Price: $1,840
Website: www.dell.com
Dell
XPS 13
All Ultrabooks are forged from brushed
aluminum, right? Not this one. The black and silver XPS 13 eschews such
simplicity for a veritable mish-mash of a design: metal lid, carbon fiber base
and rubberized keyboard surround.
And yet, against all the laws of
probability and taste, it works, standing out from the Ultrabook crowd as
distinctive and aspirational The slight pay-off comes in its weight, though -
it’s heavier than all the others on test bar the HP Envy, and feels a bit
bulkier too. Still, it’s all a question of compromise: some of those extra
grammes are down to a bigger battery, so while most of the Ultrabooks here will
keep you going for around six hours, the Dell will make it from 9 to 5 without
a break.
Performance-wise, there’s little to
complain about. All of the models here have similar processors - they’ll handle
most tasks with ease but will struggle to run the latest games and the Dell is
no better or worse than the others. But it’s a different matter when it comes
to the screen: the Dell’s 1366x768 resolution is nothing special and the
display is pale with poor viewing angles. Given that even the lowest- spec
model costs f80,943, it’s one compromise too far for it to win.
The glass front of the LCD is fitted flush
to the edge of the XPS 13's lid, giving it a spacious feel that belies its 13.3
inches. Shame about the pale, low-res screen itself...
The XPS 13 does take one cue from the
MacBook Air - push a button on the side and a series of LEDs will indicate
current charge whether the machine is on or not.
No matter how hard we pushed the XPS 13, we
couldn't get the cooling fans to spin above a barely audible whisper. Three
(very quiet) cheers for Dell.
Type cast
Type
cast
The Dell's backlit keyboard is comfortably
the best on test, with light, bouncy keys that are well spaced and have more
travel than most chiclet designs.
Face front
Face
front
The XPS 13 suffers from a frustrating
shortage of extras - no SD card slot, no HDMI out - but at least it does have
one nice gimmick: face-recognition unlock.
Tech specs
·
Display: 13.3in; 1366x768
·
CPU: Intel Core i7 2637M @ 1.7GHz
·
Graphics: Intel HD 3000
·
RAM: 4GB
·
Storage: 256GB SSD
·
Connectivity: USB 2.0 (x1); USB 3.0 (x1); Mini
DisplayPort; Wi-Fi; 3.5mm socket
·
Dimension (W x H x D): 316 x 18 x 205 mm
·
Weight: 1.36 kg
Pros
·
Solid build quality
·
Battery
·
Distinctive looks
·
Quiet fans
Cons
·
Weight
·
Poor screen
·
Price
Verdict
·
Ratings: 4/5
·
It could have been the ultimate Ultrabook, but
the XPS 13's lackluster screen costs it a win.
Samsung Series 5 NP530U3B
Price: $975
Website: www.samsung.com
Samsung
Series 5 NP530U3B
The Series 5 is an Ultrabook for the
masses: light, reasonably specced and cheaper by far than any of the others in
this test. Of course, you don't get something for nothing in this world and the
Samsung also cuts a few corners in the name of affordability.
For starters, it also feels a lot
cheaper than most of the others, with a mainly plastic build that doesn't even
have the exceptional weightlessness of the Toshiba to recommend it.
It also does without the fast SSD memory
found in most Ultrabooks, instead including a traditional hard drive. That's
not such a bad thing, though - the 500GB of storage you get is more practical
if you plan on lugging around a big media collection, and thanks to a 16GB
cache drive, boot up and standby recovery times don't suffer by more than a few
seconds. Yes, you can hear the disk spin if you listen carefully enough, but
it's really not that distracting.
What is distracting is the Samsung's
poor screen. Like most of the others here, it's disappointingly low-res, with
pale, washed-out colors and poor viewing angles. Given its similarly lacklustre
styling, we can't recommend it even at this price.
Even in a test awash with bad screens, the
Samsung stands out as being particularly poor. Given the high-resolutions now
found on tablets, Ultrabooks have some catching up to do.
The spinning hard drive is a bit noisier
than an SSD, but fortunately it doesn't impact battery life: the NP530U3B goes
for just over six hours without stopping.
It's unusual to have a removable battery in
an Ultrabook, and even rarer to have a hatch to the motherboard for upgrading
hard drive or memory. Hackers will be happy.
Mighty mouse
Mighty
mouse
The Samsung's track-pad is excellent. Not a
millimeter of space is wasted, and it's more than ready for the extra multi-touch
gestures coming in Windows 8.
Port perfect
Port
perfect
With its USB ports, SD card reader and
Ethernet connection, the Samsung doesn't have the crippling lack of
accessibility that afflicts many an Ultrabook.
Tech specs
·
Display: 13.3in; 1366x768
·
CPU: Intel Core i5 2467M @ 1.6GHz
·
Graphics: Intel HD 3000
·
RAM: 4GB
·
Storage: 500GB HDD
·
Connectivity: VGA; HDMI; 3.5mm socket; USB 2.0
(x2); Ethernet; Wi-Fi; USB 3.0 (x1); SD reader
·
Dimension (W x H x D): 315 x 18 x 219 mm
·
Weight: 1.3 kg
Pros
·
Budget price
·
Connections
Cons
·
Low-resolution screen
·
Plastic build
·
Lacklustre styling
·
No SSD
Verdict
·
Ratings: 3/5
·
A budget Ultrabook that's not much of a bargain.
Save up for a more attractive rival
