I've had my Dell XPS 15 for about two weeks now and I believe it is an excellent computer. For the past 2 years, I had been using a Dell Inspiron and and I have played with the Dell XPS L502X (The Previous Generation Model) so I decided to give this one a look as my computer for college. There are many great aspects about this laptop, and while there are definitely some things that could be fixed, it's still a great machine for multimedia lovers, students, and even gamers.Hardware-
First of all, the hardware is absolutely fantastic. I'm not going to lie, it's a pretty unabashed copy of the Macbook Pro. On the outside, the only main difference is the color of the aluminum. However, the inside has a extremely nice black coating that gives the palm rests a very comfortable feel as well as a unique look. While the design is very sleek, the laptop is still quite heavy at almost 6 pounds. This isn't as bad as it sounds, but for people who will be taking this everywhere, it might be worth testing the weight and seeing if it's for you. Thankfully, the weight does make the laptop feel very sturdy and while I wouldn't be slamming this into the ground anytime soon, it should still survive the occasional drop.
The keyboard and trackpad are great as well. The keyboard could do with a little more depth, but it is still comfortable to type on and I had few complaints as I was typing this review. The trackpad is simply amazing. It is made by Synaptics and it is flawless. I've even stopped using a mouse due to its performance. It feels amazing and multi touch gestures work perfectly. It puts pretty much every other Window machine to shame. My only nitpick would be that it has trouble differentiating right and left clicks every now and then but outside of Apple, no other manufacturer has such a good touchpad.
Many people have complained about the WiFi and honestly, I've had no major problems. Reception is slightly weaker as compared to other laptops, so I'm guessing the aluminum is interfering somehow. However, I'm still getting around the same network speeds as compared to other laptops, although my speeds have been slightly lower so hopefully Dell can fix this with a driver update.
Display and Speakers-
The display is a 350-nit TN panel covered with Corning Gorilla Glass. While IPS panels, such as those found in the new Asus Zenbooks, have a more varied color gamut and better viewing angles, the display on the Dell is still awesome. Everything is crisp and clear, and most text is readable without having to zoom in. Contrast is great with the low black levels and viewing angles are still great. The L502X had a better color gamut but this is still a great display, especially for those coming from the traditional, low quality 1366x768 TN panels.
The speakers are great as well, even if they don't impress as much as the display. They're loud and clear but they're a bit lacking in bass, especially coming from the L502X with the integrated subwoofer. That being said, they still outclass most every other laptop in sheer volume and clarity. Dell has some included software that you can mess with to provide you the sound that you would like.
Performance-
I've never been a fan of benchmarks, and I generally rely on real world testing to see how the computer does. So far, I've been nothing short of impressed. The 3rd Gen Intel i7 and 8GB of RAM handle everything smoothly and lag is virtually nowhere to be found. I've opened multiple windows of Chrome playing 1080p video and I still have no trouble doing other activities. The computer does use a traditional hard drive instead of a SSD, and while performance could benefit from the addition of a SSD, I honestly haven't seen the need to. The hard drive is plenty fast, but it does generate a noticeable amount of heat under the left palm rest, so keep that in mind. The Dell also uses a 32GB SSD to quickly start up and shut down the computer, as well as quickly open frequently used applications and so far start up and shut down times have been great, although they fall short of SSD only computers, especially ultrabooks.
As far as games go, the 2GB NVIDIA Geforce 640M video card should be able to play most everything at respectable frame rates, although you will probably have to turn down some effects if you want to play games at the full 1080p resolution. However, games such as Assassin's Creed Revelations and Skyrim look great and the computer has no problem with playing them with most effects turned up. There have been many complaints of throttling, especially have 1-2 minutes of intense gameplay, but I've noticed no problems. If you purchase the laptop, I would suggest upgrading to the new BIOS as to make sure you don't come across any throttling issues.
As far as bloatware goes, Dell has been surprisingly lenient. There's very little true bloatware, other than the annoying McAfee trial, some included Dell software, and Microsoft Office Starter 2010 (which isn't even really bloatware) so kudos to Dell.
Noise and Heat-
Unfortunately, the laptop has a tiny bit more noise than I would like. This probably has to do with the fact that it uses a hard drive, instead of an SSD. That being said, if you're browsing the web or doing regular office work, you'll never hear it, especially if you're playing music. But if you start playing games and doing some other intense multimedia work, the fans will spin up and definitely make themselves heard. Thankfully, the fans are located in the hinge so you're not exposed to the air and the computer doesn't tend to heat up to the point of discomfort.
Like I mentioned before, I suspect the hard drive generates a certain amount of heat which is noticeable, but never truly annoying. I had no problem using the machine on my lap for hours.
