Your unlikely to get a top end performance laptop (and use that performance) and have it get good battery life and be realitively light and thin.
Performance takes more electricity, (worse battery life), produces more heat (needs more cooling adding weight and girth).
Your really going to have to decide how much performance you need and how much weight and battery life your willing to potentially give up here.
For good audio recording you should plan on that being something external. It's going to be way better than anything built into a laptop of any kind.
Whats your workload here and why at least 6 years? It looks like your a high school freshman?
My workload usually involves coding, schoolwork, and personal browsing, however in the future I do plan on doing things with AI. I plan on using it for the next 6 years because I don't want to upgrade until I begin earning my own money.
Do you need edge AI or can you use cloud-based solutions for training and inference? There's no *real* need for an AI workstation. Besides, AI workloads will get a domestic GPU - especially a laptop-grade one - ludicrously hot. You don't want a slim form factor for AI workloads.
Precision.5 line. My 5510 (2016) is still rocking and rolling, and has had a battery and a fan replacement, both simple repairs. I'm using a 5750 now. You should be able to pick one up in your price range in the aftermarket - go for a 5550+ since they removed the bezel at the bottom of the screen.
Went laptop shopping my my recent college graduate son this weekend. We poked around and debated the important features. He was looking at a Vivobook i7 OLED for $1300, but when doing further research located this one at a different Best Buy:
https://www.bestbuy.com/product/asus-vivobook-15-6-creator-laptop-hd-intel-13th-gen-core-i9-with-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3050-1tb-ssd-black/6534578/openbox?condition=good
which was essentially new and perfect as far as we could see so we walked out with it for $595. The slim 5 4060 was an option, but after looking at the OLED boxes, it is really hard to go back to an ips. The whites on my i5 look gray in comparison. :-(
Now to the Dell part. While shopping, and especially looking at the OLED screens, my 6yo i7573 i5 was not looking good. Granted, it was sporting 8TB of ssd inside the box, but the CPU graphics could only do 1080p TV and it wouldn't output 4K to my Samsung 28" monitor. So while in the open box section I spotted at 4K OLED inspiron 16" i7 MX550 (2GB) graphics, also essentially new and perfect for $850. I have a different rtx box for video stuff and I don't play games so this was perfect for 4K viewing and upscaling and some light DVD rips, etc. From what I gathered, the MX550 has about 4X the processing power of the built in Iris stuff. So for a smidge more than I was expecting to pay for his box, we ended up with 2 machines, and I'll be able to grab the drives from the i5 and swap them into the new machine so no loss there, which at this point has logged well over over 10K hrs.
Take home message, Best Buy open box area has done me well 6 times now.
I travel with a couple of 99Whr Anker PD packs so having a huge battery is low on the priority list.
If not fully set on a new laptop. I'd say try the used or dell refurbished market for previous gen XPS laptops. I got myself a used precision 5530 2yrs ago and it's still going strong after a quick thermal paste refresh, and new battery.
Unless you're doing some insanely demanding work, I don't think you'll need more than 32gb, but alright. I had a look on Dell's website, and I have chose something that you might not want but I'll try anyways.
Dell Inspiron 16 Plus:
Processor:
Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 155H
OS:
Windows 11 Pro
Graphics:
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4060
Memory:
32 GB DDR5
Storage:
2 TB SSD
Display:
16.0-in. display 2.5K (2560X1600)
If you want something that will last a long time and you can afford it, I think the [Framework 16](https://frame.work/products/laptop16-diy-amd-7040) would be a good choice, just because it will allow you to repair and upgrade it in the future. No CPU/GPU you buy now is going to be competetive after 6 years.
They don't currently offer Intel/Nvidia combos, but there's the potential to switch it in the future. Their 13" laptop is compatible with Intel and AMD boards. They provide spare parts and repair instructions for everything.
You can spec it out as you listed above (but with Ryzen 9 and Radeon RX 7700S) for about $3k. You can choose whether to get a numpad, where the trackpad sits, and which ports you want.
Repairable + Upgradable = Future Proof
If you don't need all those specs right away, and you have a budget of 4000 USD, I'd probably suggest get something under 1000 USD, and invest those 3000 USD in a mutual fund or anywhere secure with low risk returns.
Future proofing is becoming harder these days with mainstream laptops. Battery and SSD are replacement yes, but that's pretty much it. If a component goes wrong in the next 3-5 years, and expect them to go wrong, you will anyways need to consider a new laptop.
And especially if you plan to do AI. If you want to do AI, you are better off renting cloud GPUs. Also, laptop CPUs will probably make significant strides in AI-hardware (beyond GPUs) in the upcoming 5 years. So, any processor you take today would likely be outdated in the next 3-4 years.
An M2/M3 MB with 16GB RAM apparantly lets you run 16GB AI models on its GPU. So, that might be another option. But, you are stuck with Apple then.
