Dell's 2015 XPS 13 - A Real MBA Challenger

[motrek]

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.

Sorry but screen size is not nearly as important as you seem to think. You can get a $300 laptop at Fry's with a 15.6" screen. That doesn't make it better than any of the laptops we've been talking about.

The display on the Dell is clearly better than the ones on the Air. No argument. But I think you need to recalibrate your idea of how important a display is for a computer. If somebody had a 1440x900 display for their desktop computer and upgraded to a 1920x1080 display, you'd probably wonder why they'd bothered instead of thinking that the new experience blows the old one "out of the water."

But who knows, you might be a professional photographer and display resolution and quality is super important for your work. I won't claim to know.

 

[zhenya]

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.

Anandtech's battery tests are under extremely controlled conditions. Windows is especially sensitive to this as any extra running programs on the desktop side can have potentially devastating effects on the battery life. I don't doubt they got what they got, but at the same time your numbers sound much more realistic for the average user.

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?

I think the difference is that many people would be willing to consider the XPS 13 as their primary machine that just happens to be extremely portable. A 13" high resolution screen makes for a perfectly usable workspace even for complex workflows. The 11" MBA screen at 1366x768 does not. That was too small for my primary work laptop 10 years ago.

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

Scaling on Windows is fine since 8.1 - except for the situation where you are trying to match a high resolution laptop to a regular resolution external display. Otherwise, using the scaling in Windows works well on a single screen or on multiple screens of similar DPI. I own a Surface Pro 3 and a 4k external monitor for it - I'm extremely particular about this issue and will not (and have not) shied away from criticizing MS about this. But so long as your DPI is a close match, Windows now works fine.

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Sorry but screen size is not nearly as important as you seem to think. You can get a $300 laptop at Fry's with a 15.6" screen. That doesn't make it better than any of the laptops we've been talking about.

The display on the Dell is clearly better than the ones on the Air. No argument. But I think you need to recalibrate your idea of how important a display is for a computer. If somebody had a 1440x900 display for their desktop computer and upgraded to a 1920x1080 display, you'd probably wonder why they'd bothered instead of thinking that the new experience blows the old one "out of the water."

But who knows, you might be a professional photographer and display resolution and quality is super important for your work. I won't claim to know.

Totally disagree. The difference in going from 1440x900 to 1920x1080 is like getting a whole extra half of a display to work with. That's a huge improvement in productivity. In the case of the XPS 13 vs. the 11" MBA the difference is even larger as it's a minimum of 1920x1080 vs. 1366x768. If you opt for the high resolution display at 3200x1800 and use 150% scaling the effective desktop area is greater still. (~ 2130x1200).

 

[Ulenspiegel]

Anandtech's battery tests are under extremely controlled conditions....

I dare to disagree (абсолютно не согласен). First off a lot of 2015 XPS 13 users complain about the auto-brightness issue that has - by the way - an effect on the test and question the result. No user was able to reproduce the 15 hours. Last but not least, if Anandtech's battery tests are so strict and objective why do they compare a mid 2013 MacBook with a 2015 XPS 13?

 

[zhenya]

I dare to disagree. First off a lot of 2015 XPS 13 users complain about the auto-brightness issue that has - by the way - an effect on the test and question the result. No user was able to reproduce the 15 hours. Last but not least, if Anandtech's battery tests are so strict and objective why do they compare a mid 2013 MacBook with a 2015 XPS 13?

Indeed, however compared to the average user who is reporting battery life under a wider variety of conditions, I'd say that Anandtech's are controlled as they run all of their devices under the same basic conditions, and in the basic factory state. In Windows Desktop, just the installation of a few programs or drivers can have an adverse affect on battery life.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

Indeed, however compared to the average user who is reporting battery life under a wider variety of conditions, I'd say that Anandtech's are controlled as they run all of their devices under the same basic conditions, and in the basic factory state. In Windows Desktop, just the installation of a few programs or drivers can have an adverse affect on battery life.

