Dell Xps 13 Usb 3 Port

(Pocket-lint) - It'south indisputable that Dell is going through a pretty tough time of things at the moment. The business firm has suffered massive a massive drop in profits every bit the PC sector continues to refuse, and gets replaced with tablets, phones and other smart devices. Dell has possibly been too focused on PCs, and hasn't managed to compete with Apple in creating a diverse production range.

Arguably, the firm indicated that things were bad when information technology appear that it would delist itself from stock markets NASDAQ and SEHK and buyback shares in a direction and investor buyout. This is just most the biggest news ever to hit the engineering science world, and it's the largest buyout in history.

But what of Dell computers? Well, nosotros recall that they've connected to improve over the last few years. The XPS product line, in particular, has improved greatly and become a solid performer that has designs that are often stunning, and always experience sturdy. Of class, the firm has done this past raising the price of its XPS laptops to the point where they are more expensive than a MacBook Air.

And, when your choice is a Dell or an Apple, we fear many people will hop on the Apple ship, given that the firm notwithstanding has street cred and Dell is seen as a more business organization-focused firm. All the same, these high prices yield some incredible computers, and the Dell XPS 13 is notwithstanding 1 of our favourite Ultrabooks.

Our quick take

What at showtime might seem like a gimmick seems to be something of a double-edged sword. In fact, it's not a gimmick, the rotating screen has some very real uses, and fifty-fifty equally a tablet it'southward perfectly usable, if a trivial heavy.

Following on from the other Dell Ultrabooks, the XPS 12 is supremely usable. The keyboard is very pleasant, and we wrote this whole review on it. That makes it better than most tablets, even those with keyboard covers and those with Bluetooth keyboards.

What we liked most was this pin-sharp 1080p screen though. It's brilliant, the viewing angle is a lot better than the 720p generation of XPS laptops - like the original XPS xiii - and it produces a staggering image on-screen that works fantastically for HD video or typing.

While the XPS 12 is expensive, information technology's also a wonderful laptop to use, and the screen rotation means that when you're out and about, on a train, on a plane or working in a cafe in that location'south always a fashion that will piece of work in the space you have. It's a solidly-built laptop and typing on information technology is a pleasure. For united states, this is one of the best uses of Windows eight hardware, and we applaud Dell for getting it correct.

And, if the toll for the i7 is just too steep, then consider the i5 with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, it starts at £999, and is more than powerful enough for most people. For the best value, an extra £150 gets y'all a 256GB SSD and 8GB of ram with the i5.

Dell XPS 12

5 stars - Pocket-lint editors choice

For

Brilliantly built
Great materials and design
Fantastic screen
Enormously powerful
Flexible screen is terrific for flights or watching video

Against

Slightly expensive
Too heavy to use as a tablet for long

Rotating screen

We'll start with the screen, because information technology's the unique feature of these Dell Ultrabooks, and it's the primary reason to consider this machine over an XPS 13. The idea is that yous can catechumen the laptop into a tablet simply past rotating information technology. It's mounted on a mechanism that's like a revolving door, almost, it allows the screen to flip 180 degrees then for the lid to be closed and requite you a Windows 8 tablet.

Frankly, as a tablet information technology'due south likewise heavy to exist much use. It's okay for short periods, but reading with it, or holding it as yous would a low-power Android device, or Apple iPad is non actually practical. But we don't mind that then much, because the system is still useful and ultimately doesn't really bear upon the laptop in any negative style, save a slight increase in the cost.

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What is annoying, is that as before long as you showtime rotating the screen, the built-in hardware keyboard is disabled. This rules out using the screen in different positions while you keep to blazon, while we can see that about people won't want this, it's a conclusion made by Dell that feels quite arbitrary and frustrating. Nosotros'd like to see it as an option to keep the keyboard agile.

Aside from the neat rotating fob, in that location's a LOT to like nigh this screen anyhow. It'south a 1080p panel crammed into 12.5 inches (virtually 176ppi) so you're getting a very high resolution screen hither. You get nice wide viewing angles also although we did find though, is a few degrees of dead on, and you lot loose perhaps a 3rd of the panel brightness. The screen remains brilliant enough to meet though, only information technology's not every bit powerful every bit it would be seen from straight on. This screen is a hundred times better than the one on the XPS 13, which was fairly dismal and washed out at nigh angles.

What struck us constantly while we were using the auto, was how small the text was, merely thank you to the resolution and high-quality panel, it was still incredibly easy to read. Obviously, Windows allows you to increase font sizes where needed, and so if yous detect it too small, it shouldn't exist difficult to tweak it to suit you.

The only trouble nosotros observed with the screen was a matter of some clunky drivers. The issues we saw were the screen would sometimes not be able to tell its orientation, and would fail to rotate. In these situations, endmost the hat and moving the laptop would usually ready information technology. Nosotros are led to believe that this is an event that has been addressed via commuter updates.

Design

In full general, in that location's a lot to like here. The aluminium parts of the body feel solid, and wait great. The chapeau of the laptop is carbon cobweb, every bit is the base, and they both have a tactile, non-slip feel that's just fantastic on a laptop, and gives information technology a feel null else has. Kudos to Dell for not just going for the Apple tree-inspired aluminium box.

