If you are in the market for a new laptop with a small form factor, the Dell XPS 15 is one of the best ones that you can pick up. It is an extremely powerful device that shines in the looks category and can do pretty much all that you would expect from a laptop.
It offers you excellent performance alongside a colorful and immersive screen that elevates the experience of using a laptop to the next level. If you want to decide whether or not this laptop suits your need, read ahead to gauge all the features that this powerful device has to offer.
Design
The dell XPS 15 9500 has a sleek and modern design that rivals other, much more expensive laptops. The design is a massive upgrade from the previous models as it is much thinner and lighter. Furthermore, the bezels have also gotten a lot smaller, which enhances the overall look of the laptop. It also helps avoid wasting space and results in there being more space for the screen. The speakers have also been shifted and now sit at the top of the laptop. These changes may seem minute, but they have elevated the design considerably and made it look much more modern.
The thickness of the laptop is just 0.71 inches, and it weighs around 4.5 pounds. Although it is not the lightest laptop you may find, the battery life and other features that add to the weight make up for it. The entire laptop is constructed using CNC aluminum and has clean edges. The outside has the Dell logo, which is a characteristic trademark. Furthermore, the back of the keyboard deck has carbon fiber and is comfortable to type on. However, it may get dirty over time.
The ports have been reduced to just three Thunderbolt 3 ports, a headphone jack, and an SD card reader. Therefore, you may need to use a dongle if you want to add more peripherals to the Dell XPS 15 – 9500. Additionally, unlike other thin-bezel laptops, Dell has kept the webcam at the very top, but the lack of space means that there is not a lot of room to add in good sensors or lenses. Therefore, the camera quality is poor as the camera is only 720p.
Display
The Dell XPS 15 has one of the best screens available for Dell laptops, the 4-sided InfinityEdge display with no large bottom bezels. Thus, you can have maximum immersion with its 92.9% screen-to-body ratio. The large screen is a rich 3840 x 2400 resolution display, which makes all the colors appear accurately. The colors pop out and make the entire experience of using the laptop much more enjoyable. It also has rich blacks, which makes the screen much sharper.
The screen also captures the finer details, so you don’t miss out on anything. This is all thanks to the high resolution and the excellent color output. Furthermore, the size of the screen allows you to use the split-screen mode for longer periods of time and not feel the strain on your eyes. The rich blacks also help make reading long texts on your screen much easier. You no longer have to squint at the screen as the letters are sharp and clear.
The XPS 15 touch screen is also super responsive and fluid, making it easy to use. You can easily use it to scroll through web pages and zoom in and out of pictures and documents.
Audio
The Dell XPS 15 all-in-one laptop has incredible stereo speakers that fire out high-quality audio. The sound from these speakers is loud and lively, which makes using the speakers an immersive experience. However, the speakers do not perform as well at maximum volume, and the sound may get slightly distorted. Still, the speakers sound great when playing sounds that are heavy on the low-end.
The speakers on this laptop play bass-heavy sounds well, and the instruments can be clearly heard, which makes listening to music on these speakers much more enjoyable.
Furthermore, the Waves Maxx Audio Pro Technology, alongside the Waves professional, helps these speakers sound even better. To make the speakers sound even fuller and louder, you should have the Waves app activated when you play music or sound. The actual output of these speakers sits around 80-100 Hz range, which has a clean and clear treble.
Performance
The performance of the Dell XPS 15 all in one is nothing short of outstanding. It uses an Intel Core i7-10875H and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. Therefore, it is extremely powerful and can fulfill most tasks. The place where this laptop may fall short is a professional video editing and 3D rendering. However, if you enjoy doing these activities as a hobby, then this laptop can definitely handle it.
Even though the Dell XPS 15 all in one houses a GTX 1650 Ti, a gaming GPU, the laptop itself is not a gaming laptop. The design of this laptop, with its light chassis and delicate and sleek design, does not render the laptop able to handle the heat produced during long intensive gaming sessions. This heat can also cause performance issues, which is not ideal.
This powerhouse of a laptop allows you to balance multiple Chrome tabs and split-screen mode. Therefore, it is a perfect laptop for an everyday user or a student who has to multitask. In the Geekbench 5 overall performance test, the Dell XPS 15 scored 6,174, which is a fair enough score.
Due to the amount of power and GPU packed into this laptop, the fans can get a bit loud. Even though the fans are usually silent, too much multi-tasking or the use of heavy software that does professional editing may cause the fans to sound extremely loud. It can also run a bit hot, especially on the underside of the keyboard.
Efficiency And Equipment
The Dell XPS 15 9520 we tested was a mid-range model. As a result, it includes a Core i7-12700H CPU, Iris Xe graphics, an Nvidia RTX 3050Ti 35-45W GPU, 16 GB of DDR5-4800 RAM, and a 1 TB fast gen4 SSD for data storage.
This is a retail display model that was purchased locally. We tested it a few months after its release, and by the end of June 2022, the software was largely complete (BIOS 1.3.0, MyDell 2.0.30.0 application, Nvidia Studio Driver 512.96). It’s still feasible that some elements will change in future software revisions.