I agree to some extent. Nevertheless one of the main problems of the test in question was auto-brightness...

Some posts by users on Anandtech's site after the review:

ymcpa - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link
The article stated that there is no option to turn off the auto brightness setting and have asked Dell to respond. I'm sure it is something that can be fixed in a future firmware update.

Hulk - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link
Is it possible that Dell sent the laptops without the ability to change auto brightness on purpose so that the battery life tests would be extraordinarily high? I'm sure they'll be good when the update to turn auto brightness off arrives but most people will remember the hype of the original amazing battery life tests. With all due respect to Anandtech I think they should not have posted battery life tests until they auto brightness can be turned off. It's not really an apples-to-apples (no pun intended) comparison.
REPLY
trane - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link
To be fair, he did check the brightness from time to time. If there were any notable changes I'm sure they would have withheld the results.

I can not say that these were extremely controlled conditions or even chances.

 

[zhenya]

I agree to some extent. Nevertheless one of the main problems of the test in question was auto-brightness...

Some posts by users on Anandtech's site after the review:





I can not say that these were extremely controlled conditions or even chances.

If the auto-brightness is part of how they arrive at the battery life claims, then it should be how they are tested. Apple's iOS battery claims are based on auto brightness being on with the assumption you are not outdoors in mid-day sun. The screen is the primary power user of almost all modern computing devices. Quite often when people have battery life concerns, it centers on them using the screen at a very bright setting.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

If the auto-brightness is part of how they arrive at the battery life claims, then it should be how they are tested. Apple's iOS battery claims are based on auto brightness being on with the assumption you are not outdoors in mid-day sun. The screen is the primary power user of almost all modern computing devices. Quite often when people have battery life concerns, it centers on them using the screen at a very bright setting.

I really don't want to dwell more on this question, but in order to be precise (extracts from the review):

...with these two laptops configured virtually identically except for the display...

All of our battery tests are conducted with the display set to 200 nits brightness (Ulenspiegel: and with auto-brightness on as it could not be turned off (SIC!) (or as close as possible) and the laptop is set to Power Saving mode to give it the best chance at the test...

However, I do have to note that the battery life was measured with Dell’s adaptive brightness enabled (since it could not be disabled).

So much for the objective test results.

 

[MacFather]

Deleted.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

MBA

Image

2015 XPS 13

Image



When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through. - Steve Jobs

Amazing!
These pictures and S.J.'s words tell more then anything else. #

 

[newellj]

Totally disagree. The difference in going from 1440x900 to 1920x1080 is like getting a whole extra half of a display to work with. That's a huge improvement in productivity. In the case of the XPS 13 vs. the 11" MBA the difference is even larger as it's a minimum of 1920x1080 vs. 1366x768. If you opt for the high resolution display at 3200x1800 and use 150% scaling the effective desktop area is greater still. (~ 2130x1200).

This has been my experience as well. I could still get two documents side by side on the XPS 13 1080p, and I can do that on my current rMBP. It didn't work well on my MBA 13 and it would never work on the MBA 11.

 

[motrek]

This has been my experience as well. I could still get two documents side by side on the XPS 13 1080p, and I can do that on my current rMBP. It didn't work well on my MBA 13 and it would never work on the MBA 11.

Depends on the work you do, I suppose. I use my 11" MBA for light use--email, web browsing, watching videos, looking at pictures, IM--and also development. Of course I prefer my 1440p monitor at home but I've never felt constrained by the size/resolution of the 11" MBA screen. I am almost never in a situation where I need to look at documents side-by-side.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

Depends on the work you do, I suppose. I use my 11" MBA for light use--email, web browsing, watching videos, looking at pictures... I've never felt constrained by the size/resolution of the 11" MBA screen. I am almost never in a situation where I need to look at documents side-by-side.

I can say the same.
Somehow I feel this discussion is like one I had years ago about Blu-ray vs DVD. Nobody denies the difference, but for me - personally - it was/is substantial only in some cases/movies.

