Looking for a good laptop for $1250

alexblair

Commendable
Apr 17, 2016
2
0
1,510
I need a new laptop for a little bit of video editing, some light gaming, and web browsing, as well as office. I just got an email from Razer saying that all of the "NEW" Blade Stealth models have 16GB of RAM except for 128 SSD model, and for $1250, I find that hard to beat. But then I found the $1200 XPS 15, and for $63, I can upgrade the RAM to 16 and up to 32. Which would be best? Also, I need it to be portable.

the "NEW" (damn it razer, get your naming scheme together) Blade Stealth: http://www.razerzone.com/store/razer-blade-stealth

XPS 15: http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-15-9550-laptop/pd?oc=dncwx1607h&model_id=xps-15-9550-laptop
16GB of RAM for XPS 15: https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Single-PC4-17000-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B015YPB6HQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1474850123&sr=8-3&keywords=16gb+ddr4+sodimm
 
Solution


That was just a link to the page of the laptop, get the 16 GB version if you want.

For the your budget, I'd go with the Razer, it's a bit more interesting.
Between the two I would go with the Dell XPS 15. It is a more powerful laptop because it has a quad core i5-6300HQ CPU vs. a dual core i7-7500u. Additionally, the Dell has a nVidia GTX 960m vs only an Intel HD 620 graphics core. If gaming is a low priority then the nVidia GTX 960m may not be that important. If you use a lot of special effects (like particle effects) when editing video then the GTX 960m can improve performance.

Also, if having 32GB of RAM is important, then the Dell XPS 15 would be the laptop to get. At least initially, the Razor seems to be limited to only 16GB of RAM, not sure if there is a 2nd RAM slot.


Personally, I am interested in a newer Dell XPS 15 with 7th gen Core i5 with either a GTX 1050 or better yet GTX 1060. But I would guess that the Dell XPS 15's chassis cannot handle the thermal output of the GTX 1060.