What specs should I get on Dell Precision 7000 17in

Notebook makers typically don't advertise the real throughput of the Thunderbolt 3 ports. You might ask here in our Dell Precision 7540/7740 Owner's Lounge, someone may be willing to run a test for you. Also see the HP ZBook 17 G5 Owner's Lounge. There are a few threads in our Lenovo forum about the ThinkPad P73, but I don't think we have an owner's lounge for that model yet. (That said, it's doubtful whether you could charge that notebook via Thunderbolt 3.)

Charles

 

just to follow up, spoke to Lenovo:

all USB ports, incl USB-C / TB 3 ports are shared lanes on the same bus.

The Thinkpad P73 (same as Dell Precision and HP ZBook) can be powered via USB-C, for the P73 u simply need a power bank w/ at least 48 Wh / 14,000 mAh - Lenovo offers their own power bank delivering that, but u can get 3rd party bricks that deliver even more juice...

heads up:
Thinkpad P73 has the battery integrated (--> sealed-in), which is a deal breaker for me as the first thing that will go south over time is the battery - u will get maybe 2 years out of that... then u have to send your notebook in, for a nice, fat fee and you lose at least 10-12 days of not being able to work w/ your business notebook... makes no sense. Dell Precision has replaceable batteries.

 

There are much better SSDs than the Intel 660p (like the Inland Premium) that are very little pricier. If you're going to be moving a good bit of data around, the Inland is considerably faster and doesn't completely fall apart after 50-100GB (the 660p will recover as it moves data out of the pseudo-SLC cache, but if the cache is full, write speed falls to something like 50 MB/sec -- slower than rotating storage).

Interesting about the battery not being customer-replaceable on the P73, but that turns out to be true -- see https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/...-type-20qr-20qs/20qr/parts/display/compatible (listed as FRU Only). When it comes time to replace my current P70, looks like I know where I won't be looking. It _looks_ like it's just remove the back plate (which is a customer operation for things like DIMMs and storage), 4 screws, and a push connector, but maybe it's not that simple.

 

@Designer2001, a quick way to save ~$200+ is to get the notebook with Ubuntu instead, and install Windows yourself. Depending on how expensive your time is (if you're paid something like $50 an hour, nah, don't waste time, it takes about 4 hours to get Windows to a useable out-of-box state). If you're an undergraduate like I am, then maybe your time is a little less worth.

Note that there are a few options that will lock things in: if you want a Quadro RTX 3000 GPU or better, then you're forced to take a 97 Wh battery, and an SSD. Another way to save money might be to purchase the graphics card, battery and heatsink aftermarket, and install them yourself.

 

I've used Dell Precisions (Still using a M4800) and Lenovo W series workstations (Last one was W540).

Both were great workstations. Overall I prefer Dell and the business support is quite good as well. I haven't tried their newest systems, but I would hope they have kept their workstation lineup good still.

Here's what I would configure (everything listed is what I changed from the link provided):

Spoiler

Intel® Core™ Processor i9-9980HK, 8 Core, 16MB Cache, 2.40GHz up to 5.00GHz Turbo, 45W
No Productivity Software
Radeon Pro WX 7130 w/8GB GDDR5
17.3"UltraSharp™ UHD 3840x2160 AG,NT, w/Prem Panel Guar 100% Adobe Aluminum,IGZO,IR Cam/Mic No WWAN
M.2 256GB PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive
Internal US English Backlit Keyboard
7740 Smart Card, Fingerprint reader, & NFC
6 Cell 97 Whr Long Life Cycle Lithium Ion Polymer Battery(3 Years Warranty)
No Out-of-Band Systems Management
Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2x2 .11ax 160MHz + Bluetooth 5.0
None (PDF Solution)
No Security Software

$5,472.50

If budget is a bit tighter this one saves a lot without sacrificing too much performance

Spoiler

Intel® Core™ Processor i7-9750H, 6 Core, 12M Cache, 2.60GHz up to 4.5GHz Turbo, 45W
No Productivity Software
Radeon Pro WX 3200 w/4GB GDDR5
17.3"UltraSharp™ FHD 1920x1080 AG,NT,w/Prem Panel Guar 100% sRGB Carbon Fiber,IPS,IR Cam/Mic No WWAN
Internal US English Backlit Keyboard
7740 Smart Card, Fingerprint reader, & NFC
No Out-of-Band Systems Management
Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2x2 .11ax 160MHz + Bluetooth 5.0
None (PDF Solution)
No Security Software

$3,252.50

An 8-core can be taken advantage of in many of your situations especially video editing. However, the 6-core is also a very good performer. 8-cores will allow enough multi-tasking (assuming you have enough ram)

Speaking of RAM...both of my configs are 8gb base. I highly suggest going 16gb minimum, 32gb recommended, but aftermarket is recommended. You can get it much cheaper.

SSD, get a 1tb M.2

I prefer nVidia Quadro over AMD Radeon Pro but the price increase is no worth it. Either AMD card should be able to handle workloads.

The 4K display is a must. If not at least the 1080p 100% sRGB display. Definitely get a colorimeter and calibrate them.



As a summary..

i9-9980HK (or i7-9750H will be fine)
16GB minimum (32GB recommended , get these aftermarket)
1TB M.2 SSD (aftermarket) + storage drive
4K Display (or 1080p 100% sRGB minimum)
Backlit Keyboard
Wi-Fi 6 card + Bluetooth 5.0
Fingerprint reader/NFC
Radeon Pro WX 7130 (WX 3200 will also work fine to save some $$$)