 

[tmarks11]

When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through. - Steve Jobs

You should read about what the Woz said about Job's hangup on esthetics... once he absolutely demanded that a pc board be remade to be more aesthetically pleasing, which screwed up the timing of the signal paths, rendering it inoperative... as Woz had told him it would do.

Pretty isn't better in this context. And choosing the MBA over the XPS13 because the insides are "pretty" is inane.

There is no reason for the inside of the device to be pretty (or the back of the furniture hidden against the wall to be other than functional).

That being said, I am looking forward to the MBA r12 not because the insides will be "prettier", but because Apple laptops have, in my experience, been more solidly built and outlasted their Dell competition. I am forced to use Dell laptops at work.

 

[newellj]

Depends on the work you do, I suppose. I use my 11" MBA for light use--email, web browsing, watching videos, looking at pictures, IM--and also development. Of course I prefer my 1440p monitor at home but I've never felt constrained by the size/resolution of the 11" MBA screen. I am almost never in a situation where I need to look at documents side-by-side.

That would be true (of course). The thing that the 11" MBA is brilliant for is times when you want a small, light, long-running computer that really is a computer (not a repackaged netbook). Honestly, setting up two documents side by side on a 13" rMPB gets a little squinty, it's at the far end of what's possible for me, but it works in a pinch. A desktop with two 1200p or bigger monitors is much more comfortable. It's all trade-offs...

 

[Gym Hellwig]

Sorry but screen size is not nearly as important as you seem to think. You can get a $300 laptop at Fry's with a 15.6" screen. That doesn't make it better than any of the laptops we've been talking about.

It's about making an apples-to-apple comparison. You don't compare a 13" laptop with an 11" laptop.

The fact that the XPS delivers a 13.3" screen in an 11" form factor is a major advantage over the stale and outdated macbook air line.

 

[kis]

Dell's 2015 XPS 13 - A Real MBA Challenger

Everything looks good, but I'm disappointed it doesn't come with 16GB of RAM. Might have considered buying it, the xps 15 doesn't look as nice.

Neither does the MBA. I had the 15" XPS and it sucked. Flimsy build (compared to a 15" rMBP, that is), very loud fan that was on almost all the time and dismal trackpad.

That was before Michael Dell personally took over at Dell again, however. The XPS 13 fixes all of this.

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including the XPS 13 predecessor to this new laptop. While it was a nice machine, it simply isn't the hardware equal of a MBP (though it beats a MBA).

The previous XPS 13 was a completely different computer. The new one beats the MBA in pretty much every single aspect hardware-wise, including build quality.

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the most disappointing part is that the laptop maxes out at 8gb ram and 256gb ssd



what



the



hay

You mean the MBA? The XPS 13 can be had in 512gb SSD configurations .

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My point is that Dell, Lenovo, etc. aren't making tightly integrated hardware. They're slapping some Intel chips on a motherboard, for the most part.

.

I believe that's exactly what MD is trying to change now that he's taken over the company again. The XPS 13 is the first of the new Dell devices that, indeed, are fully integrated. They've worked with Microsoft during the entire design process to get a computer that just works.

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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.



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

My first MacBook Pro also had coil whine back in the day. Apple has fixed that since and so has Dell (at least in the new XPS 13).

Also, scaling on Windows 8.1 works just fine. I still prefer OS X, but scaling isn't the reason.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

...The previous XPS 13 was a completely different computer. The new one beats the MBA in pretty much every single aspect hardware-wise, including build quality.

It is an exaggeration. Reasons:

1. Unacceptable Keyboard flex. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4jIxN5FNpg&feature=youtu.be&t=5m27s).

2. All the vents are on the metal underside thus the heat is irritating when placed on lap.

3. The built-in battery is only rated for 300 discharge/charge cycles. (MBA's - 1000 cycles). Dell uses Broadwell CPU, yet can't match the Macbook's battery life on Haswell. (http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/13/8030821/dell-xps-13-laptop-ultrabook-review).

