Dell Studio XPS 13 Review

[SDreamer]

That laptop looks great. Too pricey imo, but it is one of their more premium laptops. The con about it being glossy is kinda biased imo, some people like glossy some don't. Maybe a separate category for that stuff?

[Goren]

that keyboard reminds me of the one used in the Sony Vaio SZ series. I hope it feels much better than the SZ

[Jerry Jackson]

That laptop looks great. Too pricey imo, but it is one of their more premium laptops. The con about it being glossy is kinda biased imo, some people like glossy some don't. Maybe a separate category for that stuff?

The fact that, as you said, "some people like glossy some don't" is the reason it was a con. Dell doesn't even offer the option of a matte screen with this notebook. If the Studio XPS 13 at least had a matte option I wouldn't have put it in the list of cons.

[chuck232]

Hrm, interesting. Battery life of just over 4 hours is just about comparable to the MacBook, which had no mention of battery life as a con. The price of the XPS 13 is also only a bit higher than the aluminum MacBook and there was no indication that price was a problem for the MacBook either. That's not even mentioning the XPS 13 tested here is significantly more powerful than the entry level aluminum MacBook.

[Jerry Jackson]

Hrm, interesting. Battery life of just over 4 hours is just about comparable to the MacBook, which had no mention of battery life as a con. The price of the XPS 13 is also only a bit higher than the aluminum MacBook and there was no indication that price was a problem for the MacBook either. That's not even mentioning the XPS 13 tested here is significantly more powerful than the entry level aluminum MacBook.

Technology (and our expectations) have been changing radically in just the last few months. We're seeing more and more notebook manufacturers producing notebooks that have 6+ hours of battery life, and several companies are talking about how they'll have full-featured consumer notebooks on the market this year with 8+ hours of battery life. Less than 3 hours in high performance mode isn't as good as is used to be.

[Theros123]

Technology (and our expectations) have been changing radically in just the last few months. We're seeing more and more notebook manufacturers producing notebooks that have 6+ hours of battery life, and several companies are talking about how they'll have full-featured consumer notebooks on the market this year with 8+ hours of battery life. Less than 3 hours in high performance mode isn't as good as is used to be.

Heh, none of those laptops that get that much battery life have the raw power of this laptop either...I'm pretty sure. Your right, better battery life is coming and is almost here (especially with netbooks), but it's not here RIGHT now. That should not be a con in my opinion. This review just seems too negative when the laptop really isn't that bad.

[Jerry Jackson]

Heh, none of those laptops that get that much battery life have the raw power of this laptop either...I'm pretty sure. Your right, better battery life is coming and is almost here (especially with netbooks), but it's not here RIGHT now. That should not be a con in my opinion. This review just seems too negative when the laptop really isn't that bad.

Four hours (and five minutes) is indeed nice, but that is on the power saver setting with the screen brightness all the way down at 30 percent. If you switch to high performance mode and boost the backlight to 50 percent you barely get more than 2 hours. When we turned the screen up to 100 percent brightness in high performance mode we always ended up with less than 2 hours of battery life.

Don't get me wrong, the battery life isn't horrible, but it's not amazing either.

In any case, it's okay if you don't agree with me. There's a laptop for every buyer, and a buyer for every laptop. That's why we have a list of pros and cons rather than a score like some other review websites. If you don't agree that our list of cons should be considered cons then that probably means the laptop in question is a good fit for you.

[John Ratsey]

It seems like the integrated graphics is still relatively powerful with a 3DMark06 score about double the Intel X4500 and in the same range as the 9300M GS. Which probably explains why the battery performance is also in the same range as the 9300M GS.

I also agree that 2 USB ports is too few, particularly since one is a eSATA combo. Almost all the currently available eSATA devices need power from another USB port.

John

[wesrubix]

I think the battery life is low for what it is too, so I agree with JerryJ: Dell could have done a better job with the battery compared to the MacBook.

In power saving mode, this laptop should get the same if not better battery life as the macbook aluminum, which easily got 5 hours of battery with wifi on.

I've noticed many manufacturers aren't bothering with lithium polymer much outside of Apple. Li-Po is more efficient in terms of energy discharge and space consumption compared to Li-ion.

JerryJ, did you notice any heat issues with the vent? I've read concerns from google results on this laptop that the vent can be obstructed by the screen depending on how open it is, and can even lead to display discoloration?! I only saw discoloration mentioned *once* though.

Thanks for the wonderfully detailed review. I almost bought one of these, but the price and keyboard steered me away to a T400.

[Jerry Jackson]

JerryJ, did you notice any heat issues with the vent? I've read concerns from google results on this laptop that the vent can be obstructed by the screen depending on how open it is, and can even lead to display discoloration?! I only saw discoloration mentioned *once* though.

The only issue I noticed with regards to the location of the heat exhaust vent and obstruction leading to excess heat was when I used the notebook as a laptop. If I leaned the notebook back slightly and blocked the exhaust with my leg then the heat would get pretty intense.

Although temperatures are a little warmer in the corner next to the vent, I'm not sure it would lead to discoloration in the display during the normal lifespan of the notebook. That said, I can't say for sure since we usually only get to spend 1-4 weeks with a review unit before we have to send it back to the manufacturer.