Dell XPS 14z: Thoroughly Reviewed
by Jarred Walton on October 24, 2011 9:00 AM ESTPerformance Rundown
Given the lack of discrete graphics in our test sample, we’re going to skip any gaming benchmarks for now. We hope to have the 14z with GeForce GT 520M in for testing in the near future, and we’ll revisit the topic of graphics performance then, but for now we’ll simply refer to the ASUS K53E review as a look at how HD 3000 handles gaming. The i5-2430M GPU is clocked slightly lower than the i5-2520M, but either way you’re going to want to stick with low detail settings for most titles. Application performance is also pretty much known; the i5-2430M should outperform the i5-2410M by a small margin, but without an SSD general performance won’t be as snappy as something like the ASUS UX21.
There’s not much to point out here that we haven’t covered numerous times already. The XPS 14z performs right where you’d expect, given the components. An SSD in place of the HDD would certainly boost the PCMark scores, but otherwise general performance is fine. 3DMark gives us a quick look at what we can expect from the HD 3000 graphics, and the scores are slightly lower than the higher clocked IGP in the K53E.
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JarredWalton - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
The vast majority of marketing images are retouched at the very least, and I've seen plenty of pre-rendered images over the years. This is not unique to Dell in the slightest. Unless they blatantly falsify the images, I'm not too worried about it. The image on the front page may look matte, but it could be that they have a light box for images (very likely) and the reflection just happens to look more like a matte display.ramvalleru - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
actual screen is like this only. I bought it a day before. screen is k but for the price of 1135$, the screen is not up to the mark when compared with Sony and Dell XPS 15, 15Z. :-(justaviking - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
The FIRST picture IN THE ARTICLE makes it very clear that the screen is glossy. Just look at that reflection... no matte screen there!hybrid2d4x4 - Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - link
I'm with you on that one. I probably shouldn't have bothered reading further since that picture all in itself makes this this laptop about as desirable as a pile of dung. No wonder Dell provided a better pic. Still, that picture on the site home page shouldn't be used at all since it misrepresents the laptop.On an aside, something that baffles me is how the stock MBP escapes the same criticism- the use of glass as a screen surface has got to be the single stupidest idea in the (brief) history of flat-panel displays!
mules - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
I don't worry too much about the screen quality. I, like many laptop users, attach a monitor (and keyboard and mouse).I would have liked to see a 3rd USB port. Often, when on the road, I need a keyboard, mouse and USB drive attached.
I'd be interested if someone made a "laptop" with no keyboard or monitor, and possibly even no battery - this can be used as a portable desktop machine at a significantly lower cost than a laptop.
seanleeforever - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
yes, it is called EEE pc. check it out.name99 - Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - link
Yes. It's called a Mac Mini.Hulk - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
I skipped right to the section on the screen, saw it was garbage and stopped reading.I'm not buying a laptop with a bad or even average screen. Period. I don't care what other good features it has. The screen is a deal breaker.
I want an IPS matte screen!
ThomasA - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
Agreed, 100%. It's insanity to praise the laptop 'looks' , innards & "performance", when the MFG flakes on the main INTERFACE (the screen).ananduser - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
Very few laptops have that, and no the lower spec-ed and higher priced MBP does not.