Was just going back over the leaked specs, I noticed that the XPS 17 is actually slightly thicker than my current 15. That means that Dell has absoloutely zero excuse for dropping the USB A and HDMI ports. That annoys me a lot.
Fuck the shitty I/O, I NEED an XPS 17. 
Apparently I have a nameday coming up in a few days (some kind of Bulgarian tradition I forgot about) and my parents got me a Logitech G604. I’ve had it for the past couple of days, this is a quick first look review and comparison to my Corsair Harpoon Wireless.
The 604 is a wireless mouse with the option of Bluetooth or 2.4GHz. It’s powered by an single AA and doesn’t have a USB port for charging. They say it has 15 programmable buttons, but it’s actually 13 unless they count scroll up and down as buttons. The scroll wheel has a switch to go between ratcheted and free scrolling. Thankfully it has no stupid RGB on it (apart from a single tiny DPI indicator LED). It uses Logitech’s Hero 16K sensor and does between 100 and 16K DPI, I’m still running at 10K.
Overall, the mouse is pretty well built and feels solid. It’s designed for a palm grip and fits very nicely in my hand. It’s much more comfortable compared to the Harpoon which is a claw grip (I’m actually a claw grip person). The 604 is also noticeably heavier than that Harpoon (about 40g), so it’s something to get used to but not a major problem. So it beats the Harpoon in ergonomics by a noticeable amount.
In terms of functionality, it eats the Harpoon alive. Not only are the extra buttons great, but unlike on the Harpoon, they can be programmed wirelessly and you can store up to 5 profiles on the mouse itself. In comparison, the Harpoon could only be programmed over a cable or 2.4GHz and has no profile storage. You have 13 programmable buttons, but you can have 2 layers of macros. That means that if my calculations are correct you can have 23 per profile and 115 on the entire mouse with the 5 profiles (or 25 and 125 if you count scroll up and down programmability).
In terms of gaming performance, I didn’t really notice a difference between the two (besides the extra buttons). The 604’s programming software does however let you have multiple profiles for every game and it autodetects which game you’re in and switches to the profile. The mouse only has 5 memory slots, but you can have a metric fuckton on your computer for it to switch to automatically.
I’m really happy with this thing, considering I found it on discount for 60 (from 85) and my Harpoon cost 65 at the time. If you need a Bluetooth mouse with a trillion buttons, this gets a recommend. Otherwise, just buy an M220 Silent for about 20.
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Last workday 
Going home, this evening or tomorrow morning.
A little settling, then I have time to buy a new laptop
So @the_termin8r I let you loose
I already stated what I want. Would be still happy about 17 zoll. Battery isn’t the big issue, at least I lived for the past 6 years without any on my current one.
1000 Euro should be the limit.
You know, I’m greatfull without words for your help! Thank you!
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Well, the landscape doens’t seem to have changed much since last time, so that 17" Dell Inspiron 3000 is probably still your best bet. I’d speak to your laptop service guy as well though, he’d be more familiar with what’s available on your side.
On another note, Dell released the Precision 17 5750 today (it’s the professional version of the XPS 17 which isn’t out yet). The price makes me want to assume the fetal position and cry. I might actually phone Dell up over the next few days to see if they’d sell it without the OS, SSDs and RAM. Just to see what the price difference would be. For now, the config I want would cost me ~£4.4K BEFORE I put the RAM and SSDs that I want in it. I want to see how much the XPS 17 would cost and if the difference in price would be significant. Precisions have always been more expensive, but they’ve always had slightly better components.
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Just got done interrogating some poor Dell employee on their chat . They were a lot more helpful then I thought they’d be. I asked specificially about the Precision 5750. The main questions and answers are below.
Can I buy one with no RAM, SSDs or OS?
Apparently they can sell you one without an OS, but you have to buy one with RAM and an SSD
Are the 256GB Class 35 SSDs a 2230 or 2280 form factor?
I asked for that puny SSD specifically because it’s the cheapest they had. Apparently they’re 2230s, which means they have a different mounting bracket
What's the smallest capacity SSD that comes as a 2280?
Any capacity that is class 40 or above comes as a 2280. So the cheapest 2280 they have are Class 40 256GB
Do all laptop configurations come with two SSD brackets?
No, you only get as many brackets as you get SSDs in your configuration. So if you buy a single SSD one and want to add another later, you have to speak to support to buy another bracket. If you buy a twin SSD version from the get go, you get 2 brackets. I didn’t ask for a bracket price because I doubt they sell them separately yet.
