The Dell Venue 11 Pro 7000 Review
by Brett Howse on April 16, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Dell
- Windows 8.1
- Core M
Battery Life
Battery life is one of the critical elements to any mobile device, especially one such as a tablet. Notebooks can easily be used from desk to desk, but for a tablet, mobility is king. If it was not, you likely would not want a tablet.
The Venue 11 Pro is somewhat different in that it is a tablet first and foremost, but is also offered with a keyboard dock which basically turns it into a laptop. It offers Connected Standby support like other Windows tablets, but on the inside are parts which are more often found in Ultrabooks. For this reason both tablet battery life and laptop battery life was tested.
The Venue 11 Pro comes with an integrated 38 Wh battery. The keyboard dock includes an integrated battery as well which is around 24 Wh, so that combined the total is about 62 Wh of battery capacity.
As always, our devices are standardized to 200 nits of brightness for all battery life tests.
Tablet Battery Life
First off, the Venue 11 Pro needs to be tested as what it is – a tablet. For this we have tested the device with our tablet browsing test, which is less demanding than the one we use on laptops.
Tablet battery life is actually quite good, coming in just under the iPad Air 2 in our Wi-Fi test. It is of course helped by its much larger battery than the average tablet. For example, the iPad Air 2 has a 27.62 Wh battery versus 38 Wh in the Dell. Video playback time is not quite as impressive even though it does have hardware support for the video decode. The hardware and software for video playback on the ARM devices seems to be a bit more tuned. Tablets need to be mobile, so the Venue 11 Pro's larger battery helps it deliver competetive overall battery life.
Laptop Battery Life
When docked to the keyboard accessory, the tablet can be used as a laptop replacement. It is a very small laptop mind you, but it can be used this way if needed.
With Core M, a reasonable resolution, and a relatively big battery, hopes are that this unit will deliver on the battery front. As with our tablets, all battery testing is done at 200 nits to have a consistent performance level for the display, and for the notebook tests, the Dell Venue 11 Pro was docked to the Mobile Keyboard to increase the total battery size to 60 Wh.
The Venue 11 Pro can deliver some pretty amazing battery life, coming in at almost fifteen hours of use. Not too many devices can deliver this on our light test, which consists of just web browsing over Wi-Fi.
With an even larger battery than the Dell XPS 13, the same resolution display, and Core M, the Venue 11 Pro can easily deliver all-day battery life even when put through our heavy test. It is a very impressive result. 2015 seems to be the year of battery life, and the results are very much welcome.
Next, the devices have the overall battery life divided by the battery capacity to give a feel for overall platform efficiency. Here the Venue 11 Pro does very well again, scoring almost at the top. As a system, the Venue 11 Pro is very efficient, and that is backed by a larger than normal battery when docked to the keyboard, which makes for a very mobile device.
Charge Time
Battery life is of course just one side of the mobile equation. The time to charge can also play a big factor especially when travelling. Dell ships the Venue 11 Pro with a 24 watt adapter, which has micro USB in order to charge both the tablet and the keyboard. This is not a huge amount of power, but it does keep the adapter on the small side to make it easier to bring with you.
Just charging the tablet takes 2:49, which is a bit long when compared to a laptop, but a good score when compared to a tablet. It is almost the opposite of what you would expect though, since it has a small battery for a notebook, and a large battery for a tablet. So obviously Dell has made a good compromise here.
Once you add in the keyboard though, the charge times get pretty high. Charging both devices at the same time results in a 5:41 charge time, which is well over what most notebooks will do. The micro USB cable plugs into the tablet, which then charges the keyboard, at least in this scenario. I can understand why Dell has done this, but it does make for a long time to get to 100% charge. If needed, the keyboard can be charged on its own but only with the tablet detached since the charging connector is in the slot where the tablet would normally be.
Charge Rate Tablet Only
Venue 11 Pro Charge Rate with Keyboard Attachment
This graph is (at least to me) very cool. Obviously some thought has gone into how to charge the two batteries, and the priority is on the tablet battery. Once you hit 80% though, the tablet battery would normally taper off until it gets to 100%, but the second battery charges to 80% instead, and then each charges the rest of the way until the device is fully charged. The overall time could go down if both devices could charge at the same time, but that would likely require a lot more circuitry.
The docking station does include a 65 watt charger, so I hoped that this would increase the charge rate and therefore decrease the time to charge, but unfortunately this is not the case.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
92 Comments
View All Comments
xthetenth - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
If by soon you mean years from now sure. Right now the speed comparison has a huge gulf between Core M and everything else in that power range. I really don't get how people manage to keep making predictions this bad. It's probably because they decide before reading about what they're talking about.jjj - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
The Denver core is odd but it's not that far behind is some situations even on 28nm.If they tune it further and goes 14nm things would get a lot better.AMD we have no clue where it lands, Qualcomm's new core got to be faster than A72 and A72 is pretty fast.
Apple even with just a shrink to 14mm wouldn't be that far behind.
So when i said soon i meant soon.
After all Core M has big cores clocked way low, shouldn't be that hard to beat it since the core is likely outside it's optimal range.Someone that would design the core for such a TDP would have a big advantage.
