Dell XPS 13 Range

Art · 27 Aug 2016 at 18:33

muon said:
Dell have just reduced the range available online.

Possible sign that Kaby Lake refresh is out soon.

Intel demoed a Kaby Lake XPS13 at IDF recently. Someone on Reddit claims that Dell support told them that a Kaby XPS13 would be released in September, although most of the Kaby Lake rumours say it'll not hit the market until late December.

I'm on the lookout for a new laptop but I'm still on the fence between the XPS13 and the XPS15. I don't think the next refresh of the XP15 will come with a 1060, I reckon it'll be more like a 1050, and I wonder how long it'll take for that to come out.

terley · 27 Aug 2016 at 19:10

As many others will probably tell you.. In this game if you want something buy it.. You cant look towards future proofing when everything we buy today will certainly be obsolete within a few years.

Art · 27 Aug 2016 at 23:43

terley said:
As many others will probably tell you.. In this game if you want something buy it.. You cant look towards future proofing when everything we buy today will certainly be obsolete within a few years.

It's more that neither perfectly suit my needs and I haven't decided which way to compromise yet. The XPS13 is the perfect size but I wish it had a tad more horsepower, particularly in the graphics department. I'm not even talking 1070-grade graphics, just something better than integrated. The XPS15 has the opposite problem, more horsepower than I'd likely need but a tad bigger than I'd prefer.

terley · 27 Aug 2016 at 23:55

Art said:
It's more that neither perfectly suit my needs and I haven't decided which way to compromise yet. The XPS13 is the perfect size but I wish it had a tad more horsepower, particularly in the graphics department. I'm not even talking 1070-grade graphics, just something better than integrated. The XPS15 has the opposite problem, more horsepower than I'd likely need but a tad bigger than I'd prefer.

Check out the Aero 14 then, Only 1.8kg, unbelievably huge battery, GTX 970m 3gb, i7 6700hq, 16gb DDR4, 2.5k display

Only trade-off is it doesn't have thunderbolt 3.0 (not a huge issue)

And its not a glossy touchscreen, Maybe a bit outside your price bracket?

It can last 8+ hours for normal workload and a massive 4-5 hours gaming!

And yes this thing will handle all modern game titles at a playable frame-rate, and crush any Adobe creative cloud software. Not to mention its only 14" super thin and very light.

Art · 28 Aug 2016 at 17:09

terley said:
Check out the Aero 14 then

It's more or less the same size as the XPS15 though, bit shorter but a bit deeper. And yeah, if I'm paying £1.5K for a machine I'd like TB3. I know the Gigabyte rep has said that they thought HDMI2 was a better feature but I can't understand that decision.

terley · 28 Aug 2016 at 19:41

Art said:
It's more or less the same size as the XPS15 though, bit shorter but a bit deeper. And yeah, if I'm paying £1.5K for a machine I'd like TB3. I know the Gigabyte rep has said that they thought HDMI2 was a better feature but I can't understand that decision.

The logic behind sacrificing a good deal for a laptop with thunderbolt 3.0 is pretty shallow in all honestly.. Unless you are planning on spending an extra £500-600 for a razer core + £200-300 for a GPU to use on your laptop why bother?

The technology isn't standard yet and the Aero 14 does have a USB-C port for fast-charging your phone - not to mention the Aero 14 will destroy the XPS 15 in battery life and gaming.

Art · 29 Aug 2016 at 19:20

terley said:
The logic behind sacrificing a good deal for a laptop with thunderbolt 3.0 is pretty shallow in all honestly

Case of personal preference and perspective I guess, but like I said if I'm going to pay £1.5K+ for a machine I'd like all the common options and for it to be relatively future proofed. That especially applies when competitors like MSI seem to include it as standard even on machines 2/3 the price.

the Aero 14 does have a USB-C port for fast-charging your phone

I've yet see the big deal about USB 3.1 type C vs standard USB 3.0. Sure, it's faster, but even though I shuffle a lot of data over USB I've yet to feel like USB 3.0 is slow. The fast charging is pretty much irrelevant to me, I've yet to have my phone die on my in less than a day.

not to mention the Aero 14 will destroy the XPS 15 in battery life and gaming.

The extra gaming horsepower wouldn't be a massive deal for me, like I said earlier I'd like something better than integrated graphics but I don't need a gaming monster. The extra battery life would be great, but that's about the only thing about the Aero which appeals to me.

*shrug* Personal preference I guess, but there's not a lot about the Aero which wows me.

terley · 29 Aug 2016 at 19:37

Art said:
Case of personal preference and perspective I guess, but like I said if I'm going to pay £1.5K+ for a machine I'd like all the common options and for it to be relatively future proofed. That especially applies when competitors like MSI seem to include it as standard even on machines 2/3 the price.

