Dell XPS 13: A Different Kind of Ultrabook
by Dustin Sklavos on March 13, 2012 9:00 AM ESTSystem Performance
While Dell is able to differentiate the XPS 13 substantially in terms of its external design, the internals are still largely governed by the requirements of the ultrabook class. The XPS 13 benefits greatly from the Samsung 830 SSD, but we're still dealing with a Sandy Bridge ultra-low-voltage i7 and the accompanying HD 3000 graphics. If you want a better idea of how these graphics will perform, you can check out our Sony Vaio Z2 review as that notebook's HD 3000 should be comparable.
Our PCMark 7 results are mostly predictable, but the takeaway should really be that the Samsung 830 SSD is one of the best SSD solutions we've seen in an ultrabook thus far, even besting Sony's unusual RAID 0 configuration in the Vaio Z2. That lines up largely with conventional wisdom on desktop builds: a single 256GB SSD is generally preferable to a pair of 128GB SSDs in a striped RAID.
Unfortunately, you could argue the XPS 13 is also hitting some thermal limits as its application performance is a bit behind the curve. While the overall design of the XPS 13 is attractive, the cooling system causes the tiny fan to run at full bore just to keep temperatures manageable, and without that thermal overhead the chip has a harder time hitting and sustaining those high turbo clocks.
Our 3DMark results corroborate our other findings: where ultrabooks are concerned, the XPS 13 continues to be slightly behind the curve.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
85 Comments
View All Comments
snuuggles - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
I'm confused, is the intel cpu $500 more than the equivalent AMD cpu? I agree that the price is high, but I doubt the cpu price is the only thing pushing it.JarredWalton - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
Look at prices on 256GB SSDs and you'll find a major culprit for the price hike.silverblue - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
Agreed. It's a little unfair to lay the blame squarely at the feet of the i7. Besides, Trinity will be very hard pressed to have clocks at that level with a discrete-class GPU and still only fit in its purported 17W envelope.Beenthere - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
When Trinity arrives and delivers the goods people will just laugh at the Ultrabook and the absurd pricing and lack of performance.fic2 - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
Is that an echo from Bulldozer I hear?KitsuneKnight - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
I doubt remember the Bulldozer fans sounding so hilarious...tecknurd - Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - link
Let us see the i3 processor performs better than any A8 processor that AMD has to offer. Sure Intel graphics suck, but what kinds of people are going to use this notebook. Mainly people that are casual users and not gamers. Intel graphics is overwhelming plenty for casual users. The i7 processor is high performance processor, so Intel is still better when Trinity comes out. The cost is related to the SSD, so any AMD system will cost the same. Trinity have to be at least 30% faster or even better 50% better because the highest model of the first generation Bulldozer is just as fast as an Athlon II. Intel's Sandy Bridge i-series processors a much faster than Athlon II and Phenom II processors, so AMD has a lot of work they need to do to catch up. Really AMD have to introduce the third generation of Bulldozer to equal the performance of Sandy Bridge. When that happens Intel has already introduced Haswell. Say all you want but Trinity will not beat Intel's offering even you troll hard enough. It just not going to happen. AMD's arrogance is getting in their way of making highly competitive processors.Autisticgramma - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
Its a pc with Aesthetics. Otherwise known as a wannabe apple. The reason it sucks so much is, what dell is attempting to produce is a product with apple's margin, via apples looks. Again no dice. I'd be happy if Dell stuck with what made it the behemoth it is. Ugly office hardware that works. There's a reason office PC's look like crap. So you don't stea - I mean 'misplace' them.What ever happened to computer parts on anandtech? I mean tablets and phones, share parts with computers. If I want a real part review sadly I must visit another site these days. I mean for an apples to apples comparison. "Today were testing the Samsung Galaxy S II against the nVidia 580, in direct x 11 applications...."
(Hyperbole may have been used to convey the feeling of disappointment with the declining quality of my favorite site.)
-Gramma
Sabresiberian - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
Anandtech runs "computer parts" articles all the time.They have more editors than they used to, so there is more room for other types of hardware.
Of course, I don't expect you to understand that even after it's pointed out, because the first part of your post demonstrates that you "wannabe" a person who can think.
;)
tipoo - Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - link
"Its a pc with Aesthetics. Otherwise known as a wannabe apple. "What? There are plenty of "wannabe" Apple products out there, but you're only criteria is good aesthetics? That makes no sense. This looks like a good original design to me, ventilation aside.