Dell XPS 15z: Sincerely Flattering
by Jarred Walton on September 2, 2011 1:30 AM ESTDell XPS 15z: A Good or Great Artist?
You can call the XPS 15z whatever you want. Is it a cheap knockoff of the MacBook Pro 15? Yes, but that’s just it: it’s a lot less expensive for a similar experience. The MacBook Pro 15 still wins out on build quality, and it packs a quad-core CPU. For the price, however, the XPS 15z is still a very nice laptop—and I know quite a few people that have already purchased the 15z for their own use. If good artists copy and great artists steal, what do you call an “artist” that is only moderately successful at copying but throws in enough unique twists to create an interesting work of art? Because that’s what Dell has done with the 15z.
There are a few areas of concern, like the rather thin and flexible aluminum casing and the relatively high temperatures under load. Upgrading the hard drive and/or memory is also rather difficult and you run the risk of damaging the casing/trim in the process (note: see below for an update on this). The 1080p LCD fails to live up to the standard established by the XPS 15, but it’s still better than most consumer laptop LCDs. Sound quality and the keyboard layout are also a step back from the XPS 15 in my opinion, but they’re still adequate. Balanced against the concerns we have a much sleeker form factor and better battery life.
Update, 1/18/2012: In case anyone still reads this, I have to really stress that over the past four months, the build quality of the 15z has really started to bother me. It has been my laptop of choice during that time, but it's not without issues. The chrome trim around the palm rest has come loose on two corners, and one corner actually got ripped up/bent when it brushed against my backpack at CES 2012. I think some of the issues were exacerbated by opening up the laptop and upgrading to an SSD (and taking pictures), but really, I can't stress enough how it feels like Dell cut a few corners and the result is a laptop that doesn't hold up as well as I'd like over the long haul. To make matters worse, my LCD recently cracked while I was typing on the laptop--like, I was literally looking at the LCD when the fracture appeared. That may have just been random bad luck, or the aftereffects of the stress of CES, but when the inevitable Ivy Bridge update of the 15z comes out, you can bet I'm going to pound on it a little more.
Really, that pretty much defines the type of user that should be looking at the 15z: it’s for people that value mobility over raw performance. It’s fast enough for any typical SOHO task, and it can handle moderate gaming. It’s also easy on the eyes and it comes priced aggressively. If you’re the type of user who drops their laptop on occasion or simply throws it in a bag without much concern for being careful…well, you’re careless and you shouldn’t be handling sensitive electronics devices! For those that treat their laptop like a $1000+ piece of equipment that could break if dropped, though, the 15z is a great system. I’d like to see a more robust cooling solution and thicker aluminum, which would address the build quality and heat concerns, but even in the present form the 15z is very good.
I’m hesitant to hand out any awards here, since the Mac crowd is almost sure to bring out their pitchforks, but even if the 15z’s design borrows heavily from the MacBook Pro, I don’t consider such things as appearance to be worthy of patents. Every laptop out there has a display, keyboard, speakers, etc. and if you can cram all of those things into a thinner and lighter chassis without running into severe problems, 
great. (That's such a nice idea that Intel has even created the Ultrabook category of laptops, so we'll see a lot more thin laptops in the coming months.)
The Dell XPS 15z does exactly that, and for a consumer laptop it’s still better than 95% of the other offerings—certainly nothing in its price range can touch it in terms of overall experience. For getting all of those things right, I’m giving the XPS 15z our Bronze Editors’ Choice award—the heat, build quality, and step back on the LCD and speakers are enough to keep it from the Silver and Gold.
Credit to Apple for creating some very nice laptops with their MacBook Pro line, but I don’t care for OS X (just ask Anand about CES 2011 where he watched me use his Mac for about five minutes and was cracking up), and I’m certainly not willing to fork over $2000+ for the type of configuration I’d like. In fact, I wouldn’t even want to shell out $1500 for a configuration like this review unit. I’d be more than happy with the base model XPS 15z, as long as I get the 1080p display upgrade. The i5-2410M might also help keep temperatures a bit lower, and with pricing starting at under $1100, you can grab exactly that.
