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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.

The Verge review "Dell's XPS 13 is a look at the future of laptops" By Dan Seifert on February 13, 2015
(http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/13/8030821/dell-xps-13-laptop-ultrabook-review)

...Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the XPS 13’s trackpad, which probably won’t surprise anyone. It’s a large, clickable Microsoft Precision trackpad, with a soft finish over glass. But like virtually every other trackpad on Windows laptops, it’s fraught with poor software and drivers. Two-finger scrolling is very unpredictable: sometimes it will work just fine, other times it won't respond, no matter what I do. The cursor will also jump across the screen at random times while I’m typing, and it’s far too easy to activate clicks while my fingers are on the keys. It’s 2015; I shouldn’t have to plug an external mouse into laptops anymore, but that’s exactly what I did with the XPS 13 after a few frustrating hours with the trackpad.
 
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I had no idea Dell bins it lower! That'll anger the trash collection dude. Low-binned ones are much harder to get out.

It means the underperforming/unstable chips that are supposed to run properly at higher clocks with lower voltage goes to Dell while the quality chips that runs cool, low voltage at higher clocks are only sold to Apple!
 
The Verge review "Dell's XPS 13 is a look at the future of laptops" By Dan Seifert on February 13, 2015
(http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/13/8030821/dell-xps-13-laptop-ultrabook-review)


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonev...3-2015-laptop-review-now-if-it-only-ran-os-x/

"Finally, a trackpad that can challenge Apple’s! The glass-integrated trackpad on the XPS 13 improves upon the excellent XPS 12 (the nifty hybrid they launched with Windows 8). It’s smooth, precise, multi-touch capable and accurately recognizes Windows 8 gestures. If you’ve historically been a Windows trackpad hater (I don’t blame you), Dell’s out to change your mind. It’s not as large as my Air trackpad, but it’s just as enjoyable."
 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonev...3-2015-laptop-review-now-if-it-only-ran-os-x/

"Finally, a trackpad that can challenge Apple’s! The glass-integrated trackpad on the XPS 13 improves upon the excellent XPS 12 (the nifty hybrid they launched with Windows 8). It’s smooth, precise, multi-touch capable and accurately recognizes Windows 8 gestures. If you’ve historically been a Windows trackpad hater (I don’t blame you), Dell’s out to change your mind. It’s not as large as my Air trackpad, but it’s just as enjoyable."

Cnet review "Stunning screen, compact design make XPS 13 the first great laptop of 2015" (http://www.cnet.com/au/products/dell-xps-13-2015/):

...The large clickpad-style touchpad is similar to what we've seen on recent high-end Dell systems. It works fine for basic navigating and tapping or clicking, but I found the all-important two-finger scroll to be less smooth than I'd like (or not as smooth as one would expect from a MacBook). Navigating up and down long websites often sent me to the touchscreen to flick my way through, but if you go for one of the less expensive non-touch configurations, you're out of luck...

Ultrabookreview.com review "Dell XPS 13 2015 (9343 Broadwell) review – I’m keeping it!" (http://www.ultrabookreview.com/6151-dell-xps-13-2015-9343-review/):

...Scrolling can get a bit laggy from times to time (I’m using Firefox, BTW) and there are no Back/Forward gestures, so there’s still room for improvement, but I for one am satisfied with the overall experience. Short and precise swipes are also handled well, at least on my unit.
Now, if you expect this to match the touchpads on a Macbook, you might end up disappointed. Adjust your expectations to a “Windows laptop” though, and you should be happy.
For the minor quirks, I could complain that the physical clicks are a bit noisy and stiff, but I use taps all the time, so that didn’t affect me much. I did however notice that if you’re used to keeping one finger on the trackpad all the time (to click) while navigating with another, the surface’s responsiveness drops significantly and you’ll actually have to perform many swipes to get the cursor where you need. That doesn’t happen on the Macbooks...
Some users also reported that the trackpad is “horrible” with Windows 7", so you might want to think twice if you’ve got any plans in ditching the Windows 8.1 that comes by default with the laptop, at least till Dell releases more mature drivers...
 
It looks fcuking ugly compared to the MBA

Check out those nice bezels!

xps13-10.jpg


:p
 
These Dell laptops always come and go. I remember when the Haswell rMBP came out, people were talking about how the Dell competitor was so much better. Remember that laptop? I don't.

Nothing beats Apple and OS X for me. At least Apple is consistent with their products.
 
I can run 100 apps on my MBA without ever crashing while windoze and your ultracrapbook would just freezes and BSOD!

Amazing.