You get ii USB 3.0 sockets on the correct of the laptop. There are no 2.0 sockets, which makes sense. A DisplayPort socket means that you won't exist connecting this directly to your HDTV, but that's much the same as about small laptops. DisplayPort is straight compatible with HDMI anyway, so adaptors are not enormously expensive. I is not included though, which we think is a shame.

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On the left, things take a plough for the tablety. At that place'southward a slider switch, which either wakes the machine up from a slumber, or turns it on from off. At that place'south a headphone socket too, and a rotation lock cardinal. It's worth noting likewise, that the drives that transport with the XPS 12 need some work. The auto rotate cardinal is flakey to say the least. We couldn't make it work when the screen was in laptop mode, and it was fussy near doing what we asked.

The island keyboard and trackpad look like to the ones on the XPS thirteen, and they seem to work a piddling better. The keyboard gave united states about no problems at all and was nicer to blazon on, and produced fewer errors than most we've tried recently. The trackpad is good too, and works well with Windows eight, although with the touchscreen we think it volition see a lot less use.

Enough of grunt

Our review sample came with a 256GB SSD with roughly 185GB available to employ as y'all want. There was 8GB of memory installed, which is more enough for all by the very nigh intense video editing or picture processing. Likewise, this machine had the i7 processor running at 2GHz with a turbo boost up to three.1GHz.

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Gaming is unlikely to be a joy, because the XPS 12 uses Intel Integrated Graphics. It's fine for normal stuff, but the hardcore games are still going to desire discrete graphics to go expert operation.

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Aside from graphics, in that location's a PC here that's powerful enough to rival most abode desktops, and information technology'due south portable. The tide appears to be turning for laptops, in a few years they'll probable keep pace with the desktop PC quite nicely.

We besides retrieve it'due south worth mentioning that the speaker placement on this machine is rather good. They are located on either side of the car, only on the main body. This means they're able to produce consistent sound whatever mode you're using the car in. We also found they location was good for holding it as a tablet, and they weren't besides like shooting fish in a barrel to cake. They also sound adept, and take loads of ability.

The perfect Windows eight laptop?

Honestly, nosotros can't call back of a Windows 8 auto that's better suited to the operating system. The fundamental here is the touch interface, which makes very picayune sense on a traditional laptop, because you sort of have to clumsily reach to the screen to operate information technology. Here though, it makes a lot more sense.

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Firstly, you've got the tablet mode, which while non ideal on a laptop this heavy, it does still piece of work for short stints, or when you accept the device on your lap while watching TV. Where it comes into its own though, is when you flip the screen around with the keyboard pointing away from you, and the screen facing you, but at an bending. This gives you an astonishing media interface mode that volition be fantastic on planes. If you similar watching video while you travel, there is no better way to watch video.

READ: Dell XPS 13 review

But add together in a wireless keyboard, and you accept a better typing surface than the built in keyboard - which is good, but withal has the bug you become with a laptop of this kind, like corners excavation in to yous, and no numeric keypad. What you go then, is a sort of all-in-one PC for working at a fixed location and having a more desktop experience, without the congenital in keyboard getting in the way.

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You tin also go for the Yoga mode positioning, where the laptop forms a tent. Nosotros can't come across the advantage of this, simply some might want to utilise information technology in this way.

All of that makes for a really overnice Windows viii experience. It's a much-maligned operating organisation, but once you start to use information technology, it's not difficult to really savour the extra stuff information technology brings. Nosotros can imagine spending a lot of happy time using this laptop every bit a media centre and for things like Netflix, it'southward just superb with their app.

Build quality

With laptops that have a non-standard feature like this laptop does, we always worry nearly how long things volition concluding before going badly wrong. With this machine, the big worry is that the cables carrying the data to the display will get stretched or broken over fourth dimension. We honestly tin can't say if this volition be a problem. Externally, the build quality is amazingly solid. Dell has used quality materials throughout, and it feels similar a million dollars.

The pin seems to take been well-designed too. In that location's no real movement in the frame, and the whole affair is so solid you lot can pick the laptop upwardly with it. Although we doubt y'all're supposed to do this, and would advise you don't. When we first got the laptop out of its box, we just couldn't cease rotating it. The location pins are well designed, and giving it a decent push allows the screen to rotate, simply it's non awkward or difficult to work.

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Everything else feels as solid as y'all'd promise too. There's no real flex in the keyboard, it feels like you lot could really hammer information technology and it would never give in on yous. The trackpad is nicely designed, although we accept to say, it'due south still got some of the problems of Windows laptops, merely that comes down to issues with how impact works on Microsoft's operating systems.

To recap

The 1080p screen makes this the ideal multimedia laptop, and the screen flexibility means that it's ideal for utilize in a load of dissimilar situations. There's more than than enough power here, even for the demanding user, and the screen resolution and quality is honestly staggering. This is a fantastic laptop that has a political party trick. Information technology volition accommodate those who desire to apply that screen in all manner of positions, and those who want to use information technology as a straight laptop.

Writing past Ian Morris.