Dell XPS 15 Review: A Capable 15-inch Laptop With A Nice Body

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Dell XPS 15: At First Glance

Dell’s XPS series has evolved from an awkward kinda-gaming, kinda-premium laptop into some of the most critically acclaimed Windows laptops available in the market.

The Dell XPS 15 is essentially the larger version of the popular Dell XPS 13. It retains the beautiful edge-to-edge screen but fits more powerful components inside the larger clamshell design.

Furthermore, the XPS 15 is more focused on performance than the XPS 13, which prioritizes portability.

The Dell XPS 15 is quite a pricey laptop; at the time this article was written (July 2021), the starting price was $2,499.77. However, with the features and specs of this laptop, I can promise you that it is well worth the money.

Dell XPS 15: Design, Dimension & Weight

Dell has managed to create a thin 18mm chassis for the new XPS 15, which is just 4mm taller than its 13″ sibling, Dell XPS 13. It’s a remarkable achievement that allows the laptop to be easily stored in a bag or cupboard while also giving it a stunning appearance.

Thanks to its edge-to-edge InfinityEdge screen, which effectively eliminates the bezel, the Dell XPS 15 is one of the most attractive 15-inch laptops ever. While most laptop competitors have introduced a small bezel, Dell was one of the first to completely eliminate the laptop’s chin – resulting in a taller display with a 16:10 aspect ratio.

The laptop is also solid, snubbing plastic for an all-metal body.  The lid and undercarriage are made of platinum silver CNC aluminum, and the glossy Dell logo engraved into the lid adds a touch of class.

When you open the lid, you’re greeted by a large black carbon fiber palm rest. The carbon fiber palm rest is both comfortable and attractive to rest your palms on.

Furthermore, the patterned carbon fiber chassis may appear simple at first glance, but it contributes to the laptop’s unique personality.

Dell knows how to make a great laptop keyboard, so it’s no surprise that the XPS 15 performs admirably in this area. The keys of the keyboard have deep travel, a subtle clicky press for satisfying feedback, and a reasonable size to avoid any typographical error.

On either side of the keyboard, you will find Upfiring speakers that provide detailed and bassy sound. The XPS 15 has the best speakers of any laptop I’ve reviewed, making it a great replacement for your Bluetooth speakers.

Below the keyboard, you will find a large trackpad. Compared to its preceding model, Dell increased the trackpad by 15%, making it absolutely exceptionally large.

However, the trackpad is huge and comfortable enough, allowing you to glide your fingers across the surface without hitting the sides. It’s also as responsive as you’d like it to be.

Despite the limited space available, the laptop features a webcam that is embedded in the top bezel. The 720p HD webcam doesn’t have the best image quality, but it’s more than adequate for business meetings and friendly Zoom catch-ups.

The XPS 15 has a fingerprint scanner built into the power button, and also an IR scanner for facial recognition. Both options can be used to unlock your laptop via Windows Hello, saving you time by not having to remember your password.

A non-touch Full HD display and a touchscreen 4K display are both display options available on the Dell XPS 15.

The laptop’s 4K display option includes Dolby Vision, which enhances the picture quality even more. It will be difficult to find a better laptop display than the Dell XPS 15’s 4K option.

For ports, there’s a USB-C 3.1 port with power delivery and DisplayPort, as well as a full-size SD card reader and a headphone jack. There are also two Thunderbolt 3 ports with power delivery and Display Port.

Furthermore, the laptop also includes a USB-C to USB-A v3.0 adapter as well as an HDMI v2.0 adapter. Unfortunately, the traditional USB-A port isn’t available, with Dell claiming that its laptop is simply too thin to accommodate the outdated technology.

For connectivity, the Dell XPS 15 features a Bluetooth 5.0 and a Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 or Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX500-DBS. Unfortunately, it doesn’t feature an Ethernet port for wired LAN.

Despite being so slim, the Dell XPS 15 isn’t the lightest laptop on the market. However, it’s about as heavy as you’d expect a 15-inch laptop, weighing 2005 g and measuring 344.72 x 230.14 x 18 mm.

In comparison, the Dell XPS 15 is quite heavier than its preceding model (Dell XPS 13). The Dell XPS 13 weighs 1306.3 g and measuring 295.6 x 198.6 x 9.5 mm.

Furthermore, because the XPS 13 is smaller and lighter, it may be the better choice if portability is your priority.

In conclusion, Dell has clearly put a lot of effort into making this laptop look premium. As a result, Dell XPS 15 deserves a nine out of ten for its excellent build quality and design.

Dell XPS 15: Processor (CPU) Performance

The Dell XPS 15 offers four processor options: Intel Core i5-10300H, Intel Core i7-10750H, Intel Core i7-10875H and, Intel Core i9-10885H.

The Intel Core i5-10300H is an 8-core processor and has a cache of 8 MB. The processor has a base frequency of 2.50 GHz and a maximum frequency of 4.5 GHz.

The Intel Core i7-10750H is a 6-core processor and has a cache of 12 MB. The processor has a base frequency of 2.60 GHz and a maximum frequency of 5.0 GHz.

The Intel Core i7-10875H is also an 8-core processor and has a cache of 16 MB. The processor has a base frequency of 2.30 GHz and a maximum frequency of 5.1 GHz.

The Intel Core i9-10885H is also an 8-core processor and also has a cache of 16 MB. The processor has a base frequency of 2.40 GHz and a maximum frequency of 5.3 GHz.

The laptop I reviewed came with an 8-core Intel Core i7-10875H processor. With this processor, the Dell XPS 15’s CPU performance is excellent.