Reading through this thread, I've never seen such blind fanboy opinions in my life... I've yet to see a negative review of the new XPS 13, yet the absolute **** that I'm reading here, that appears to be based off of nothing... Wow.
 
Amazing.

Reading through this thread, I've never seen such blind fanboy opinions in my life... I've yet to see a negative review of the new XPS 13, yet the absolute **** that I'm reading here, that appears to be based off of nothing... Wow.

IMO anything non-apple on a laptop is crap. Windoze alone makes all of them crap. Crappy Dell drivers and build quality alone ruins the experience. If you like to pay for overpriced crap then go ahead. There will be never be a PC laptop that can match a MBA in overall quality for the same price since it runs Windoze and has ugly materials and build quality to it.
 
IMO anything non-apple on a laptop is crap. Windoze alone makes all of them crap. Crappy Dell drivers and build quality alone ruins the experience. If you like to pay for overpriced crap then go ahead. There will be never be a PC laptop that can match a MBA in overall quality for the same price since it runs Windoze and has ugly materials and build quality to it.

Considering that the MBA has a screen literally no different than I had on my first laptop in 2002, I don't know what you are going on about.
 
Amazing.

Reading through this thread, I've never seen such blind fanboy opinions in my life... I've yet to see a negative review of the new XPS 13, yet the absolute **** that I'm reading here, that appears to be based off of nothing... Wow.

I love Dell.
You get what you pay for, and they have machines at pretty much every price point.
Their ProSupport is brilliant...

No comment.
 
Considering that the MBA has a screen literally no different than I had on my first laptop in 2002, I don't know what you are going on about.

I don't know how you can't perceive the color accuracy of the MBA compared to your 2002 laptop but I guess it depends on experience.
Color accuracy is still top notch compared to a lot of "premium" IPS screens that ultracrapbooks have. Only thing that beats a MBA screen is those with professionally calibrated Dreamcolor screens that only exists on very expensive laptops. I always find that colors of those IPS screens off of those ultracrapbooks are inaccurate and unnatural compared to MBA, rMBP, and Microsoft Surface Pro 3.
 
No comment.

I fail to see how that is relevant tbh, I stand by that comment.
Maybe if I had then went on to say that all Apple laptops are terrible, and they are useless, and OSX is terrible... But I didn't.
For the record, I use a Macbook. But to read so much rubbish here about the new XPS 13, it's near unbelievable.

Amazingly, I have the ability to like more than one companies efforts! :eek: *GASP*

Times have changed folks, maybe stray from the path and have a go on a couple of competing ultrabooks, you might like them...
 
I don't know how you can't perceive the color accuracy of the MBA compared to your 2002 laptop but I guess it depends on experience.
Color accuracy is still top notch compared to a lot of "premium" IPS screens that ultracrapbooks have. Only thing that beats a MBA screen is those with professionally calibrated Dreamcolor screens that only exists on very expensive laptops. I always find that colors of those IPS screens off of those ultracrapbooks are inaccurate and unnatural compared to MBA, rMBP, and Microsoft Surface Pro 3.

No, color accuracy is crap on a MBA. IPS generally is better these days.
 
These Dell laptops always come and go. I remember when the Haswell rMBP came out, people were talking about how the Dell competitor was so much better. Remember that laptop? I don't.

Nothing beats Apple and OS X for me. At least Apple is consistent with their products.

I remember the Dell Precision M3800 that was made for people who do CAD work.
 
I don't know how you can't perceive the color accuracy of the MBA compared to your 2002 laptop but I guess it depends on experience.
Color accuracy is still top notch compared to a lot of "premium" IPS screens that ultracrapbooks have. Only thing that beats a MBA screen is those with professionally calibrated Dreamcolor screens that only exists on very expensive laptops. I always find that colors of those IPS screens off of those ultracrapbooks are inaccurate and unnatural compared to MBA, rMBP, and Microsoft Surface Pro 3.

You really, truly have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
 
Cnet review "Stunning screen, compact design make XPS 13 the first great laptop of 2015" (http://www.cnet.com/au/products/dell-xps-13-2015/):



Ultrabookreview.com review "Dell XPS 13 2015 (9343 Broadwell) review – I’m keeping it!" (http://www.ultrabookreview.com/6151-dell-xps-13-2015-9343-review/):


We could play review ping pong forever here. As you'd made your opinion long before the XPS 13 was released, there's no point in discussing with you any further.
 
I swung by the store and checked these out today. I am pretty impressed with the build quality, and the bezelless screen is a game changer. Only thing I didn't like was the top lid of the laptop. It is so plain looking. 0 charisma at all. I wish they would move the dell logo to the corner or make the lid black, anything creative. When the computer is closed it looks cheap imo.

