Dell's 2015 XPS 13 - A Real MBA Challenger

[ahendarman]

I have the i5/8G/256G 1080p version that I got from Dell. The design, screen and keyboard are awesome. The trackpad is very usable, although it's not as nice as the one on my rMBP. It feels nice on my hand and very light.

However, it has one major flaw right now. The screen has a dynamic contrast/brightness that cannot be disabled. The brightness of the screen changes depends on the content of the screen. It brightens when the screen are mostly white and it darken when the screen are mostly black. It is very annoying and make it unusable for any serious photo editing.

I am returning mine until Dell/Microsoft come up with update to address this. It's too bad for such a nice laptop.

 

[57004]

The Dell XPS13 may look great, but it missing the selling point that brought me to the MBA: the magsafe power jack.

Which (according to the rumours) the next-gen MBA won't have anymore because it's too thin

----------

Can anyone who have the laptop tell me what wifi chipset it uses?

That is, does it use Intel's or Broadcom's chip? I can't find this information anywhere, and Dell's driver page for the XPS 13 has drivers for both.

If it has Intel's, I'm mighty tempted to buy one. I don't need one -- my MBA is serving me just fine, but damn does that thing look slick!

iFixit found a Broadcom in theirs

 

[motrek]

Which (according to the rumours) the next-gen MBA won't have anymore because it's too thin

Indeed, according to rumors.

Interesting that there has been no actual "evidence" like a leaked photo to indicate that Apple is working on a laptop that's thinner than the MBA.

Disadvantages to a thinner laptop: no standard USB ports, no standard MagSafe charging connector, no Thunderbolt/DisplayPort port, and no fan (= less performance).

So people think Apple will produce a laptop that's slower, hotter, and spectacularly inconvenient to use, all in the name of shaving off a couple millimeters from the back.

Doesn't seem likely to me.

 

[thebrobrah]

any comparisons available yet between the hd 6000 and 5500

...curious to see how they stack up

likely minimal..but you never know

 

[57004]

So people think Apple will produce a laptop that's slower, hotter, and spectacularly inconvenient to use, all in the name of shaving off a couple millimeters from the back.

Doesn't seem likely to me.

Well, the new USB port is actually meant to be the new standard. Though I agree that a departure from MagSafe would be a big loss, especially for a thin and fragile laptop. And taking up the single USB port to charge would also be a major inconvenience.

But really, they've done exactly this over and over in history. Constantly changing connectors to fit smaller form factors. Releasing a first-gen MBA that was thermally challenged just to make it thin enough. Reducing ports on everything but their Pro models. No more FireWire, Ethernet, ExpressCards, removable memory, battery indicators, IR receivers, even SD cards on the 11" MBA have bitten the dust.

I agree, it is only rumours at this point. But it does make sense. Thinner and thinner is Apple's mantra. Look at every single product range they've made. Eventually this will have to come to a stop when they get so thin you can have a shave with it. But I don't think that time is now.

Either way, interesting times ahead!

 

[cbautis2]

any comparisons available yet between the hd 6000 and 5500

...curious to see how they stack up

likely minimal..but you never know

Go research Broadwell NUC with HD 6000 and you'll see it's just a hair faster than even the HD 4400. It still is slower than iris 5100

 

[motrek]

...
But really, they've done exactly this over and over in history. Constantly changing connectors to fit smaller form factors. Releasing a first-gen MBA that was thermally challenged just to make it thin enough. Reducing ports on everything but their Pro models. No more FireWire, Ethernet, ExpressCards, removable memory, battery indicators, IR receivers, even SD cards on the 11" MBA have bitten the dust.
...

It's their mantra unless it isn't. Remember that the original MBA was skewered in the press and by consumers because it didn't have enough ports and they were inconvenient to access. So the 2010 redesign added ports and made them more convenient.

They already learned their lesson once from making a laptop that was too inconvenient to gain mass market acceptance. If they go back to making inconvenient laptops it means they have a depressingly short memory.

 

[Steve121178]

I have the i5/8G/256G 1080p version that I got from Dell. The design, screen and keyboard are awesome. The trackpad is very usable, although it's not as nice as the one on my rMBP. It feels nice on my hand and very light.