Furthermore, the Dell XPS 15 can handle almost any computing task you throw at it, including intensive browsing, video, and photo editing, and word processing.

To learn more about the laptop’s processor performance, I ran a Geekbench 4.3 test. In the Geekbench 4.3 test, the Dell XPS 15 scored a whopping 25,934 points.

Comparatively, the HP Spectre x360, which has an Intel Core i7-8565U processor, was outperformed by the Dell XPS 15. In the same test, the HP Spectre x360 scored 17,195 points.

In the test I conducted, this laptop displayed impressive processor performance. As a result, in this CPU performance review, I’ll rate the laptop a nine.

Dell XPS 15: Memory (RAM) Performance

The Dell XPS 15’s memory comes in a variety of configurations, just like its processor. The laptop comes with 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB, or 64 GB DDR4 Dual Channel SDRAM options.

Furthermore, Dell equipped the XPS 15 with 2 RAM slots – each slot can take a maximum capacity of 32 GB.

The laptop I reviewed came standard with 32 GB RAM. Thanks to the 32 GB RAM, the Dell XPS 15 performs admirably in a memory test.

In the memory test, the Dell XPS 15 was able to operate smoothly with a dozen Chrome tabs while simultaneously running three programs. It easily switched between multiple computational tasks, which makes it very good for multitasking.

Furthermore, when you consider the Dell XPS 15 RAM’s configuration options, you will realize that the RAM performance is much more outstanding. With the maximum 64 GB capacity, it is safe to assume that the laptop would barely slow down during any computing operation.

To learn more about the laptop’s memory performance, I performed a PCMark 10 test. In the test, the laptop scored 4951 points.

Unfortunately, the Dell XPS 15 was outperformed by the Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED. In the test, the Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED scored a whopping 5105 points.

Finally, I’ll rate the Dell XPS 15 an eight out of ten in this memory review.

Dell XPS 15: Storage Options & Performance

The Dell XPS 15 comes with a PCIe 3 x4 SSD, which supports a maximum storage capacity of 2 TB. The laptop also features a 1 x Full-size SD card storage option for extra storage.

The storage capacity of this laptop is more than sufficient for storing files for most users. Its huge storage capacity provides enough room for you to save photographs, music, applications, and a variety of multimedia files.

Furthermore, the Dell XPS 15 15’s SSD storage speeds up the laptop and allows it to boot up in a matter of seconds.

The laptop I reviewed came with a 512 GB SSD. To determine the transfer speed of the laptop, I conducted a file transfer test.  

On the File Transfer Test, the 512GB SSD duplicated 4.97GB of multimedia files in 8 seconds at a transfer speed of 726 MBps. The transfer rate is over the category average of 657.3 MBps.

In comparison, the MacBook Pro’s 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD outperformed the Dell XPS 15. The MacBook Pro got a transfer rate of 1,017.9MBps.

On the brighter side, the XPS 15 performed better than the HP Spectre x360. The Spectre x360’s 1TB SSD performed slower in the file transfer test, reaching just 424MBps transfer rate.

In conclusion, I will rate the Dell XPS 15 an eight in this review for its storage speed and capacity.

Dell XPS 15: Graphics Card Performance

The Dell XPS 15 offers two configuration options for its graphics card. You can either get the laptop with an Intel UHD Graphics card or an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650.

The Intel UHD graphics card has a base frequency of 350 MHz and a maximum frequency of 1250 MHz. On the other hand, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 has a base frequency of 1350 MHz and a maximum frequency of 1485 MHz.

Furthermore, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 features a 4 GB GDDR6 dedicated VRAM. Unfortunately, the Intel UHD graphics card doesn’t feature a dedicated VRAM.

Despite the laptop’s strong graphics card options, the Dell XPS 15 is not a gaming laptop. However, the laptop is capable of running some games with its NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card.

For instance, the laptop reached 135 fps while playing Dirt 3 on 1080p screen resolution. However, on 4K resolution, the XPS 15’s frame rate dropped to 70 fps, but that’s well above the 30-fps playability threshold.

In comparison, the XPS 15 outperformed the HP Spectre x360 in the gaming test. The HP Spectre x360 managed to reach 118 fps while playing Dirt 3 on 1080p screen resolution with its GeForce MX150 graphics card.

Despite the fact that Dell prioritizes CPU performance over GPU performance in this laptop, it still does well at gaming.  As a result, I’m rating the Dell XPS 15 an eight in this review because of its good performance.

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Dell XPS 15: Battery Life & Performance

Dell XPS 15 comes with either a 56 Whr or an 86 Whr battery. Both batteries are built-in and not replaceable by users.

Dell claims that the battery can last about 12 hours on a full charge. To confirm Dell’s claim about the laptop’s battery, I conducted a battery test.

In the battery test, the laptop lasted 8 hours while continuously surfing the internet using a WIFI connection. Its performance in the battery test is quite impressive, yet it does not outperform the majority of its competition.

For example, the 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro lasted about 10 hours on the same battery test. On the brighter side, the XPS 15 surpasses the Microsoft Surface Book 3 that lasted 7 hours and 49 minutes.

Overall, the Dell XPS 15’s battery life may not be the best among its competition, but it still performs brilliantly. As a result, I’m rating the laptop an eight in this battery review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The Dell XPS 15 is one of the best 15-inch laptops on the market right now. It’s a great option for creative users.

In addition, its sleek appearance, rapid performance, and extensive features make it our top selection among premium Windows options of its size.

Furthermore, the overall upgrades Dell made to this laptop make it an excellent choice. Although its battery life is not the best among its competitors, it is still a nice laptop.

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