4. Dell uses a cheaper SATA SSD (M.2 2280 SSD) instead of high performance PCI-E.

5. Dell uses the Realtek ALC3263 audio codec and RTS5249 card reader controller in the XPS 13 vs the Cirrus Logic 4208-CRZ audio codec and Genesys Logic GL3219 card reader in the MBA. Dell did not include a Thunderbolt controller like the DSL3510L (Cactus Ridge 4C) in the MBA that enables 10 Gbit/s PCIe expansion and the ability to drive two external displays at up to 2560 x 1600.

6. Dell uses a high resolution panel running on a severely under specced GPU. The integrated GPU in some cases isn’t even as fast as the one found in the MacBook Air while driving up to 344% more pixels.

7. Form over function design leading to absurd webcam placement (lower left corner of the display) which results in up-the-nose angles during video calls and fingers consistently blocking the camera.

 

[kis]

It is an exaggeration. Reasons:



1. Unacceptable Keyboard flex. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4jIxN5FNpg&feature=youtu.be&t=5m27s).



2. All the vents are on the metal underside thus the heat is irritating when placed on lap.



3. The built-in battery is only rated for 300 discharge/charge cycles. (MBA's - 1000 cycles). Dell uses Broadwell CPU, yet can't match the Macbook's battery life on Haswell. (http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/13/8030821/dell-xps-13-laptop-ultrabook-review).



4. Dell uses a cheaper SATA SSD (M.2 2280 SSD) instead of high performance PCI-E.



5. Dell uses the Realtek ALC3263 audio codec and RTS5249 card reader controller in the XPS 13 vs the Cirrus Logic 4208-CRZ audio codec and Genesys Logic GL3219 card reader in the MBA. Dell did not include a Thunderbolt controller like the DSL3510L (Cactus Ridge 4C) in the MBA that enables 10 Gbit/s PCIe expansion and the ability to drive two external displays at up to 2560 x 1600.



6. Dell uses a high resolution panel running on a severely under specced GPU. The integrated GPU in some cases isn’t even as fast as the one found in the MacBook Air while driving up to 344% more pixels.



7. Form over function design leading to absurd webcam placement (lower left corner of the display) which results in up-the-nose angles during video calls and fingers consistently blocking the camera.

Yadidadida. Pretty much every review out there and countless user testimonials say it's the better ultrabook. The performance is excellent, nobody cares about the audio codec on an ultrabook, rating a battery and reaching the rated cycle count are two pairs of shoes, the keyboard is fine. What do you think people do with an ultrabook? If you need to do video editing / audio engineering etc you don't buy an ultrabook, you buy a MacBook Pro. The fact alone that you can't configure either of the two ultrabooks being discussed here with more than 8gb of RAM disqualifies them for pro use. 99.9% of all ultrabooks are used for word processing, work on the go, web browsing and movie watching. And do you know for how many people the webcam placement is going to be a problem? Exactly.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

Yadidadida...

I bow before this substantial argument like before the rest of the dilettante word flow.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

It is an exaggeration. Reasons:

1. Unacceptable Keyboard flex..

2. All the vents are on the metal underside...

3. The built-in battery...

4. Dell uses a cheaper SATA SSD...

5. Dell uses the Realtek ALC3263...

6. Dell uses a under specced GPU...

7. Form over function design leading to absurd webcam placement...

You posted the exact same argument on Arstechnica, and were rebuked there too - or at least are parroting someone else who had an identical argument. Let me summarize, in case you forgot.

1) That's table flex. The keyboard actually has more travel and is better than a MacBook's keyboard.

2) What heat? I'll be honest I've never felt heat coming out of the bottom vents, I assumed they were intake vents and the heat comes out by the hinge, same as the MacBook.

3) Are you comparing the battery life of the non-hidpi MacBook Air with the battery life of the hidpi touchscreen? Because from personal experience, battery life is more than "good enough". Sure I can crank up the brightness, do CPU intensive work, and get it down to 2 hours of battery life, but I can do that on a brand new MacBook, too.

