Computers & Electronics

Best new 15'' laptop for $1500-$1600

  • Last Updated:
  • Dec 15th, 2015 12:30 pm
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Jr. Member
Dec 12, 2008
109 posts
27 upvotes
Montreal

Best new 15'' laptop for $1500-$1600

My laptop just died on me and I have a $1,500-$1,600 + tax to spend on a replacement. Looking for 15'' with decent specs and a 1080p screen. The Dell XPS 15 with an i5 processor is my front-runner, but I'm wondering if there are any other good options.

I don't game on my laptop or do much photoshop, however I sometimes do some programming/modelling on it and would like something that isn't too slow.


Another possible option would be to go with a macbook pro, but I've never used OS X. All my other devices are on iOS though.


Thanks in advance
12 replies
Newbie
Apr 29, 2014
16 posts
2 upvotes
Oshawa, ON
Just avoid lenovo and you will be fine.
Deal Addict
Apr 14, 2007
2959 posts
463 upvotes
Montreal
kark366 wrote: Just avoid lenovo and you will be fine.
Why would you avoid Lenovo for the security issue? Dell also has the same issue that was recently discovered and besides that Lenovo > Dell
Jr. Member
Sep 1, 2011
137 posts
40 upvotes
Go OSX, you'll never look back
Deal Fanatic
Dec 29, 2005
5738 posts
1457 upvotes
15" MacBook Pro is > $2000, so that's out of your budget.

I would recommend the laptop I have now, an Asus N550JK, but they don't sell them anymore.
Jr. Member
Sep 1, 2011
137 posts
40 upvotes
You'd find hundreds more pages re: windows laptop issues.
I'm not a strict mac user by any means. I'm currently running:

- MacBook Pro i7 500GB SSD 16GB Ram (since 2013)
- iPad mini 3
- Nexus 6P (droid)
- Windows 10 Gaming Rig

History:
- Dell XPS 2006-2008 ~$1500
- ASUS z71v 2008-2010 ~$1500
- Dell XPS 2010-2012 ~$1500

Once you start using mac for word processing, multi-window, multi-desktop functions, you can never go back to windows because windows is SUPER slow, even with the new windows 10 gestures that have been added in. They still don't work as smoothly as the OSX. All the windows laptops I've ever had have had top line specs, for cheap (came with cheaper build quality of course), but they never lasted me more than 2 years without significant signs of slowing down. Not to mention, the upgrades to the Windows OS over the time period specified made many of the hardware aspects (read: trackpad/touch screen) on the dell/asus laptops obsolete.

I spent $2500 on my MBP, and it has NO signs of slowing down, and runs as snappy as when I got it the first day in 2013. By this time I would have already dropped $3,000 on windows based laptops. One of my friends finally replaced his 2009 MBP. I think MBP's are totally worth the investment once you figure out OSX and it's benefits. Just try not to get locked into the apple world... otherwise things get really expensive, really quick!
Deal Fanatic
Jun 17, 2013
5120 posts
1501 upvotes
Montreal
vfmx86 wrote: You'd find hundreds more pages re: windows laptop issues.
I'm not a strict mac user by any means. I'm currently running:

- MacBook Pro i7 500GB SSD 16GB Ram (since 2013)
- iPad mini 3
- Nexus 6P (droid)
- Windows 10 Gaming Rig

History:
- Dell XPS 2006-2008 ~$1500
- ASUS z71v 2008-2010 ~$1500
- Dell XPS 2010-2012 ~$1500

Once you start using mac for word processing, multi-window, multi-desktop functions, you can never go back to windows because windows is SUPER slow, even with the new windows 10 gestures that have been added in. They still don't work as smoothly as the OSX. All the windows laptops I've ever had have had top line specs, for cheap (came with cheaper build quality of course), but they never lasted me more than 2 years without significant signs of slowing down. Not to mention, the upgrades to the Windows OS over the time period specified made many of the hardware aspects (read: trackpad/touch screen) on the dell/asus laptops obsolete.

I spent $2500 on my MBP, and it has NO signs of slowing down, and runs as snappy as when I got it the first day in 2013. By this time I would have already dropped $3,000 on windows based laptops. One of my friends finally replaced his 2009 MBP. I think MBP's are totally worth the investment once you figure out OSX and it's benefits. Just try not to get locked into the apple world... otherwise things get really expensive, really quick!
Apple Gestures are super smooth. They have that. I don't find any real speed difference between Windows and OSX for the type of work I do. They both are extremely fast, with no real noticible difference. Honestly, whatever works for you and you are comfortable with, use. Both have their own pro's and con's, both are fast, both do just about the same damn thing.


kanewtz wrote: I have a rMBP and macmini both with El Capitain...zero issues.
Just because you had none, does not mean there are none. And to say there was "zero issues" is false because there are issues you might not even be aware of. Each update fixes "issues" that you probably encountered but never thought to be issues. Happens all the time.

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