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Our verdict
The Dell XPS 15 offers remarkable performance and almost 12 hours of battery life in an attractive body.
To the
Strong overall and graphics performance
Excellent battery life
Bright, vibrant screen
runs cool
Attractive, albeit dated, design
Against
Awkwardly placed webcam
TODAY'S BEST DEALS
€1,149
at Dell Consumer UK
€1,749.40
at Amazon
€1,799
at Amazon
Editor's note 7.19.21:
Laptop Mag generally does not recommend laptops that are two years old or older. If you are in the market for the Dell XPS 15, please read our review of the
Dell XPS 15 (2020)
.
Dell's XPS laptops are considered the gold standard when it comes to premium notebooks, and the latest XPS 15 is no exception. Priced at ($999 to start, $1,399 on review), that's thanks its Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics make it one of the most powerful laptops out there. With its sleek, modern industrial design, incredibly thin bezels and beautiful display, it's also stunningly beautiful. The 15-incher still suffers from The biggest flaw of the XPS line - a poorly placed webcam - but overall this is one of the
best laptops
You can buy and a formidable opponent to Apple's much more expensive 15-inch MacBook Pro. It's also one of the
Laptops with the best battery life
.
Dell XPS 15 price and configurations
Dell XPS 15 (7590) (15.6 inch 512GB) at Amazon for €1,749.40
I took the $1,399 iteration of the Dell XPS 15 for a spin. It features a 2.2GHz 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 VRAM, an Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU and a 1920 x 1080 panel. (Note: Dell is now selling this model with 512GB memory)
The base mode costs $999 and drops the CPU to a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-8300H chip with 8GB of RAM, a 1TB 5,400RPM hard drive, an Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU and a 1920 x 1080 display.
Want a 4K screen? Be prepared to pay at least $2,099, which will get you the 3840 x 2160 touchscreen, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD. If you want even more performance Dell offers a $2,449 model that offers an overclockable 2.9 GHz Intel Core i9-8950HK CPU.
Dell XPS 15 theme
With its clean industrial silver
aluminum lid
and a chassis with a black soft-touch interior accented by smooth, rounded corners, the latest XPS 15 looks pretty much identical to its predecessors. That's not a bad thing, as the laptop is very slim and looks good in an office out of.
For a LAN party, the laptop is a little undercooled, but it's still an attractive system no matter how you slice it. Similar
15-inch Apple MacBook Pro
, the laptop has only one adornment - the glossy Dell logo in the center of the lid. It's a minimalist chic that I like.
Clad in soft-touch black carbon fiber, the laptop's interior is just as familiar as its exterior, right down to the power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader in the top-right corner. The barely-there InfinityEdge bezel surrounds the 15.6-inch display, giving way to the large lower frame that houses the webcam.
Laptops with the best overall performance
At 14.1 x 9.3 x 0.5-0.7 inches, the 4.2-pound XPS 15 is one of the slimmer notebooks in its class
Microsoft Surface Book 2
also weighs 4.2 pounds but has a much thicker profile at 13.5 x 9.9 x 0.9 inches, similar to that
HP Specter x360
(4.6 pounds, 14.1 x 9.8 x 0.8 inches).The Apple MacBook Pro (13.8 x 9.5 x 0.6 inches) is slimmer and lighter at 4 pounds.The
Huawei MateBook X Pro
is the smallest of the bunch at 2.9 pounds, 12 x 8.5 0.6 inches, but also has a smaller 14-inch screen.
Dell XPS 15 ports
The XPS 15 has enough
ports
to enable a solid work or gaming battlestation.
On the right sits a
USB 3.1 Type-A connector
, an SD card reader, a
Noble lock slot
and a battery status indicator flanked by five lights.
Left of a . there is another type A port
flash 3
port, an HDMI 2.0 port, a headset jack and a connector for the power adapter.
Dell XPS 15 display
We tested the XPS 15 with both a 4K Ultra HD touchscreen and a 1080p non-touchscreen. As evidenced by the fine veins and deep red color of the flower in the XPS 15's wallpaper, it's a 1920 x 1080 matte
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is able to produce rich colors and sharp details. Watching the Support the Girls trailer on the 15.6-inch panel, Regina Hall's honey-brown skin seemed to glow despite her silver-frosted eyeshadow. Details were clear enough, that I could see strands of the actress' auburn hair, including her honey-blonde lowlights.
Given the living
color
on the XPS 15's panel, I wasn't too surprised to learn that it can reproduce 115 percent of the sRGB color space. That's a very good result, but if you want the best display, you should upgrade to the 4K panel , which covers 160 percent of the sRGB spectrum. Both models sail past the 111 percent premium laptop average. Color-wise, the competition sits somewhere between the 1080p and 4K displays of the XPS 15, with MacBook Pro, Spectre x360, MateBook X and Surface Book each register 117 to 131 percent.
