Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
- For the first time, I finally got to use a Dell XPS laptop, one of the most popular laptops out there.
- After a couple months, it became pretty clear why it’s such a beloved line from Dell.
- The performance, design, and features are right on the money for the price tag. But of course, it’s not entirely perfect.
- I’d recommend this thing to anyone who wants a reliable and compact Windows 10 machine.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
I’ve been using Dell’s most recent XPS 13 laptop for the last couple of months, and I’ve been absolutely loving it so far.
I must admit, this is the first Dell laptop I’ve used for any meaningful amount of time, which I shame myself for. And I should mention that I tried the most expensive, $1,500 top-specced model that Dell offers, so good performance should be a given here.
But now that I’ve used the XPS 13 for work and general use, I’m thinking of picking one up myself, or at least I’ll look at other Dell laptops in the XPS line with larger screens that suit my style, like the XPS 15.
As with any product, nothing is quite perfect with the XPS 13. There are still a few things I’d change here and there. But, clearly, these little complaints in my head aren’t loud enough to stop me from loving this little machine.
Check out what’s great — and less great — about the Dell XPS 13:
The white XPS 13 gives has a premium design and build that’s reassuring whenever I pick it up or use it.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
I tried the white version of the XPS 13 — the model is called 9380 — and it brings new life to the iconic XPS design, thanks to its white interior and sleek metal top and bottom exterior. No doubt, it looks and feels premium.
It’s solid and it looks beautiful on a desk whether it’s opened or closed. And it’s incredibly compact, too.
The slim bezels around the top and side edges of the screen make the screen pop and give the XPS 13 a modern look, although the bottom bezel is rather large.
My only minor nitpick is the interior section where the keyboard lies might feel a little plasticky and hollow compared to Apple’s all-metal MacBook Pro. But, honestly, I only noticed this when I started examining the XPS 13.
If you’re wondering, the white version of the XPS 13 doesn’t easily get — or look — dirty.
The XPS 13 has been as reliable and trustworthy as it looks.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
The XPS 13’s reassuringly premium vibe isn’t just skin-deep.
I haven’t faced many issues while using the laptop. Everything has worked reliably so far, with only a few little complaints, which I’ll get to later.
The XPS 13 I’ve been using is a little powerhouse with all the specs I could ask for in a slim and light laptop.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
I’ve been using the $1,500 model of the XPS 13 (9380), which includes specs like an 8th-generation Intel Core i7 processor and 16 GB of RAM, topped off with a healthy-but-lean 256 GB of storage.
It’s everything I’d want in a laptop, and it does whatever I want it to without much of a fuss. Even the price tag for the specs isn’t outrageous.
One thing I should note: small and light laptop models like the XPS 13 typically run on "low power" versions of processors. For reference, the XPS 13 I’m using runs on the Core i7 8565 "U," a chip designed to consume less power so it doesn’t produce as much heat and allows for better battery life. Because it consumes less power, it’s not as powerful as processors on larger laptops that can handle more heat. Still, the low-power versions of processors in the XPS 13 will likely do the trick for most people.
If you’re looking for unquestionably strong performance for harder workloads, like long photo or video editing sessions, you’re best bet is going to be larger laptops that come with processors that have the letter "H" after the model number rather than the letter "U" or "Y," which denote low-power models. For example, the processors in the larger XPS 15 laptops have an "H" after the chip’s model number that denote it’s a more powerful chip.
At the end of the day, however, the top-end XPS 13 will still handle harder workloads, but not quite as well as the larger, more expensive laptops with more powerful chips, if that’s what you’re after.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Antonio Villas-Boas)