Dell XPS 13: A Different Kind of Ultrabook
by Dustin Sklavos on March 13, 2012 9:00 AM ESTConclusion: Excellent Starting Point
Dell's first entry into the ultrabook market is a patient and smart one. They've arrived at the party a bit later than the competition, but they're fashionably late: instead of a design that just apes the Apple MacBook Air, Dell has taken care to produce something unique to them with the XPS 13.
Aesthetics are almost always a matter of taste, but I continue to personally prefer the looks of the XPS 13 to the other ultrabooks on the market barring the hot pink Zenbook ASUS produces. The materials Dell has chosen to use in the construction of the XPS 13 are notable not just for their quality on their own, but for the lack of chintzy or cheap materials employed. The two-toned black and silver design is also a distinctive one; where other vendors are emphasizing silver and aluminum tones (and giving away their inspiration), Dell has produced an ultrabook that stands out in the right ways.
That's why it's unfortunate that despite the clear attention paid to practicality in the design of the XPS 13, it's also practicality that often needlessly suffers. The keyboard is par for the course for ultrabooks and I'm not sure how much refinement Dell could offer there, but unified touchpads continue to be problematic on PCs and the XPS 13 is no exception. Despite the extended period of time I had to use the XPS 13, I still wasn't ever able to totally adapt to it. I'll also readily admit that I'm personally annoyed by the lack of an integrated card reader; your mileage may vary and certainly it seems like a nitpick, but this is something that I get a tremendous amount of use out of in my aging ThinkPad X100e.
Most of those problems are probably things that the end user will adapt to without too much difficulty, but the XPS 13's thermal solution is a trickier issue. If you're just using the XPS 13 to do word processing or surf the internet, and you use it primarily on flat surfaces, you're not likely to have many issues with it. While the fan can be irritating, the carbon fiber shell ensures the ultrabook never gets uncomfortably hot to the touch. Unfortunately, venting the bottom instead of the sides or back feels like it was the wrong decision, and the ultrabook sometimes has trouble enjoying the benefits of Intel's Turbo Core the way many of its kin do.
None of the issues with the XPS 13 are fundamental flaws or uncorrectable. This is a good product at a reasonable price point that basically just needs a refresh. If you're in the market for an ultrabook I wouldn't dissuade you from going with the XPS 13, but I might advise you to really examine how you're going to use it and do some shopping around first. That's just good advice for any computer purchase, but it's definitely relevant here.
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Taft12 - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
and a Core i7 CPU.Sabresiberian - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
I really don't put much stock in the opinion of someone who posts like this. The only "steaming pile" I smell here is Shadowmaster's flame.Can we have the option of voting posts down? Not something connected to Facebook, just for this site.
bji - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
What, you don't like his opinion and you want to suppress it? Lame.Sabresiberian - Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - link
What I want is for people to treat each other civilly, have some sense of decency and not call companies "steaming piles". What I want is for people that post like this to get that it's not cool, all it does is irritate people and create a bad impression.If he doesn't like Dell or one of their products, by all means post the reasons he doesn't like them, but keep the name-calling out of it, please. I wouldn't down-vote anyone for disagreeing with me, but I would anyone for making a stupid, foul, or pointless post. (Stupid usually means, to me, a post showing that the person didn't even bother to read the article.)
The fact is, most people that talk like that don't even have any personal experience with the company they are bad-mouthing. They are just flapping their gums.
Also, I said nothing about hiding posts that have a high negative vote count. Tomshardware does that, and I don't like it. To me, voting a post down is about telling the person his post was unacceptable, please do better next time, not about hiding it from anyone - that's censorship, and that I don't go for.
;)
kevith - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
I must say, that if I were to work on a 13" computer, with a screen-res of 1920x1080, I would not be able to see or read anything at all.It was better they redefined the ultra-book dogme to include a larger chassis carrying a 15" screen instead.
Then we could have ful HD AND be able to actually see something as well.
LOL__Wut__Axel - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
I don't understand how mid-40s idle and low 80s are unacceptable for Sandy Bridge notebook CPUs. Those numbers seem like what you'd expect; the problem with the XPS 13 is that due to the bad ventilation the chassis gets hot and the fan gets loud.I have an SB Core i5 laptop and even under the most stressful test, IBT, it turbos to the max 2.7GHz on all threads even with a temp. in the low 80s. The difference is it has good ventilation and doesn't get loud or hot.
smithme08 - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
I agree that its a very valid point to mention that many/most other ultrabooks have a memory card reader, while this model does not, however I would argue the level of importance attached to having one in general.Yes, cameras and phones still use these cards, however practically all of them ALSO support attachment via USB. Personally (and tastes may vary), I'd much rather plug in a USB cable than open up the device and remove the memory card. That does mean you have to carry a cable, which might be a slight negative to some. However, removing the card reader and ADDING one or two more USB ports would seem to serve people better in general considering the wide variety of USB devices out there.
That said, this machine does NOT add any additional ports so it seems like they went with the worst of all possible scenarios and that's a shame :(
I'd like to do a friendly informal poll :) Maybe I'm seriously in the minority. How many people would prefer additional USB ports versus a memory card reader, and how many would prefer the reader?
AmdInside - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
Frankly the lack of SD card reader doesn't bother me. My DSLR cameras use CF cards and that is what I prefer since it is a bit harder to lose/drop CF cards than SD cards. Since no laptop includes CF card reader, I am used to having to carry with me a CF card reader.dagamer34 - Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - link
Plus, unless that CF card reader is hooked up to USB 3.0, it's speed is wasted.Beenthere - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
Weight is good. CPU and graphics suck. Price is absurd @ $999 let alone insane at $1500.This crap is why AMD Trinity is going to kill Intel with $500 ultrathins with more performance for hundreds less.