serpro69 Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 (edited) OK, first off I'm not filling out a template because for now the question isn't about "What laptop to buy", but rather "Is this a good laptop to replace the old one". So, I'm looking for a new laptop for my lady, and she currently uses Dell XPS 15 9550 (i7, 16 RAM , 512 storage, 4k display). She's been asking for a lighter replacement, and it's black deals now, so seems like a good time to look for something. (Unfortunately I don't find many good options on discounts here in Norway... and this year's black deals don't look very enticing overall) Main requirement is it shouldn't be bigger/heavier than current one. And of course having something snappier is also natural in line with "upgrading". Her studies/work are related to statistics/data science (using R mostly), so having something that will compile code faster than the current one is good. I've found a deal (-28% off) on Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401QE-HZ055T) , and it seems like a nice machine overall. - CPU is definitely an upgrade - RAM is faster, but same capacity with only 1 slot being being upgradable ( ? ) and the other is soldered, from what I can see. So max mem can go up to 24 ? (16 + 8 soldered? ) Or does it support 32 GB in the non-soldered slot? - same storage (can it be upgraded ?) - better GPU (esp. since it's positioned as a gaming laptop), but this doesn't really matter much. She doesn't play games, and for code compilation this doesn't matter much. - weighs a bit less, which is also a benefit for her Are there any downsides to considering this laptop? I've also never owned Asus. How is their support? What is their software updates lifetime? All in all, is this worth it as an upgrade (with usage time horizon of 3-4 years at least) or should I keep looking for something else? Edit: I'm also now looking at Razer Blade Base 15 (2022) (Core i7 16GB 512GB SSD 144Hz 15.6" RTX 3060). Some specs definitely look better: - both RAM slots are upgradable, for instance - cpu is slightly faster - has a webcam (not a big deal, but still nice to have) But - worse battery life (?) - slightly heavier (although almost same as XPS 15 9550, so shouldn't be a deal-breaker) - and more importantly it's ~30% more expensive ( $1.25k for G14 vs $1.8k for Blade Base 15). So the question here I suppose is whether the price difference really worth it vs the cheaper G14 model. Edit2: I've read a bit about Razer laptops, and have come to a conclusion it's best to stay away from them. Swollen batteries, defective screens, horrible support... thanks, but no thanks. Can't really find any other good options for around 1.5k here where I live. Darn it, why can't there be just good affordable laptops that you don't need to compromise with... Anyways, I'm now also considering getting a newer model of XPS 15 (9510). More expensive than Asus but at least I know what to expect from it. Edited November 20, 2022 by serpro69 No longer considering Razer Blade Serenity -> Dell Precision 7560Millenium Falcon -> Dell Precision 5530Axiom -> Lenovo ThinkPad P52 (work)Moldy Crow -> Dell XPS 15 9550 Spoiler Millenium Falcon: Dell Precision 5530 i9-8950HK CPU 2x16 GB DDR4 2,666 MHz 1 TB SSD NVIDIA Quadro P2000 UHD 3840 x 2160 Ubuntu 20.04 / Windows 10 LTSCAxiom: Lenovo ThinkPad P52 i7-8850H 2x32 GB DDR4 1 TB SSD NVIDIA Quadro P2000 UHD 3840x2160 Windows 10 Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenoroon Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 I have a first gen G14 with a 4800hs and 1650 that I use at school or when I'm out doing things. It's pretty nice. The keyboard is pretty good, and screen size is alright for doing stuff on the go. The trackpad is also really nice, but I might be a bit bias about the trackpad since I haven't really used a "real" laptop. Though, I will say, the fans can get a bit loud when under a substantial load and that one RAM slot is really annoying IMO. Otherwise, there aren't many problems besides these first generation ones having a tendency to have motherboard faults that can kill everything, but those problems have since been fixed, so you shouldn't have to worry. Also, there is a bit of bloat on them from the factory, but a lot of that stuff can be removed when setting everything up. As for your concern on the support, I've never really needed to deal with ASUS's support, so I can't really help you, but I'd assume it would be a lot better than Razers lol. The G14 should be pretty good; I would still look elsewhere for more info about it if you are really considering though since I only really use this thing at school and mine is of an older model. Clevo P870TM-G: Core i7 8700k @ 4.3ghz | Clevo GTX 1080 | 16gb DDR4 @ 