XPS 9300 or Razer 13? Need help make a selection please!

[ap123ap]

Hi all

Deliberating if I should cancel my XPS 9300 preorder and go for a Razer stealth 13”. Specs below. Both similar machines, one is hot of the press and has a bigger ssd and the other has much more of a mac-esque look to it which I really like. This place is a fountain of knowledge so would be great if you guys could help me decide what I should do!

 

[alstrike]

I'm on the same boat as you atm.

AFAIK the Razer with the dedicated GPU only has a 15W TDP CPU whereas the "mercury white" one has a 25W TDP i7.

Dell XPS I have not seen many reviews yet but it's looking good.

 

[Thysanoptera]

Both similar machines, one is hot of the press and has a bigger ssd and the other has much more of a mac-esque look to it which I really like.

I'd argue that XPS is more mac-esque: 16:10 screen format, only USB-C ports. The choice if fairly simple - if you need dGPU get Razer, if not then XPS will be better in pretty much every other aspect. Although I don't like the limited initial XPS configs, I'm not a fan of 4k on 13 inch screen (or glossy screens in general), and the supposed 32GB option is missing.

AFAIK the Razer with the dedicated GPU only has a 15W TDP CPU whereas the "mercury white" one has a 25W TDP i7.

They both have exactly the same CPU. When dGPU is active TDP of CPU goes down to 15W, one of them simply doesn't have dGPU. But that 15W limit can be easily bypassed in BIOS.

 

[alstrike]

They both have exactly the same CPU. When dGPU is active TDP of CPU goes down to 15W, one of them simply doesn't have dGPU. But that 15W limit can be easily bypassed in BIOS.

I've seen reviews of the Blade Stealth with both iGPU and discrete GPU and the CPU on the Nvidia model throttles a lot because of the 15W TDP which doesn't occur on the iGPU model.

I know they mount the same CPU but it is what it is.

Ice Lake 15W + GTX 1650

Ice Lake 25W

 

[Thysanoptera]

I've seen reviews of the Blade Stealth with both iGPU and discrete GPU and the CPU on the Nvidia model throttles a lot because of the 15W TDP which doesn't occur on the iGPU model.

I know they mount the same CPU but it is what it is.

It's just Razer being afraid of their own products. You can literally disable the 1650 in device manager and it will behave exactly like the iGPU-only version. I have power limits completely bypassed in my BIOS and this machine has no problems whatsoever holding CPU at 25W together with dGPU at 35W, I have no idea why Razer is so skittish. And the CPU alone can go much higher than 25W, it is actually faster than my 4770k based desktop.

 

[alstrike]

It's just Razer being afraid of their own products. You can literally disable the 1650 in device manager and it will behave exactly like the iGPU-only version. I have power limits completely bypassed in my BIOS and this machine has no problems whatsoever holding CPU at 25W together with dGPU at 35W, I have no idea why Razer is so skittish. And the CPU alone can go much higher than 25W, it is actually faster than my 4770k based desktop.

That's very good to know and makes the 1650 model a more interesting product. Even though I'm using a Macbook Pro atm I don't find the mercury model as attractive...

 

[slooksterPSV]

Razer if you want performance. The gpu will make Windows a bit more fluid and you can do gaming.

 

[GoldfishRT]

Already stated but, I think the XPS is the better machine unless you really, really want that dedicated GPU in a smaller form factor.

I know it's not directly related however, I had major issues with my XPS 15 and went through many replacements. The short periods when I wasn't having issues, it was by far the best laptop for the money I've ever used. The few Razer products I tried were cool but didn't seem particularly amazing considering the asking price but, they're certainly the best at offering the kind of performance they do in a package comparable to much less burly machines.

 

[maflynn]

Looks like they're fairly well matched in some respects and quite different in other respects. I'd say ports, and cpu they're about even.

Razer has the edge for performance as you have it configured it with the GTX 1650, whereas the Dell has only the iGPU. If youi have zero need on playing games or apps that rely on the GPU, then that can make sense.

Dell has the edge with customer support, and thin design, plus the keyboard layout is less annoying.

I don't think you can go wrong with either one, but I'm personally partial to Razer as it stands, so I would recommend that just due to my bias.

One suggestion, 4k on a 13" form factor is largely a waste and the higher resolution is lost on such a small display. Even on my 15" Thinkpad, I probably would have been better with a FHD. I get that most people (including me) go for the highest tier configurations (go big or go home) but I think FHD is an ideal resolution for a 13 or 15" laptop (just my personal opinion)

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Agree with those who say the 4k display does not make sense on 13'' display.
It only will eat your battery faster and make the whole system slower.

 

[ap123ap]

Thanks for the info guys. On the basis of most of you have advised, I’ve cancelled the dell order given it has a 4K display. Just need to decide what should order next!

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

If you tell us about your usage scenario, we may be able to offer some advice.