However, it has one major flaw right now. The screen has a dynamic contrast/brightness that cannot be disabled. The brightness of the screen changes depends on the content of the screen. It brightens when the screen are mostly white and it darken when the screen are mostly black. It is very annoying and make it unusable for any serious photo editing.

I am returning mine until Dell/Microsoft come up with update to address this. It's too bad for such a nice laptop.

It'll be fixed in a driver update so I'd hang on to it if I were you.

You've literally bought a new model of PC from one of the first batches of a brand new machine so there's going to be driver issues, it often takes anything from a few weeks to a few months for the serious issues & kinks to be ironed out (or not at all if you own a MacBook Air/Pro with Wi-Fi issues ).

 

[tmarks11]

Which (according to the rumours) the next-gen MBA won't have anymore because it's too thin

Yeah, I saw that and was totally bummed. That could easily tip me back to the windows camp, especially since windows ultrabooks have finally caught up to MBA form factor. Although the MBA is actually a killer price, surprisingly enough.

...Reducing ports on everything but their Pro models. No more FireWire, Ethernet, ExpressCards, removable memory, battery indicators, IR receivers, even SD cards on the 11" MBA have bitten the dust.

I am (almost) totally okay with all of that... except for the user-replaceable SO-DIMMS (because I am a cheapskate).
Expresscards: haven't needed to use those in years.
Ethernet? There is wireless everywhere you go. In fact, it is hard to find hotels that offer wired ethernet these days (when I travel with company laptops, IT policy disables WiFi to prevent plugging into non secure networks).
IR receiver? Why would you want that? Back when I had a Palm V that had IR beaming... in 2001...
SD cards? Now that would be useful.

It is strange that the MBA doesn't get firewire, as that seemed to be a big Apple push, although I have nothing that would make use of it.

 

[mellofello]

Dell's 2015 XPS 13 - A Real MBA Challenger

I must say this laptop is pretty tempting I may pick up a base model 1080p just to play around with Windows 10. Don't want or need the touch screen, and I can live without high resolution if the battery gets better.

I will just bide my time until one of the insane dell sales. If you have patience you can always score insane deals on dell's.

 

[kelon111]

I must say this laptop is pretty tempting I may pick up a base model 1080p just to play around with Windows 10. Don't want or need the touch screen, and I can live without high resolution if the battery gets better.

I will just bide my time until one of the insane dell sales. If you have patience you can always score insane deals on dell's.

Most people think Dell makes junk so it's much easier to get a deal on them.
I've had Dell computers that have easily lasted over three years without any issues so I'm fine with that.

 

[newellj]

I'm still using (occasionally) a 2007 XPS M1330 - runs fine on Windows 8.1, though I'm not sure current Dell machines are built to the same standards.

People should take a look at the review that Anandtech posted yesterday, especially the battery runtime tests. The 1080p XPS 13 beat the MBA 13 in every test by an enormous margin (several hours). Even the QHD XPS 13 (1800p) was neck and neck, usually slightly ahead, of the MBA 13.

I'm not convinced that the 2015 XPS 13 is really everything people think it will be. I owned a 2013 XPS 13 (1080p, non-touch) and liked it better than the 13" MBA, but nowhere near as well as the 13" rMBP.

 

[gusruck]

As someone who has owned the 2015 XPS 13, (4gb/128gb/FHD) I have no idea how anandtech got that amount of life from this battery. Real world usage with brightness down to 20-30% I was getting roughly 9 hrs top. There were no windows updates or anything running in the background.

The battery issue aside it really is a nice piece of hardware. The screen is gorgeous and the keyboard is more than passable.

I still have the computer but will be returning it as soon as my Mac 11" gets here.

Reasons I am sending it back
1. Windows 8.1, I didn't have any issues with stability but couldn't get used to the Start page. It works but I just prefer OSX (plus all my other machines are in OSX world)
2. Touchpad. While it is nice, I found there was delay. Apple has just done a superior job with drivers and integration into software
3. Battery, not so much the battery usage time (though much shorter than Dell quotes) but the reported cycle life. I have been reading at different forums that the battery in the Dell is rated for 300 cycles. Apple rates theirs for 1000 cycles.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

I'm still using (occasionally) a 2007 XPS M1330 - runs fine on Windows 8.1, though I'm not sure current Dell machines are built to the same standards.

