HP vs DELL

[Nadorotai]

Hi,

I am searching for a laptop with i7 (quadcore i7 6700 HQ or dualcore i7 7500U).

I have seen:

(1) HP OMEN 15-ax011na Gaming Laptop, Intel Core i7-6700HQ, 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD + 256GB SSD, 15.6", 4K Ultra HD, Carbon Fibre Mesh.

(2) Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Touchscreen 15.6 inch Laptop (Intel Core i7-6700HQ, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD + 128 GB SSD, NVidia GTX 960M 4 GB Dedicated Graphic,  UHD, Windows 10), Black.

Would you mind telling me the advantages of the i7 6700 HQ in front of the i7 dual core?

Would you mind telling me the advantages of the HP in front of the DELL?

Thanks in advance,

Aitor G

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

The HP has a bigger SSD. A 128 gig SSD is going to fill up very rapidly and you will wish you got something bigger. I think both have a 4k display, which is very high res and beautiful and will rock your games if that is why you are buying it. . 

Both seem to have the same processor, which is very powerful i7 Quad Core 6th generation. Nearly the top of the line processor. The HP has nVidia 965M graphics vs. the Dell has 960M. There is some difference:

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-965M-vs-GeForce-GTX-960M

Same memory. 16 gigs is plenty. 

The 965 video is a little stronger than the 960. So the HP wins by a nose: slightly better video "card" and bigger SSD. Otherwise these are both very poweful machines. My only comment is that the nVidia 1000 series is now out and the video is far better but I understand they are selling these old 900 series machines at a drastic discount. I would want to know how much you are being asked to pay for these machines. 

If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it.  

[Nadorotai]

Dear Huffer,

Thank you very much for your kind reply. The prices of the below laptops are around 1000-1200 GBP.

I am interested in a laptop with a good processor, plenty of space and sufficiently enough RAM to use it during a long time (i.e., 6-8 years). Each year there are tremendous advances, and one processor which is OK for today, it is going to be very slow in a couple of years.

Additionally, I would like that the computer to be compact to facilitate its transport.

I was looking some other models, and there is another one that I liked. But, I have several doubts:

HP ENVY 15-as104na (4K)

• Windows 10 Home 64
• Latest 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-7500U processor
• 39.6 cm (15.6") diagonal 4K Ultra-HD (3840 x 2160) display
• 8GB RAM with 256GB PCIe SSD and 1TB storage
• Bang & Olufsen; HP Audio Boost; Dual speakers

But I have several doubts:

(Q1) RAM is 8GB, is it possible to easily install more RAM? How much?

(Q2) About the processor, dual core i7-7500U is convenient? Compared with the quad core i7-6700HQ (HP Omen), which of them is more convenient? I have seen that the main advantage of i7-7500U is its more efficient power consumption.

(Q3) Would you mind recomending me an alternative more convenient laptop?

Thanks in advance.

Best wishes,

Nadorotai

[Huffer]

Upgrading RAM on these newer models is possible but very hard and creates warranty issues so buy what you think you need. 8 gigs is a lot of RAM but 16 is guaranteed to be enough. Not sure what you mean by a "convenient" processor. If you mean "powerful" the i7-7500 will be less powerful than the i7-6700 and any processor with a U on the end is an ultra low voltage which means it is slowed down a bit for power savings. So you have to weigh battery life vs. raw power. The i7-7500U is going to be the best possible thing you can get that will balance "enough" raw power vs. battery life. The i7-6700 is just going to be powerful and still have OK battery life. 

[Nadorotai]

Hi, Thanks again for your kind replies. I would like to have the possibility of upgrade the RAM after 3 years. I was searching in the specifications about the limit of RAM installable but I can not find this detail.
Do you know how much RAM could be installed? Is it determined by the laptop model, processor,...?

Thank you very much

[Huffer]

memory specs:

Two memory slots, nonaccessible Support for DDR4-2133 Dual Channel Support for up to 16-GB maximum on-board system memory ● 16384 MB (8192 MB × 2)

See p. 33 of the Manual here:

Manual

It says not accessible but you just remove the back panel and the memory slots are there. Uses the newer type DDR4 laptop memory. The model you asked about HP ENVY - 15-as104na has 2 x 4 gig modules installed so to get 16 gigs you have to toss those and get 2 x 8. 

A couple laptops ago I always used to get install 16 gigs but my last couple laptops have had 8 gigs and I do not miss 16 gigs on my laptop. My desktop where I do document production, photo editing and other heavy computing chores I do have 16 gigs. 

[Nadorotai]

Dear Huffer,

I continue with the doubt about the appropiate laptop. Now, I am looking for an amazing machine:

HP OMEN 15-ax011na Gaming Laptop

• Windows 10 Home 64
• Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ
• 39.6 cm (15.6") diagonal Ultra-HD (3840 x 2160)
• 16GB RAM with 2x256GB SSD storage
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 965M (4 GB GDDR5 dedicated)

But, I would like to ask you if you know which is the installed keyboard (UK or US/International)? And if is there any possibility to ask for the computer with the US/International keyboard?

Thanks in advance.