Yes and no.

Just about everything on the XPS 13 is soldered. I would encourage an extended warranty that lasts for the duration of your stay in school. Motherboard replacements are expensive as RAM and SSD are included if I am not mistaken.

its way better than a shitty chromebook

It's decent choice but only on special offers with at least 20 percent off
make sure to get the latest generation of the intel processor since new gen almost always mean bigger cash memory

Get a 15" Precision or XPS used

My view is that a laptop designed to be lugged around is better for students. I suggest taking a look at Latitude business laptops.

Remember that this sub doesn't have loads of users, and you're way more likely to post here with a complaint rather than "I got a laptop and it just works as normal".

I was also a bit concerned having bought one (XPS 15) and having to wait until Jan for delivery, hence keeping an eye on here for similar stories. However there are many many many online reviews which give these laptops overwhelmingly good reviews.

Thousands of OptiPlex's, Latitude's, Precision's, and XPS's over 22 years... Yep. They can't perform basic repairs with the best warranty and QC is questionable at best.

Its like playing the lotto. Sometimes you get a decent computer. You order it, it takes a month to get to you. Sometimes it lasts for years, sometimes they lose it before it makes it to fedex. Then there are times they ship a badly damaged computer and make you wait 3 weeks for a refund and then you have to start over.

I am currently stuck in that waiting game with them.

I have had the fun of being in charge of ordering for my company. Most of the time its a shit show with dell but every once in a while they get things right on the fist go.

I got lucky about 3 months back they sent me a few computers that had upgraded ram. So some good some bad.

Users with no issues don’t even know these forums exist

I’ve owned 2 dell xps 15s over the past 6 years, and my experience is that they’re beautiful machines that perform ok, but are horribly unreliable, e.g. swelling batteries, bad motherboards. Also dells customer service is just terrible.

Don't buy a XPS , overpriced junk , learn from my pain , lol. XPS 9570 , on 2nd motherboard, and Dell support is in ? now days , huge repair time , caused by all the broken Dells. Move along nothing to see here. lol

You would need to list a lot more information on what you want. Price is a good start but what about screen size, usage and programs you need to run, and if you want a dedicated graphics card, for $1200 though, I wouldn't look in to the XPS line up, there are other alternatives that would fit the budget better. The XPS lineup is more premium and would cost around $2000 for a decent spec configuration depending on the size. I would look in to the Inspiron laptops if you want to stay with Dell products. If you post on other forms like SuggestALaptop, they can help you there if you fill out the form.

No real function keys, cool-looking but harder to type on zero-lattice keyboard are enough to make it a pass.

Most systems these days are overkill for "family/video photo editing" unless you're doing professional stuff.

All of those brands premium tiers are fine, depending on taste, except Samsung. Samsung just can't figure out how to make a laptop. 

Reliability, Build quality:Apple Performance:Asus
That’s all from me but asus has not got the best customer support and the asus zephyrus series has build quality almost the same as apple or like apple and if you want productivity, longevity and battery life go with apple. If you want gaming go with asus or lenevo.

One brand can have shitty laptops and bangers at the same time. MSI doesn’t make the best budget laptops but their high end 18 inch models are banger. The most consistent brand that you listed here I would say is Apple. All their products you can expect to be good(hence the premium price). They have great customer service(in my personal experience). Only downer I would say is long term reliability. Mac’s are built well and I know people who still uses 2015 Mac’s. but their soldered storage and ram kills longevity.

All of them make both shit and gold. HP high end business laptops like the ZBooks are fantastic machines. HP unbranded laptops are worth less than the plastic used to build them.

the average person can get by perfectly with the i3. yes the i7 is "better" but if its not needed why spend the extra wasted money. it ultimately comes down to your needs

You’ll have better luck in the laptops subreddit, got a good recommendation when I was in need

the i3 is good if all its for it word and browser lol , u can even get a chromebook for like $200

I3 will be done for that.

I mean I have an inspirion and its good. I don't know about this model, but they're fast and handle a lot.

The price range is a bit low. Look into $1k to $1.4k USD. Laptop inflation means you have to pay a bit more.

As others have mentioned, avoid the Dell inspiron line of laptops. They have not been durable past 2 years and have the worst customer service. Look into Dell outlet store for Dell XPS 13 9350. Similar to the Macbook Air for light weight, and it's Arc iGPU should handle gaming.

Forget Inspiron or any other consumer line. Get a Latitude or a Precision if you can (but that’s not in your price range).

Used on eBay is great if you find an authorized reseller or refurbisher. Also look at the open box ones from Amazon Resale. 

Source: I’m an IT manager in an almost all Dell org.

Dell have an online outlet store - they sell computers that have been assembled/configured based on an order, but the order has then been cancelled. Depends on what they have in stock, and you can’t modify them. You can get massive savings and great value.

If you can find one, try for a xps 9365 or something like that, can be found as 2 in ones for around 300, as 8th gen intel with amd gpus, also labeled as a precision 5530 2 in 1+

I mean modern i3s aren't actually that slow and actually perfectly fit your use case if all you're doing is word and tests with the laptop

It might struggle with doing multiple things at once though

i3 aren't unusable, you'll likely be fine with one.

However I've been using i5s a lot, so far I've been quite pleased with them, they offer good performances while not heating or consuming as much power as the i7, so they're a good choice too.

That particular i3 actually slaps for simple things

I3s are lower power use/cooler and 5% slower, not important in your use case, imo

Intel Core i5-1334U is in fact very good CPU. For the price, it seems quite a good deal. It's true however that display, keyboard- and build-quality are not the best on this entry-level Dell model.