Battery-
Unfortunately, the battery is sealed within the machine so there's no replacing it without a lot of effort. However, I find the battery to be plenty sufficient for most activities. Obviously, the display will use the most power so toning it down, and deactivating things such as the keyboard backlight will extend the battery life a great deal. If you're just doing plain web browsing mixed in with office work, expect around 4-6 hours of battery and if you're playing video, expect around 4-5 hours. This is acceptable, although some Ultrabooks and Macbooks do feature slightly better battery life.
Wrap-Up-
Like I said, I believe this is a fantastic machine. While it would have been nice if Dell had some more original design features, it's still rock solid and actually feels better than the Macbook Pro. General performance is great, and the screen and speakers make this an excellent laptop for anybody interested in viewing a lot of movies or listening to music. The occasional gamer will enjoy the dedicated graphics and everybody will appreciate the respectable battery life. If only it was around $100 cheaper, it would be absolutely perfect and I believe it would then deserve 5 stars for being such a great all around laptop. For now, I'm giving 4.5 stars and rounding down until Dell can work out some of the kinks with the WiFi and throttling other users are reporting. If you're a college student who needs a machine with better battery life and less weight, I would suggest the new Macbook Air or the new Asus Zenbooks but this machine will handle everything you need and more.
Bottom line if WiFi capability at a distance of more than 10 feet from the router is required, purchase with extreme caution until Dell can ensure the issue is fixed. If Dell cannot offer a fix soon, I will return mine while I still can.
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So I just had to write this review feel like I owe it to Dell for putting together such an awesome laptop. This is going to be a short one but hopefully useful to somebody:Laptop's wireless works fine. (ref other review)
It is SOLID. Awesome build quality
Screen -was my #1 consideration. it is unbelieveably sharp! with wide view angles and extreme color definition. I LOVE IT
Discrete graphics performance -Really good -surprisingly good actually for a laptop. I can play SWTOR on almost the highest settings. Looks really good. Plays smooth. Doesn't overheat
Only other thing I'll say is definitely do get it with windows 8. Yes no touch screen. But what's cool is the latest models touchpad is designed for win8 so you can flick in from the sides to pull up charms menus etc --right on the touch pad -which is also pretty awesome itself.
Can you tell I like my laptop? HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
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When I first took my XPS15 out of the box I was quite impressed. I was a PC user but got a 2008 Macbook 13" and am now moving back to PC (for my laptop anyways). This thing looked great. I loved the silicone surface around the keyboard and the metal case. After extensive use it stayed cool and quite. On my girlfriends 2012 13" Macbook you can hear the fan whirring all the time. I can even hear it when I Skype with her. This thing came with a lot of features that other laptops offer as upgrades that would push the price well over that of the XPS15 (1080 screen, blu-ray drive, NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M, etc). All of this would make it a great laptop but....THE WIFI DOESNT WORK!!! As stated in another review, moving more then 10 feet away from a wifi signal will diminish your network connection. I have a brand new dual band N router and this thing has such a hard time connecting to it. My 2008 Macbook can connect to the router better from the opposite end of the house then this thing can right next to it! Even with my network connection is shown to be "good" at 100mbps+ nothing happens, pages don't load, no ping response, I can't even go to my router configuration page. Drivers, replacement wifi cards, DIFFERENT wifi cards won't fix this problem. The only solution seems to be to get an external USB wifi adapter. So really, with computers today, I don't care if this laptop had a 56-core processor at 999 tera hertz and 89273423 terabyte cache and the battery lasted 5 years on one charge. If the wifi doesn't work it's useless.
Another pet peeve I have with this thing is the touchpad. When typing, the SLIGHTEST graze on the touchpad will move the courser while I'm typing and sometimes highlight a whole selection that will get replaced while I'm typing. There is preinstalled Dell touchpad software with settings to eliminate accidental touchpad contact while typing but it doesn't seem to work at all. I have to very consciously lift my wrists up while typing to avoid touching the touchpad. I like that the touchpad is very large but there is a huge downside to it. There is also something about it that makes an annoying clicking sound when you press on it. It's like an old ball (non-optical) mouse with buttons that click very loudly when you press on it. The ENTIRE touchpad is like an old mouse button.
Great looks, nicely lit keyboard, good price. HUGE downfalls. If you NEED a laptop right now but don't depend on wifi then this is a great computer and maybe someday in the future Dell will fix the wifi issue (I'm pretty sure it will require a new screen which is where the antenna is located) and improve the software for the touchpad. If you want something that works likes its supposed to now, well, there are better, cheaper options out there.
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This laptop is a perfect MacBook Pro alternative. I bought 16GB of RAM and replaced my HDD with another SSD. Works amazingly fast and is sleek and thin with great battery life. Way better specs than the MacBook Pro --and HALF the price. The Gorilla Glass and 400-nit 1080p screen gives the Retina Display a run for it's money --extremely bright and super sharp. Dell has had some mistakes --but this is NOT one of them. Excellent laptop, excellent price.
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