HP Envy 13 VS DELL XPS 13 (same price, different specs)

Guys, which one do you thinks is a better deal:

HP Envy 13=ah0003na
- i7 8th gen, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, FHD
- 3 year warranty
- £1039 (incl. student discount)

DELL XPS 13
- i7 8th gen, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, FHD
- 1 year warranty
- £1034 (incl. student discount)

Obviously HP has better specs, but XPSes are widely considered to be top of the line ultrabooks with great build quality etc. etc.

Any opinions?

 

Hi,

Not sure if its the XPS 13 9370 or 9360. I will assume it's the XPS 9370.
Here is a comparison: HP Envy 13 vs Dell XPS 13 9370.

There are many things to consider. The Envy is made out of plastic, has a lower quality display, and has no Thunderbolt for an external video card or other high powered devices. However, the Envy does come with 3-year warranty.
The XPS, on the other hand, has better specs but comes with 1-year warranty.

In terms of reliability, the XPS should be better, but the XPS line is plagued by QC issues.
My advice is to get the XPS with a 2-year warranty. Otherwise, unless you plan to use an external video card or similar high-performance device via Thunderbolt, the Envy should be better due to its 3-year warranty. At least you live stress-free for 3 years.

What do you plan on using your laptop for?

 

Thank you for your reply, it's been most helpful!

To answer your question, I'm going to use the device mostly for programming (Java, Python), web development and ocasionally Photoshop (though I don't have much time for photography these days).

I actually made a purchase yesterday, I went for XPS (9370), but slightly different version than previously planned.

Usually you can get a higher specced version (with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD) for about £1,468.99 on dell's website. BUT, with the recent promo, (ends on 21/10/2018) you can have it for 12% cheaper, lowering the price to £1,299.00. BUT, if you're a university student, the price drops down to ~£1,140.00 (if I remember correctly). And for the icing on the cake - if you change the warranty to 2-year (premium support with onsite) instead of 1-year long, the price will actually DECREASE to about £1.117, which makes it only about £77 more expensive than the Envy 13 I was considering previously. To me it's a no brainer. A quality ultrabook with top specs for about £1100 (normal price, including 2-year warranty: £1509) - that's a pretty good deal in my book.

Granted, I won't be having MX150 (could enable some light gaming every now and then, but I can live without it), no touchscreen, no USB-A (I'll have to get a new bluetooth mouse with no dongle, but it's a small issue) and longer warranty period. Then there are QC issues you mentioned, so it's a lot to consider, but overall I think I'm better off buying XPS with premium buit quality, better screen etc.

On the side note, the comparision from the notem.com is not very accurate, as there are many inconsistencies (no mention of MX150, the display is actually glossy in both devices, neither of them features DDR4, etc.)

 

I think you made the right choice, going with the XPS.
Sorry about the inconsistencies, I will correct them today.
We also have the Envy with the MX150, but I just forgot to select it when I made the comparison.

 

No worries and thanks again for your help .