People should take a look at the review that Anandtech posted yesterday, especially the battery runtime tests. The 1080p XPS 13 beat the MBA 13 in every test by an enormous margin (several hours). Even the QHD XPS 13 (1800p) was neck and neck, usually slightly ahead, of the MBA 13.

I'm not convinced that the 2015 XPS 13 is really everything people think it will be. I owned a 2013 XPS 13 (1080p, non-touch) and liked it better than the 13" MBA, but nowhere near as well as the 13" rMBP.

Thanks for sharing your experience and providing the link to the Anandtech review. It was an interesting read.
I had a strange feeling that the review is more a paid article than an objective analysis. Just a small example: testing battery life it compared a 2015 version of XPS 13 with a mid 2013 MacBook Air.
And the result:

"Amazingly, Dell claims 15 hours 12 minutes of battery life, and on our Light test we hit exactly that. Wow!"

That is so cheap and far from being serious. A 52 Wh battery and a display with over four times as many pixels outperforms the 54 Wh battery powered MacBook Air.
Just some observations.

 

[Gym Hellwig]

Let's be honest. This thing is a Macbook Air KILLER.

- IPS display.

- Full HD 1080p.

- 13.3" screen in 11" form factor.

- Better processor.

- Better graphics.

All for less money than the Air.

 

[kelon111]

Let's be honest. This thing is a Macbook Air KILLER.

- IPS display.

- Full HD 1080p.

- 13.3" screen in 11" form factor.

- Better processor.

- Better graphics.

All for less money than the Air.

When many people pay the Apple tax they feel that they are getting a better product no matter what.

 

[motrek]

Let's be honest. This thing is a Macbook Air KILLER.
- IPS display.
- Full HD 1080p.
- 13.3" screen in 11" form factor.
- Better processor.
- Better graphics.
All for less money than the Air.

Less money? The $800 version comes with an i3 processor that tops out at 2.1GHz. The current MBAs are significantly faster than that.

So let's compare like-for-like. The $900 version has a processor that should perform the same as the current MBAs.

It's hard to find benchmarks on the HD 5500 graphics and how it compares to HD 5000. I doubt there's much of a difference and this will only matter for 3D games, but I'd be an idiot to argue that the HD 5000 is somehow better.

Your first 3 points can be summed up as "better screen."

So, for the same price, you get a better screen and a graphics "card" that is probably somewhat better for 3-D gaming. Otherwise the XPS 13 is pretty similar to an 11" MBA.

So, other than operating system and aesthetics, it's easy to argue that the Dell is somewhat better than the MBA but I wouldn't say it's a huge difference or enough to call it an MBA "KILLER."

 

[Ulenspiegel]

When many people pay the Apple tax they feel that they are getting a better product no matter what.

Analogically it can be said about the Dell in question as well.
Prices can be quite relative, depending on what you compare to what.

 

[newellj]

Less money? The $800 version comes with an i3 processor that tops out at 2.1GHz. The current MBAs are significantly faster than that.

So let's compare like-for-like. The $900 version has a processor that should perform the same as the current MBAs.

It's hard to find benchmarks on the HD 5500 graphics and how it compares to HD 5000. I doubt there's much of a difference and this will only matter for 3D games, but I'd be an idiot to argue that the HD 5000 is somehow better.

Your first 3 points can be summed up as "better screen."

So, for the same price, you get a better screen and a graphics "card" that is probably somewhat better for 3-D gaming. Otherwise the XPS 13 is pretty similar to an 11" MBA.

So, other than operating system and aesthetics, it's easy to argue that the Dell is somewhat better than the MBA but I wouldn't say it's a huge difference or enough to call it an MBA "KILLER."

I haven't priced this thing out in detail, but I did when I had the MBA and the XPS 13 (and then got rid of both for my current rMBP) and basically when you evened up the specs the cost was basically the same between the Dell and the Macs, so I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't still the case if you compare like to like (can't say apples to apples, can we? ).

 

[Gym Hellwig]

Less money? The $800 version comes with an i3 processor that tops out at 2.1GHz. The current MBAs are significantly faster than that.

So let's compare like-for-like. The $900 version has a processor that should perform the same as the current MBAs.

It's hard to find benchmarks on the HD 5500 graphics and how it compares to HD 5000. I doubt there's much of a difference and this will only matter for 3D games, but I'd be an idiot to argue that the HD 5000 is somehow better.

