- Dell has upgraded their popular XPS 13 laptop.
Is it any good?
I'll tell you, stay tuned.
(upbeat techno music)
So let's jump right in and talk about what's new
with the Dell XPS 13.
As you can see here we have the rose gold version.
I like to think of it as copper,
so I know color is a little weird to get on video here,
but it's pretty much like a copper penny.
Which I think is actually a really nice change.
Now, that is $50 extra compared to
the normal silver version,
so take that into consideration.
You can see here actually compared to
last year's version which is gold.
Actually this came out in early 2016
versus the late 2016.
So this was more gold.
It was only available for the Core i7 version
with Iris Graphics, and so it was
a little more expensive to get that.
Really nice device.
But now you can get the copper color or rose gold
in any variant you want basically,
so it's an extra 50 bucks and it'll let you do that,
which is kind of a nice thing.
I also like it's a little bit darker,
a little bit less flashy,
just basically a redder hue to it.
Now let's go around to the side of the device.
Compared to the old XPS 13 nothing has changed.
It's on the USB 3.0 port here,
that can also charge.
You have a USB Type-C full Thunderbolt 3,
so you can use that for external monitors,
and even trickle charging a little bit.
It's not quite as fast as using the barrel plug here,
but you can use that to charge with some devices.
You do still have a barrel plug charger,
which is very small and compact,
always a nice thing.
Of course you have your headphone jack.
You do have a little battery gauge here,
which is very common on Dells, really nice.
Let's you check your battery status
without actually turning on the device.
Side speaker here.
Really cool design, not on the bottom,
not on top, on the side.
Basically right nice in the middle,
gives you a really good experience.
It doesn't get muffled.
I really like these speakers a lot.
Coming around to the back of course nothing new there.
Same thing over here on the side.
You have a Kensington lock, another USB 3.0,
and a full SD card slot still there in case you need it.
One of the few differences left
in this Ultrabook range here from Dell
is they still kept that SD card
and of course the other speaker.
Coming around to the front here you do have,
it's gonna be a little hard to see here,
but a tiny LED which lights up when you're charging.
Really nice effect, very subtle and cool-looking.
Coming to the bottom of course.
It's still very clean.
Dell's been very good with this.
In fact, what they do here with the XPS line,
they have this little card that opens up
and that's where all your information goes.
So, all that really annoying text goes under there.
Very clean.
Here is the grill for the fans, basically the intake
and then you have these rubber feet for mounting the device.
So nothing changed here in terms of design.
What has changed though is the processor.
So now it is running the Intel Core i5, i3, and i7,
Kaby Lake generation, seventh generation processor.
You do get a slight performance boost.
You can check out our Geek Bench scores
compared to last year's Sky Lake model.
So that is nice there.
The biggest thing besides slight improved performance
with Kaby Lake however is the improved thermals.
So you're gonna run a little bit cooler.
And of course, better battery life.
And we do see that here with this Core i7 version
that we are running.
In addition, they swapped out the WiFi card,
which some people had issues with.
It is now running the Killer AC Wireless Card
1535 to be specific, and in addition
they finally boosted the battery size
from a 56 watt-hour to 60 watt-hour.
What's really neat about the XPS 13 line of course
is the options you have.
You can start off at a Core i3 with 4 gigs of RAM
and 128 Gigs of storage at 799.
Goes all the way up though to about $1800 or 1850
or even 1899 depending if you get the rose gold option.
That's for the Core i7 16 gigs and 512 gigabytes of storage.
Here we are running a Core i7 with 8 gigs of RAM
and 256 gigs of storage.
And that comes at a price tag of about 1649.
Still pretty expensive but you do get
that awesome QHD display.
Let's talk about that.
Not much has changed here.
You are still running the IGZO panel display here.
Very thin bezels of course, QHD and full touch.
You do have the option still for a full HD matte display,
which I actually really prefer if you're gonna be doing
a lot of writing.
Keyboard is still the same.
Nothing else has changed,
but overall you get that nice carbon fiber design here,
which is very soft to the touch, and feels great.
It does pick up oil though, so if you're one of those people
who hates smudges and everything,
you will have to wipe this down on occasion.
