Dell XPS 15z: Sincerely Flattering
by Jarred Walton on September 2, 2011 1:30 AM ESTDell XPS 15z General Performance
Given the components, there aren’t many surprises in the performance metrics. The combination of i7-2620M CPU and GT 525M GPU delivers a solid showing. Here’s how things break down, for those that like charts. We’ve highlighted the 15z in bright green, the XPS 15 in black, an AMD A8-3500M in red, and the Toshiba L775D A6-3400M in orange. We’ve also included some results with the XPS 15z running alternate modes in dark green (e.g. using the IGP for PCMark 7 or testing at 1080p at medium details in the games).
Starting with PCMark 7, the 15z places about where you’d expect, though it’s interesting to note once again how Intel’s HD 3000—and more importantly Quick Sync—boost performance in several areas to result in a 15% increase in overall performance. NVIDIA’s latest drivers appear to better recognize when to defer to the HD 3000, but we forced all of the tests to run on the GT 525M or the HD 3000 for the above results. As expected, the dual-core CPU generally finishes behind quad-core offerings, and anything with an SSD walks away with the performance crown. We’ll see the SSD factor once more in PCMark Vantage below, while the other benchmarks are CPU-centric.
Interestingly enough, PCMark Vantage actually puts the 15z ahead of several other systems with quad-core CPUs. Either the test doesn’t scale with more threads as well as the latest iteration, or some driver updates are helping the 15z to surpass the competition—or perhaps a little of both. The single-threaded Cinebench result also confirms that the 2620M is a very fast CPU for lightly threaded workloads, while the remaining multi-threaded tests let the quad-core Sandy Bridge laptops spread their wings.
Wrapping up with some synthetic graphics tests, the GT 525M generally comes in just slightly behind the GT 540M but ahead of Llano’s HD 6620G and HD 6520G. AMD’s Radeon HD 6630M, incidentally, tends to offer slightly better performance than the GT 540M, at least when there’s enough CPU performance backing it. We’ll have a closer look at an Intel CPU with the HD 6630M in an upcoming review. So far, there aren’t any surprises—unless you consider the fact that the GT 540M is barely any faster than the GT 525M to be a revelation?
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JarredWalton - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
The thinness of the casing is in comparison to the MBP. The MBP feels very solid and doesn't flex, but the covers on the 15z will. However, the covers on the vast majority of covers on notebooks flex -- some more, and some less. The 15z may not be MBP build quality, but it's actually better than a lot of laptops, including the XPS 15. Heck, just the fact that it *has* aluminum covers makes it a big step up from 95% of consumer laptops.Would I prefer the Clevo LCD (B156HW01 v4)? Yes, most definitely. If given the choice between this lesser LCD and its glossy finish but with the 15z chassis, or a Clevo chassis with the better screen and worse keyboard, I'll take the 15z.
Unfortunately, I really can't compare a laptop with everything else out there, especially stuff I haven't had a chance to test in person. There are a LOT of upcoming Ultrabooks that look particularly interesting. Of course, if they ship with crappy LCDs like so many other laptops, I'd be back to the 15z as a good middle ground.
That's pretty much it: the XPS 15z is a good middle-of-the-road laptop in every way. It's not the best built, it's not the fastest, it doesn't have the longest battery life, it's not the coolest running, and it's not the best display. However, it does rank better than average and even good/great in every one of those areas. The whole is often more than the sum of the individual parts, and when I use a laptop, I'm mostly interested in portability. I want something with a decent screen, a keyboard I can type on--and backlighting is a plus--it needs decent battery life (at least five hours for light use), and I don't want it to run loud and/or hot for general use. There are plenty of laptops that provide most of those things, but so many skimp on the display in particular.
Iketh - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
never will i purchase a 15" laptop with a keyboard like that... even bottom-line acers have great keyboards nowadays... what the hell is that mess???JarredWalton - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
A MacBook Pro keyboard layout with slightly different key shape? I actually find typing on it quite comfortable to be honest. The missing dedicated Home/End/PgUp/PgDn is unfortunate, but that's my biggest gripe.robco - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
This thing is a definite rip-off of the MBP, but not the current one. It's more like the original MBP (which in turn looked a lot like the Al PowerBook) that Apple introduced about five years ago. Not quite as thin, but only available with dual-core chips and slower graphics. Guess Dell can copy the exterior, but the actual design and engineering are beyond them. But I suppose that's the point here and why it gets an award - it looks just enough like an Apple product but it's cheaper. It may not perform as well or be as durable, but for most people it's probably close enough.As for the OS, that's a personal preference. I'd be the first to say that OS X is far from a great gaming OS. Then again, if you're looking for a gaming machine, a laptop really isn't a good idea either...
Death666Angel - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
2nd page, 4th paragraph:"The 15z also comes with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM without fleecing you, something Apple is wont to do."
I'm not a native speaker, but last part is just plain weird. Typo? Copy and paste gone wrong? :D
Otherwise, good review. I'm personally not going to bother with 15" anymore. Had a Samsung R560 (Core2Duo, 4GB RAM, 768p resolution, ~4 hours of surfing) which my wife now uses as a couch laptop for Facebook. But I need a laptop that's mobile, I don't need much computing power on the go. I currently have a 11.6" Acer Travelmate which works just fine, especially for its price.
If that gets replaced in the future, it'll likely be either a low-power AMD (E-350 style) or a mid-power IB/Haswell, depending on price and other accessories. I'd also be willing to upgrade to 13" if the resolution is at least 1600x900 | 1680x1050.
bji - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
"is wont to do" is a seldom-used and I agree, somewhat awkward English phrase.It has nothing to do with the word "won't" which is a contraction of "will not".
"wont to do" means "has a tendency to do", and further has the connotation that the thing that they have a tendency to do, they do on purpose, and not by accident.
Death666Angel - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
Thanks for that lesson :D and mea culpa for assuming a typo before taking a look at the online dictionary. But that word probably won't make it into my active vocabulary.Death666Angel - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
And one last thing: Thanks for including international measurement units in the table on the first page. I have noticed that I complain when they aren't there, but I never say thanks when they are. So here's my thanks!colonelclaw - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
Why does Apple seem to be the only company remotely interested in actually designing computers? Of course, they do a great job, but the world's a large place and there just has to be other talented designers, so why does everyone else give up and copy everything Apple does. God, it pisses me off, the laziness in the computer industry is just incredibly frustrating.heinsj24 - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
It seems that every business class laptop has the same design (portable brick), except for Lenovo (portable wedge).A business notebook is a business notebook is a business notebook. Not much room for change/innovation. The only market where a notebook manufacturer can show off it's creativity is in the consumer market.
There are some good designs from everyone. They just tend to fail in execution; either with build materials, attention to build quality, or choice of components - things Apple is known for succeeding at. Even Dell, once had the XPS 1210, which was a design unlike any other of their machines at the time.