Dell Precision 5520 (E3-1505M, UHD) Workstation Review

[Mike2017]

"though workstation and consumer-grade entertainment machines are weighted slightly differently"

OK, but not only in my opinion, that's not the best way, because you get not the most accurate score and you can't compare consumer laptop to a workstation based on score.

Another thing is and again not only my opinion, consistency. For example my almost 5 years old Inspiron had a score 84%, XPS 15 9550/9560 has 88/89%, although XPS is not only a slightly better.

[Mike2017]

1) "I was simply pointing out that they are the "go-to choice" for most people in a particular demographic because of its unique advantages. And because of these advantages that aren't present on competing laptops, the MBPs are pretty much an irreplaceable standard."

Which advantages, except for Apple hype (sorry marketing), overpriced HW and lack of ports, exactly?
Moreover this:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-15-Late-2016-2-9-GHz-460-Notebook-Review.195702.0.html

is really better "for most people" than this???
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-15-9560-i7-7700HQ-UHD-Laptop-Review.200648.0.html

More than 4000E vs 2100E? And the cheaper is even more powerful (even if you disagree, but more people have proved it).

Sorry, there were times to go Mac (10-15 years ago). Even 5 years ago the 17" MBP was OK, but today there is no PRO MacBook Pro, just an overpriced great looking HW for rich idiots!

And one more thing. Jobs was a snobby arrogant a..hole, BUT thanks to his leadership MBs where the best laptops with innovations. Today?
The most innovative thing is a Touch Bar, although the competitors have FHD and even 4K "touch bar" - the whole display :)))


2) "Also, from what I can gather from sources such as reddit or notebookreview forum, on-site repair from business laptop brands seems to be a definite hit or miss."

Maybe in your country, but there was no problem to repair a 17" Precision in our company.


3) "Besides, my post was solely comparing this review's subject, the Dell Precision 5520, to the 2017 15" MBP."

OK, my first reaction was because of this and there is more than one Precision:
""That is because the 15" Macbook Pro is superior to the Precisioin in almost every way."

[dthrp]

@Mike2017:

"Which advantages, except for Apple hype (sorry marketing), overpriced HW and lack of ports, exactly?"

...Ones I've already mentioned in my reply to you below. And it's not a hype if they have reasonable selling points, is it?

"is really better "for most people" than this???
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-15-9560-i7-7700HQ-UHD-Laptop-Review.200648.0.html"

Of course not, most people don't need either. What I claimed is, it's definitely superior for "most people" "in a particular demographic" or a specific industry. You might perhaps consider the XPS 15 a likely alternative, but some folks have higher standards, hence they'll find it difficult to settle for anything much less than what the MBP has to offer.

"More than 4000E vs 2100E?"

European price tags are meaningless (no offense). As I was replying to @Sid earlier, people are free to import whatever product they want from a better market. Accordingly, the 2017 15" MBP is around $800 more than the XPS 15-9560. But you know what they say, "You get what you pay for".

"And the cheaper is even more powerful (even if you disagree, but more people have proved it)."

I agree. In fact, I never said the XPS wasn't more powerful. And I don't understand the whole "proving" part either. It's not like the ODMs are keeping their specs undisclosed or anything.

"Sorry, there were times to go Mac (10-15 years ago). Even 5 years ago the 17" MBP was OK, but today there is no PRO MacBook Pro, just an overpriced great looking HW for rich idiots!"

Well, I think you've taken the name "Pro" too seriously! I mean it's probably an inside joke that Apple marketing guys put their head together and came up with, as in "Pro" for "Proprietary"!
But really, they're not overpriced, just awfully expensive, that's all. And by the way, "rich idiots" is a literary oxymoron. In reality, people become rich, only because they are smarter then the rest.

"And one more thing. Jobs was a snobby arrogant a..hole, BUT thanks to his leadership MBs where the best laptops with innovations."

