Had a Surfacebook for about 2months but had
issues with battery drainage during sleep mode and looking for a replalment windows.
Found the Dell XPS to be quite nice and thinking which one to go for.
I do want CUDA for rendering, but if the 4K model of XPS15 doesn’t have a decent 〜4.5hrs of Rhino I’d rather go for XPS13 with i7/QHD+ display.
Anyone out there using the XPS 15 4K or the XPS 13 QHD+?
The 13" doesn’t have CUDA gpu…
I’d go for the Microsoft signature edition of the 15" (or the dell version and do s clean windows install before using it)
Then turn on battery saver and disable all unwanted power drains. (I get 7 hours from a similar spec laptop after tweaking)
XPS15 seems to have issue on bezel. its too thin and bents easily.
Razer Blade seems to be better option since it has GTX1060 with more CUDA.
14 inch is a bit odd in think…
Hi Toshiaki,
I was recently considering also the Dell XPS 15. Here’s my thread: Surface Book (updated Oct.'16) or Dell XPS 15?
I was also concerned about SurfaceBook and sleep mode since I have also a Surface Pro 4 with those issues. I went ahead and ordered the Surface Book with Performance base (has a GTX 965M card). I told the Microsoft store staff my concerns, and I bought it knowing that if I saw any issues I’d return it. The assured me that was no problem< I could just return it no questions asked within 30 days.
I’ve had this machine for 2 weeks and it’s great, no sleep issues, about 16 hours of battery life and I charge it every 2-3 days. Wakes up from sleep everytime, no issues. I run it on my desk with a 4K monitor and for Rhino works surprisingly well. The advantage for battery life is obviously that it only has 2 CPU cores, and ‘only’ 3000x2000’ pixels in its display. So if you need more CPUs for rendering you will be better off with a 4-core Dell, at the price of battery life.
I did some rendering tests with Octane as it’s pretty good. I’ll post results + Holomark scores on my thread.
…but if you still want the Dell I think you will have a great machine with the 15". 4K seems a bit overkill for that size but 1080p is probably not enough for a nice display.
I hope this help, but probably adds more confusion 
G
Yep added a little more to think about.
Good to hear that there’s no problem with the new Surfacebook with the performancebase.
In Japan it’s not sold yet so hard to say if i’d wait for it.
I’m leaning towards the XPS15, but yeah 4K is an overkill and also probably not suitable if taking it outside…
Hmmm,…,
Razerblade I’ll look into it! Thnx.
I’ll checkout if the signature edition is available in Japan. Thnx!
For the XPS13 I was wondering how the performance of rhino and rendering would be.
I’ll second Razor Blade. Beast of a laptop: for octane(CUDA) rendering it’s hard to beat without going for one of those overly large gaming laptops.
Razor Blade is going to have the worst battery life of all the suggestions; but is the most powerful.
I looked into Razer. In my option now.
Trying to check the battery life if just using Rhino for modelling. Or other SW without needing geforce.
Nvidia Optimus will turn off the GPU completely when its not being used … BUT… its worthwhile turning the GPU usage icon on the taskbar and keeping an eye on what software prompts Optimus to turn it back on…
I have it turned off for all modelling apps(all apps), I have my GPU set to only turn on for Octane rendering… but I don’t deal with complex manufacturing models: only architecture…
Thanks for the updated info!
I’m now widening my hunt…
Looking into eGPU unit as thunderbolt is becoming popular.
Found a comparison site.
Which machine did you end up purchasing and did you do a eGPU in the end too or not?
I got the XPS15. Not bad as it is one of the few even now that I can stand to carry and also battery life so so.
The GTX 1050 is really needed if you want to do some renderings.
One thing is the 4K display eats up power, though the image quality is great.
I’d also look into gigabyte Aero 15. GTX1060 and programmable keyboard will surely come in handy if you can assign shortcuts and macros.
Also I’ve got the egpu as well!
The gigabyte aorus gaming box 1070
great stuff, though sometimes a bit unstable when laptop goes to sleep. Rendering is really fast!
I’d go for GTX1080 now available.
It’s one of the cost effective egpu around. The box is really small too.
Need thundebolt connection.
Thanks Toshiaki! These are the machines I am currently looking at for Cyber Monday deals:
Lenovo ThinkPad P71 - https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/p/20HKCTO1WWENUS1/customize?guid=8d8e06f3-488a-4987-998e-ab7986a5fdeb
Razer Blade Pro - https://www.razerzone.com/gaming-laptops/razer-blade-pro/shop
Dell XPS 15 - http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-15/spd/xps-15-9560-laptop/dncwxb1608v2
Surface Book 2 - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/surface-book-2/8mcpzjjcc98c/2mqs
Right now the Lenovo seems to be a good choice, and maybe I won’t have to get a eGPU to supplement.
Let me know your thoughts! Thanks!
Surfacebook is way overpriced you pay for the nice
finishing and the cool gimmick.
Dell seems one generation earlier model now…
Razer seems a good balance, similar to gigabyte aero 15.
But if cost is something that doesn’t need accounting for I’d go for lenovo for an all in one.
For the same cost tho, I might go for Razer and build a desktop with GTX1080 and keep that as rendering machine and work at home/office use. Bigger monitors I do miss.
As for Xeon the core top speed seems to be the topic in some threads. sorry don’t know too much how much impact that has.
Also forgot to mention, unless you decide use the ssd as current working file, it may be a bit small. running for hdd sure will slow things down…
