Dell Precision 5530 business version of the XPS 9570 now official, Quadro P1000/P2000 graphics in tow

[Redaktion]

Available in Platinum Silver and Brushed Onyx, the 15.6-inch Dell Precision 5530 is the brand's smallest mobile workstation. Its comprehensive list of hardware options includes 8th generation Intel Core i5, i7, and i9 processors, two IGZO 4 displays, NVIDIA Quadro P2000 graphics, as well as up to 32 GB of 2,666 MHz memory.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Precision-5530-business-version-of-the-XPS-9570-now-official-Quadro-P1000-P2000-graphics-in-tow.299862.0.html

[endintiers]

I'm not sure that they ARE the same. I've taken apart a couple of Precision 5510s and a number of XPS 9550s and the internal build quality of the Precisions is much better.

[Codrut Nistor]

I guess in this case they are more carefully engineered to allow for the use of the Quadro graphics cards.

[praveen]

ubuntu 16.04 is too old, thats what is available with 5520. Why would they ship with such an old ubuntu version ?

[Codrut Nistor]

Maybe because 16.04 is a LTS release and 18.04 LTS has just been released?

[Saeed]

Dell Precision 5530 is officially launched and available on the website for order.

[InDoubt]

Can anyone explain why this is so much more expensive than the XPS 15? Is the i7 8850H + Quadro P1000 worth a $1000 more than an i7 8750H + 1050Ti? Thanks in advance!

[Recardo]

Because workstations have always been outragiously overpriced. Unless your line of work requires Quadro graphics or EMMC memory you're better off with a multimedia or gaming laptop.

[Codrut Nistor]

Workstations are not necessarily overpriced, but the Quadro series might be overpriced, more careful design and engineering might be also overpriced - when looking from the basic laptop user's perspective. However, if you use these machines for artistic/commercial 3D rendering and CAD/CAM applications and break even in a month or less, it doesn't matter much if you pay a few hundreds extra for it. One thing is to pay 1000 bucks for a laptop that will not bring in any cash, and paying 3 or 4 thousand for a workstation that will bring you 6-7 thousand or more per month... it's a bit different, don't you think?

[Recardo]

I have yet to see any actual evidence of "more careful design and engineering", or false claims of cherry picking components. If anything workstations have shown to have cooling systems far more unstable and incapable than gaming laptop counterparts. Outer hardware - display, audio, webcam, touchpad - is usually rubbish as well. This matter has been repeatedly and extensively discussed over at Notebookreview Forums.
Also your last analogy with numbers is a wild exaggeration as we both know professionals can afford to spend an extra. My point is that for things that involve dGPU, consumer laptops are far more capable than business laptops at same price point.

[Codrut Nistor]

Jackpot! You now said the essential - "My point is that for things that involve dGPU, consumer laptops are far more capable than business laptops at same price point." - and I absolutely agree with that. Sorry for not making it clear, but when I said what I said I had expensive workstations in mind.

[SIMON J WEAVER]

They're really not the same if you want 2 hard drives.

You have to get the smaller battery for 2 hard drives in the 5530 but there's no such option for XPS.

I'm opting for the 5530 with stock 2.5" drive to add in a Samsung nvme drive for $400 instead of the $660 Dell wants for the same capacity. So make sure if you want to do the same you keep the smaller battery.

Happy that the price comes out reasonably similar, and you get the Quadro which has higher performance and is newer.

Is the screen different or the same part? (for the 4k)

[Ljubomir]

Looking forward to seeing the difference in performance between this and the XPS 15 9570.

[Jon Parkinson]

I have the 5520--last years model. I got it for the low weight and hi res display. It does have those two qualities, so I'm mostly ok with it. However, the inside (around the keyboard and display) looked grungy within a week of getting it, the speakers are very muffled, and it has one of the dumbest design flaws I've seen. The mic is located right next to the left click button at the bottom of the trackpad. If I click it while skyping, to the other person it sounds like gunfire going off no matter how lightly I click it.

The 5530 looks like the same design, so try that out before you buy it.

[Saeed]

I was just reading the detailed system spec in Dell's support website (notebookchat.com does not allow me to paste the link here, saying no links allowed in the message for users with low post counts!)
Here are some issues that I have found with this model:
notebookchat.com: Please confirm these in your review for the product. Thanks.

1- Camera is located at the bottom of the display. I don't know if this causes the face to look weird in the conference calls.
2- This is really sad. The top of the line Quadro video card outputs only up to 920x1200 in PC Mode, and 1920x1080 in TV mode, (1080p). This means apparently you cannot attach a 4K monitor directly to the laptop. Really, Dell?!!  >:( :-\
3- The fact that you have to go with the 3 cell battery (56 WHr) if you want to get the second hard drive. Because of the placement of the battery and the hard drive. Take a look at the inside configuration of the laptop here: (Again the website doen's allow me to paste the link, but find it in the Dell support website.)
4- UHD power consumption is more than twice the FHD (9.23W vs 4.22W). Assuming you want to get the configuration with two hard drives that you can only go with the 3 cell battery, I don't think this would provide long working hours.
5- Camera's still image resolution is less than 1 mega pixels (0.92).
6- Something you wouldn't find by your own: battery has only 300 discharge/recharge cycles.
7- I searched a lot, but wasn't able to find the location of the microphone, as one of the previous reviews mentioned 5520 had its mic next to the touch pad causing very high noise when using it during a call.