Is the Quadro RTX 3000 a normal one or a Max-Q version?
As I understood it, unless it explicitly states Max-Q, it’s a normal version.
Do you offer any customer or student discounts?
This was a long shot since it was their entierprise site made for corporations, but I’d read on Reddit that someone managed to get a discount for their one in the chat. They told me to send them an email and they’ll quote me. I’ll report back with the quote.
Full chat transcript (I've taken out identifying info, obviously)
Robert : “Precision 17 5750 enquiry”
Agent : “Hello Robert”
Robert : “Hello, I had a few questions about the Precision 5750 I hoped you could answer for me.”
Agent : “Welcome to Dell Sales Chat, this is [agent name], your Online Chat Sales Advisor. Hope you are doing well. If we get disconnected due to any reason please send an email to [email] or call me on [phone number] with your query”
Agent : “Sure i will be happy to help you”
Robert : “If I was looking to purchase one, would I be able to buy one without any RAM, SSDs or operating system?”
Agent : “Unfortuntely we dont have that option in few systems we have option to remove windows but not memory and ssd”
Robert : “So, I have to purchase it with an SSD and RAM?”
Agent : “Yes”
Agent : “If you are intersted to order i will check the best deal possible for you”
Robert : “ok. I had a couple of other questions as well. Are the class 35 256GB SSDs a 2230 or 2280 form factor and is the Quadro RTX 3000 a regular one or a max q version?”
Agent : “Please give me 2 mins i will check the details”
Robert : “of course, no worries”
Agent : “M.2 2230, Gen 3 PCIe x4 NVMe, Class 35 solid-state drive”
Agent : “Graphic card will be the normal one until it mention as Maxq”
Agent : “If you are interested to order i will help you with the order”
Robert : “Ok, do you know the smallest capacity to come as a 2280? If I were to buy a configuration with a single SSD, would I get a thermal bracket for the second one? If no, would I be able to buy one separately?”
Robert : “So to clarify, for the GPU, it is not a max q unless explicitly stated?”
Robert : “I’m trying to gather some more information before deciding if I want to purchase or not. I’m trying to decided between this or an XPS 17 that should come out soon.”
Agent : “M.2 2280, Gen 3 PCIe x4 NVMe, Class 40 solid-state drive Gen 3 PCIe NVMe x4 up to 2 TB”
Robert : “So does that then mean that all class 40s are 2280?”
Agent : “Yes”
Robert : “ok. Do all configuartions come with 2 SSD thermal brackets?”
Agent : “If we purchase SSD separate then you need to purcahse the bracket”
Robert : “Ok, where can I purchase one from? I tried looking on the Dell website but could not find
one.”
Agent : “Are you looking to purchase only SSD ?”
Robert : “No, my question was if I was to buy a laptop configuration with 1 SSD, but want to add another on my own some time after owning it. I’d need another SSD mounting bracket. Where would I buy the bracket from?”
Agent : “If you select SSD with the system it will come with the bracket”
Agent : “But if you want to buy it for your SSD you need to speak to technical support”
Robert : “I see. One last question. At the time of purchase would you be able to offer some kind of customer or student discount from the list price?”
Agent : “I will surely check the best price possible for you”
Agent : “Please save my email address”
Agent : [email]
Agent : “Please email me when you are ready i will help you”
Robert : “Ok, if I email you, would you be able to give me a quote before I purchase?”
Agent : “Sure i can do that”
Robert : “Ok. Thank you very much for the help. I will send an email for a quote soon.”
Agent : “Sure thank you”
Agent : “Thank you for contacting dell sales, have a great day :)”
Robert : “Thank you, you too.”
Session Ended
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@anna834 I forgot to mention earlier that I’d advise you look for an i5 (or equivalent AMD, AMD are on top these days) CPU. In the case of the Inspiron, as it’s closest to your specifications. The below is the one I’d recommend.
There are ones with more RAM, storage and i7 CPUs available still within your budget, but I can’t speak for their heat performance as I don’t know much about the laptop. i5s are generally safe in terms of how warm they run and you don’t need anything more powerful. As for the RAM, SSDs and WiFi card, they’re all upgradable, so there’s no point in paying Dell a premium when you can get better parts for cheaper elsewhere.