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The XPS 15 did a little better on that
brightness
Tested at an average of 371 nits, which was enough to beat the 310 nits average as well as the Specter x360 (340 nits) and MacBook Pro (354 nits). However, the Surface Book (417 nits) and MateBook X ( 458 nits) is noticeably brighter. Unfortunately, the XPS 15's 4K panel was dimmer than I would have liked at 322 nits, which slightly beats the category average but is less bright than its competitors.
Dell XPS 15 audio
I wasn't expecting much from the XPS 15's speakers, but I was glad to be surrounded by loud, relatively clean sound. The laptop's bottom-mounted speakers filled our conference room with Kevin Ross' beautiful voice as he sang Andre 3000's "Prototype" sang a cappella.
The melodies were nice and clean, while the mouth pops and finger snaps were precise. The only rough spot was when the vocalist decided to go for the high notes, which introduced significant distortion that I tried to smooth out using the preloaded Waves Audio software, without success .
Dell XPS 15 keyboard and touchpad
Typically, if a keyboard like the XPS 15 (0.7 millimeters) had low travel, I'd re-rip it as it falls under our preferred 1.5mm. The saving grace of the island-style keys, however, is the above-average 70 grams of actuation force, that add some much-needed bounce to the typing experience. I hit my typical 70 words per minute on the 10fastfingers typing test without hitting the bottom.
The 4 x 3.1 inch touchpad offers plenty of space for navigating web pages and documents and was fast and responsive at boot. I had no problem pinch-zooming to zoom in or out on images, or typing with three fingers, to start
action center
.
Dell XPS 15 performance
For such a relatively slim system, the XPS 15 has a lot to offer. For this test, we tested two high-end configurations. The 1080p XPS 15 packaging a
2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor
with 16GB
R.A.M.
had no problems running
Windows Defender
while watching an episode of My Hero Academia with 20 open
Google Chrome
Tabs - had some of them
Pull out
Streams and Slack run. Not surprisingly, the 4K model with a Core i9 CPU didn't slow down even in our real-world tests.
The XPS 15 performed just as well
Geek bench 4
, where it notches 19,775 and surpasses the 11,492 premium laptop average. It surpassed the Surface Book (1.9GHz Intel Core i7-8650U), MateBook X (1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8550U), and Specter 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 won with a score of 23,138.
During our
Excel productivity test
, the Core i7-equipped XPS 15 matched 65,000 names and addresses in 44 seconds, beating the 1:32 category average. The Core i9 model was even faster, completing the test in just 38 seconds. The MacBook Pro tied the knot 0:52 takes second place, followed by the Specter x360 at 0:57. The Surface Book and MateBook X are clocked at 1:31 and 1:49, respectively.
When we ran this
hard disk
Test, the XPS 15
256GB M.2 PCIe SSD
duplicated 4.97 GB of multimedia files in 23 seconds, for a write speed of 221.3 megabytes per second. That matches the Specter x360 (512 GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD), but falls short of the 419.7 MB/s average. The MateBook X (512GB NVMe PCIe SSD) was slightly faster at 282.7MB/s, and the Surface Book (1TB PCIe SSD) performed even better at 318.1MB/s. But the MacBook Pro and its huge 2TB PCIe SSD sears the competition at a paltry 2,599.6Mbps. The 1TB PCIe SSD in our 4K XPS 15 beats all but the MacBook Pro, duplicating 4.97GB of multimedia files in 4 seconds at a speed of 1272 .3MB/s.
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The XPS 15 bounced back on the Handbrake video editing test, taking just 10 minutes and 12 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p and smoking the 21:35 average. The 4K model with Core i9 still needed at 9:51 less time. The MacBook Pro was not too far behind at 10:16. The Specter x360 is clocked at 3:01 PM, the Surface Book and MateBook X at 11:00 PM and 10:18 PM.
Dell XPS 15 Graphics, Gaming and VR
Beneath the silvery skin of this premium mainstream notebook beats the heart of a
Entry-level gaming laptop
.Equipped with a
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q GPU
With 4GB of VRAM, the XPS 15 can handle the best numbers and play a game or two on low to medium settings. Our Dirt 3 benchmark demolished the notebook with a frame rate of 189 fps.
That's more than half the 71 fps premium laptop average. The Specter x360's AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL GPU was not far behind at 182 fps. The MateBook X (GeForce MX150 GPU) and MacBook Pro (Radeon Pro 560X) delivered 117 and 83 fps respectively.
The XPS matched the 22 fps average for
Rise of the Tomb Raider
(1920 x 1080 on Very High) but falls short of our 30fps playability threshold. The Surface Book and its GTX 1060 GPU hit 33fps. The Dell cut at the
hit man
Tested at 60 fps but couldn't match the Surface Book's 72 fps.
