sp4ceman66 Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 I'm interested in upgrading to the new Dell XPS 13 9370, but can really only afford the lower end model, with an 8th gen i5 processor, and 4 gb of ram.... you guys think this will be enough? I'll be dual booting Kali Linux and Windows, and I do mostly Photoshop and a bit of Video editing on the windows side, and software development on the linux side (intellij, phpstorm, datagrip, etc). What do you guys think? Currently working with a surface pro 3 with 8 gigs of ram, and a 4th gen i5, and it runs fine, just hate using it on my lap... I'd much rather the traditional clam shell style laptop. Thanks, sp4caman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbiz Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Ya 4gb is the bare mininum of neccessary RAM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxtrot Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 I wouldn't go with a 4GB configuration with the XPS. Better off saving just a bit longer and getting the 8 or 16GB model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sp4ceman66 Posted December 4, 2018 Author Share Posted December 4, 2018 12 hours ago, Foxtrot said: I wouldn't go with a 4GB configuration with the XPS. Better off saving just a bit longer and getting the 8 or 16GB model. thats what i think ill do, good call Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-ee Jones Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 Yeah running Windows on a machine that has 4 GB of RAM will not be a nice experience considering you're coming from a machine that's more powerful than it is. I could find a second-hand laptop with far better specs than that for under $500 AUD. Spending $1400 AUD on a laptop with only 4 GB of RAM is a complete rip-off, in my opinion. I would suggest looking into Lenovo laptops or waiting for a good deal (locally or online) on a laptop. It's quite common to find deals as almost everyone has a laptop, they're very common. If I wanted a laptop for daily use with a good footprint I'd choose a Lenovo, I reckon. Thinkpads, Yogas, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbiz Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 I have a lenovo thinkpad very nice. Sturdy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxtrot Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 I think I'd pick my XPS 13 again if it were to die tomorrow over a ThinkPad. The build quality is pretty good, and it's a good looking machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akmartinez Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 On 12/4/2018 at 3:20 AM, Foxtrot said: I wouldn't go with a 4GB configuration with the XPS. Better off saving just a bit longer and getting the 8 or 16GB model. You can buy what you can afford now and upgrade the RAM later. Unless it's an Apple product or another vendor that likes to solder their memory in place you should be able to open up the case and add or replace/upgrade the memory. I've done it with my IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads without fail. Wish I could do it with my MacBook Pro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akmartinez Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 (edited) On my MacBook Pro I have 8Gb. I dual boot between macOS and Windows using BootCamp and then I use VMWare Pro to VM my Linux setups and anything else I need to test or develope on. In my VM's I configure whatever distro I use with 2 Cores and 2Gb of RAM. I'm still new and still playing with things and so far so good. I've not come across a problem yet. I would like to have a dedicated Linux build instead of virtual machining it but I can't afford it at the moment. I do have 1 laptop that I consider a beast for myself. A Lenovo ThinkPad W540 with an i7 and 32Gb of RAM and 1Tb SSD. I dual boot Windows and Ubuntu. Right now it's not convenient for me to lug that thing around compared to my MacBook Pro (13" vs 17" and maybe 3lbs heavier). It has a few issues that I need to work through (keyboard repair and a full reconfiguration). This laptop I bought with 8Gb and later upgraded it to 32 when I had the cash... Also upgraded the 250Gb Hybrid Drive to an 1Tb SSD. Really wish this MacBook wasn't as closed architectured as it is.... Edited December 7, 2018 by akmartinez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akmartinez Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 I forgot to mention that I was told that using Kali as a primary Linux setup is not the best. It's geared too much toward PenTesting and not for everyday work... Not sure how much of that is true. I usually have 1 normal distro and 1 pentesting distro. So on my VM setups I have Debian and I have a separate VM for Kali. If I get the laptop build I want I'll have my drive partitioned 3 ways, 1 for Windows, 1 for Debian, and 1 for Kali. I don't think I'll go back to Mac from here on unless I have a real need/reason. My initial need/reason was for school and software development because you can develope in all 3 platforms. Apple likes to F with people in that it's really hard to learn to develop in their environment without having their hardware... sorry, ranting now.... Hopefully someone can chime in on using Kali as a primary... might have to research that more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbiz Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 Sounds like u understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxtrot Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 17 hours ago, akmartinez said: You can buy what you can afford now and upgrade the RAM later. Unless it's an Apple product or another vendor that likes to solder their memory in place you should be able to open up the case and add or replace/upgrade the memory. I've done it with my IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads without fail. Wish I could do it with my MacBook Pro. Not with the XPS 13 you can't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akmartinez Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 How long or when did Dell start doing that? Horrible... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxtrot Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 45 minutes ago, akmartinez said: How long or when did Dell start doing that? Horrible... It's honestly not a big deal, I've found. Just have to buy it with the specs that aren't bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbiz Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 14 hours ago, Foxtrot said: Not with the XPS 13 you can't. Also make sure your rig can handle the RAM size only certain RAM size works plug n play on different machines. Do ur research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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