In early 2011, the company introduced a medium-format premium Dell laptop, Dell XPS 15 with a rather distinctive design. Six months later it was released, “refined” modification Dell XPS 15z, which easily discernible features of its main competitor, but the story of 15-inch XPS has not ended. In the middle of this 2012, the company updated the hardware platform, and radically changed the design of its masthead, but quite unexpectedly decided not to change its name. The official website of novelty called its New XPS 15.
Design
Laptop New Dell XPS 15 comes in a decorated gift box only photo of black cardboard. Two small boxes under the socket has a standard laptop power supply, and an envelope with instructions for use. Additional accessories, such as a carrying case or adapter, this laptop does not put a premium regardless of status.
Display unit is machined from solid aluminium bar, with its exterior is decorated with mirror logo and interior sidewalls treated as a bevel. 15-inch matrix protected by the safety glass Gorilla Glass, framed using perimeter dust rubber “skirt.”
New Dell XPS 15 comes with a working panel which is made of magnesium alloy with a plastic soft-touch coating, and the bottom covered with a silicone pad. The notebook is equipped with a non-removable battery. Here you can find only two rows of slits for multimedia speakers and a cooling system, and a metal plate that hides inside information and license sticker complete OS.
Back face of Dell XPS 15 is empty; the front is available only indicator of activity in the form of thin white risks. On the right side wall taken out a couple of audio ports, Kensington lock hole, the card reader slot and optical drive. On the left side there are three consecutive ports USB 3.0, two video output – mini DisplayPort and HDMI, as well as a folding AC plug RJ45 jack and charger.
As we mentioned, the operating panel is made of magnesium alloy, finished with a black plastic softtach. In this part of the lateral faces of the aluminium silver color stands with contrasting trim, diluting the dark interior surfaces. The main panel contains only the keyboard, touchpad and power button. The special features of the layout of the unit should include ample free area on the right and left of the keyboard.
Keyboard of New Dell XPS 15 is island type without a dedicated number pad is equipped with a light and protected from moisture. The surface of the character keys ergonomically concave tactile characteristics matched well, standard mode does not require getting used to, in the end to use the keyboard is very convenient.
Large glass touchpad perfectly glides under your fingers in New Dell XPS 15. As a result, in terms of design and ergonomics claims for New Dell XPS 15, laptops have pretty and at the same time comfortable.
Screen
Laptop New Dell XPS 15 is equipped with a TN-matrix with a pretty decent for this technology, viewing angles and a warm color scheme. With 15.6-inch diagonal Full HD screen has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, the brightness can be adjusted from 10 to 220 cd/m2 in the range of 15 shades.
Glossy protective glass Gorilla Glass noticeable, glare when failing position relative to the light sources, the maximum angle of the display is 140 degrees.
Functionality
Laptop New Dell XPS 15 is equipped with a processor Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors and is equipped with the third generation of the hybrid graphics-based integrated core Intel HD Graphics 4000 and discrete solutions from NVIDIA. As a data warehouse can be used as a normal hard disk and faster SSD up to 512 GB. The maximum possible amount of memory is 16 GB.
New Dell XPS 15 comes with many configuration and one of which is equipped with a processor Intel Core i5-3210M, discrete graphics, NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M (1GB), 6 GB of RAM and hard drive to 500 GB. In this configuration the notebook scored 3400 points in the PCmark7, 1800 points in 3Dmark11 and 5.9 points in the performance index Windows.
Battery life of New Dell XPS 15 is supported by an internal battery capacity of 65 Wh and able to give backup for exactly 2hours in the maximum load and 5 hours and 15 minutes in the emulation mode of reading.
Operation
In first, look New Dell XPS 15 seems great and feel body materials – brushed aluminium, magnesium alloy, as well as silicone and softtach-lining. If you want, in the exterior of the laptop you can find traces of the secondary, but it is unlikely to be considered a serious fault. Backlit keyboard and touchpad perfectly tuned to work with them comfortably.
Pleased and screen, though it is not IPS, but the qualitative matrix, protective glass and Full HD resolution of points added to it when compared to the competition. The negative moments of New Dell XPS 15 can refer to solid weight notebook, the empty space on the sides of the keyboard and a rather dense arrangement left sidewall.
Results
As a result, New Dell XPS 15 is a medium format notebook premium, made in a stylish aluminium casing and equipped with current hardware platform. Good choice as a productive predominantly desktop solution with strongly expressed image component.
Pros:
+ Aluminium case with a partially finished practical plastic
+ Enough high-quality display with Full HD resolution and Gorilla Glass protection
+ Platform performance, hybrid graphics
+ Waterproof backlit keyboard with ergonomics
Cons:
– Dense arrangement connectors on the left side housing
This was all regarding the New Dell XPS 15 notebook and its review.