When you're not trying to save the world from impending doom at the hands of zombies, demons, or aliens, the XPS will automatically switch to its built-in one
Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU
via Nvidia's Optimus technology.
Dell XPS 15 battery life
The XPS 15 with 1080p display can do a masterclass in endurance. The notebook lasted 11 hours and 53 minutes on our end
battery test
, which consists of continuous web browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. Easily outperforming the 8:26 class average, the Specter x360 (5:20), MateBook X (9:55), and MacBook Pro (10 :21). The Surface Book came closest to the winner with a time of 11:34, which dropped to 3:12 in the individual test.
As expected, the 4K display and Core i9 CPU weigh on battery life, but even the mature XPS 15 lasted a respectable 7 hours and 34 minutes in our test.
Dell XPS 15 heat
Despite the metal lid and base, the XPS 15 does a good job of keeping a cool head. When we measured the laptop's key points after streaming full-screen HD video for 15 minutes, the touchpad hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The keyboard's center reaches 83 degrees, while the bottom registers 92 degrees. Every measurement was within our 95-degree comfort threshold.
Dell XPS 15 webcam
While I appreciate super slim bezels, Dell and other companies need a better place for them
cam
as positioned just above the hinge. When I launched the camera app, the "Nose Cam" lived up to its name, capturing my chest and nose in the shot. It took some adjustment on my part to get a suitable angle.
Still, the XPS 15's built-in camera managed to capture the color perfectly in my bright pink dress. The detail was sharp enough to capture some pilling on the garment as well as streaks in the fabric.
Dell XPS 15 Software and Warranty
Dell comes preloaded with several helpful branded utilities, including Power Manager, which allows you to run system battery diagnostics, as well as adjust fan speeds and power consumption for more demanding tasks.Mobile Connect lets you access your smartphone from your laptop, including Lyft calls or play a mobile game like Futurama: Game of Drones. If you need to troubleshoot a problem, Dell also offers Help & Support, which provides informative videos, shows your warranty status, and runs system diagnostics.
The Dell XPS 15 comes with a one-year limited hardware warranty. See how Dell works in our
Technical support showdown
and
Best and worst brands
ranking.
Best hard drive speed
Unfortunately, the system has its fair share of bloatware, including Cooking Fever, Candy Crush Saga, Royal Revolt 2: Tower Defense, and
Netflix
However, there are more useful third-party apps like Killer Control Center that you can use to prioritize network bandwidth. Dell also included
McAfee security
, and 20 GB cloud storage about
Drop box
for a year.
bottom line
Productivity, multimedia, and even a bit of gaming - the Dell XPS 15 does it all - and does it well. For $1,399 you get a system with an attractive, sleek design that's bursting with performance, including an Intel Core i7 processor and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q. The keyboard is surprisingly comfortable and the display is simply beautiful. With nearly 12 hours of battery life, you've got a certified beast. It's just enough to make you overlook the pesky camera placement.
But if you're power hungry and have ridiculously deep pockets, there are
15 inch MacBook Pro
, which starts at $2,399 and goes up to a whopping $2,899 when you step up to a Core i9 CPU and Radeon Pro 560X graphics. But for those looking for a relatively unassuming powerhouse that does a little bit of everything reasonably well, this should be it Dell XPS 15 to be at the top of his list.
Photo credit: Laptop Mag
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TODAY'S BEST DEALS
€1,149
at Dell Consumer UK
€1,749.40
at Amazon
€1,799
at Amazon
Dell XPS 15 specifications
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 4.2
brand
Dell
CPU
2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor
card slots
SD memory reader
corporate website
www.dell.com
screen size
15.6
graphic card
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q/Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU
disk size
256GB
hard drive speed
n / A
disk type
M.2 PCIe SSD
Highest resolution available
3840x2160
native resolution
1920x1080
operating system
windows 10
optical drive
none
Optical drive speed
n / A
Connections (except USB)
Thunderbolt 3, HDMI 2.0, Headset, Noble Lock, USB 3.1, DisplayPort
R.A.M.
16 GIGABYTES
RAM upgradeable to
32GB
size
14.1x9.3x0.7~0.5 inch
touchpad size
4 x 3.1 inches
USB ports
3
video memory
4GB
Warranty/Support
1 Year Ltd Hware Warranty: Mail-in;Customer Required Carton, Dell will handle shipping
Weight
4.2 pounds
Wireless Internet access
802.11ac
WiFi model
Killer 1535 802.11ac
Fewer
Sherry L Smith
Sherri L. Smith has been creating product reviews for Laptopmag.com since 2011. In that time, she's reviewed more than her share of laptops, tablets, smartphones, and everything in between. Resident gamer and audio junkie Sherri was previously senior editor for Black Web 2.0 and a contributor to BET.Com and Popgadget.
