Trying to choose a Dell laptop

Hello, I'm new to this forum as I need expert advice on which laptop to pick! And I'll apologise in advance if this thread gets a bit lengthy, just trying to give as much info as possible so please bear with me and I appreciate anyone who reads through to the end and replies

I need a new laptop to effectively be a desktop replacement. Having researched I know in theory what to look for, which processors are better etc and kind of narrowed it down to Dell for the reason that they seem to be a well liked brand and they are currently doing a promotion on their UK website to effectively get £200 off most laptops. Although even without the discount I think they are still cheaper than other brands like Lenovo (which I'd also consider). I think HP seem a bit more reasonably priced than other brands too but have got very mixed reviews from actual users as to whether their laptops are any good.

So, onto what I'm looking for. Basically a laptop to last as long as possible, like 5 years+. For this reason I'm looking for the most RAM, hard drive memory and best processor (i7) I can get. A dedicated graphics card would be nice but not hugely necessary I don't think. Optical drive would also be good but I know a lot of the top spec laptops are too thin for them and would rather not compromise on performance for this. As many USB ports as possible - I cannot stand trackpads so one will be permanently used by a wireless mouse, and at least 2 more would be needed as it's not unusual for me to have a phone plugged in along with a portable hard drive when I back up. I'm not sure if I'd need a thunderbolt port for 'future-proofing'. I have 2 external hard drives that I only bought in July so not going to be replacing them soon (touch wood!). Printer would connect wirelessly and other than phone and cameras there isn't anything else I'd need to connect (except maybe an external optical drive?) I'm also not a touch screen fan so not a feature I see me utilising.

In terms of actual usage, it would be for the general every day kind of stuff, internet, email etc, streaming and downloading videos and music (i binge download so not an every day thing but when I do, will be loads in one go). I also have a tendency to have a lot of tabs open in browsers in one go. I also like photography so do a bit of photo editing and a lot of converting of photos from RAW to jpeg which can be slow going (and hence why a lot of hard drive storage needed). I'm not a gamer but I do play one online flash game and every now and then might download a hidden object game to pass the time. I definitely don't want a gaming laptop though because they do seem very bulky and heavy. I do not need a laptop to be really portable as I won't be taking it out of the house (the rare exception being if I ever want to take it on holiday with me) but i literally only use a laptop on my lap, sitting on the sofa, very rarely on a desk or table so need it to be comfortable enough to use for long periods of time in this manner. Finally, I'd need it to have good speakers if possible, mainly because a lot of times on skype connection is not always great and need to crank the speakers up to hear the other person. (And the only brand I have tried this out on is HP on my sister's fairly new pavillion(? i think that's the model she has) laptop and I did not like the sound on that, even just watching something on youtube the sound was v tinny and quiet). Also, whatever I'm using the laptop for, 90% of the time I multitask - I may be downloading while listening to music on youtube, uploading and editing photos and downloading said photos to an external hardrive.Ok a slightly extreme example but something I'd need the laptop to be able to cope with.

So finally, after all that, the laptop I originally chose was the Dell Inspiron 17 5000 with a new 8th generation intel i7. https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/lap...n-17-5000/spd/inspiron-17-5770-laptop/cn77004
Not the absolute highest spec laptop available I know but for the price seemed like a good buy. However, of the few reviews I saw it seems it's a bit laggy and the screen is not as good as other comparable laptops. However, all these reviews were for laptops with the 7th gen i7 and less RAM. But, it got me looking at some others and a lot of the other 15 inch inspiron models also seem good on paper. I also like the look of the XPS 15 9560 but not the price. http://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptop-and-2-in-1-pcs/xps-15-9560/spd/xps-15-9560-laptop/cnx95608
But if it would last a lot longer than a cheaper model it's something I may consider. (Oh and by the way, this choice was made purely from internet shopping, I am so busy atm that I don't really have time to go around all the various shops trying to find all the models i'm interested in to try them out, which is not the best way to do it I know but I really do need a laptop soon and can't really wait till I will have time.)

I would like to know if anyone has tried out any of the dells with the new 8th gen i7 processor? would it make a big difference in performance of a mediocre laptop or will it still be a mediocre laptop? is the 8th gen i7 u as good as or better than an i7 hq processor? and is the top spec xps 15 worth the extra money? Also, any other laptops I may have overlooked?

Thank you so much for reading all that and huge thanks in advance to anyone who replies

 

Ok, if you are not gaming, pretty well any processor will do. I am typing this on the Inspiron 13 5000 2 in 1 with the 4550U Pentium processor. No core i3 or anything. I maxed out ram, installed a 2 tb SSHD firecuda Drive. Processors these days are MUCH faster than years before when I was using the same programs on them. So my el cheapo dell is REALLY FAST. I do photo, video editing and more on my system. It might take a few seconds longer than a maxed out device....but not terrible that's for sure. I paid 579 cdn for my laptop, another 100 bucks for the 16gb of ballistic ram and 120 for the 2tb drive. All in all, my device does EVERYTHING I need it too besides proper "inking". I wish it had dell pen support. I noticed the new devices have it...So I am not sure if mine actually does or not.

 

Thank you very much that's good to know. I just have one more follow up question please - do laptops run noticeably slower nowadays when hard drive storage starts to fill up and would the processor make a difference in this case? Thanks again!

 

processor would not help a stuffed hard drive. ha ha. Thats all to do with the read/write of the drive. I can tell you the drive i put in my Inspiron is AWESOME. not quite as fast as an SSD, but MUCH MUCH faster than a normal hard drive, plus 2TB of storage. It's working out great. I really like the 5000 series devices!

 

Thank you this has been really enlightening and shall definitely save myself the £1.5k difference in price between the inspirons and the xps!

 

Unless you are doing it for professional work and NEED the speed, then you would NEED the XPS...if you are like myself an advanced amateur, who is doing blogs etc then, the Inspiron is enough. Add the mods and they are great!