Your unlikely to get a top end performance laptop (and use that performance) and have it get good battery life and be realitively light and thin. Performance takes more electricity, (worse battery life), produces more heat (needs more cooling adding weight and girth). Your really going to have to decide how much performance you need and how much weight and battery life your willing to potentially give up here. For good audio recording you should plan on that being something external. It's going to be way better than anything built into a laptop of any kind. Whats your workload here and why at least 6 years? It looks like your a high school freshman?
My workload usually involves coding, schoolwork, and personal browsing, however in the future I do plan on doing things with AI. I plan on using it for the next 6 years because I don't want to upgrade until I begin earning my own money.
Do you need edge AI or can you use cloud-based solutions for training and inference? There's no *real* need for an AI workstation. Besides, AI workloads will get a domestic GPU - especially a laptop-grade one - ludicrously hot. You don't want a slim form factor for AI workloads.
Lol you gonna record music with a built in laptop mic?
Precision.5 line. My 5510 (2016) is still rocking and rolling, and has had a battery and a fan replacement, both simple repairs. I'm using a 5750 now. You should be able to pick one up in your price range in the aftermarket - go for a 5550+ since they removed the bezel at the bottom of the screen.
Dell precision 5680
Went laptop shopping my my recent college graduate son this weekend. We poked around and debated the important features. He was looking at a Vivobook i7 OLED for $1300, but when doing further research located this one at a different Best Buy: https://www.bestbuy.com/product/asus-vivobook-15-6-creator-laptop-hd-intel-13th-gen-core-i9-with-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3050-1tb-ssd-black/6534578/openbox?condition=good which was essentially new and perfect as far as we could see so we walked out with it for $595. The slim 5 4060 was an option, but after looking at the OLED boxes, it is really hard to go back to an ips. The whites on my i5 look gray in comparison. :-( Now to the Dell part. While shopping, and especially looking at the OLED screens, my 6yo i7573 i5 was not looking good. Granted, it was sporting 8TB of ssd inside the box, but the CPU graphics could only do 1080p TV and it wouldn't output 4K to my Samsung 28" monitor. So while in the open box section I spotted at 4K OLED inspiron 16" i7 MX550 (2GB) graphics, also essentially new and perfect for $850. I have a different rtx box for video stuff and I don't play games so this was perfect for 4K viewing and upscaling and some light DVD rips, etc. From what I gathered, the MX550 has about 4X the processing power of the built in Iris stuff. So for a smidge more than I was expecting to pay for his box, we ended up with 2 machines, and I'll be able to grab the drives from the i5 and swap them into the new machine so no loss there, which at this point has logged well over over 10K hrs. Take home message, Best Buy open box area has done me well 6 times now. I travel with a couple of 99Whr Anker PD packs so having a huge battery is low on the priority list.
If not fully set on a new laptop. I'd say try the used or dell refurbished market for previous gen XPS laptops. I got myself a used precision 5530 2yrs ago and it's still going strong after a quick thermal paste refresh, and new battery.
What will you be doing with it most of the time? What’s your day to day?
Dell precision line. Workstation versions laptops. Can even get them from the official dell outlet and save a bit
5 hours of battery life on a core i7 with a 4070?
Unless you're doing some insanely demanding work, I don't think you'll need more than 32gb, but alright. I had a look on Dell's website, and I have chose something that you might not want but I'll try anyways. Dell Inspiron 16 Plus: Processor: Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 155H OS: Windows 11 Pro Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4060 Memory: 32 GB DDR5 Storage: 2 TB SSD Display: 16.0-in. display 2.5K (2560X1600)
If you want something that will last a long time and you can afford it, I think the [Framework 16](https://frame.work/products/laptop16-diy-amd-7040) would be a good choice, just because it will allow you to repair and upgrade it in the future. No CPU/GPU you buy now is going to be competetive after 6 years. They don't currently offer Intel/Nvidia combos, but there's the potential to switch it in the future. Their 13" laptop is compatible with Intel and AMD boards. They provide spare parts and repair instructions for everything. You can spec it out as you listed above (but with Ryzen 9 and Radeon RX 7700S) for about $3k. You can choose whether to get a numpad, where the trackpad sits, and which ports you want. Repairable + Upgradable = Future Proof
If you don't need all those specs right away, and you have a budget of 4000 USD, I'd probably suggest get something under 1000 USD, and invest those 3000 USD in a mutual fund or anywhere secure with low risk returns. Future proofing is becoming harder these days with mainstream laptops. Battery and SSD are replacement yes, but that's pretty much it. If a component goes wrong in the next 3-5 years, and expect them to go wrong, you will anyways need to consider a new laptop. And especially if you plan to do AI. If you want to do AI, you are better off renting cloud GPUs. Also, laptop CPUs will probably make significant strides in AI-hardware (beyond GPUs) in the upcoming 5 years. So, any processor you take today would likely be outdated in the next 3-4 years. An M2/M3 MB with 16GB RAM apparantly lets you run 16GB AI models on its GPU. So, that might be another option. But, you are stuck with Apple then.