I've yet see the big deal about USB 3.1 type C vs standard USB 3.0. Sure, it's faster, but even though I shuffle a lot of data over USB I've yet to feel like USB 3.0 is slow. The fast charging is pretty much irrelevant to me, I've yet to have my phone die on my in less than a day.

The extra gaming horsepower wouldn't be a massive deal for me, like I said earlier I'd like something better than integrated graphics but I don't need a gaming monster. The extra battery life would be great, but that's about the only thing about the Aero which appeals to me.

*shrug* Personal preference I guess, but there's not a lot about the Aero which wows me.

Fair reply

My only justification is that after personally looking all summer for a laptop for uni, the Aero 14 has by far the fewest trade-offs

I have yet to see a thunderbolt 3.0 laptop that can exceed 2-3 hours on battery apart from the XPS 13/15.. but neither can compare in GPU performance. Perhaps a refresh may be on the horizon, id even take a couple of mm increase in thickness for the XPS if it came with a 1060.. I'd happy drop 2k on it if it was a bit more powerfull

muon · 11 Sep 2016 at 15:37

http://www.windowscentral.com/dell-xps-13-getting-intel-7th-gen-kaby-lake

Specs leaked.

I know the XPS 13 chassis design is pretty much perfect (thin, light, edge-to-edge display and quality materials), but given it is approaching being 2 years old, they could have done a bit more to differentiate it. Or at least lower the price as I imagine the investment for the chassis design and tools must have been paid off by now.

skaif · 15 Sep 2016 at 11:54

So no 1060 on the 13? Looks like the 15 wont be out till next year at the earliest!

I wanted to go for the 13 but would have loved the 1060 on there. Oh well.

Any ideas on when these will be available?
Edit

Looks like they are available now?

Looks like £1650 for the top spec!

No mention of the higher clocked ram though...

terley · 15 Sep 2016 at 15:25

I don't think the 13 will ever have a GPU to be honest.

Minstadave · 15 Sep 2016 at 15:53

muon said:
http://www.windowscentral.com/dell-xps-13-getting-intel-7th-gen-kaby-lake

Specs leaked.

I know the XPS 13 chassis design is pretty much perfect (thin, light, edge-to-edge display and quality materials), but given it is approaching being 2 years old, they could have done a bit more to differentiate it. Or at least lower the price as I imagine the investment for the chassis design and tools must have been paid off by now.

I don't mind the design but the quality control isnt anywhere near similarly priced rivals.

Art · 15 Sep 2016 at 19:53

terley said:
I don't think the 13 will ever have a GPU to be honest.

Which is a shame, it would be exactly what I'm looking for if it did, even a lower end card. The XPS15 is a little large for my taste.

Minstadave said:
I don't mind the design but the quality control isnt anywhere near similarly priced rivals.

Are you talking from personal experience here? I've heard a fair bit about coil whine.

Minstadave · 15 Sep 2016 at 22:35

Both personal experience (Broadwell XPS13 - had screen and entire keyboard/mouse pad assembly replaced - screen is still poor but gave up) and also the constant issues on the XPS forums.

skaif · 16 Sep 2016 at 05:40

Is it worth getting this then? It's working out around £1350 for the i7 16gb 512 model...If so, any recommended accessories?

muon · 16 Sep 2016 at 19:57

Minstadave said:
I don't mind the design but the quality control isnt anywhere near similarly priced rivals.

I've had the Broadwell one for over 18 months now. Use it every day.

Hasn't skipped a beat.

Only complaint I'd have is that it gets quite warm when charging but that is pretty standard for all ultrabooks.

skaif said:
Is it worth getting this then? It's working out around £1350 for the i7 16gb 512 model...If so, any recommended accessories?

It's about the same price point as the previous versions in dollars.

Paul11 · 21 Sep 2016 at 10:26

skaif said:
Is it worth getting this then? It's working out around £1350 for the i7 16gb 512 model...If so, any recommended accessories?

where can you get that spec? on dells site?

looks like the new kaby lake are available now

Paul11 · 21 Sep 2016 at 10:48

just spoke to dell. they can qoute for 16gb/512 version but not with 1080 screen

Minstadave · 21 Sep 2016 at 12:14

Paul11 said:
just spoke to dell. they can qoute for 16gb/512 version but not with 1080 screen

They will only do the QHD version with those specs?

Paul11 · 21 Sep 2016 at 12:22

Minstadave said:
They will only do the QHD version with those specs?

yes, according to the buy i spoke to

however. from experience i asked something like this along time ago and they said . no ... then a month later it was available

so im not sure if this is just at the moment.. and it will come later.