Laptop Advice (Dell Inspiron 14 7490 Vs Microsoft Surface Laptop 3)

LShowMeBargains on 14/06/2020 - 21:14

Hello fellow bargin shoppers!

I'm currently looking for a replacement laptop for my wife and urgently require your help before I drive myself mad!

Background:
My wife is a graphics designer who mainly works on wedding stationary (invitations, placecards, small scale signs etc). Her current laptop (Acer Aspire F5-573G Model No. N16Q2) is four years old and is on the way out, so we're looking for a suitable replacement while EOFY sales are running. She mostly uses Adobe Illustrator and sometimes Adobe Photoshop, and wants a laptop that is quick to bootup, fast loading, light and portable take out when seeing clients/suppliers/coworkers.

Main contenders (open to other suggestions):
1. Dell Inspiron 7490 14" (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/544493) [$1,589]: i7-10510U, 16GB LPDDR3, 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, NVIDIA MX250 2GB.
2. Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13.5" (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/544463) [$2,119]: i7-1065G7, 16GB LPDDR4, 256GB M.2 2230 SSD.

Old laptop:
1. Acer Aspire F5-573G: i7-6500U, 16GB, 1TB SATA HDD, NVIDIA 940MX 4GB.

Thoughts:
On most days of the week I would argue the Dell is such a better deal considering it is $530 cheaper, has a dedicated graphics card, a massive SSD, better battery life, and has more ports. That being said, I personally have a high end Microsoft Surface Book 3 (supplied by work) and really like the display with respect to colour quality, resolution, and brightness. I'm mainly worried that the screen on the Dell Inspiron won't be high enough quality for my wife's work, but then again it must be light years ahead of her current laptop being that it's IPS (and I believe HDR).

Am I completely mad for second guessing myself, should I just bite the bullet and purchase the Dell? Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Computing

Comments

  • alexlim2000 on 14/06/2020 - 22:31
    +1

    I rekon take her to a local JBHifi to try out the SL3's Alcantara keyboard. if she likes the feel, get it. It was the main reason why I bought an SL3.

    At the end of the day, given that the laptop will be her workhorse, for what I assume is her main money making method, and is tax deductable, $350 isn't a big deal.
    Let her make the final decision.

    —

    The pluses of the SL3 in my books are the Aspect ratio of the screen, the quality of screen and the keyboard. If your wife predominately uses the laptop with an external screen and keyboard I'd go the Dell.

    The SL3 does have a smaller SSD, but it is big enough for most types of work.

  • MS Paint on 14/06/2020 - 22:53
    +1

    Just try an ssd in the current machine.

    Fresh install of windows 10 and Adobe suite.

    Winning.

    • Fishdog on 14/06/2020 - 23:46

      I'd tend to agree. SSD will definitely deliver the fast loadup times and snappiness desired. Main gripes with current one though seem to be the TN screen and the fact that its a chonker (2.4kg).

      In terms of the new one though, I'd let the wife pick the one she likes the look of the most: this is her moneymaker after all.

      The screen on the Surface will definitely be much nicer, but one knock against it is the screen may spontaneously crack on some units. Microsoft even has a free repair program right now to address this.

      The Dell is more economical and has good specs, but it suffers from noisy fans and has a dimmer screen.

      • ShowMeBargains on 15/06/2020 - 00:05

        Thanks for the heads up on the screen issue! Another pro of the SL3 is that JB does an extended warranty of 2 more years (4 in total) for pretty cheap (around $120) and I know their pretty good with those things. Not sure how Dell is with their customer service, but should definitely look into the price of their extended warranty I guess.

    • ShowMeBargains on 15/06/2020 - 00:01

      Honestly what I was thinking originally, but Wife now doesn't want something so heavy to carry around - can't blame her. We're not sure if the fresh install will fix all issues.

  • ShowMeBargains on 14/06/2020 - 23:57

    Thanks for the advice so far everyone!

    Should have stated earlier that we went looking around for laptops today and couldn't find the Dell Inspiron, hence why we're both unsure how the screen looks in person as compared to the SL3. Wife definitely likes the look of the SL3 when we saw it in person (but isn't massively into the differnces between keyboards - if it works it works). Before I posted this my wife actually decided we should go with the Dell because it's much better value for money and has more memory to make life easier than getting a 3.1 flash drive for the SL3, but after the aspect ratio comment I think we're back to square one. Thanks alexlim2000! Lmao

  • DrBigLove on 16/06/2020 - 08:37

    Tl:dr get the inspiron if its the only computer she wants to use for the next 3 years, get the SL3 if shes good with using dropbox or similar and prepared to upgrade if she needs on a year or 2.

    The sl3 has a much better screen with the improved aspect ratio to boot. For the current workload it should be vert helpful. Im using a surface boom and its amazing how much better it is for documents and graphic design considering how small the actual change is.

    The problem you might have is that 256GB is a really small amount of storage unless she also has remote file backup (which she should) and uses it well.

    The mx250 in the inspire will also help with the adobe programs, but probably not enough to worry about unless she starts doing something more gpu intensive.

    Theres also no future upgrade path for the sl3 and its more expensive accesories. Replacement chargers etc. Where as the insperon could have a graphics card enclosure added or a large file backup.

  • ShowMeBargains on 28/06/2020 - 15:53

    Sorry for the delay, but thought I'd tell you all we ended up getting the Surface Laptop 3 in the end due to the screen (great colour, brightness, aspect ratio, and resolution). Wife absolutely loves it. Also picked up a 500GB Samsung T5 SSD for her work files from office works for only $124, and was already paying for Dropbox so that solves the storage issues. Thanks for all the advice by the way, was very much appreciated!

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