Dell XPS 15 – Best All Around Laptop?
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,227 words · ~6 min read
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I really liked last year's version of the Dell xps15 with its great build
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quality and strong performance in almost every category but has the 2017 model
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the XPS 9560 been able to iterate on
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that and remain recommended a year later
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well let's find out shall we
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we're opening up a new merch store you can check out some of our new gear today
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at the link in the video description physically the XPS 15 has
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hardly changed from the previous version
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not that that's the worst thing ever the thin bezel Infinity Edge screen is now
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bordered by glass instead of plastic which is a nice touch and overall I
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can't complain about the clean look and solid feel of the XPS
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even if it's slightly thicker than some other professional laptops like Apple's
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latest MacBook Pro booting up the delx ps15 the first thing that really struck
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me was how darn good the screen is there are two versions available 1080P and 4K
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and both have excellent viewing angles and brightness our model Sports a 4K
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screen capable of greater than the full Adobe RGB color space and it's frankly
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amazing to look at my usual complaints
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do stand Windows and third-party
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applications still scale poorly from
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time to time and higher resolution displays do negatively impact battery
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life so if you don't have eagle eyes you may want to consider a 1080p model but
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it sure is nice to have the option text and icons are crazy sharp making
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everything from using word to reading articles to watching 4K video super easy
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on the eyes another nice touch
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touch is that it's touch enabled I regret opting for a non-touch
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configuration of the xps15 when I reviewed it last year so uh glad we got
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that fixed this time around IO For Better or For Worse is basically
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unchanged you get two USB 3.0 type A's a
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Thunderbolt 3 Port which comes with all the wonderful capabilities that it does
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including the ability to upgrade the XPS 15 with an external graphics card in
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spite of warnings to the contrary and to
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adapt it to run a 4K 60 HZ display you
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get a full-sized SD card reader and an HDMI 1.4 Port so enough to cover
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day-to-day needs and the ability to add a dongle if it doesn't leading us
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finally into something different specs
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it starts at $11,000 with our config
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costing a little bit more with a quad core core i7 processor that boosts up to
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3 .8 GHz in our experience a fast NVMe
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SSD and a GTX 1050 graphics card General
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performance of the aforementioned Hardware brings us back to things that
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haven't changed very much Intel's latest kbl processors are more about power
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savings and battery life is pretty good in our standard test than they are about
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faster um Excel spreadsheet processing
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however gaming is a different story if
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you're a Casual Gamer who wants a sexy high performance notebook I mean 4K
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ain't happening but when bumped down to 1080p which still looks quite sharp
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despite downscaling the GTX 1050 handles
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AAA games pretty darn well and even in
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our synthetic tests temperatures remained acceptable with the CPU
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leveling off around 82 and the GPU at
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77° the fans did get a little loud but they don't have that high pitched noise
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that some other laptops do and I was able to tune it out after a while moving
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on the keyboard feels actually really solid with no perceptible Flex the
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keystrokes have a nice travel and remain quiet but not mushy sounding and overall
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the XPS 15 is great for typing and doing up this review on it was a pleasure the
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exclusion of a number pad will be a turnoff for some but I understand the
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trade-off here compared to most 15-in class notebooks the thin bezels cut down
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on the overall x-dimension size of the device a lot giving Del only a couple of
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inches of space on either side below we
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find the trackpad which is excellent as well it's got a
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surprisingly soft feel that makes
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navigating Windows feel like you're
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gently touching a a Lover's leg you know it's
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like up grades are easyish 12 screws and
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you pop the bottom cover allowing you to throw another drive into the 2 and 1/2
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in Bay at least in the 57w model the one
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we have has that bay taken up by the massive 97w battery and you can also
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change out the memory if you're so inclined we do have some constructive
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criticism though the wireless solution and Windows don't seem to get along
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quite right at this time although this was easily fixed by disabling some power
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management settings and a Windows service and given how impressed we've
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been by recent Dell Audio Solutions the
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speakers are surprisingly bad I'm still unsure why they continued
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with the webcam placement on the bottom of the screen when I'm on a Skype call
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it looks like I'm staring off into space and placing my hand on the home row
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blocks the view of my lovely face I mean is it really that important that the
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Dell logo remains centered this is a
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huge problem on an XPS branded device
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that straddles the line between Enthusiast and business where being able
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to engage in conference calls is actually a daily
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occurrence but with all those complaints
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aside I enjoyed my time with the XPS 15
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and I think the excellent screen aluminum and carbon fiber construction
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and great keyboard easily make up for
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its lame qualities with our model coming in at 2 Grand it isn't exactly a budget
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laptop but it does pack a mean punch for
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the money as laptops Trend towards being
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thinner while sacrificing performance and IO the XPS stands out for its focus
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on pragmatic performance and the inclusion of a proper GPU bottom line
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though the XPS 15 is a great option for
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basic use professional tasks like video or photo editing and even light
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gaming do you love anime do you want 30
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luck because Crunchyroll is the site created by anime fans for anime fans
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so head to crunchy .com/srobiyt