Xps 15 Touch I9 Touch 4k Review for Photography 2018
Our Verdict
The Dell XPS 15 offers serious power and nearly 12 hours of battery life in an attractive chassis.
For
- Strong overall and graphics performance
- Excellent battery life
- Vivid, vibrant screen
- Runs cool
- Attractive, if dated, blueprint
Confronting
- Awkwardly placed webcam
Laptop Mag Verdict
The Dell XPS 15 offers serious power and most 12 hours of bombardment life in an bonny chassis.
Pros
- +
Strong overall and graphics performance
- +
Excellent battery life
- +
Bright, vibrant screen
- +
Runs cool
- +
Attractive, if dated, blueprint
Cons
- -
Awkwardly placed webcam
Editor's Note 7.19.21: Laptop Magazine does not generally recommend laptops two years or older. If you are in the market for Dell XPS 15, delight check out our review of the Dell XPS 15 (2020) .
Dell's XPS laptops are considered the gold standard when information technology comes to premium notebooks, and the latest XPS 15 is no exception. Priced at ($999 to kickoff, $ane,399 as tested), this is one of the most powerful laptops on the market, thank you to its Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics. It's also drop-dead gorgeous with its slim, modern industrial blueprint, incredibly sparse bezels and lovely display. The xv-inch still suffers from the XPS line'due south biggest flaw -- an ill-placed webcam -- just, overall, this is one of the best laptops you can buy and a formidable foe to Apple's much pricier 15-inch MacBook Pro. It's likewise one of the laptops with best battery life.
Dell XPS fifteen price and configurations
I took the $1,399 iteration of the Dell XPS 15 for a spin. It has a 2.ii-GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor with 16GB of RAM, a 256GB M.2 PCIe SSD, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q GPU with 4GB of VRAM, an Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU and a 1920 ten 1080 panel. (Note: Dell now sells this model with 512GB of storage)
The base of operations mode costs $999 and drops the CPU downward to a two.three-GHz Intel Core i5-8300H flake with 8GB of RAM, a 1TB 5,400-rpm hard drive, an Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU and a 1920 x 1080 display.
Desire a 4K screen? Be prepared to fork over at least $two,099, which will go y'all the 3840 x 2160 affect screen, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD. If you want even more power, Dell has a $ii,449 model that offers an overclockable 2.ix-GHz Intel Core i9-8950HK CPU.
Dell XPS 15 pattern
With its clean industrial silver aluminum lid and undercarriage sandwiching a soft-impact black interior accentuated by smooth, rounded corners, the latest XPS xv looks pretty identical to its predecessors. Information technology's not a bad thing, every bit the laptop is very sleek and looks not bad in an office.
The laptop is a little underdressed for a LAN political party, but information technology'southward notwithstanding an bonny system no matter how you slice it. Similar to the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro, the laptop sports only one beautification -- the sleeky Dell insignia in the center of the lid. It's a minimalist chic that I dig.
Swathed in soft-touch blackness-carbon-cobweb, the laptop'due south interior is only as familiar as its outside, downwardly to the ability button that doubles as a fingerprint reader in the top-right corner. The barely in that location InfinityEdge bezel surrounds the fifteen.vi-inch brandish, giving way to the large bottom bezel housing the webcam.
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Measuring fourteen.1 10 9.3 10 0.5-0.7 inches, the 4.2-pound XPS 15 is one of the slimmer notebooks in its grade. The Microsoft Surface Book 2 also weighs 4.2 pounds, but has a much thicker profile at xiii.5 x 9.9 ten 0.9 inches, much like the HP Spectre x360 (4.6 pounds, 14.1 x ix.8 10 0.eight inches). The Apple MacBook Pro (13.8 x nine.five x 0.6 inches) is slimmer and lighter at an fifty-fifty 4 pounds. The Huawei MateBook X Pro is the smallest of the bunch at two.9 pounds, 12 x 8.5 0.vi inches, but it also has a smaller 14-inch screen.