Looks like a laptop from 5 years ago top down. Shame because it is the laptop of tomorrow everywhere else.
 
*EDITED FOR CLARITY*

I marvel at how the [INSERT APPLE PRODUCT] does exactly what I want precisely when I want. Macs have been this way for years.

^ That my good sir pretty much sums up ALL apple products; at least the one's I've used since childhood:

Apple IIc,
Apple IIe,
Apple Macintosh (the OG!)
Apple iMac (again the OG!)
Apple PowerBook G3 3400cs
Apple PowerBook G3 Lombard
Apple TiBook 400
Apple MacBook Unibody (birth of the unibody trackpad)
Apple MacBook Air 2012 11" & 13"
Apple PowerMac G5 Dual 2Ghz.
Apple Mac Mini 2009 (?) and 2012.
Apple iPhone 3/3GS/4/4S/5S
Apple iPod Nano 6th generation (I really love these).

Yup ... we've all heard the mantra "it just works" but to really experience it is just bliss!:apple:
 
I swung by the store and checked these out today. I am pretty impressed with the build quality, and the bezelless screen is a game changer. Only thing I didn't like was the top lid of the laptop. It is so plain looking. 0 charisma at all. I wish they would move the dell logo to the corner or make the lid black, anything creative. When the computer is closed it looks cheap imo.

Looks like a laptop from 5 years ago top down. Shame because it is the laptop of tomorrow everywhere else.

I agree. The top of the lid is unremarkable and the bottom is weird and frankly bad IMO. I picked up the laptop in a store and thought they must have affixed some kind of anti-theft device to the bottom, but no, it's the two weird "feet strips" that looked odd and prevented me from getting a comfortable grasp on the device.

The vent on the bottom also looked decidedly non-premium and something that would obviously be blocked if you set the LAPtop down on a lap or a blanket or something. I would worry about this happening.

The carbon fiber top case looked like cheap plastic to me with a cheap printed pattern but I've been informed that that's just what carbon fiber looks like and it's actually quite upmarket. It still looks cheap to me, and incongruous with the aluminum on the top and bottom. Why is the laptop made of so many different materials, again?

I'm not an idiot and I don't live in an Apple reality distortion bubble. I'm not going to try to argue that the MBA's screen is somehow better than the Dell's because it seems fairly obvious that it isn't. The Dell uses a newer and better Intel CPU and GPU because it's newer, and there's no arguing that it isn't better. The MBA has a faster SSD but that really makes no practical difference to anybody.

So, if you look at the specs, the Dell basically costs the same for a laptop with a better screen and a somewhat better CPU. The rest of the innards seem to be comparable, and the MBA still looks better to me, feels better to hold, and doesn't have a vent that I would be worried about blocking. I'm not going to say the MBA is a better laptop but if somebody decided to buy a MBA over the Dell tomorrow I wouldn't tell them they were wrong. And it's what I'd prefer to have myself.
 
The vent on the bottom also looked decidedly non-premium and something that would obviously be blocked if you set the LAPtop down on a lap or a blanket or something. I would worry about this.

Unless you use the machine only on a desk or table, this can be a real issue. I had a XPS 15 that could only be run on top of a cooling pad if you wanted to see CPU and GPU temps below 90 degrees C.
 
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Before going completely Mac, I used Dell XPS line of computers extensively, and they were fairly well built machine. The Inspiron line is pure crap, but XPS line is a good 2nd to the latitude line in terms of build quality.

There has been a lot of fanboyism in this thread, but as of right now, Dell has really stepped it up and there's no question spec-for-spec that the Dell is the better buy. However, we also haven't seen Apple's broadwell update yet. Dell was first to the punch with the broadwell update, and we haven't seen what Apple has planned, especially with the looming rumors of a retina MacBook Air. At this point, this like comparing a Galaxy S5 to an iPhone 6 in terms of performance specs when we all know the Galaxy S6 is coming soon.
 
I got my XPS 13 today. The trackpad's awesome. The screen would be, too, if it didn't have Mura (white dots, just like my 15" rMBP), so it's DOA.

The form factor is insanely great.

However, what's NOT great is the cooling system. It's not the placement of the grill - it's the simple fact that on the i7 model I have, the fan runs PERMANENTLY at medium to high setting. It's so insanely loud, forget about using this in a quiet office, a classroom or a library. I thought I had a defective one, but nope - lots of owners seem to be complaining about it. Why the reviewers all are saying it's quiet beats me. I've never had a laptop that was this loud.

Complete and utter fail -> goes back tomorrow.
 
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