4) Who cares how much it costs? At least the M.2 is replaceable and not proprietary.

5) So what? They work, they don't cause problems.

6) But for non-gaming, the GPU is more than capable, even while pushing a display that has 344% more pixels.

7) Yes. And since I've used a webcam on a laptop probably 5 times since 2006, I'll live. If form over function is that big of an issue, you probably shouldn't be getting a mac either...

 

[Ulenspiegel]

You posted the exact same argument on Arstechnica, and were rebuked there too. Let me summarize, in case you forgot.

Let me inform you: false presumption on both counts.

1) That's table flex. The keyboard actually has more travel and is better than a MacBook's keyboard.

It is better because it has more travel or because you declare it? Seems to be a sound argument.

2) What heat? I'll be honest I've never felt heat coming out of the bottom vents, I assumed they were intake vents and the heat comes out by the hinge, same as the MacBook.

Personal experience may differ as in this case.

3) Are you comparing the battery life of the non-hidpi MacBook Air with the battery life of the hidpi touchscreen? Because from personal experience, battery life is more than "good enough". Sure I can crank up the brightness, do CPU intensive work, and get it down to 2 hours of battery life, but I can do that on a brand new MacBook, too.

You have missed the corresponding link.

4) Who cares how much it costs? At least the M.2 is replaceable and not proprietary.

The emphasis is not on the price, but on performance.

5) So what? They work, they don't cause problems.

The difference in quality is the question. To remind you, the original post was not about "they work, don't cause problems", but about the Dell being superior "hardware-wise, including build quality".

6) But for non-gaming, the GPU is more than capable, even while pushing a display that has 344% more pixels.

See above.

7) Yes. And since I've used a webcam on a laptop probably 5 times since 2006, I'll live. If form over function is that big of an issue, you probably shouldn't be getting a mac either...

Because you have used a webcam 5 times in nine years, then a misplaced camera on Dell is a non-issue for other users. It is a sound argument.

 

[cbautis2]

Yadidadida. Pretty much every review out there and countless user testimonials say it's the better ultrabook. The performance is excellent, nobody cares about the audio codec on an ultrabook, rating a battery and reaching the rated cycle count are two pairs of shoes, the keyboard is fine. What do you think people do with an ultrabook? If you need to do video editing / audio engineering etc you don't buy an ultrabook, you buy a MacBook Pro. The fact alone that you can't configure either of the two ultrabooks being discussed here with more than 8gb of RAM disqualifies them for pro use. 99.9% of all ultrabooks are used for word processing, work on the go, web browsing and movie watching. And do you know for how many people the webcam placement is going to be a problem? Exactly.

Those reviews are heavily biased! First of all, the hardware in MBA 13 is far superior than the dell ultracrapbook 13. Here are the reasons: it uses a lower binned broadwell chip which uses more power than the higher quality haswell, inaccurate crappy display, atrocious Windoze OS, cheap quality battery and build quality, unreliable and slow SSD, poor cooling system, crappy webcam and mic placement and list goes on and on. People do care about all of those and that's why the go buy macs if they want to invest a lot of money in a machine!

I can run 100 apps on my MBA without ever crashing while windoze and your ultracrapbook would just freezes and BSOD!

 

[kis]

Those reviews are heavily biased! First of all, the hardware in MBA 13 is far superior than the dell ultracrapbook 13. Here are the reasons: it uses a lower binned broadwell !

I had no idea Dell bins it lower! That'll anger the trash collection dude. Low-binned ones are much harder to get out.

 

[FtrV8]

Trackpad are THE worst experience on Windows laptops. I won't get a Windows laptop till they come to par with Macs.

 

[kis]

Trackpad are THE worst experience on Windows laptops. I won't get a Windows laptop till they come to par with Macs.

Reportedly, that's one of the points that was addressed with the XPS 13.