Dell XPS 15 ports
The XPS fifteen has enough ports to let for a solid work or gaming battlestation.
On the right sits a USB 3.i Blazon-A port, an SD bill of fare reader, a Noble lock slot and a battery condition indicator flanked by 5 lights.
There's another Blazon-A port on the left aslope a Thunderbolt 3 port, an HDMI 2.0 port, a headset jack and a port for the AC adapter.
Dell XPS 15 brandish
We tested the XPS 15 with both a 4K, Ultra Hard disk drive bear on screen and 1080p non-touch screen. As evidenced past the fine veins and deep ruby colour of the blossom in the XPS 15's wallpaper, the matte 1920 x 1080 display is capable of producing rich colour and abrupt detail. When I watched the trailer for Support the Girls on the 15.6-inch panel, Regina Hall's honey-chocolate-brown peel seemed to radiate, despite her argent-frosted eyeshadow. Details were articulate plenty that I could see individual strands of the extra' chestnut-chocolate-brown hair, including her dear-blonde lowlights.
Given how bright the color is on the XPS 15'due south panel, I wasn't too surprised to learn that information technology tin can reproduce 115 pct of the sRGB gamut. That's a very good consequence, but if yous want the best brandish, you lot'll want to upgrade to the 4K panel, which covers 160 percent of the sRGB spectrum. Both models coast past the 111-per centum premium laptop average. When it comes to color, the competition falls somewhere betwixt the XPS 15'due south 1080p and 4K displays, with the MacBook Pro, Spectre x360, MateBook 10 and Surface Book registering 117 to 131 percentage, respectively.
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The XPS 15 performed a bit better on the brightness test, averaging 371 nits, which was enough to outshine the 310-nit average likewise as the Spectre x360 (340 nits) and the MacBook Pro (354 nits). However, the Surface Volume (417 nits) and the MateBook Ten (458 nits) were significantly brighter. Unfortunately, the 4K panel on the XPS 15 was dimmer than I would have liked, at 322 nits, which just tops the category boilerplate but is less luminous than its rivals.
Dell XPS 15 audio
I wasn't expecting much from the XPS 15'due south speakers, but I was happy to be enveloped in loud, relatively make clean audio. The laptop's bottom-mounted speakers filled our conference room with Kevin Ross' gorgeous vocalisation as he sang Andre 3000's "Paradigm" a cappella.
The melodies were nice and make clean while the mouth pops and finger snaps were precise. The only crude spot was when the singer went for the loftier notes, which introduced meaning distortion that I tried to smooth out with the pre-installed Waves Audio software, to no avail.
Dell XPS 15 keyboard and touchpad
Normally, if a keyboard had shallow travel like the XPS 15 (0.vii millimeters), I'd be ripping information technology a new one, since it falls beneath our preferred 1.5mm. But the island-style keys' saving grace is the above-average 70 grams of actuation force that adds some much-needed bounce to the typing feel. I hit my typical lxx words per minute on the 10fastfingers typing test without bottoming out.
The 4 x 3.1-inch touchpad provides plenty of space to navigate web pages and documents, and was quick and responsive to boot. I had no trouble compression-zooming to enlarge or decrease images or doing a iii-finger tap to launch Action Center.
Dell XPS 15 performance
For such a relatively slim system, the XPS 15 packs quite a punch. For this review, we tested two high-end configurations. The 1080p XPS fifteen packing a 2.2-GHz Intel Cadre i7-8750H processor with 16GB of RAM had no problem running Windows Defender while I watched an episode of My Hero Academia with 20 open up Google Chrome tabs -- some of which had Twitch streams and Slack running. Unsurprisingly, the 4K model with a Core i9 CPU didn't ho-hum down during our real-world tests, either.
The XPS 15 did every bit well on Geekbench iv, where information technology notched 19,775, besting the 11,492 premium laptop average. It cruised passed the Surface Volume (ane.9-GHz Intel Core i7-8650U), the MateBook X (ane.eight-GHz Intel Core i7-8550U) and the Spectre x360 (3.1-GHz Intel Core i7-8705G), and their respective scores of 12,505, 12,913 and 15,340. But the MacBook Pro and its overclockable 2.9-GHz Intel Core i9-8950HK took the win with a score of 23,138.
