Dell XPS 13 Powered by Intel Kaby Lake Processor
Dell's XPS laptop models are the most covetable ultrabooks besides HP Spectre 13, EliteBook Folio G1 and the Lenovo Yoga 900, Asus latest Zenbook 3 and other Apple's own MacBook Line. Dell’s XPS 13 is back for 2016 with an updated specification that includes more efficient Intel Kaby Lake processors and longer battery life.
Let’s see if the XPS 13 has what it takes to snatch the crown in the premium ultrabook space.
Dell XPS 13 design and build
The Dell XPS 13 is the smallest 13-inch laptop. It is the visual embodiment of a machine that transcends the bounds of possibility and is a marvel of human ingenuity. The visually stimulating UltraSharp QHD/FHD+ resolution (3200x1800) with a bezel that's just 5.2mm thick which is the signature of this ground breaking device . he IPS panel ensures rich colour reproduction and very good viewing angles, which makes it a joy to work on. The glossy touchscreen is prone to picking up fingerprints and reflections, however this can somewhat be dealt with due to the high brightness levels. The only downside to this design choice is that the webcam has had to be placed below the display, which results in an awkward angle for video chatting. The new XPS is at a bit heavier end at 1.3kg for the touchscreen model, which means you are going to feel the heft compared to some of today's other models. Build quality is still excellent thanks to the aluminium chassis with carbon fibre for the palm rest area.
The keys on the keyboard have just the right amount of travel for typing, and there's absolutely no flex around the keyboard area. The chiclet keys have good spacing, and the backlighting is pretty even across them. The glass trackpad works very well with tracking and Windows 10 gestures. There are two rubber strips on the bottom of the XPS 13 that act as feet to help prop the laptop up to keep the intake vents unobstructed.
The palm rest area does stay cool during gaming but the same cannot be said for the bottom of the laptop. The XPS 13 runs fairly cool if you’re doing things like editing a document and surfing the Web, but once you fire up a video or do anything graphically intensive, it gets really hot. At first we thought it was the due to the vents getting blocked but placing it on a table didn’t seem to help. Thankfully, the exhaust fans aren’t too noisy, and most of the hot air is expelled through a vent on the right, near the hinge.
For connectivity
1. Speaker | 2. SD card slot | 3. USB 3.0 with PowerShare | 4. Noble lock slot | 5. AC power | 6. Thunderbolt™ 3 supporting: Power in/charging, PowerShare, Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps bi-directional), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps), VGA, HDMI, Ethernet and USB-A via Dell Adapter (sold separately) | 7. USB 3.0 | 8. Headset jack | 9. Battery gauge button and indicator
Dell XPS 13 specifications and features
The flagship version of the XPS 13 that we have ships with a Skylake-generation Core i7-6560U processor, which is a bit different from the i7-6500U that is more commonly found in ultrabooks. It has a slightly lower base clock and turbo frequency but packs in a bit more oomph in the graphics department. Instead of the integrated HD 520 graphics, it features Intel's Iris 540 graphics, promising better performance.
You also get 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, an HD webcam,The 6th generation Intel Core i5-6200U in our Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook review unit delivers impressive performance for a 15W processor. While we can’t quite call this best-in-class performance among 13-inch Ultrabooks at the time of this writing, the Core i5-6200U does an impressive job overall and is equally impressive when it comes to power management. The Intel HD 520 integrated graphics are enough to handle playing 1080p video and up-scaled QHD+ video on the QHD+ display, but if you really want to make the most of the QHD+ resolution for 3D rendering or editing 4K video content then you probably want to spend the extra cash to upgrade to the optional Core i7-6560U processor with Intel Iris 540 graphics.
Dell XPS 13 performance
Speed and reliability are what you get with the Dell XPS 13. Backed by the 6th Generation Intel Core processors this laptop boots and resumes faster than you can type your password. The 256GB Solid State Drive hard drive paired with Intel HD Graphics 520 give you seamless navigational abilities between multiple apps. Boot times are quick, as are loading times for apps in general. The SSD puts on a good show here delivering really fast read and write speeds. We got 860MB/s for sequential read bandwidth and 663MB/s for write.
Multimedia experience
The multimedia displayed on the virtually infinite screen with a merely present 5.2 mm bezel will leave you entranced. The contemporary IGZO IPS panel provides a 170 degree wide viewing angle for comfort. The 400 nit brightness allows you to enjoy the display even under bright lights. A razor sharp contrast ratio of 1000:1 ensures that you see an entire spectrum of color and brings stunning images to life on your screen.
Multimedia playback is excellent, mostly thanks to the display. The laptop can handle high-resolution files with ease, and streaming movies and TV shows on the laptop is real treat. The built-in speakers are pretty loud, and Dell uses the Waves MaxxAudio software suite for sound enhancement. We didn’t find much use for the touchscreen though, since stretching out a hand to use it isn’t the most comfortable posture and the laptop doesn’t flip or bend so that it can be used in different positions.
Battery Life
The latest generation Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook features a 56Wh battery which is slightly more capacity than the previous generation (52Wh). The extra battery capacity combined with the superior energy efficiency of the Intel Core i5-6200U helped the XPS 13 deliver longer battery life despite the QHD+ display. Notebooks with Ultra-HD screens typically have worse battery life because all those extra pixels require extra power, but the XPS 13-9350 managed to last for almost 4 hours in Futuremark’s demanding Powermark benchmark. If you set the screen brightness to 70 percent or lower and just browse the web a fully charged XPS 13 should last for around 8 hours even with the QHD+ resolution display.
Verdict
The new Dell XPS 13 is every bit as good as it looks on paper, but it isn't the best ultrabook on the market anymore. Heating is a bit of a concern with the Core i7 model we tested, and it gets uncomfortable after a point if you’re using it on your lap. We feel a bit disappointed when it comes to onboard storage, which ideally should have been 512GB rather than 256GB. We also could have used either a Micro-HDMI port or an adapter bundled in the box.
While the starting price of the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook comes in at roughly $800, our review sample includes the higher-resolution touchscreen display and a 256GB solid state drive (SSD). These upgrades certainly improve both the overall performance and the overall appeal of the XPS 13, but $1,500 is a lot to pay when you’re talking about a PC running on a Core i5-6200U and just 8GB of DDR3 system memory. The laptop ships with Windows 10 Home 64-bit along with a 12-month subscription to McAfee LiveSafe, Office 2016 Home and Student Edition, and a bunch of Dell utilities for driver updates.
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