You seem to know him pretty well. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were his best friend like War Machine is to Iron Man ;)

"Today? The most innovative thing is a Touch Bar, "

Incorrect. Apple is good at discovering and perfecting a certain tech, not innovating it. Like many other things, the Touch Bar was previously used in Lenovo Thinkpads few years ago. And well precedented multiple times in the past for all we know.

"although the competitors have FHD and even 4K "touch bar" - the whole display :)))"

Call me stubborn, but I'm not a fan of touchscreens. From my experience, mixing up an input and an output is only for people who don't really understand how to maximize the benefits of using either. My workflow is simply faster on a traditional setup. Of course, some argue otherwise and I get why. Certain artists and designers may be convinced. But overall, touchscreen on Windows 10 still feels like an amateurish niche to me. If it was something like "Perfect Air Gesture Control", it would be a different story, but sadly, that dream's far from reality.

"Maybe in your country, but there was no problem to repair a 17" Precision in our company."

Maybe in your company, but then again, your company isn't an accurate representation of the global population, including locals from many countries that I've personally traveled in.

"OK, my first reaction was because of this and there is more than one Precision: "That is because the 15" Macbook Pro is superior to the Precision in almost every way." "

My bad. I only assumed I didn't need to add the model number because I felt it was a common courtesy to NBC to keep the discussion primarily on their review unit. But say if I did mean the entire current Precision line of laptops. Don't you think it's a little unreasonable to compare all of them vs one other laptop, considering it's already tough comparing two very similar yet different products?


Oh, and excuse me for constantly repeating myself, by the way. But you know, you've made it a little hard not to ;P

[Mike2017]

This table tennis is going to be quite time consuming, so only 3 tings:

"European price tags are meaningless (no offense)."

OK


"And by the way, "rich idiots" is a literary oxymoron. In reality, people become rich, only because they are smarter then the rest."

Not at all, otherwise for example G. W. Bush has to be a tremendously smart guy :))


"You seem to know him pretty well. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were his best friend like War Machine is to Iron Man ;)"

Well, well, according to previous, you might be not the poorest person ;)

[dthrp]

@Mike2017:

Fair enough. After all, who am I to judge anyone? ;)

[Mike2017]

@dthrp

Great reply, thanks  :)

[popokatopetl]

There obviously were thermal throttling issues, but have you attempted debugging with Intel XTU or such? Was the CPU throttling thermal or power limit?
The related XPS 15 9560 i7-7700hq is able to do long-term Prime95 below 80 degC, though poor paste jobs seem to be quite common (too much gap, observed by too much paste remaing on the chip or heatsink upon heatsink removal, or uneven gap width due to misalignment).   

[unimpressed]

Work gave me this laptop, and I can definitively say the keyboard is absolutely horrendous.  It regularly registers double types of keystrokes.  I am not alone in this either.  Just do a google search for dell double type.  The problem has been prevalent in all their machines for quite some time, and they continue to use the same design.  There's a lot to be said for keyboard preference, but when the keyboard isn't even registering what you are typing that's a pretty bad show-stopper.

As a side note I actually prefer the shallow travel 2016 mbpro keyboard over this, and prefer the keyboard on my lenovo x1 carbon over the mbpro.

[lewis]

Hi,

Did you ever get any feedback from Dell as I'm interested in this laptop and I'd like to know if they've done anything to improve this throttling.

many thanks.
Lewis.

[adam-T]

Being that it should have the exact same screen as the XPS 15, u think there's a chance that your review unit was a bit of a lemon?

[sebH93]

ce laptop c'est de la bombe

[Wojtek Mazur]

Hi.
Just came here to say that I have this laptop in it's i7 7820HQ Version.
This thing shuts down from overheating.
It's impossible to work with under stress.
Don't bother spending money if you're looking for a work horse or a gaming unit. I would recommend small factor PC build on a miTX  so much more than this.

[Ryan]

The keyboard on this thing is pretty bad, so if you need to type a lot of emails or documents, you're going to want something else. Certain letters don't register, so typing requires constant editing. 

Pretty decent besides that and one trip back to Dell due to overheating.