For such a relatively slim system, the XPS 15 packs quite a punch. It had no trouble running Windows Defender while I watched an episode of My Hero Academia with 20 open up Google Chrome tabs.
During our Excel productivity examination, the Cadre i7-equipped XPS xv paired 65,000 names and addresses in 44 seconds, crushing the ane:32 category boilerplate. The Core i9 model was even quicker, completing the examination in simply 38 seconds. The MacBook Pro came in second at 0:52, with the Spectre x360 right backside at 0:57. The Surface Book and the MateBook Ten clocked in at i:31 and 1:49, respectively.
When we ran the hard bulldoze test, the XPS 15's 256GB M.ii PCIe SSD duplicated 4.97GB of multimedia files in 23 seconds, which translates to a write speed of 221.3 megabytes per 2d. That matches the Spectre x360 (512GB 1000.2 PCIe NVMe SSD) but misses the 419.7MBps average. The MateBook X (512GB NVMe PCIe SSD) was a bit faster at 282.7MBps, and the Surface Book (1TB PCIe SSD) did fifty-fifty ameliorate at 318.1MBps. But the MacBook Pro and its humongous 2TB PCIe SSD scorched the contest with a ridiculous ii,599.6 MBps. The 1TB PCIe SSD in our 4K XPS 15 beat all but the MacBook Pro, duplicating 4.97GB of multimedia files in 4 seconds for a rate of 1272.3 MBps.
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The XPS 15 rebounded on the Handbrake Video Editing test, taking only x minutes and 12 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, smoking the 21:35 average. The 4K model with a Cadre i9 required even less time, at 9:51. The MacBook Pro wasn't also far backside at 10:sixteen. The Spectre x360 clocked 15:01, while the Surface Book and the MateBook 10 posted times of 23:00 and 27:eighteen.
Dell XPS 15 graphics, gaming and VR
Beneath the silvery peel of this premium mainstream laptop beats the centre of an entry-level gaming laptop. Outfitted with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q GPU with 4GB of VRAM, the XPS 15 can crisis numbers with the best of them and play a game or two at low-to-medium settings. The laptop demolished our Dirt 3 benchmark with a frame rate of 189 fps.
That's more than half the 71-fps premium laptop boilerplate. The Spectre x360's AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL GPU wasn't far behind with 182 fps. The MateBook 10 (GeForce MX150 GPU) and the MacBook Pro (Radeon Pro 560X) delivered respective scores of 117 and 83 fps.
The XPS matched the 22-fps boilerplate for Rise of the Tomb Raider (1920 10 1080 on Very High), but missed our 30-fps playability threshold. The Surface Book and its GTX 1060 GPU obtained 33 fps. The Dell performed much better on the Hitman test, achieving lx fps, but it couldn't match the Surface Book'due south 72 fps.
Outfitted with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q GPU, the XPS 15 can crunch numbers with the best of them, and play a game or two at low-to-medium settings.
When you aren't trying to save the globe from impending doom via zombies, demons or aliens, the XPS will automatically switch to its integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU via Nvidia'due south Optimus technology.
Dell XPS fifteen battery life
The XPS 15 with a 1080p display tin can conduct a master class on endurance. The notebook lasted 11 hours and 53 minutes on our battery test, which consists of continuous spider web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. It hands outlasted the viii:26 category average, the Spectre x360 (5:20), the MateBook 10 (ix:55) and the MacBook Pro (10:21). The Surface Book came closest to matching the winner with a time of xi:34, which dropped to three:12 when we tested the tablet on its own.
As expected, the 4K display and Core i9 CPU take a cost on bombardment life, but even the decked-out XPS 15 lasted a respectable 7 hours and 34 minutes on our examination.