Our system is built on the primary Core i7-12700H CPU available in Intel’s Alder Lake H45 architecture. This Dell laptop has a hybrid architecture. It consists of six performance cores and eight efficiency cores. It’s the most incredible power-efficient Core H 12th-generation machine we’ve tested so far.
In regard to graphics processing, the latest XPS 15 model includes an Nvidia RTX 3050Ti processor. It comes with a TGP of 35W plus the ability to increase its power usage to 45W. There is also a 40W RTX 3050 model and an Iris Xe variation.
This laptop features two memory slots (referred to as DIMMs) and can accommodate as much as 64GB of DDR5-4800 RAM. Our workstations are outfitted with 32 GB of RAM through a dual-channel configuration.
Heating Problems When Gaming
Is this a well-made machine with as much precision as the MacBook Pro? Yes. Is it a top performer? Both yes and no. Since its release this summer, the XPS 15 has been plagued by thermal troubles. The machine does not get hot to the touch, but the GPU and CPU inside do.
Dell has released multiple BIOS upgrades to fine-tune CPU plus GPU throttling, and our computer with the newest A09 BIOS dramatically throttles the dedicated GPU. This implies that gaming is problematic with the current demanding 3D titles. Our frame rates plummeted from the mid-30s to an unusable 12 fps after 5 minutes of gameplay in Crysis 2 and Batman Arkham City. So, aside from gaming, the Dell XPS 15 is an efficiency monster.
Battery Life
The Dell XPS 15 has an all-day battery life as it comes with an 86Whr battery. This battery is massive for a laptop as thin as this one. The device can run up to an impressive 9 hours and 44 minutes of battery time, which is standard for most laptops this size. Due to the high-resolution screen, the battery time may be further reduced as the UHD+ display requires a lot more battery. If you are concerned about the battery time, you may be better off with the 1080p Dell XPS 15 instead.
Even though the battery of the Dell XPS 15 may not be the longest-lasting battery on a laptop, it is fine for everyday use. Keeping a charger at hand when you know you will use your laptop more is wise.
Pros and Cons
The decision to purchase a laptop should be done after much consideration and research. If you are looking into buying the Dell XPS 15, here are some pros and cons to help make your decision easier.
Pros
There are many pros to purchasing the Dell XPS 15. First and foremost, it is a fast performance device, as it is fitted with an Intel core i7-10875H and an Nvidia GeForce GTX1050 Ti. Therefore, it can perform a lot of tasks at once. You can easily multitask on this device and open multiple tabs on your chrome open and have no issue with the performance.
Secondly, it is extremely sleek and stylish. This Dell laptop is made using CNC aluminum and is thinner than most laptops on the market. It is only 0.71 inches thick, which makes it extremely portable. Dell has also reduced the bezels on this device, which allows for more space for the screen. Thus, the screen is larger and brighter than ever before.
Thirdly, the Dell XPS 15 has amazing speakers, which are loud and clear. They do exceptionally well with bass and have a fairly clean and clear treble output.
Furthermore, the display of this laptop is gorgeous. It is a true 4-sided InfinityEdge display with a 3840 x 2400 resolution. Therefore, whatever you watch on it looks crisp and sharp. It also has deep blacks, which make reading documents a lot easier as the letters are sharp and clear.
Lastly, the keyboard is extremely comfortable to type on as the keycaps are larger and soft-touch. Therefore, you can spend a fair amount of time typing on this laptop and not feel any sort of hand fatigue.
Cons
Along with pros, there are also some cons that come with this laptop. Firstly, it is not a gaming laptop. Although it comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, it does not have the power nor the design to allow heavy games. The Dell XPS has an overall sleek design, which does not allow for great heat dissipation. Therefore, if you play heavy games on it, it may overheat and thus cause the laptop to have performance issues.
Secondly, it is not very portable. Even though the design is overall sleek and thin, the laptop is still among the larger laptops. Furthermore, it is also a little heavy, as it weighs around 4.5 pounds. Therefore, if you are looking for a laptop you can carry around without much hassle, you may want to go for a smaller laptop.
FAQs
Why is the Dell XPS 15 good?
The Dell XPS 15 is a good laptop because it is extremely powerful, it has a sleek design, and the keyboard is extremely comfortable to type on. Furthermore, the display is large, sharp, and clear. This laptop can also handle all your everyday tasks along with multi-tasking.
Is there a dell XPS 15 touch screen?
Yes, the Dell XPS 15 has a touchscreen, which is responsive and fluid. You can use it to easily scroll through your work or various web pages.
How long does the battery on the Dell XPS 15 last?
It is estimated that the battery of the Dell XPS, at 150 nits of brightness and continuous web browsing, will last up to 8 house and 41 minutes. To make it last longer, you can lower the brightness and reduce the number of intensive tasks you are doing.
Conclusion
The Dell XPS 15 is an excellent laptop in most regards. It is definitely a step up from its predecessor, the XPS 15 9570. The newer version has a much larger display, that is brighter and much clearer. The trackpad is also larger than before, and significant changes have been made to the processor and the battery. These changes make this laptop worth the investment.
There are also some cons that you will have to bear, such as the size. However, there are many pros that outweigh the cons for this laptop and make it one of the best laptops that Dell has come out with.
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Bethany Wilson 