Your first 3 points can be summed up as "better screen."

So, for the same price, you get a better screen and a graphics "card" that is probably somewhat better for 3-D gaming. Otherwise the XPS 13 is pretty similar to an 11" MBA.

So, other than operating system and aesthetics, it's easy to argue that the Dell is somewhat better than the MBA but I wouldn't say it's a huge difference or enough to call it an MBA "KILLER."

Why are you comparing an 11" Macbook Air with a 13.3" XPS?

You and I both know why. It's so you can slash $100 from the price of the Air and pretend the comparison is more even than it is.

The XPS blows the Air clean out of the water.

 

[newellj]

Thanks for sharing your experience and providing the link to the Anandtech review. It was an interesting read.
I had a strange feeling that the review is more a paid article than an objective analysis. Just a small example: testing battery life it compared a 2015 version of XPS 13 with a mid 2013 MacBook Air.
And the result:

That is so cheap and far from being serious. A 52 Wh battery and a display with over four times as many pixels outperforms the 54 Wh battery powered MacBook Air.
Just some observations.

As someone who has owned the 2015 XPS 13, (4gb/128gb/FHD) I have no idea how anandtech got that amount of life from this battery. Real world usage with brightness down to 20-30% I was getting roughly 9 hrs top. There were no windows updates or anything running in the background.

The battery issue aside it really is a nice piece of hardware. The screen is gorgeous and the keyboard is more than passable.

I still have the computer but will be returning it as soon as my Mac 11" gets here.

Reasons I am sending it back
1. Windows 8.1, I didn't have any issues with stability but couldn't get used to the Start page. It works but I just prefer OSX (plus all my other machines are in OSX world)
2. Touchpad. While it is nice, I found there was delay. Apple has just done a superior job with drivers and integration into software
3. Battery, not so much the battery usage time (though much shorter than Dell quotes) but the reported cycle life. I have been reading at different forums that the battery in the Dell is rated for 300 cycles. Apple rates theirs for 1000 cycles.

Thanks for the real-life report! Anandtech has been pretty good over the years but the site was recently sold, so all bets are off. That's a pretty egregious difference, though.

 

[motrek]

Why are you comparing an 11" Macbook Air with a 13.3" XPS?

You and I both know why. It's so you can slash $100 from the price of the Air and pretend the comparison is more even than it is.

The XPS blows the Air clean out of the water.

You sound very proud of yourself for figuring out my motivations, except you're wrong.

I'm comparing the Dell to the 11" MBA because they are almost the same size and weight, have almost all the same stuff in them, and essentially cost the same. Really, the only thing different about them is the screen size, so frankly comparing the Dell to any machine other than the 11" MBA is a little bit ridiculous, don't you think?

 

[Gym Hellwig]

You sound very proud of yourself for figuring out my motivations, except you're wrong.

I'm comparing the Dell to the 11" MBA because they are almost the same size and weight, have almost all the same stuff in them, and essentially cost the same. Really, the only thing different about them is the screen size, so frankly comparing the Dell to any machine other than the 11" MBA is a little bit ridiculous, don't you think?

You are comparing an 11" laptop to a 13" laptop. Screen size is a pretty major deal when pricing laptops.

And screen size isn't the only thing different between the two. As previously stated, the XPS has a 1080p IPS display. It blows the display on the Air clean out of the water.

 

[wksj]

Before buying a Dell machine, search "Dell XPS 13 9333 coil whine problem" on the Internet. Last year's XPS 13 had that coil whine problem. Dell is fully aware of this issue but still haven't fixed it. It's been over a year! They have "issued" one or two fixes, which turned out to be lies.

And screen size isn't the only thing different between the two. As previously stated, the XPS has a 1080p IPS display. It blows the display on the Air clean out of the water.

Do you know how bad scaling is on Windows PCs? Apparently not. You will be looking at either very small text/icons or blurry text/icons.

ex XPS 13 9333 owner

 

[Gym Hellwig]

Do you know how bad scaling is on Windows PCs? Apparently not. You will be looking at either very small text/icons or blurry text/icons.

ex XPS 13 9333 owner

Surface Pro looks GORGEOUS to me and it is 1440p on a 12 inch display.