Coming from the industrial design of the MacBook, my first impression of the Dell XPS 15 was that it was much sturdier in look and feel. June Wan/ZDNET
When you buy a Dell XPS laptop, you know exactly what you’re getting. The bezels are extremely thin, the screen is bright and colorful, and the performance matches the design. And over the years, the overall look and feel of what is arguably Dell’s most competitive laptop model has remained virtually unchanged. That’s how timeless the original was.
Yes, this year’s model looks the same as last year’s. And I’m not complaining. But the performance of the laptop is higher, thanks to the switch to Ada Lovelace GPUs. And this although Dell continues to tell me that the XPS range is more suitable for prosummers, content creators, in short for all those who are not gamers.
I tested the Dell XPS 15 over the past month, relegating my trusty MacBook Pro and MacBook Air to the sidelines. And I end my evaluation period with the belief that it remains one of the best options for Windows users. Here’s why.
The XPS 15 weighs a good 4 pounds, and that definitely showed when I’m on the go
After the industrial design of the MacBook, my first impression of the Dell XPS 15 was that it was much sturdier in look and feel. The exterior is chiseled with clean lines and rounded corners, and the brushed aluminum lets you know that this laptop is not shy.
The XPS 15 weighs a good 4 pounds, and that definitely showed when I’m on the go. On the other hand, in addition to the three USB-C ports – including two Thunderbolt 4 – Dell includes an SD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack. For meetings, I often need to transfer photos and videos – taken with my camera – to my laptop for editing. And so the SD card slot is much appreciated.
As for the bottom of the laptop, I found the XPS 15’s keyboard a little too low for my liking. The soft-touch keys can feel mushy and aren’t as tactile as I would have liked for my typing work, though the backlighting is bright enough for nighttime writing sessions.
It’s one of the sharpest, most color-accurate screens I’ve seen on a laptop.
The carbon fiber surrounding what is one of the largest trackpads I’ve used on a 15-inch laptop is nice. It serves as a nice wrist rest when sliding and clicking. The razor-sharp design can play against the trackpad at times, however, when my left wrist was simply resting a little too close to the center surface.
June Wan/ZDNET
There was more to say about the XPS 15 design last year when the changes were sweeping, so read this article if you want a more in-depth analysis. My takeaway is that while I prefer the all-aluminum construction – inside and out – of Microsoft’s MacBook or Surface Laptop, it’s good to see Dell sticking to its savoir faire, which I’m sure has many fans.
The model Dell provided me with is equipped with a 13th Gen Core i7-13700H, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, an RTX 4070 (40W) and an OLED display of 3.5K resolution. This latest specification being the most notable improvement of all. Visually, it’s one of the sharpest, most color-accurate screens I’ve seen on a laptop. And it’s a feature I recommend if photo and video are their focus.
What impresses me the most is the autonomy of the XPS 15 between charges
Combined with the speakers on the sides of the keyboard, the XPS 15 delivers a mesmerizing multimedia experience. It’s one of the few screen and speaker combinations I’d rank alongside Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro.
The 3.5K screen also supports touch! June Wan/ZDNET
The possibility of configuring the XPS 15, from the processor to the Windows operating system, including the graphics card and the screen, is very interesting. In fact, the XPS 15 I tested was more than enough for my work week, with multi-window apps, 4K video editing in Adobe Premiere Pro, and some touch-ups in Adobe Photoshop.
What impresses me the most is the XPS 15’s battery life between charges. Even using it to power an external monitor, I got an average of six to seven hours of use before the 10% low battery warning appeared. Keep in mind that I use the device for video exports, frequent conference calls (with a suboptimal 720p webcam), and various things that happen throughout a journalist’s work week.
Dell XPS 15 (9530) specs
- Processor : 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700H, 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900H
- Operating system : Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Professional
- Graphic card : Intel Arc A370M, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050, 6 GB GDDR6, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, 8 GB GDDR6, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, 8 GB GDDR6
- Screen : 15.6″ InfinityEdge FHD+ (1920 x 1200) Non-Touch, 15.6″ OLED 3.5K (3456 x 2160) InfinityEdge Touch, Anti-Glare, 400 cd/m²
- Memory : 16GB/32GB/64GB
- Storage : 512GB/1TB/2TB/4TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Ports: 1 USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with DisplayPort, 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports (USB 3.2 Gen 2), 1 headphone port (headphone and microphone combo), 1 SD card slot
- Dimensions and weight: Height: 18 mm, Width: 344.72 mm, Depth: 230.14 mm / 1.86 kg for FHD+ model, 1.92 kg for OLED model
- Camera : 720p HD webcam at 30 fps
- Sound and speakers: Dual microphone, 2 x 2.5W stereo subwoofers and 2 x 1.5W stereo tweeters for a total of 8W
- Frame : CNC machined aluminum with carbon fiber composite or woven fiberglass palm rests
- Wireless : Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6 1675 (AX211), 802.11ax, 2×2 + Bluetooth wireless card
- Battery : 6 cells 86 Wh integrated
ZDNET’s Buying Tips
If I were to buy the Dell XPS 15, I would be comfortable with a less powerful RTX 4050 graphics card and a smaller 512GB storage size since most of my work is saved to the cloud. With the addition of the 3.5K resolution screen, that would cost me around $2,100, a relatively decent price for one of the highest-end Windows laptops on the market.
You’ll save an extra $300 if you can live with the non-touch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) display. And if looks are your only concern, the Dell XPS 15 can be had for €1450. But whatever the price, you can count on reliable performance and battery life, as well as timeless design.
Source: “ZDNet.com”