Dell XPS xv heat
Despite its metallic lid and undercarriage, the XPS 15 did a practiced task of staying absurd. When we measured key points of the laptop later streaming a full-screen Hard disk drive video for 15 minutes, the touchpad hit xc degrees Fahrenheit. The middle of the keyboard reached 83 degrees, while the lesser registered 92 degrees. Each measurement was well within our 95-caste comfort threshold.
Dell XPS xv webcam
While I appreciate super-slim bezels, Dell and other companies take to detect a ameliorate place for the webcam than positioned right above the hinge. When I launched the camera app, the "nose cam" lived up to its proper name, capturing my chest and olfactory organ in the shot. It took quite a chip of adjusting on my office to go an appropriate angle.
Still, the XPS 15's integrated camera managed to perfectly capture the color in my bright pink dress. Details were sharp plenty to capture some pilling on the garment too as striations in the cloth.
Dell XPS 15 software and warranty
Dell pre-installed several helpful branded utilities, including Power Manager, which allows you to run diagnostics on the system's battery as well as adjust fan speed and power consumption for more demanding tasks. Mobile Connect lets y'all access your smartphone from your laptop, including calling a Lyft or playing a mobile game like Futurama: Game of Drones. If you need to troubleshoot an effect, Dell also included Assist & Back up, which features informative videos, shows your warranty status and runs system diagnostics.
The Dell XPS xv ships with a ane-year limited-hardware warranty. See how Dell fared in our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands ranking.
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Unfortunately, the system has its fair share of bloatware, including Cooking Fever, Candy Vanquish Saga, Purple Revolt ii: Tower Defense and Netflix. There are, however, more than useful third-political party applications such as Killer Control Center, which lets you lot prioritize network bandwidth. Dell also included McAfee Security, and 20GB of cloud storage via Dropbox for a year.
Lesser line
Productivity, multimedia and even a fleck of gaming -- the Dell XPS 15 tin can exercise it all -- and do information technology well. For $one,399, you go a organization that has an attractive, slim design that's bursting with power, including an Intel Core i7 processor and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q. The keyboard is surprisingly comfy, and the display is but lovely. Throw in nearly 12 hours of bombardment life, and you lot've got a certified animate being. It'due south just plenty to overlook the annoying photographic camera placement.
Simply if yous're hungry for ability and have ridiculously deep pockets, there'southward the 15-inch MacBook Pro, which starts at $two,399 and commands a hefty $2,899 when y'all step upwardly to a Cadre i9 CPU and Radeon Pro 560X graphics. Merely if you're looking for a relatively unassuming powerhouse that can exercise a petty of bit everything relatively well, the Dell XPS 15 should be at the superlative of your listing.
Credit: Laptop Mag
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Dell XPS 15 Specs
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 4.ii |
| Brand | Dell |
| CPU | 2.ii-GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor |
| Card Slots | SD retention reader |
| Company Website | www.dell.com |
| Display Size | 15.six |
| Graphics Card | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q/Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU |
| Difficult Bulldoze Size | 256GB |
| Hard Drive Speed | n/a |
| Difficult Bulldoze Blazon | K.2 PCIe SSD |
| Highest Available Resolution | 3840 x 2160 |
| Native Resolution | 1920x1080 |
| Operating System | Windows 10 |
| Optical Drive | None |
| Optical Bulldoze Speed | north/a |
| Ports (excluding USB) | Thunderbolt 3, HDMI ii.0, Headset, Noble Lock, USB three.1, DisplayPort |
| RAM | 16GB |
| RAM Upgradable to | 32GB |
| Size | 14.1 x 9.iii x 0.vii~0.5 inches |
| Touchpad Size | iv 10 3.1 inches |
| USB Ports | 3 |
| Video Retentivity | 4GB |
| Warranty/Back up | 1 Year Ltd Hware Warranty: Mail-in; Customer supplies box, Dell pays shipping |
| Weight | four.2 pounds |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11ac |
| Wi-Fi Model | Killer 1535 802.11ac |
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Source: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-xps-15
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