Anatomy of Utrabooks (Part
4)
DELL XPS 13
Outstanding, elegant
and potential. Dell had created a premium Ultrabook with XPS 13.
Dell had sent us an
email informing that they was about to show us something really special. In
order to see it, we also had to sign the agreement for not revealing this
information. One day later, the mystery came out to be an initial model of XPS
13, the additional product which was expected in such a long time of Dell for
its top-end laptop, and more important, it was its first Ultrabook of it.
XPS 13 there was
nothing in common in design with neither Apple products or Dell laptops in its
rich history. The lid was outworked with the dim light metal – the tradition
but not official yet of Ultrabook – and the dark back added with a little bit
of contrast. One kind of carbon fibers around the XPS metal label in the centre
was curved with Windows and Intel logos.
Inside, Dell was
really elegant. The anti-glare black plastic on the keyboard and wrist place
was covered with a plastic and metal tint as smooth as silk. It was also light
physically. Dell had announced that XPS 13 stuffed its 13.1” into the 12” frame,
meanwhile it wasn’t as small as Zenbook UX21 of Asus but it was much neater
than its 13.3” rivals.
With the weight of
1.38kg, XPS 13 wasn’t regarded as too heavy; however, it brought the heavier
feeling than its competitors. In reality, some members of PC & Tech
Authority team complained about its weight. Whether due to its weight
distributing all over the frame or its tender touching feeling but it was
actually sturdy with the carbon base. In all, this was a steady and stable
laptop.
Touchpad
and keyboard
Regardless its fairly
small size, XPS 13 didn’t scarify its convenience. The fantastic keyboard, the
light hollow in the middle of each key went along well with fast response and
act decisively resulting in fast typing speed and confident as well. It was
also backlit – a keyboard shortcut easily switched between to brightness mode
or off completely. It had the best keyboard among a wide range of laptops,
which included models of Apple.
The touchpad was as
best as the keyboard. Occasionally it required a strong keystroke to response,
and we missed the 2-fingered click ability to simulate the right click. Similar
to its rivals, the multi-touch features seemed to be added temporarily – there
was nothing to excuse for the fact that Windows wasn’t as friendly with
gestures as OS X. However it wasn’t bad at all, the mirror surface left the
fantastic feeling for the fingers, offered the exactly mouse control and all
the pad sinking with a decisive click.
Performance
Whenever using for
watching films or heavy video editing, XPS 13 offered the impressive
performance. Our testing model was equipped with the high-end Core i7 processor
along with the latest 256GB SSD of Samsung, PM830. It was a powerful
combination – with the result of 0.62 in our tests, Dell threatened the 1st
place of Asus’s Zenbook UX31. With the battery life in light-duty use of 8
hours and 11 minutes, Dell was subordinate than Zenbook UX31 just a little
bit.
SSD was as fast as
474MB per second continuous reading and 259MB per second for recording, XPS
could wake from the hibernating mode less than 2 seconds, and load a wide range
of applications immediately.
In the battle of
medium quality display screen, the XPS 13 was outstanding. The protecting Gorilla
Glass covered over the 13.3” screen, 1,366x768 and 296cd/m2 bright backlit. The
color accuracy was accepted, and we didn’t even recognize any bluish tint or
color fading effect as other Ultrabook displayed.
Nevertheless, it had
plenty points to improve. The 220:1 contrast ratio could place Dell into one of
the best models in the test but its screen still struggled in detailed display
in dark scenes, with the grey-black covered the nice details. The narrow
viewing angle caused a little bit disappointed and made us have to tilt the
screen backward and forward for suitable viewing angle.
Audio was
ear-catching. The MaxxAudio sound enhance feature of Waves made the weak sound
of Dell into clear, bright, and with many preset which helped you easily adjust
the audio quality to suited to many sources, even it was music, film or an
audio book. It was the great competitor for all laptop in the test this month.
The last complain for
this XPB 13 was the connectivity. With 1 USB2 port, 1 USB3 port, mini-DisplayPort
and an only 3.5 mm jack for headphone and microphone, it was obvious that Dell
couldn’t be compatible with Portege Z830 of Toshiba.
The lack of Ethernet
socket (or even adapter) could be reduced thanks to the existence of Intel
Advanced N-6230 wireless chipset. With two-band wireless 802.11n standard
supported, and Bluetooth 3, Dell was able to connect wireless quickly. The
addition of GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor was so new, though we’d love
to have radio 3G to replace it. (12. 54 => 13.10)
We had tested the
initial product of Dell XPS 13, therefore, it would be possible that some
technical features would be changed a bit at the moment you read this review,
but except for the improvement in the screen, any stable comments were not sure
to change our opinions. It was attractive, well-designed and great keyboard. A
big problem related with the price. At the moment we did this review, Dell
didn’t announce the official price for XPS 13, so we lowered its grade.
However, don’t misunderstand, if it was lower than UX31, we would restore its
position.
|
Price: unpublished
Battery life in light-duty use: 8 hours 11 minutes
Performance: 5 stars
Battery life: 6 stars
Features/design: 5 stars
Value: not yet
Average
judgment:
5 stars
|
With 2 bright mode,
and ergonomic keyboard, that of Dell was the best among the group.
The wrist place was
the magnet for fingerprint, but the soft plastic made a lovely feeling.
+ XPS 13 was the
combination of balance and practicality. The ports had the reasonable distance
between the wide USB ports with the splendid tone.
+ The normal labels of
Intel and Windows seemed to be outstanding due to their lack, which were
replaced by a curved label in the back by carbon fibers of XPS 13.
