Question Should I buy a new Lenovo IdeaPad 5 or a used Dell XPS 13 ?

[adeck]

Hey!

I am going to buy a new laptop for 600 - 700 Euro and had decided to buy a Lenovo IdeaPad 5 14 ”with AMD Ryzen 5 4500U 2.3 GHz and 8GB RAM.
But now I am thinking about if I instead should buy a refurbished Dell XPS 13 9370 with Intel Core i5-8250U 1.6GHz and 8GB RAM.

Which do you think I should choose?

I will use it for regular work in Microsoft Office, web browsing and some simple photo editing.

 

[delaro]

The 4500U is about 20%- 40% faster than the 8250U especially when the IGPU comes into play.

Dell XPS 13 9370

+ Has a higher contrast and overall more vibrant screen.
+2 Thunderbolt 3 ports, 1 USB Type C port
+Better Aesthetics
-Non-touch screen clamshell layout.
-Camera points up your nose 😕
-No USB 3.1 ports so you need a hub and adapters.
-Speakers are not very loud and sound rather hollow.


Lenovo IdeaPad 5 14

+20% faster on average.
+Slightly larger screen albeit average looking.
+Touch Screen and 2in1 layout.
+Better Keyboard
+1 USB Type C port, 2X USB Type-A, HDMI out
+Speakers sound much better with up-firing placement.
-Slightly bulkier and heavier


Cons of both
-Hubs and adapters if connecting lots of devices.
-Small screens for heavy photoshop use.
-No WFI 6 or Bluetooth 5.

 

[geofelt]

If you can, go to a shop and touch the candidates yourself.
look at the screen and try out the keyboards.

From a performance point of view, each will do the job.
Look at other factors.

Likely you will want more than 8gb of ram.
Intel is easier to add ram, with the ryzen, buy the ram installed to insure compatibility.

Include a ssd or plan on a ssd upgrade. It makes all the difference in the world for quickness.

 

[delaro]

Intel is easier to add ram, with the ryzen

🤔

Neither unit has an additional M2 slot and neither can have the RAM upgraded "Soldered in". You have to buy the upgraded units with the better CPU's/APU's to get the 16GB of RAM. You can find the Refurbs of the Ideapad with the 4700U and 16GB of RAM for around 468 Euro. The 9370's with a 10th Gen and 16GB can be picked up off Dell for around 670 Euros.

 

[geofelt]

One has to look at the exact laptop in question for the opportunity to upgrade ram or ssd.
Many, particularly light weight units will have some amount of ram soldered in.
Expansion may come in the form of being able to add another dimm.
Look at the crucial upgrade app and enter your motherboard.
You will see what ram and ssd upgrades are possible.
Or, google your laptop and ssd or ram upgrade.
Usually, you will see a useful video of the process.
Some laptops are easy, others require disassembly of many parts.
laptops with 2.5" ssd's are easy to upgrade using an external usb to sata adapter cable.
If the only drive is a single m.2 that is difficult to do without doing a clean windows install, and that is a tricky process.

 

[delaro]

Small form factor units like these "13-14 inch" are seldomly upgradable now unless you're doubling the price. 🤔 For the XPS units, you have to look at the 15's and for Lenovo the Thinkpad's. SSD's are also rather rare since they take up quite a lot of room when compared to similar priced M.2's. I prefer the Asus Zenbook line over either of those but it too has low upgradability.