MrSpadge - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
If you're fine with the performance and software collection those cheap ARM SoC's can offer you - fine, but then compare to Silvermont rather than Core M. Having ultra mobily performance and x86 is worth a lot to some people. Let the market decide if it's enough to warrant such a product.nerd1 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Still has IMMENSELY better value than apple's core M product.akdj - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
...? Apple's MacBook? With a phenomenal display, the fastest storage available, 256GB PCIe storage solutions and less than a Kg? Is there a hiDPI computer running Win 8(,1/10) you can point to that is achieving what Apple has with its MacBook (again, brand new, the R&D costs recovered and you've got quick price breaks with a phenomenal operating system that works seamlessly to aggregate and integrate with your mobile devices, and continuity with Handoff ...and you can run Windows!). The trackpad, the new keyboard. ARS isn't known to be an Apple fans paradise but it's a great review, phenomenal display, ultra light (he compares with a 11" MBA), fast as hell and incredible battery life. Nice to leave the Chargers and wires at home. It's a 'second' laptop solution to most and to those as a primary ownership computer, I'm sure they're not rendering Pro-Res from an HDV codec and transcoding video for 'speed'. They're checking Facebook, Twitter, email and surfing. Word processing and media enjoyment. For these tasks alone, it's prefect (& able to run 4k @ 30hZ. Not bad) as their solo computer. Makes me laugh as my wife was using the MacBook core 2 duo 2007 @ 2.16GHz/2GB/120GB spinner until two years ago. Bought the MBA for her in 2011 and it's still kicking ass and it's what SHE needs (she's a twenty two year pilot in Alaska me uses iPads and the MBA for flight planning and navigation, a test system (NextGen) with the FAA using three dimensional terrain, weather and traffic information, flight planning and diversion, real time weather and traffic, NFZs or other advisories.The LAST thing she wants at home is a four pound laptop or two pond tablet at home for enjoyment when she's not at work ...me, I run the business side and we concentrate on audio and visual production across the state of Alaska. Until a year ago I was dumping P2 cards off to a 15" PowerBook because of the perfect PCMICA slot, with FCP7, field edits and hacks were easily tackled. Now with less pricey proprietary transfer and encoding we've switched to rMBPs solely in the field and a pair of MacPros at the studio. I need the power to finalize but she's doing all the heavy lifting and safety with MUCH less power but significantly better battery life than the tools I use. I've every intention of buying one when they hit for her. It's a helluva laptop
khanikun - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
Fastest storage available? You do know that most companies just put some random SSD into their tablets, laptops, etc. Usually some cheap value brand to save on costs. Hardly the fastest available storage. If it was, aftermarket SSD companies wouldn't be making bookoo dollars.As for comparison, really. Have you not even seen a Surface Pro 3? The thing spanks the Macbook in performance, all while being a year older. Now there are pros and cons for both, where a user's usage will dictate which is the better purchase for their needs.
The Surface Pro 3 is both thicker and thinner than the Macbook. It's also lighter and heavier than the Macbook. Depends on whether you add in the keyboard.
SP3 is MB share the same battery life, but expect the MB to loose if you bootcamp, cause you know the thing's battery life goes a bit down the drain when it tries to run Windows.
PPI screens are comparable, with the MB a little better. At the same time, the SP3 is a touchscreen and has an awesome stylus.
Performance, SP3 wins that easily, but it also costs more, if you configure it to have the same storage option as the MB.
MB has a port. SP3 has multiple ports for expanding. Including the microSD slot to add more storage.
MB has the better keyboard. Not much contest with the SP3's type cover.
If you're looking for more downright power in a very portable package, the SP3 is the better bet over the MB.
nathanddrews - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
Great looking tablet.Sorry if I missed it, but what sort of external display support exists (in general, but specifically when using the dock)? 4K at 30Hz or 60Hz?
Seeing as how I just bought a USB 3.0 to GbE adapter for $10 for my tablet last month, the 10/100 does seem like a shortcoming.
rfunaki - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I have a couple of the previous models of this tablet, and use them with the dock and external monitors. I can't spear for 4k, but one of them is outputting to a 2560x1440p monitor, but when using the dock, this limits the overall max output on a 2nd external monitor. To be able to output anything higher than 1080p while also outputting 1440p, I have to connect the 2nd external display to the tablet itself (not the dock). So just an assumption based on this, I would imagine if you output to a 4k external monitor, you may not have the flexibility to also output to a 2nd external monitor, if that's something you were interested in.Also, good review, but just a note that they released a new backwards-compatible dock for this new model that has gigabit Ethernet. I wonder if the new dock also resolves the display output limitations.
rfunaki - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I have a couple of the previous models of this tablet, and use them with the dock and external monitors. I can't spear for 4k, but one of them is outputting to a 2560x1440p monitor, but when using the dock, this limits the overall max output on a 2nd external monitor. To be able to output anything higher than 1080p while also outputting 1440p, I have to connect the 2nd external display to the tablet itself (not the dock). So just an assumption based on this, I would imagine if you output to a 4k external monitor, you may not have the flexibility to also output to a 2nd external monitor, if that's something you were interested in.Also, good review, but just a note that they released a new backwards-compatible dock for this new model that has gigabit Ethernet. I wonder if the new dock also resolves the display output limitations.
lilmoe - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
My God, after all these years, and at that price you'd think that Intel would get the GPU right, especially when you look at the comparative size in the die shot... It gets me frustrated every time I see benchmarks for Core M. What a crappy value proposition.Intel needs to either use Imagination's best offerings and work really hard on good drivers (instead of the crappy previous attempts), or make their best offer and buy NVidia already.
Rumor has it that Samsung is currently making a bid to *buy* AMD. Since Samsung has their own fabs and LOTS of cash to spare on R&D where AMD is currently coming short, it would mean huge trouble for Intel in the not so far future. Buying NVidia would totally make sense if they want to stay competitive.