Dell XPS 13 - Quick Specification Questions.

[FenFox]

-7th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-7100U Processor (3MB Cache, up to 2.4 GHz)
-4GB LPDDR3 1866MHz

vs

-7th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-7200U Processor (3MB Cache, up to 3.1 GHz)
-8GB LPDDR3 1866MHz
--------------------------------

1.) Is the i5 and 8GB DDR3 significantly faster than the i3 and 4GB DDR3?

In my case I'm not really sure if the i5 & 8GB RAM is worth the price difference. I'll be buying one of these Ultrabooks for my mother and she does the most basic of things on her computers that even a $500 machine should be able to handle: Chrome browsing, Watching YouTube videos, sending e-mails and opening PDFs.

2.) Is the i3 & 4GB RAM capable of blazing through those tasks absent signs of slowdown / sluggish behavior with 10 or so Chrome browsers open and a video playing in the background? If I was buying one of these for myself I'd never go anywhere near an i3 & 4GB RAM but my usage scenarios are a lot more demanding than hers.

 

[King of Heroes]

The amount of RAM is going to have a bigger impact on multi-tasking, in this case, then the CPU. 4GB of RAM is very likely not going to be enough. I have the Dell XPS 13 9350 w/ 8GB of RAM and I regularly max that out while multi-tasking.

 

[kirbyrj]

So...why don't you just buy a $100 Chromebook and save yourself the money? I had one with 4GB of RAM and didn't have any significant issues.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

8GB is enough- just!- for daily tasks. I have a hard time understanding computers that ship with less.

 

[FenFox]

So...why don't you just buy a $100 Chromebook and save yourself the money? I had one with 4GB of RAM and didn't have any significant issues.

I've looked at Chromebooks before and not only do I not want to support Google anymore (James Damore firing & other stupid things they've done in the past and present), but I wasn't impressed with what I saw. My mom knows how to use Windows (somewhat) and in the past I bought her an Android tablet, but she never used it because she couldn't be bothered to learn Android so I don't want to make that mistake again. Old people can be really damn stubborn when it comes to learning new (well, relatively new) technology/operating systems. She refuses to even upgrade her 20+ year old TV.

Anyway, you guys basically confirmed my suspicion that 4 GB RAM is probably not a good idea. I have 8 GB and it's usually 75%+ on the memory but I'm the kinda guy that has like 40+ web browser tabs open along with Skype, Downloads, Excel etc. She's not a heavy multi-tasker so maybe 4 GB would be enough for her to get by, but fuck it, why take the chance. It's just dumb that I have to pay for a better processor as well to get 8 GB of RAM.

How much storage is left over on the 128 SSD option? Any ideas?

 

[IdiotInCharge]

How much storage is left over on the 128 SSD option? Any ideas?

Can't answer 'how much' with specificity, but I can say that the answer is 'more than enough'. I run a 120GB SSD in one of my older laptops that's on the retirement block and it has plenty of space after loading MS Office, photo apps, and even a few games like League of Legends.

 

[bigddybn]

The XPS series is not geared toward "my momma only watches cat videos and download chicken soup recipes." Pick a different model.

 

[James21]

You can't upgrade the memory in that model, so get at least 8gb or it will soon be painful to use.
A 128gb SSD is not really useful these days, but you can upgrade that, it takes a standard M.2 2280 drive.

But yes, as others said, it's a premium form factor model, you could probably get better specs at the same or lower prices by going with one of the inspiron models.

 

[noxqzs]

I am on the same fence with a laptop like this. The screen is one of the selling points for the XPS 13, IMO.

 

[margrave]

If this is really meant to be grandma's, then forget the specs. They won't matter.
Instead find reviews that offer meaningful reliability information.
Grandma can't fix a computer. You want to buy one that won't require repairs.

A Chromebook might the best choice.