't mind the command prompt as much... I just wish it was clear how to add features to cmd in windows because posh is a pain...

I run VMs and have "only" 8 GB of RAM and I've never run into any issues. I personally don't see the need for any more than 8 GB.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I have 4 gb of ram, and after around 10 tabs of chorme that contain flash or ads, chrome crashes, if i do not enable any virtual ram.

 

[Magick Man]

I run VMs and have "only" 8 GB of RAM and I've never run into any issues. I personally don't see the need for any more than 8 GB.

Right now, but not being able to upgrade beyond that limits the lifespan of the notebook, severely. Who knows what demands new software will have 18 months from now?

 

[Blisse]

I run VMs and have "only" 8 GB of RAM and I've never run into any issues. I personally don't see the need for any more than 8 GB.

Right now, but not being able to upgrade beyond that limits the lifespan of the notebook, severely. Who knows what demands new software will have 18 months from now?

Uhh, it's extremely clear what demands software will have in 18 months and that software isn't going to push the requirements to 8GB of ram to run.

The only real reason for >8GB of ram is image and video manipulation and processing, and quickly switching between resource intensive processes like between VMs and 30 tabs of Chrome, which aren't proper expectations for a non-workstation laptop.... 16GB is useful to have but it's not a "severe" problem like you keep mentioning, even if Linus keeps insisting otherwise.

edit: sorry it should be that it would be useful to have the option to upgrade to it, but it's not a severe problem if it isn't. my points still stand i think. 16GB upgradeability isn't a huge factor, but it is something that would be useful. but it also comes at the expense of size.

 

[Phishin Phool]

Uhh, it's extremely clear what demands software will have in 18 months and that software isn't going to push the requirements to 8GB of ram to run.

The only real reason for >8GB of ram is image and video manipulation and processing, and quickly switching between resource intensive processes like between VMs and 30 tabs of Chrome, which aren't proper expectations for a non-workstation laptop.... 16GB is useful to have but it's not a "severe" problem like you keep mentioning, even if Linus keeps insisting otherwise.

agreed, I am a heavy gamer and photo person and 8gb ram has been fine for me

 

[214324]

Notebooks with only 8GB on non-upgradeable RAM are a bad idea.

I'm not sure what to think of Samsung in the maintenance route.
 
Traditionally their ATIV 9 books have removable memory. My father's current one does too.
 

Thanks for the link Hybrid, actually never heard of that laptop so I researched that too and it looked great. Just was hesitant on paying for a last generation model meant to be a desktop replacement whereas I'm really looking for a portable that I can program/web browse/light game on. I have a 14" T420 and wanted smaller, so I think a 15" would be away what I actually want

thanks though xD

Samsung has somewhat gone quiet in marketing their laptops and ultrabooks in the US.
 
In fact the ATIV Book 9 with Broadwell Core M is actually thinner than the new Macbook yet almost nobody talked about it.

 

[Magick Man]

Uhh, it's extremely clear what demands software will have in 18 months and that software isn't going to push the requirements to 8GB of ram to run.

The only real reason for >8GB of ram is image and video manipulation and processing, and quickly switching between resource intensive processes like between VMs and 30 tabs of Chrome, which aren't proper expectations for a non-workstation laptop.... 16GB is useful to have but it's not a "severe" problem like you keep mentioning, even if Linus keeps insisting otherwise.

edit: sorry it should be that it would be useful to have the option to upgrade to it, but it's not a severe problem if it isn't. my points still stand i think. 16GB upgradeability isn't a huge factor, but it is something that would be useful. but it also comes at the expense of size.

Okay, fine, enjoy. :rolleyes: I simply know that with 8GB of RAM I can't run Chrome with 15-20 tabs open and Adobe PS at the same time without a good deal of page swapping going on, and even with a SSD the slowdown is noticeable. My point is I refuse to buy such an obviously limited machine off the bat, at the very least it should come with 16GB on-board (it doesn't take any more room on the PCB), if there's no way to expand it. This is clearly a case where the accountants are running R&D and the company is forcing you on a shorter upgrade cycle.

 

[linglingjr]

I'm just sitting here with 2x4gb sticks of dominator ram I bought on ebay... It's supposed to run at 1600 but my bios has reported it at 1066 for years now.  Is it because they're missmatched sticks even though they have the same exact specs and everything?  
 
Every time I've tried to change it, it won't boot.  I don't know if I'd even see a performance increase, would I?
 
Just got threw in a 1tb drive.  I got down to the last 60gb on my 500gb drive last week 

 

 

[62ohm]

  I'm just sitting here with 2x4gb sticks of dominator ram I bought on ebay... It's supposed to run at 1600 but my bios has reported it at 1066 for years now.  Is it because they're missmatched sticks even though they have the same exact specs and everything?  
 
Every time I've tried to change it, it won't boot.  I don't know if I'd even see a performance increase, would I?
 
Just got threw in a 1tb drive.  I got down to the last 60gb on my 500gb drive last week 

 

 
A memory that has 1600mhz clock speed doesn't run natively at 1600. In fact, almost every single DDR3 memory runs at 1066 / 1333 by default. Higher speed memory, for example a 2x4GB DDR3-1600 CL9, or a 2x4GB DDR3-1866 CL10 means they are guaranteed to be able to run at 1600mhz CL9 and 1866mhz CL10 respectively in overclocking.
 
So to run your 2x4gb DDR3-1600 dominators, you need to overclock them to 1600. Though technically, running a 1600 memory at 1600mhz is not overclocking (it's simply setting the memory to run at speed of which it is designed to run at). You would be 'overclocking' your RAM if you run your DDR3-1600 RAM at higher than 1600mhz..
 
 
edit: and no, you won't see a performance increase in day-to-day operations. You are most likely only going to see the performance increase in benchmarks like SuperPI.

 

[linglingjr]

Thanks.  Playing around with ram settings was always a huge gray spot with me.
 
Just installed the new HDD and I never gave a rats ass about hdd temps before, but now I look at them and it has my ssd and both hdds at 45 idle and 45 after moving 300gb of files...  CPUID and harddisk Sentinal both spit out the same high numbers.  I'm running a corsair 300d.  
 
The fact it says my ssd is also at 44 like all other drives makes me think it's completely wrong.  I'm really wishing I had one of those $15 IR temp guns right now >_____________>  MUH PARANOIA!

 

[Dobrescu George]

so.. i get that you were expecting the ssd to had been cooler?