2400mhz | AUO 1440p 120hz Display | 256gb Samsung 850 EVO | 500gb WD Blue SSD | 1tb Samsung 870 QVO | 2tb Seagate 5400rpm HDD | Prema BIOS Alienware 17 R1: Core i7 4710mq @ 3.619ghz 741 CBR15 (834 CBR15 @ 4.213ghz) | Dell GTX 860m | 16gb HyperX DDR3L @ 2133mhz | 3D 120hz Display | 256gb mSATA SSD Asus Zephyrus G14: Ryzen 7 4800hs @ 4.2ghz | GTX 1650 | 8gb DDR4 @ 3200mhz | 60hz Free-sync Display | 512gb NVME SSD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serpro69 Posted November 22, 2022 Author Share Posted November 22, 2022 Thanks @Tenoroon ! I've just ordered a G15 (2022 version with 6800HS) a couple hours ago and expecting delivery later today. Pretty excided about it actually :) I've read a bit about it, and most of the feedback looks pretty OK. The single RAM slot is indeed very annoying, I don't get why they wouldn't just make them both replaceable. But better one than none I guess. But overall I think having a total of 40 GB will be more than enough, once I replace the 8GB stick with 32 GB. I've tried to just get a Dell XPS15 at first since I just know what to expect with it and because it has 2 RAM slots. Even made an order on Amazon for it yesterday. But then they decided that the purchase was suspicious, canceled the order and blocked my account lol. By the time they unblocked me, the deal on the XPS was gone, so I just went back on the original plan and ordered an Asus instead , but a G15 instead of the G14 as initially planned :) 1 Serenity -> Dell Precision 7560Millenium Falcon -> Dell Precision 5530Axiom -> Lenovo ThinkPad P52 (work)Moldy Crow -> Dell XPS 15 9550 Spoiler Millenium Falcon: Dell Precision 5530 i9-8950HK CPU 2x16 GB DDR4 2,666 MHz 1 TB SSD NVIDIA Quadro P2000 UHD 3840 x 2160 Ubuntu 20.04 / Windows 10 LTSCAxiom: Lenovo ThinkPad P52 i7-8850H 2x32 GB DDR4 1 TB SSD NVIDIA Quadro P2000 UHD 3840x2160 Windows 10 Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturnotaku Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 Asynchronous dual-channel memory is not ideal as you will drop back to single-channel performance once you get above 16 GB. Desktop: Ryzen 9 5950X | 32 GB RAM | GeForce RTX 4080 | 2 TB SSD | Windows 10 Lenovo Legion 5: Ryzen 7 6800H | 32 GB RAM | GeForce RTX 3070 Ti | 1.5 TB SSD | Windows 11 Lenovo IdeaPad 3 Gaming: Ryzen 7 6800H | 16 GB RAM | GeForce RTX 3050 | 512 GB SSD | Windows 11 Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro: Ryzen 5 5600U | 16 GB RAM | Radeon Graphics | 512 GB SSD | Windows 11 Apple iPad Gen 9: A13 Bionic | 3 GB RAM | 64 GB | iPadOS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serpro69 Posted November 22, 2022 Author Share Posted November 22, 2022 True. But the soldered RAM will still run dual-channel, and the other one single channel, right? I don't think (or well, I hope - haven't really tested it, or read too much about it either) the performance hit will not be that big. 1 Serenity -> Dell Precision 7560Millenium Falcon -> Dell Precision 5530Axiom -> Lenovo ThinkPad P52 (work)Moldy Crow -> Dell XPS 15 9550 Spoiler Millenium Falcon: Dell Precision 5530 i9-8950HK CPU 2x16 GB DDR4 2,666 MHz 1 TB SSD NVIDIA Quadro P2000 UHD 3840 x 2160 Ubuntu 20.04 / Windows 10 LTSCAxiom: Lenovo ThinkPad P52 i7-8850H 2x32 GB DDR4 1 TB SSD NVIDIA Quadro P2000 UHD 3840x2160 Windows 10 Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Custom90gt Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 29 minutes ago, serpro69 said: True. But the soldered RAM will still run dual-channel, and the other one single channel, right? I don't think (or well, I hope - haven't really tested it, or read too much about it either) the performance hit will not be that big. It will run on dual channel memory for the first 16GB (assuming 8GB soldered) and then for the amount thereafter it will run single channel. Example: 8GB soldered + 16GB in the ram slot = first 16GB in dual channel and last 8GB in single channel. It really depends on how much ram people utilize if asynchronous memory will be an issue or not. For most people it's not an issue because they don't often use 16+GB of ram anyway. 1 1 Desktop | Intel i7-12700k | ASUS ROG Strix Z690-F | 2x16GB Oloy DDR5 @ 6400mhz CL32 | EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra | AW3420DW | 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 | All under water | Server | SM846 | Intel I7-12700k | MSI Pro Z690 DDR4 | EVGA 3060 Ti 8GB FTW3 Ultra | 64GB 3600MHz CL16 Neo | 1TB SX8200 | 100+TB | Lenovo Thinkbook 16P Gen2 | AMD 5600H | RTX 3060 | 24GB 3200mhz | 1TB SX8200 | 16:10 16" | Tweaked |Dell XPS 9310 2-in-1 | Intel i5-1135G7 | 16GB 4267mhz | 512GB | 16:10 | Tweaked | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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