Dell XPS 15z Review: A MacBook Alternative? Discussion

[ivanox1972]

What panel is used?

[Goren]

great review Chazzie,
but like you and some other members have commented, it had alot of greatness going towards it but ruined by a few things I felt they could've fixed.

[hockeymass]

The 1080p panel seems hit or miss. I returned mine because the screen was dreadful, easily the worst screen of any sort that I've ever seen. Yet some people rave about the quality of theirs.

[VikingBastich]

mine should be arriving after tomorrow, I opted for the i5 6gb 320gb Setup with the 1080p screen. The reviews i've seen are so mixed that I really have no idea what to expect at this point. I'm going to give it a good week of use and decide then if it's for me.

I'm really worried about the keyboard, can it really be THAT bad?

[MidnightSun]

The biggest pitfall that was noted by Engadget in their review of a pre-production unit was the build quality. It's good too see that most of that has been ironed out. At a bit over $1000 with the base config and the 1080p display, it's not too bad a choice. The dv6t is cheaper and comes with better specs, but as a thin-and-light 15" laptop, the 15z isn't all too bad.

[Charles P. Jefferies]

The 1080p panel seems hit or miss. I returned mine because the screen was dreadful, easily the worst screen of any sort that I've ever seen. Yet some people rave about the quality of theirs.

Could you be more specific with the issues? I will check on mine.

What were the idle and load temperatures please?

Mr. Mysterious

I don't have that data.

[Mr_Mysterious]

.....oh. Considering the thinness, i think it'd idle at 45C good review though

Mr. Mysterious

[Charles P. Jefferies]

Check the owner's threads in the Dell forum to see if anyone recorded temps.

[lovelaptops]

I'm really disappointed in Dell, seems like they come up with some really great designs with serious flaws that end up being deal breakers...

Using Fn to access basic navigation keys? Really, Dell? That's just poor design...Look at all that space on either side of the keyboard, and Dell couldn't make use of that wasted space?

I agree with you about the @%#&#!! FN key, but unfortunately that's still the norm, not the exception. Not enough to disqualify it if no other reasons do.

On top of that, restricted access to usual user-swappable items (Battery/RAM/HDD) means the 15z is a disposable notebook.

Sorry, Dell, but with gaffs like that, you're going to lose me and other customers to Apple.

I'm not sure any Apple notebook product lacks the same problems you cite here.

I really wanted to like my Dell 15z... but it just had too many problems (and that chrome trim was awful).

I'm glad I returned it seeing these new ultrabooks come out... now if only someone would make one with a 1080p screen,

Seems like 1600X900 is the more likely limit below 17" screen, though this could certainly change. Seems like Samsung, which is fully vertically integrated (they mfr everything from RAM chips to SSDs to displays, etc.) can bring out anything it thinks the market really demands - and competitors offer. Remember, Sony remains the only mfr (though I believe Toshiba makes the screen) offering better than 900p on any screen smaller than 15"

great review Chazzie,
but like you and some other members have commented, it had alot of greatness going towards it but ruined by a few things I felt they could've fixed.

I have to agree, but then, name one product that didn't have a few "misses" in its otherwise top rate model? Sony Z1- terrible speakers; Apple MBA 13 - very weak connectivity, mediocre (though far better than average) screen, zero upgradability; Dell XPS 15z - aside from apparent lack of consistency of the 1080p screen (most say it is awesome, though) the biggest gripe I keep hearing is about the darned chrome accent strip! Can someone enlighten me as to how an accent stripe, no matter how much a fingerprint magnet, could be the downfall of an otherwise great product?

I have been this close to buying the 15z or its heavier, and less costly cousin 15, but can't bring to pull the trigger because no matter how well they spec out and perform in reviews, people do not seem to like theirs, and eBay and the NBR Marketplace are full of them, at cheaper and cheaper prices. As odd as this may seem, I'm reluctant to buy one, because they are becoming so cheap - eg, $750 for the 1080p model with a GT525 gpu, still under wtty for 10+ months.

Is there really anything better out there for the price? Is Dell's recent past of bad marks for customer support part of the reason, ya think, so many people buy and very quickly sell both the 15z and the 15?

[Mitlov]

I'm not sure any Apple notebook product lacks the same problems you cite here.

In OSX, you can choose whether you press "fn" for the multimedia functions or "fn" for the F-keys. It's a setting you can change in system preferences.