What I will say though is that you should look for this setup or one with twin drives in other shops as well since you might get better deals. I say look for twin drives in case you run into the sort of W10 hell I’ve run into. If you have twin drives, you can keep W10 separate from all your files if something goes wrong.
Typically I’d say buy one with a single drive and then buy all the other components separately from other places and install them yourself (or take them to your service guy in your case) due to it being cheaper, but I looked on ebay and none of the necessary parts are available. If you don’t find a twin drive version, it’s not the end of the world, you’ll just have to backup your data more frequently.
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Hey,
Thank you.
I find it very intresting.
My son says, i can choose the type of graphic card.
Whitch would you recommend?
For your use case, you don’t need a graphics card, it’s a nice-to-have but just increases the cost (and the heat when you start using it). Generally I’d say high end Nvidia 10xx or higher. I have a 1050 4GB in my XPS and it has been more than capable, but it’s getting old. MX series cards are only slighly better than integrated CPU graphics. I don’t know anything about AMD’s cards.
Also, in the case of the Inspiron, upgrading to an MX230 (which is very weak) also involves upgrading to an i7. I don’t know how hot it will run. If you find an i5 with a GPU and it isn’t that much more expensive go for it. However, I’d look for twin drives over a GPU.
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I can’t get used to the fact they install such graphic cards in laptops… or do you mean a GPU?
Hi, apologies for my late entry but wow this forum is amazing.
Now laptops having a high end graphics card is becoming a reality. I have a laptop, a Dell Inspiron series 3000. 4GB Ram, i3 and onboard graphics card. Something on the low end i must say. Got it a few years back. I can do some video editing on it easy. Not 4k videos but the full HD videos no problem. Day to day use also has no issues. Dell has a good range of laptops.
I do not like the windows updates though. Over time they slow down the system.
The GPU is the graphics card. It’s just called a card, because on a desktop they comes as PCIe cards. A 1050 was actually fairly mild even when the laptop came out. These days the 1650 replaces it. But you can get laptops with some version of pretty much every 10, 16 and 20 series card. Then you get Quadros in the workstations. The RTX3000 that I asked the Dell guy about sits between a desktop 2060 and a mobile 2070.
They still haven’t replied with a quote by the way.
Not really. They have some decent models, but to call it a good range is a stretch. Also, it’s beyond me how you managed to do any kind of video editing with an i3 and 4GB RAM. Did your export time measure in weeks?
Don’t talk to me about Windows updates. I’d take a slow system over one that is actively plotting to destroy me. LOL
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Hhaha no not weeks, Just a few minutes. I just change the priority level to Max so the CPU uses all its threads on render…
I’m pretty sure that’s supposed to happen automatically.
I’ve talked to my pc guy. He already knows my number, picks up the phone and greets me by name. ok, I have the easiest number ever.
And he was quite impressed with your recommendation. Especially the details, I didn’t understand anyway. He even said, that’s a bargain.
And: I’m happy, you didn’t say HP.
So I ordered.
Thank you very much! 
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I’m just glad you’ve found someone who actually knows about computers and isn’t just a salesman.
My family has been almost exclusively on HP laptops, though their quality seems to have gone down and the Dells seem to be better value for money.
No worries, this is the part where I start to doubt my recommendation and hope that I haven’t just sent you to a technological hell.
Which config did you go for, the i5?
On the topic of Dell, I’m going to try and get in touch with the person I was speaking to as I still haven’t gotten an email back. I’ll also ask them for the price of a custom XPS 17 loadout as that came out the other day.
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I just ordered the offer. But it says there i5.
It’s a father and son company. They take care of the PCs in small companies, like the veterinarian
practice of a friend. The father does mostly the repairing and new installation in their firm. And if he can solve your problem, it’s really cheap.
So happy to have them in walking distance to my home.
The link I posted, or did you find a better one elsewhere?
Your link.
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Nice. It’s a surprisingly decent laptop, it’s got two drive bays, two RAM slots, a socketed WiFi card, replaceable battery. Replaceable, NOT hot-swappable, you can’t just pop it out from the bottom like on an old laptop, but it isn’t glued in like an Apple. The only two immediate downsides I see are 1) that the parts needed to install a second drive (bracket and cable) seem to be scarce, but your guy might have some kind of parts to fit and 2) that the laptop might be a bit plastic-y given the price. You won’t be getting aluminium, carbon fibre or anything else exotic for that price.
EDIT:
Just pray that W10 shows you mercy.
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