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ptuttle - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
The problem was even when i was using a mouse with it, it would still do the same thing while i was typing. I don't beleive it was from brushing up against the touchpad either. When i would be typing the cursor would move around almost like it was from the vibration. Dell finally admitted that it was a defect in the system so they know what the problem is, they just haven't fixed it.ptuttle - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
I will admit that performance wise the system was very nice, my main complaint was the touchpad. I mainly used it for business and while on a business trip i would play some games on it while stuck in a hotel room. I played some league of legends on it and got 60fps in medium settings. Rift would play in Medium/High settings at 30-40fps. So performance is nice they just need to fix some of the issues such as the touchpad.tipoo - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
Its nice that you included the decibel reading for this laptop, I've wanted to know that in a few laptop reviews, thanks. It would be nice to have some reference points though, for instance you said the MBP gets louder at load but how loud is that? Did you test it with the decibel meter? And which is quieter during basic tasks like web browsing?JarredWalton - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
I don't have dB results from the MBP, at least not for the same environment and equipment. I've heard the MPB15 in person under load, though, and it's pretty darn loud subjectively. At low loads, I think I hear the spinning HDD as much as the fan. 31dB is pretty close to the limit of my SPL meter, as well as my environment.tipoo - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
What about sound during mainstream tasks like web browsing, youtube, etc? My Dell is two years old and the fan becomes audible just with those tasks. In my experience with modern MBP's, during those things they are barely audible. I'd like to know how a more modern Dell system competes.darwinosx - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
I don't know why you are so obsessed with comparing this to a MacBook Pro but the fact is many of us want nothing to do with Windows.You also say nothing about service and support and Apple blows Dell away here.
araczynski - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
but personally i find the speaker grill/mess by itself just completely making the thing look ugly. the rounded keys don't help, nor does the smaller keyboard. but hey, at least they got the body looking decent.bji - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
I guess you're the editor so you can choose what you want to give an award to, but I didn't see a single thing about this laptop that definitively puts it above any of the other similarly spec'd laptops you have reviewed recently. And the keyboard on this Dell is the most laughable one I have seen on any computer in quite a long time. That alone would send this laptop to the bottom of the pile in my book.Also the styling is butt ugly. There is no creativity or, well, style. Just a generic looking shell and some ugly rectangular speaker grills and fan grills placed in conspicuous locations.
Others in this forum have mentioned poor Dell support; I can't speak to that, but I don't think that a laptop with a history of poor support should get an editor's choice award.
Glossy screen, with only one resolution upgrade option? How is this better than other laptops with a much better choice of screen resolutions + matte options? Answer, it is not.
Can you please explain why you decided to pull out the editor's choice award for this model as opposed to the other laptops you have reviewed lately? It looks very arbitrary, and with so much going against this crappy Dell laptop, really leaves one wondering what is going on.
JarredWalton - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
Because ultimately, out of the dozens of laptops I've looked at in the past six months, I really enjoyed using the XPS 15z more than a lot of the others. Clevo? No thanks! Toshiba, Acer, MSI, ASUS... they all have areas I'm not happy about. Even if the design is similar to the MBP, that doesn't make it bad. It's a "poor man's MBP", and that's exactly what a lot of people would like to get. Good screen, good battery life, comfortable to use for every day tasks, and fast enough for anything beyond high quality gaming and serious number crunching. This is a laptop I'd like to hold onto and use as my "work laptop" if I could -- and I wouldn't say that about 90% of the laptops I test.bji - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
Sorry to have to hound on this topic, but can you give some more specifics?The charts show that the Dell is middle-of-the-pack in performance; so that's not an advantage to the Dell. The Dell screen does seem to be good but the Clevo screen you reviewed recently was as good. In the article you lamented the thinness and flexiness of some of the enclosure and that would seem to be contrary to the position that the laptop is more pleasurable to use than others.
Honestly, reading between the lines it really feels like you really just like the Macbook styling and design and are giving the Dell an editor's choice because it's "kind of like a Macbook".
I believe you when you say that you like using the laptop more than 90% of others you have tested, and having myself bought a Clevo recently purely because of the specs and price, and then selling it at a loss two months later because it was just so unpleasant to use, I absolutely understand the value of that intangible quality of a laptop that makes it pleasurable to use. No matter how great a laptop performs or how good its specs are, if it's unenjoyable to use, it will sit on the shelf with other options taking preference wherever possible (I found myself constantly pulling out my 6 year old Panasonic Toughbook Y2 because I just couldn't stand to use the Clevo, and that convinced me that I needed to get rid of that Clevo ASAP, which I did).
It feels like you've given the Dell an editor's choice based on personal preference, not a more objective conclusion based on the merits of the laptop itself. If someone was not enamored with Macbook design above all else, would they still prefer the Dell over another offering? Is there something about the Dell that makes it better than other PC laptops? If you had never seen a Macbook before and you were comparing this Dell to other PC laptops, would you still conclude that the Dell is better?
I have nothing against Apple, or against PC laptops either; I'm not saying these things because I think that there is something inherently inferior (or superior) about a laptop that takes its styling cues from Apple. I just wonder what exactly there is about this Dell that earns it an editor's choice when I can't see anything in pictures or in the review that makes it obviously better than other PC laptops.
BTW, the Samsung 7 series posted about recently really looks like a *much* better effort at imitating the Apple look and feel. I hope you get an opportunity to review one of those soon.