The outside of course stays fine because it's metal,
but on the inside here it will get kinda greasy.
Trackpad is also still very good.
Precision Touchpad one of my favorites.
One reason why I really like the Dells
is that they stick to that,
and so this is one of my favorite trackpads to use.
If you do order one of these, I do advise you
to check out the trackpad as the first thing.
Some people have reported that the trackpad is loose.
So if you tap it like this,
see how there's no noise coming there.
But if you tap that and you hear a clicking,
you may have a loose trackpad.
Just send it back to Dell, don't even bother with it.
It's an issue they are working on,
but it's only in a few devices,
but definitely check that out for quality control
when you first get it.
Overall it's a very good device.
I really like the Dell XPS 13.
It's still one of my favorite 13-inch laptops.
However, there are some things here.
First of all, we don't have any Windows Hello system here.
So there's no bio-authentication.
No fingerprint reader, nothing to do with the camera.
You still get the weird web camera here at the bottom.
Depending on how often you use that,
that may or may not bother you.
I actually do not use the webcam very often,
but people who do rely on it
this does give a very awkward angle,
so you wanna make sure, you know,
think about that before you order this device.
On the other hand, you get this really cool display.
It's a very compact design.
In terms of performance, it's very good.
Kaby Link is awesome.
I'm really, really impressed with this.
Now Dell gets some like crazy battery estimates for this.
I'll say using the QHD Core i7 version,
I am pushing around 10 hours,
Which is actually really impressive.
I used to get that with their older full HD version.
But now I'm seeing it with the QHD,
so 10 hour mark for me is pretty amazing.
I could only imagine it's going to be higher,
probably in the 13 or 14 hour range
if you do get the full HD matte non-touch option.
So, if battery life is your goal, go for that one.
One thing I really do like about the XPS 13
is the fan noise, it's very low.
In fact it barely ever comes on when it's running idle
or just doing light work you will not hear this fan.
In terms of speakers too, I really do like these speakers.
Now, I keep comparing to the HP version,
which has four speakers.
This only has two, but I actually like the quality
of these speakers a little bit better.
A little bit more bassy, more full sounding,
you can feel the resonance in the body of the device
a little bit more as well.
But, at 1649 for this device, I still think
it's a little bit expensive.
For 1299 you can get the HP Spectre x360
with double the storage and double the RAM,
and you might save yourself
like three, four hundred dollars,
so I think that's a little bit better.
Plus that device is a tablet and you can do Windows Hello.
But, every time I pick up this device,
it's hard not to like it.
It is just, it runs perfectly.
I've had no issues, Dell's been very good
with firmware updates and driver updates.
In fact, before we did this video,
there was a whole slew of new updates
that came out for this device.
And if you really want that QHD display,
this is the device, remember the Spectre can't do that,
it's only full HD.
So if you really want the best display
in the business at 13 inch, this is gonna be your device.
So what to think of the Dell XPS 13 9360.
Well it's still one of my favorite 13-inch laptops.
In fact, if you need a 13-inch
with the best display, this is it.
However, when it comes to pricing,
I still find them a little bit higher than the competition.
In fact when you compare it to the HP Spectre x360,
I think that's just a better value.
Having said that, I love everything about this update.
You still get the Kaby Lake processor,
which is gonna be better for thermals,
better processing, and overall runs very well.
You get a Precision Touchpad, a fantastic typing experience,
that wonderful display, and it's all put into
a really compact machine that's easy to carry around
and gets great battery life.
So far, so good.
But that pricing is definitely quite high.
It also doesn't turn into a two in one,
it's a straight-up laptop.
Which honestly, for myself is totally fine.
Your needs may vary.
You do of course get that SD Card slot
which is kind of important for some of you,
so take that in consideration.
Overall, the XPS 13 is very good.
It just needs to have some more improvements
like Windows Hello added into the mix.
Hopefully Dell will do that next year.
If you wanna see my full review,
head to Windows Central.
You can also get some HD photos
and our full benchmark for this device.
Thanks for watching,
and if you like this video give it a thumbs up.
Take care, bye.
(upbeat techno music)