WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:07.359 Most laptops that roll through here get reviewed from a pretty fresh and purely 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:10.719 objective perspective since they're not really the kind of thing that I would 00:00:08.639 --> 00:00:14.240 use as a daily driver anyway. And perhaps more importantly, they don't 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:20.400 have a predecessor with whom I have a very intimate relationship. My Dell XPS 00:00:17.279 --> 00:00:22.560 13 2015 edition video will be different. 00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:27.439 Its daddy is clearly the last generation XPS 13 whose name it bears. But for me, 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:33.200 it gets to go head-to-head with its mama, the 2013 XPS12. A or grandma, I 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:37.200 guess it's generation older than that. A product whose twoin-one transformation 00:00:35.040 --> 00:00:42.560 capabilities it doesn't share, but to which it otherwise bears a more than 00:00:39.440 --> 00:00:47.760 passing resemblance. 00:00:47.760 --> 00:00:54.719 The MSI GT80 Titan is the world's first gaming laptop with a fully mechanical 00:00:52.239 --> 00:01:00.640 keyboard and features dual GTX 980M and SLI. Click now to learn more. So, let's 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:07.119 begin with the highlight feature, the 13. Now, this laptop is available with a 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:10.799 1080p non-touch display with standard glass, but I think most people would 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:16.520 argue that you're not really doing your XPS 13 right unless you opt for the 00:01:13.360 --> 00:01:20.560 premium super high pixel density 3200 00:01:16.520 --> 00:01:22.880 by,800 IPS Gorilla Glass covered 10point 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:27.600 multi-touch option that Dell is calling infinity display. And as much as that's 00:01:25.119 --> 00:01:33.759 a silly meaningless marketing word, man, it's beautiful. And like the hyper thin 00:01:30.880 --> 00:01:39.759 5.2 mm bezel allows the XPS 13 to actually be about an inch less in width 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:42.799 and height than my 12 1/2 in XPS12 while 00:01:39.759 --> 00:01:45.439 delivering a larger display. But of 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:49.759 course, size isn't everything. So, you know what's it like once you get it in 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:53.840 your hand and start working on it? Actually, a little weird at first, to be 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:57.280 honest. I mean, I'm accustomed to the screen kind of ending at the edge of the 00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:01.360 keyboard on most laptops, and on this one, it just kind of doesn't. It's 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:05.200 surprisingly different feeling, but you do get used to it quite quickly. There 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:10.640 are still issues, though. Text and UI scaling still sucks in Windows 8.1 with 00:02:08.239 --> 00:02:15.680 some applications displaying blurry text and others UIs completely falling apart. 00:02:13.760 --> 00:02:19.840 Something I will keep mentioning until it's addressed. But the good news is 00:02:17.920 --> 00:02:24.560 that in browsers and most of the other things you'll normally use, man is this 00:02:22.239 --> 00:02:29.680 monitor gorgeous. Nearperfect viewing angles, retinaike sharpness, and it's 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:32.560 bright, too. Color temperature was a touch cool out of the box, but a run 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:37.040 with the color monkey fixed that write up and also told me that I'm sitting at 00:02:34.480 --> 00:02:40.560 about 40% brightness, getting 120 candela per meter squared out of this 00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:44.480 thing. So, that's about ideal for indoors. At full brightness, it's 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:47.360 basically blinding inside, but great if you happen to be out in the sun. But of 00:02:46.239 --> 00:02:52.879 course, if you just wanted to hear about how great the screen is endlessly, then you could watch this 10-hour loop we 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:55.840 created of me talking about how great it is. If you're not into that sort of 00:02:54.480 --> 00:03:00.160 thing, well then keep watching this video because this pony has a lot more 00:02:57.920 --> 00:03:06.879 tricks up its wherever a pony would store tricks. The guts for all XPS 13s 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:10.159 contain a Dell 1560 2x2 802.11 AC 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:12.000 wireless card, a 52-Wh battery that Dell 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:17.680 figures is good for up to 12 hours on the high-res model and 15 on the low res 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:20.000 one, and built-in Intel HD5500 graphics 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:25.519 with depending on the trim level, some variety of U or ultra low power class 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:28.560 dualcore Core i3, i5 or i7 processor, 4 00:03:25.519 --> 00:03:33.200 to 8 GB of RAM, and anywhere from a 128 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:35.680 to 512 GB M.2 SSD. Now, hold on a second 00:03:33.200 --> 00:03:41.120 there, Lionus. That SSD sounds like super cool and fast at PCI Express, but 00:03:39.040 --> 00:03:45.599 either I've got like wax buildup in my ear, or you just said this notebook has 00:03:42.959 --> 00:03:52.239 4 gigs of RAM on the $1,000 model and a mere 8 gigs on the 00:03:48.840 --> 00:03:53.920 $1,750 model. Well, you might have 00:03:52.239 --> 00:03:57.799 enough wax in your ear to cause hearing problems. Gross, by the way. But that 00:03:55.920 --> 00:04:05.280 wasn't the issue just now. Dell's 2015 XPS13 doesn't even have the 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:08.599 option to configure it with more RAM than I can fill up with a single 00:04:07.040 --> 00:04:14.000 multi-tabbed internet browser. There is more good stuff 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:16.720 though. The material choices are superb 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:23.040 with a similar machined aluminum and real carbon fiber black and silver theme 00:04:19.840 --> 00:04:25.680 to the one that I have and love so much. