MacBook Pro vs Dell XPS 13, which one?

Hi all, I'm currently facing the hardest question: 'Which laptop should I buy?'.

I'm undecided between two models:

• 2017 Dell XPS 13'', intel i7 8th gen (8550U), 16GB RAM, 512 GB SSD
• 2017 MacBook Pro 13'', intel i5 7th gen, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD

Same exact price for both (1550€).

My gut feeling, also driven by personal taste (and probably market), would lead me to pick up the Mac. But I'm still considering the dell, cause I recognize that on the paper it looks more performing.

About the requirements: I'm a physicist, and about to start to write my PhD thesis, therefore the use would be mainly:

• A lot of tying (LaTeX) … ok, no big deal I know.
• Running some simulations on Matlab
• Data analysis on Matlab/Mathematica (time to times with big sets of data)
• Plots and graphics (both 2D and 3D) for figures editing

However, let me also say that I'm interested in the field of Data analysis, and Data Visualization, so I might end up dealing with a lot of graphics design tasks in the near future (in one year from now).

What would you guys chose?

I'm mostly worried by the difference in the processor: 8th gen i7 vs. 7th gen i5, although Macs are generally more widely used in the graphics field (as far as I know).

Thanks in advance!

Francesco

 

Welcome to the laptop forums site

If you are going to do intensive graphic work then your main focus must be on finding
a laptop with a none integrated graphic card

It may sound counter intuitive but a gaming laptop would be the best
option for graphic hungry work as they are designed for fast processing

Here's two comparison sites for you to look at

https://www.cnet.com/products/dell-xps-13-late-2017/review/2/

https://www.macworld.co.uk/review/mac-laptops/macbook-pro-13-inch-2017-review-3660144/

Look at this site for CPU comparisons

http://www.pasmark.com

Just type in your preferred CPU number in the search box it will give you a score.

This is a good example of a gaming machine

https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-omen-1..._f62340d87800a35bf9a251f51a70b797&tmcampid=48