Dell XPS 13 (2015) Thoughts? Particularly with Regards to Similarly Specced Machines That Are Cheaper

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  beaver2233 on 24/02/2015 - 21:22

  +1

  Indeed, it looks great. I currently have an XPS 13 (2012) model (720P, i7, 4GB RAM) and am tempted by the new model! In terms of value, yeah it's probably not the best. Though if you want the latest and greatest you will always have to pay a little bit more.

  Being an ultrabook, it will be a great upgrade in terms of portability compared to your Lenovo.

  I hope you are aware at the moment there is a 16% off code for the Dell website for orders above $1600 i believe (brings the $1799 model down to around $1500).

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  SydStrand on 24/02/2015 - 23:01

  +1

  Since I know so little about current laptop pricing, is this dell machine priced at a really high premium?

  Dell's always had low (inspiron), mid (studio) and high (xps) tiers for their laptops. I really like the look of the new XPS, especially its barely-there bezels. At $1499 base though, I'd wait for a sale on the mid-spec model (especially as it starts 4/128GB), there are some spotty battery life scores from the various people who've reviewed it.

  From what I've read, is my assumption correct that the HD 5500 is almost close to it?

  What kind of games? You're not going to be running new AAA FPS titles at any acceptable framerate, but if you're playing Dota 2 or something, integrated graphics is fine.

• 

  scrimshaw on 25/02/2015 - 01:08

  +1

  It looks like a nicely built laptop. It seems to take some of it's design cues from the Dell Latitude 7000 series chassis (which I owned for a little while), so you can expect very good quality hinges, a nice keyboard with plenty of key travel and just the right amount of pressure to activate the switches. The touchpad / clickpad is also spacious, well built and made very even (requiring roughly the same amount of effort to click, no matter where your finger is situated on the pad). The palmrest has a soft touch feeling, unlike the hard plasticky matte one found on the Lenovo, which isn't as nice.

  No comment on thermal performance as the Latitude wasn't built for gaming and it also only had a Core i5-4200U so performance wasn't it's strong point.

  The E320 (basically the 13 inch version of your E420) does also have a pretty nice keyboard, although let down with a clickpad that isn't all that precise and requires a tad too much force to activate the microswitches. Some people commented that the fan was also a little loud under high load but since mine was not configured with a GPU and wasn't used for gaming, didn't experience the same issue.

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  2SHY on 25/02/2015 - 09:26

  +2

  The Dell XPS 13 can be optioned with a 3K display which has a native resoltuion of 3200x1800. The model you should go for doesn't exist as 1920x1080 display option is not touch capable and the 3200x1800 display is touch capable. Until Windows 10 comes out I would avoid any high resolution displays on laptops or monitors as the resolution scaling in Windows 8/8.1 is dodgy. Most ultrabooks can play low intensive games anything more intensive you will need a discrete graphics card and that usually means a gaming laptop.

  For the price you can get W230SS which can play games with reasonable detail. Look at Logicalblueone, they do advertise specials on here.

  • 

    scotty on 25/02/2015 - 12:45

    +2

    XPS 13 — 13 inch in 11 inch frame.
    W230SS — 13 inch in 14 inch frame.

    Two very different machines, and I know which one I will go for portability reason.

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  mrmarkau67 on 25/02/2015 - 10:24

  +1

  There aren't really any similarly specced machines that are cheaper - if you include specs like size, weight and battery life. There is no other laptop with such a big screen in relation to the size of its case, and not many competing machines with the new Broadwell processor, which gives great battery life.

  The only comparable machine is Apple's forthcoming Macbook Air, and it doesn't even have a release date yet. Can you wait until it is released before making a final decision?

  Does your Lenovo have an SSD in it? If not, try adding one and re-installing Windows. You may be so surprised by the improvement that the new shinies don't look as attractive.

• 

  morpheu on 25/02/2015 - 13:31

  +1

  i was looking at this XPS as it has the Broadwell cpu and thin bezel 1080p screen and the "15 hour" battery life, but there's a huge difference in price, in US base model(4gb/128gb) is $799 but Dell AU charge $1499, what a crock!

  • 

    beaver2233 on 25/02/2015 - 15:08

    +1

    i read that the us base model is i3, ours is i5 (could be wrong).