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:28.880 The whole device is astonishingly slim. Yet, even while running the 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:34.160 workbenchmark that I used for battery life testing in PC Mark 8, the fan 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:39.680 stayed either very quiet and sometimes didn't even spin. And the IO has been 00:04:36.880 --> 00:04:44.800 dramatically improved for me anyway by the addition of an SD card reader to go 00:04:42.400 --> 00:04:49.040 with the USB 3 port and lock on this side and the additional USB 3 port, 4K 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:54.240 capable mini DisplayPort port, power jack, battery life indicator, and four- 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:59.040 pole combo audio jack on the other. But I have more criticism, too. while the 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:03.040 bottom is a solid chunk of aluminum with only vent holes and rubber feet to 00:05:00.880 --> 00:05:08.320 disrupt its awesomeness. And the screen itself is phenomenally rigid considering 00:05:05.840 --> 00:05:12.400 how thin and basically bezelless it is. The keyboard has taken a significant 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:16.400 backward step in the build quality department. The backlight is nice and 00:05:14.479 --> 00:05:20.639 white and the layout is pretty much ideal other than a slightly shorter than 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:26.160 I'd like backspace key, but the key travel distance is very short. The 00:05:22.960 --> 00:05:29.360 membrane switches have an unsatisfying 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:30.800 frontheavy and sudden tactile bump. And 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:35.199 much more importantly than any of that other stuff, the entire keyboard has way 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:39.520 more flex than I'd expect in a premium product like this, regardless of how 00:05:37.039 --> 00:05:43.600 thin and sexy it is. While I'm piling on, I do have some other gripes in no 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:47.039 particular order. Uh Dell, the power adapter is super small, which is nice, 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:50.800 but your friction locked power plug wore out on my old notebook and basically 00:05:49.039 --> 00:05:54.880 falls out now on that one. I'm disappointed this hasn't been revised. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:59.759 Your nonsense McAfee trial and Dell update were using 25 plus% CPU doing 00:05:58.080 --> 00:06:03.680 lordly knows what when I first booted the thing up at one point. I've since 00:06:01.919 --> 00:06:07.440 removed them both. The speakers are sidefiring rather than front-facing 00:06:05.440 --> 00:06:11.120 which bites. And there's a bit of a lip on the bezel here that makes swiping in 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:15.039 from the right for the charms menu kind of uncomfortable and difficult. Okay, 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:19.680 that last one was pretty petty which means we're probably heading to the good 00:06:16.960 --> 00:06:24.479 stuff again. The precision trackpad's default medium delay for palm rejection 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:28.280 is horrible, but once I changed that, I got used to it pretty quickly. There is 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:33.600 something I can't quite put my finger on. What a joke. Uh, but even now, I'm 00:06:31.520 --> 00:06:37.440 actually experiencing some kind of cursor accelerationbased tracking 00:06:35.440 --> 00:06:41.039 annoyances with fine movements, but I'm pretty sure that's Windows fault. So, as 00:06:39.520 --> 00:06:45.440 far as the hardware is concerned, overall accuracy, responsiveness, and 00:06:42.960 --> 00:06:49.360 the feel of this glass pad with seamless clicky buttons on the bottom is very, 00:06:46.960 --> 00:06:53.440 very solid. And so is pretty much the rest of this device. I mean, thanks to 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:57.680 its fifth gen processor, my i5 equipped model managed a score of 2846 in the PC 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:01.759 Mark Work Suite that I ran as a battery life benchmark. and to see how far we've 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:07.199 come in the last couple of years. Well, it did that while managing 00:07:03.960 --> 00:07:10.319 35%. Yes, deep into double digits. More 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:12.000 battery life than my old product. And 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:15.599 speaking of battery life, Dell actually sent over this battery pack thing which 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:18.479 you can use to squeeze some extra out of it and charge other stuff like your 00:07:16.960 --> 00:07:23.759 phone while you're at it, if you're into that sort of thing. So, we have come a 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:26.479 long way, but it's bottom line time now. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:32.400 And the bottom line is the XPS 13 2015 edition is a fantastic and stunningly 00:07:29.440 --> 00:07:36.960 beautiful machine that I love, but that lacks the customizability on Dell's 00:07:34.960 --> 00:07:41.199 website that would allow me to configure it into something that I would buy. The 00:07:39.520 --> 00:07:45.599 pre-baked options make a lot of trade-offs that sound great on paper, 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:50.720 like giving up 20% of its rated battery life for a fancy high pixel density 00:07:48.400 --> 00:07:55.840 display in the premium models, but in practice are let down by the awful 00:07:53.440 --> 00:08:00.879 experience that is using Windows with UI scaling. So, Dell, if you're listening, 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:05.680 I love this device. Um, but here's the one that I would want to see next time. 00:08:02.479 --> 00:08:07.280 1080p IPS with a touchscreen covered in 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:11.599 Gorilla Glass so that I can conserve some battery and don't need to scale and 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:15.280 16 gigs of RAM. Seriously, that's critical. And let me have whatever 00:08:13.440 --> 00:08:18.800 processor and SSD that I want in whatever trim level I want. It seems 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:25.120 like a lot of the options are locked down kind of unnecessarily. A build to 00:08:21.440 --> 00:08:26.319 order option would be nice. Speaking of, 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:32.399 I don't know, something that I just said, Valentine's Day is fast approaching. I know, right? And today's 00:08:30.400 --> 00:08:36.800 sponsor, ProFlowers, has a great solution to this pro, excuse me, 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:40.800 wondrous occasion for our subscribers in the US. They're a flower delivery 00:08:38.719 --> 00:08:43.760 service that saves you the hassle of going to the store and selecting 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:46.880 something at the last minute. Just head over to their website, pick out 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:50.959 something that you like, check out, and boom, they're set to deliver on 00:08:48.800 --> 00:08:55.120 Valentine's Day. 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