When objectively using a product for the first time, my initial instinct is to ask myself a simple question; who would be the ideal user?
Since 2015, brands have been pushing out 4K laptops in a variety of styles and configurations. My main experience in this realm was with 4k Gaming laptops, which fueled my initial reservations. Was the Dell XPS 15 going to be a gauntly, heavy, unwieldy mix mash of intent and specifications?
Thankfully, my reservations were unfounded, partly due to accidentally finding myself as their ideal user; one who craves style, design, power for multimedia and work whilst also wanting the ability to casually game away from my typical setup.
With aluminium outer casing and carbon fibre composite palm rest, the Dell XPS 15 feels premium in style and design. Less is more it seems, as its simple, elegant silver and white aesthetics are eye-catching and elegant.
Its 15.6-inch screen design and modest weight of 2.05 kg ensure its ease of portability and comfort. Whilst I’ve found other 4K laptops unwieldy, incredibly heavy or too hot to attempt to use as intended, the Dell XPS 15 at 18mm thin felt extremely comfortable whilst using it on the couch on my lap.
The Dell XPS 15 boasts a 92.9% screen to body ratio, which provides up to 4K Ultra HD+ (3840 x 2400) resolution. The touch display has an anti-reflective coating, which provides an impressive 178 degree viewing. I was quite surprised to see how vibrant and bright the display was from all angles.
Powering this resolution is a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti 4GB GDDR6 GPU, 10th Generation Intel Core i7-1070H CPU @ 2.60Ghz and 16GB DDR4 Ram.
The combination of specs resulted in quite a surprisingly powerful jack of all trades. With my days spent editing photos, videos and crafting various digital marketing activities, the Dell XPS delivered plenty of processing power with a display I found great for my multi media needs. Editing photos and videos for social media was a breeze.
Whilst the GTX 1650 Ti GPU is not a gaming powerhouse in any sense, it certainly provided enough grunt for 1080p gaming. Whilst underpowered for true 4K gaming, Destiny 2 and Fortnite held their own with medium settings @ 60fps.
This feels fine for the corporate/casual gamer wishing to own a portable, stylish multimedia laptop first and foremost, who may also want the ability to dabble in casual gaming. I myself have travelled extensively whilst lugging large, heavy 4K gaming laptops alongside my provided corporate work laptop.
The highlight of the Dell XPS is the audio. Quite simply, it is the best audio I’ve experienced on a laptop, ever.
Two primary up-firing speakers, plus two traditional tweeters in the base provide a quad-speaker design and an incredibly immersive experience.
I was quite shocked at how crisp, clear and loud the audio was. The Dell XPS provided plenty of bass response. It’s quite simply the first laptop I’ve owned where I didn’t feel compelled to use headphones.
I almost felt like the ideal user the Dell XPS was created for; someone who needs high resolution and processing power for work, demands a beautiful 4K display for Netflix and also wants to game confidently at lower resolutions in their downtime.
The Dell XPS is a wonderfully crafted, elegant laptop with a crisp display, plenty of processing power and incredible speaker design. It is an excellent choice for anyone requiring style and power for all purposes.