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  lysp on 25/02/2015 - 14:21

  +1

  One laptop build i see often mentioned is the Horize range on logical blue one.

  Personally have never got one from them, but they do offer a couple of pretty high spec'd 13" models:

  http://www.logicalblueone.com.au/store/8_horize-clevo?orderb…

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  tebbybabes on 25/02/2015 - 15:47

  Thanks for all the replies folks. It's always nice to be able to get the current pulse from folks more up-to-date with this sort of thing.

  @Morpheu - I think the main reason between the difference of the US base model and ours is that theirs is specced as an i3. In our case, it looks like it's the RAM and SSD size that differentiates our base and mid-tier. On a slightly related note, one pricing difference that I've noted is that the X1 carbon can be had for less than 800 in the US. Here it's almost 1800! (I don't know if its the same model but they were both called the x1 Carbon.)

  @mrmarkau67 - I can definitely wait as I'm not really supposed to be in the market for it yet. I was just struck as how damn good it looks, it's giving me a mighty itch! :)
  My E420 doesn't have an SSD yet. I actually do have an 250Gb SSD waiting to be installed. I was hoping to do a fresh install and backing up everything that I wanted is proving to be such a chore that it keeps getting put off. LOL.

  @2SHY - Thanks for clueing me in onto the W230SS. I've looked into the offerings at logicalblueone a number of years ago, and at the time I told myself that they'd definitely be one of the places I'd check next time I'm in the market. I love the fact that they seem to offer a lot of customization and that you could purchase stuff without HDD's or SSD and just put in your own. The W230SS seems like pretty good value. I'm just not too keen on the appearance. It reminds of the gaming stuff from ROG with all it's angles. But it looks powerful enough to kick the crap out of my main desktop which is where I game on. :)
  One thing, I've always felt that 1920x1080 would be fine for a laptop. Wouldn't a much higher res just make my vid card work harder? Also wouldn't battery life suffer?

  @scrimshaw - I love my E420, especially the keyboard. Sometimes I catch myself wishing it had a numeric keypad or at least a way to simulate one with Fn keys but that's just nitpicking. If I had one complaint about the trackpad, it would be the scrolling which can be a bit hit and miss sometimes and fact that it doesn't properly emulate a scroll wheel in all applications.

  @Strand0410 - No I won't be playing any AAA FPS titles but stuff more like CIV and Anno which my laptop seems to be able to do just fine. What I'm most impressed about, if the specs are to be believed, is that integrated graphics have progressed so much as to equal a mid range discrete mobile graphics chip from as little as 3 years ago.

  @Beaver2233 - Thanks for the heads up about the discount code. (Might come in handy if I my gadget lust gets the better of me) Also, since you mentioned you also have the XPS 13, how does it feel to type on a small keyboard? My last experience with small form factors was a netbook from 2010. I'm not brand loyal or anything but it was a Lenovo as well. Typing needed some getting used to but I eventually managed and from what I hear, it was a lot better than it's other contemporaries. It's trackpad was utter rubbish though. :)

  @lysp - Thanks for the heads-up.

  • 

    2SHY on 27/02/2015 - 09:03

    +1

    Yes, Higher resolutions make your video card work harder and make your battery life take a hit. 1920x1080 seems like a happy medium.

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  tebbybabes on 25/02/2015 - 18:15

  I just learned something new that is also making me grin from ear to ear. I've specced my E420 with the available i7 at the time. Turns out that performance wise, that and the i5 Broadwell aren't much different. Sure it's sucks power and it's definitely not an ultrabook and it's not quite as sexy, but my heat has been greatly tempered. :)

  Now all I need to do is install that SSD and always keep my power brick close. LOL.

  • 

    mrmarkau67 on 27/02/2015 - 09:54

    +1

    You ought to do some benchmarks before and after.

    Something else to consider - the E420 can have a docking station. If you use it in 2 main places (office and home), consider buying an extra power brick and a dock. Then you don't need to carry that heavy brick around as much.

    • 

      tebbybabes on 28/02/2015 - 23:02

      I actually do have an extra power brick. One of those much lighter and slimmer travel ones from kensington. :) Works a treat!