Hi all,
I'm currently facing the hardest question: 'Which laptop should I buy?'. I'm undecided between two models:
A ) 2017 Dell XPS 13'', intel i7 8th gen (8550U), 16GB RAM, 512 GB SSD
B ) 2017 MacBook Pro 13'', intel i5 7th gen, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD
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