Dell XPS 15z: Sincerely Flattering
by Jarred Walton on September 2, 2011 1:30 AM ESTDell XPS 15z Battery Life: Up to 7.5 Hours
It’s interesting to look at battery life for what should otherwise be similar laptops, as the results aren’t always what you’d expect. Consider NVIDIA’s Optimus Technology, which allows the discrete GPU to complete shut off when it’s not in use. Given that the dGPU isn’t using any power in such laptops, in theory we should see consistent relative battery life across all Sandy Bridge (or Second-Generation Core i-series if you prefer the official name) laptops—with dual-core offerings doing somewhat better than quad-core laptops. A look at the results in Mobile Bench however proves that this doesn’t always happen.
ASUS’ K53E uses an i5-2520M and manages 6.43 min/Wh in the Internet test, but the Toshiba M645 only gets 5.23 min/Wh. On the quad-core side of things, the initial Sandy Bridge test laptop got 5.86 min/Wh—a mark yet to be equaled by any shipping SNB quad-core laptops! Alienware’s M14x gets 5.02 min/Wh in the same test while the Dell XPS 15 L502x only scores 4.73 min/Wh (or 4.8 min/Wh with a larger 90Wh battery). There’s certainly variance among the laptops, more than we’d attribute to LCD size or other factors. The question then is where the XPS 15z places, and thankfully it does much better than the XPS 15.
Dell’s XPS 15z not only beats the XPS 15, but it also leads most other Optimus enabled SNB laptops that we’ve tested. The ASUS K53E still wins out for dual-core SNB laptops (it’s not shown in the above charts, but you can see the comparison in Bench), but the only other SNB system to match/exceed the 15z is the Alienware M11x R3—a smaller laptop with a ULV processor. Idle battery life is over 7.5 hours, and if you want to drop the LCD below 100 nits (we tested at 33% brightness), you could probably hit eight hours. For more reasonable use cases, Internet browsing battery life is still an impressive 6+ hours, and H.264 playback from the HDD lasts over four hours.
In terms of modern laptops (e.g. excluding Atom netbooks and older CULV offerings), the only laptops that get better relative battery life than the XPS 15z are equipped with Brazos or Llano, or the already mentioned ASUS K53E and Alienware M11x R3. That puts the 15z in good company as far as operating off the mains is concerned. Of course, if we want to bring OS X into the picture, you’ll still have a hard time matching the 9+ hours the MBP13/15 can reach, but run Windows 7 on a MacBook and you’ll get substantially worse battery life. Unless you want/need more than six hours unplugged time, the XPS 15z should have you covered—at least until your battery starts wearing out and you have to pry open the chassis.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
76 Comments
View All Comments
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.