Dell XPS X14Z-3846SLV 14-Inch Laptop 8GB 750GB nVidia Graphics Win7 (Elemental Silver)

I've been a loyal Dell customer ever since I was a little boy back in 1996. I've had probably 3-4 desktops and 3 laptops from them in the past 15 years. That being said, I needed a new laptop for photo editing since I am constantly flying back and forth between my studio and another job I have. I saw this one online and thought it was going to be awesometons of power, RAM, and a solid hard drive. It came, looked all sexy in its packaging that mimics that of Apple.

Cranked it up and installed Lightroom 3.6. Everything was good until I started editing and realized how TERRIBLE the screen is. It's probably the worst laptop panel I have ever seen or used. The gamma was horrible, contrast, brightness, etcEVERYTHING. I tried to adjust all of these things and nothing worked. Long story short, I sent it back and now have another Mac. There is also a ton of pre loaded gadgets that are Apple App wannabes. The thing about Apple is that you can select the ones you want installed. With this Dell it was just loaded with crap that I didn't want. There is a processor performance one that was always running in the top corner for no reason.

I'm done here with this as it just makes me so angry. Don't get this laptop.

Bought the XPS X14z last week at Staples. Retuned it today. Upgraded to Win 7 Pro and installed Office 2010. This is when I discovered the key to eject the DVD didn't work. I went up to Dell and downloaded the latest BIOS and Chipset but still wouldn't eject the DVD. I upgraded every driver on the webside, but the eject key still didn't work. Tried a few suggestions I found on line, but they didn't work either. Discovered that this eject key is a problem and Dell has no solution except to replace the keyboard. You can work around it by right clicking on the drive and ejecting. This works, but who wants to be bothered when the slot key should work. I went to Staples and the IT guy tried to get DEll to replace the machine because it was determined the keyboard had to be replaced. I had purchased a 3-year in store warranty but the machine had the original Dell warranty which was depot. Was told it would take 10-15 days to pick up and return. Got my money back on this dud. I agree with others that Dell is trying to make their smaller laptop look like the Mac Air Book. Not in the same league with Apple.

Buy Dell XPS X14Z-3846SLV 14-Inch Laptop 8GB 750GB nVidia Graphics Win7 (Elemental Silver) Now

I use this computer to push word, excel, powerpoint, photoshop, illustrator all at once sometimes. It handles the job. I also edit hd video for personal use. It does the work for a laptop at this price. I move my laptop every single day, and it holds up. However, I regret not buying the I7 processor, but it was an extra 300 dollar computer at the time. I got this xps for 900.

The screen is super shiny, and at my work it was destroying my eyes. At home no problem. I ended up buying a matte screen protector to make it bearable. Overall, it's not a bad computer. I like all of the functions. If you prefer matte screen, buy samsung's computer. Almost bought that one, but it was more expensive, with only one memory slot. Oh, and usb is only in back. That is somewhat frustrating. Could be better, but for what's inside this bad boy, the price is very reasonable. You can buy two of these computers for what a Mac would cost with the same options, and hp and samsung all have different problems or qualities, depending on your needs.

PS. Personally I like HP best, but the design was not optimal for my travel needs. Already broke one screen hinge on old HP because of its poor design (screen doesn't sit flush.

Read Best Reviews of Dell XPS X14Z-3846SLV 14-Inch Laptop 8GB 750GB nVidia Graphics Win7 (Elemental Silver) Here

I brought this laptop directly from DELL. I am totally dissatisfied with this Laptop. I owned couple of Inspiron, XPS15 and this new XPS 14z. Let me explain pros and cons of this laptop.

Pros:

1. Good looking laptop dell ever made. (At last Dell find a good laptop designer)

2. Aluminum body

3. Can be used in lap (not generating too much heat like dell's all other laptop)

4. i5 & i7 processors

5. Easy to carry and light weight

Cons:

1. Bad screen quality: Before I order I didn't check the color quality in this laptop, because I trusted dell that they will deliver the best. In a laptop we always look at the display to watch/work/play. If the quality of display is poor then laptop is useless irrespective of its style. This laptop has WLED and lowest quality display dell has.

Ref: (...)

See the color Gamut.. it is just 45% That means this one can't represent good picture at all. This display is not anti glare. SO WORST DISPLAY + GOOD LAPTOP = WORST LAPTOP.

They could have use RGB LED and I expected 95% Color Gamut as my XPS15 do..

Without a good display this laptop will fail. I am not talking about resolution... The quality of display.. this display can't be used for multimedia or graphic design.

2. No Blu-Ray drive

BAD WEBCAM... CAN't use it even for video chat... VERY POOR QUALITY.

3. Only 2 USB slots.. 1 USB2 & 1 USB3.

4. Don't have high-resolution LCD. World is going towards retina display dell still hangs around 720p.. what a shame???

5. Dell downgraded support to mail in service.. You need to pay for basic support. I don't know why dell is doing this...

6. Not able to configure the laptop..(in dell website) Or don't have wide choice in the selection menu (in dell website).

7. No windows professional/ultimate to choose...

8. So many pre-installed junk software in this laptop

9. Not tuned for performance..

10. User can't replace battery.

11. Issues with Wi-fi card

Dell accepted that this laptop doesn't have good display.. that is because to to reduce its thickness.. for me that is a worst decision...

Ref:

My verdict:.. This laptop is good for carry around and style. But I won't recommend this laptop to anyone because of bad display quality (which won't reproduce color and take all the glares) . If you don't worry about size XPS15 is the best for graphics and performance.. but you can't use it in your lap...

Other thoughts: Hope dell will include good quality display (RGB LED) and Blu-ray in their next xps models:

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I am an online student and I enjoy online gaming. I needed a fast performing computer to satisfy my need in the virtual world. I bought this computer 3rd party that was my first mistake x,x dell's warranty doesn't cover 3rd party resale. I had the computer exactly one week. I was working on a paper for school when all of a sudden it froze up and I got the blue screen of death. After that it wouldn't come back on. After a lot of tinkering I was able to get it to the bios to run some diagnostics. After 12 hours of running scans it came back with six error codes, that summed up to I received a computer with a bad hard drive. Thus I lost all my work. I did some research and found that this is not the first time XPS has had hard drive issues. A couple of years ago there was a class action suit against them for the hard drive burn out. XPS is an excellent computer...when it works. BUYER BEWARE.