The Dell XPS 15 came off as a fancy laptop initially, but unfortunately, it scored quite low on its battery life which is merely 5/10. Other than that, its design and service support scored a 7, while its features scored a 9. Its weak battery life is the main flaw that seems to be hitting hard on anyone who is a Dell fan.

Review

The XPS has a great audio with Stellar JBL speakers that have great subwoofers. It also has a large touchpad that has a backlit keyboard. Other than that it also boasts of the Nvidia Optimus graphics. Let’s take a look in detail at its features and design.

Features

• The price of the Dell XPS is set around the same as the Samsung QX, which is approx $849.
• It has a 2.53Ghz Intel Core i5 M460 processor.
• A 4GB, 1,333MHz DDR3 memory capacity.
• It has a strong hard drive of 500GB 7,200rpm.
• It has the Nvidia GeForce GT420M plus Intel GMA HD Nvidia Optimus graphics card.
• A Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit).
• A dimension of 15.0 inches x 10.4 inches and height of 1.3 -1.5 inches.
• The screen size is 15.6 inches which is quite large enough for some good movie viewing.

Design

The XPS is bulky and has a silver body that is made out of metal. It’s thick and flat with a brushed aluminum lid look that makes it seem like a mid level or budget laptop. It has a HDMI port, a Mini DisplayPort, Ethernet port and the power jack. There are two USB 3.0 ports and the laptop may be a bit bulky for being a lap use.

The thick chassis on the laptop has visible flaws on the sides that make it seem like the laptop is not strongly built. However, these physical flaws can be looked over if the performance is up to the mark. The touchpad provided a very comfortable room for use and thankfully the Dell XPS has a keyboard backlit which is quite useful as most laptops tend to forget about them.

The laptop also has a great pair of speakers/subwoofers that gives rich audio experience and therefore proves itself to be a viable home entertainment device. The display which is set to be at a 1,366 x 768 pixels is also good enough for gaming and movie viewing. You also have a webcam that works at 1,600 x 1,200 pixels. HD recording was found to be pretty smooth and the cam functioned exceptionally well with Skype HD and other HD streaming purposes. There is also a noise free mic that makes chatting an enhanced experience.

Conclusion

If you think you can ignore the bulky and clanky design as well as the below expectations battery life then this laptop may be a good home device companion. Afterall, you are getting the whole bundle of HDMI video, speakers audio, USB/SATA, SD card reader data storage, and networking with optional Bluray player at an entry level price of $849.