Dell XPS 13 Review: An Ultrabook For Business Pros Discussion

Overview

The Dell XPS 13 ultrabook is a unique hybrid of a premuim consumer laptop and a thin-and-light business notebook. Loaded your choice of either an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor and a blazingly fast solid state drive, this little laptop might just give Apple a run for its money.

Read the full content of this Article: Dell XPS 13 Review: An Ultrabook For Business Pros

Related Articles:

• Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Fan Speed Fix Available
• Dell Latitude E6420 vs. Lenovo ThinkPad T420: 14-inch Business Notebook Battle
• Dell Precision M4600 Review: Mobile Workstation Muscle
• Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Arrives at CES
• Dell Latitude E6320 Review: Strong and Capable
• Dell XPS 14z Review: One Sleek 14-inch Laptop
• Dell XPS 15z Review: A MacBook Alternative?

 

I don't get it. They try to make great design choices like the use of CF and Aluminum, but fail to sweat the details in key areas like the screen and touchpad. Those are arguably two of the most important "interaction points" of a laptop, yet they blow it. Smart.

Speaking of touchpads, why on earth haven't these PC makers just given up on the clickpad? The only company who can get it right is Apple, and they've likely patented the hell out if it to make it nigh impossible for everyone else to get close. Why bother? All it does is frustrate consumers who likely weren't even looking for a one piece "clickpad" in the first place. grrr.

 

I'd also rather have a well-executed traditional touchpad (with dedicated left and right mouse buttons, something Apples have always lacked) instead of a clickpad. Just me. The clickpad on my MBP is good for multi-finger gestures, but awful for simple ol' right-clicks. And the right-click is essential to the Windows OS.

 

I'd buy a 15" version with an IB processor.

@Jerry Jackson: Awesome review! Looks great, the review and the ultrabook.

 

With Asus (of which I am not that fond) shipping a 1080p IPS display in its new Ivy Bridge 13" Ultrabook, Dell's 13" ultrabook will not be able to compete for my business dollar or that of my firm unless it seriously steps up its game. I also agree about the trackpad and keyboard comments above, adding the absence of a HDMI out is also a negative, inspite of the addition of a display port. Even Lenovo is rumored to be upgrading its X1 with an HD+ display. Hopefully, Dell sees the market trend and pays attention to the display on its refreshed XPS 13, making it worthy of the venerable XPS brand.

 

Lets see:

High price
Crappy display
Max 4gb ram (really???? I cant upgrade to 8 ever!!!??)

Typical Dell, severe compromises/flaws and tries to charge a premium.

 

No argument on #2 from what I've read (haven't seen it in person).

But #1 and #3? It's starting price of $999 is three-quarters the MacBook Air 13's starting price of $1300. And the MacBook Air also maxes out at 4 gb ram.

 

Mitlov addressed the other misconceptions, but on the screen...

The review states that the screen is your average, fairly low res, 13" screen. Not that it's "crappy" and "a flaw".

According to notebookcheck.com, the screen is average. Notebookcheck also ranks the XPS 13's screen(68%) virtually the same as the Asus Zenbook UX31(66%). The Macbook Air 13 only scored 75%.

 

I don't think the screen is all that bad and I've seen it, but the Gorilla Glass makes it more reflective than a glossy screen. Angles are below average too. On the plus side, the sound is quite good for an Ultrabook. The warranty, which includes accidental coverage, is excellent. Though warranty upgrades are more expensive.

 

Low crappy screen res I can live with in a small laptop whats unforigivable is the poor quality screen, the rest of the package looks amazing with the touchpad being the only other negative.
Great review as always

 

Just to be fair I am not comparing this to the MacBook Air which I also feel is overpriced.

Regardless of what the MacBook Air has, a max of 4GB of RAM supported is just not enough (especially if I want to future proof my laptop and do anything real with it other than surf web and check emails).

And in typical Dell fashion the lower starting price is just a bait game for crappy specs. If you upgrade anything on the laptop the price skyrockets (as you see in the $1500 pricetag of the review unit).

For reference I am a software developer and in general may have a higher set of demands out of my laptops than other people.

 

I'm with Bronsky on this issue. With high quality 900p and 1080p 13" and 14" screens becoming more readily available, I think providing only one 768p screen option is indeed a flaw, especially in what is supposed to be Dell's flagship ultraportable. Granted, based on this thread alone we don't appear to be in the majority, but I think there are enough people who require higher resolution in a business class portable package that Dell is effectively leaving on the table with this strategy.

For my money, they just have to do a bit better. Give us options, not averages - and we'll reward with dollars.

 

The way I look at it, the tablet and notebook industry is pushing forward with higher resolution panels and virtually everyone in every industry related to PCs, tablets, HDTVs and related tech is talking about moving to panels with "greater than 1080p" resolution.

Granted, we're NOT going to see all notebooks move to 4K displays overnight, but every new product that is released with only a single 1366x768 panel is going to be at a disadvantage as consumers and businesses start to value higher resolution content.

Is the screen on the XPS 13 a total failure? No way. It's just not particularly impressive (other than the Gorilla Glass durability) and Dell has been very vocal about the fact that the XPS line is Dell's premium category. A 720p (768p) TN panel isn't exactly "premium."

I'd still say this is a great Ultrabook, but I'd have to say Dell left a soft spot in the XPS 13's armor by using this display panel and not including an SD card slot. Considering how many ultrabooks are rumored to be released before the end of this year, Dell might regret not making this ultrabook as premium as possible.

 

The protection the Gorilla Glass offers is not worth the reflections it causes.

 

I have read a lot of reviews ( Laptops and Tablets) about this laptop..And most of them are pretty positive.. But actually I don't really like it. Screen quality is not that great as I expected(

 

I don't like reading the word "business" in the headline of a machine with a glossy screen. Or have business people changed their preferences and now like to see lots of relections?

John

 

I think people are a lot more tolerant of it than they used to be, thanks to the iPad. And the durability and the ease-of-cleaning that Gorilla Glass brings is fantastic for a road warrior. The Vaio is my first matte-screened laptop and I have to say, it's not nearly as easy to clean the screen, since the matte surface holds dirt, and you don't want to scrub hard and damage the screen. My gorilla glass-equipped Kindle Fire is fantastic in that regard. Wipe it on an old shirt and it's good to go. All the dirt is off, and the screen isn't damaged.