Dell Xps 13 8th Generation I5
Forgive us if yous've heard this one before but Dell's latest XPS 13 is truly the best one nonetheless. Seriously.
Newly upgraded with Intel'due south 8th-generation CPUs, the XPS 13 offers unheard-of performance in an ultra-portable laptop. By "unheard-of," we mean the XPS xiii offers performance budgeted and occasionally surpassing that of much larger and much heavier powerhouse laptops.
Granted, information technology hasn't changed much on the exterior. As we become through the features and specs, though, you lot'll run into the significant changes happening on the inside.
Dell The XPS 13 hasn't changed much on the outside, merely this 8th generation upgrade is worth it for performance fiends.
Dell XPS 13 prices, specs and features
Prices: Our review unit currently sells for $1,300 from Dell's website, though at the fourth dimension of this posting Black Fri deals are offer some nice savings. Other SKUs from Dell'south site range from the lowest-stop $800 version, with a 7th-generation Core i3-7100UCPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD; and the top-of-the-line $1,750 model withthe same 8th-generation Core i7-8550U and 256GB SSD.as our unite, but its retention is additional to 16GB.
CPU: The star of the show is Intel'south new 8th-generation Core i7-8550U. Based on the same basic microarchitecture as CPUs used in older versions of the XPS 13, the 8th-gen chip'due south secret sauce is doubling the CPU cores (read our in-depth review of the 8th-gen CPU for all the details). Up to at present, about mainstream laptops have stuck to dual-core CPUs because quad-core CPUs would have required more cooling and bigger, heavier shells to handle the oestrus. Not anymore. It'southward truly exciting to see quad-cadre power fitting into sparse and light laptops
RAM: 8GB of LPDDR3/1866. The low-power version of DDR3 doesn't permit for the utilize of expansion slots, so the RAM is soldered to the motherboard. The good news is Dell used a pair of modules to savor the greater bandwidth of dual-channel manner, rather than use a unmarried module that would give you only half the bandwidth.
GPU: There'due south room for a quad-core scrap only not for discrete graphics, so what you get is Intel UHD 620. You might think the "U" means something special, only from a performance betoken at that place really own't none.
Display: You pretty much become the aforementioned 1920×1080 matte screen with "Infinity" bezel on the XPS 13 that we've seen since the get-go model was introduced in 2015. The one in our unit of measurement puts out very decent 400 nits (much similar the prior version). While it doesn't have the pizzazz of a "sleeky" screen (which Dell offers in the impact-screen version) it does a great task of reducing glare.
Storage: A 256GB Toshiba M.2 NVMe SSD handles the storage, and if yous're willing to gamble opening up the XPS thirteen, you should be able to swap in a larger drive.
Dell The right side of the Dell XPS xiii sports the SD card reader, one of its ii USB-A ports, and the Noble lock port.
Ports: For connectivity, you go two USB iii.0 (5Gbps) Blazon A ports, an SD card reader, combo sound and a single Thunderbolt 3 port. That Thunderbolt 3 port is a two-lane implementation rather than four-lane, and then maximum throughput is less than what you'd get with some competing laptops. There's as well a square lock port supporting Noble locking cables.
The XPS 13 supports (and ships with) a standard barrel charger, simply yous could also charge via the Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C port. While having a dedicated charging port means the Thunderbolt iii / USB-C is available for other uses, we hope the next version will offer 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports and a USB-C charger in the box.
Weight: The non-impact version we tested weighs in at a barely-there 2 pounds, 12 ounces.
Dimensions: The size of the XPS 13 remains the same at 11.98 x 7.88 ten 0.33 inches. It has a much smaller footprint than a MacBook Air xiii, but it's thicker than HP's Spectre X360 13T. Think of it as "stout."
In practical terms, this XPS 13 hasn't changed much from the prior (2016) version using 6th-gen CPUs. That'southward really been 1 of the complaints about the XPS 13: It hasn't had a major redesign since this generation fabricated its debut in 2015.
You lot know what? We're OK with it. Why should Dell mess with success? Apple tree, for example, hasn't really made major exterior changes to its popular MacBook Air 13 since, 2011 or peradventure 2010. Nosotros, frankly, can't tell.
The XPS thirteen still wins on size and portability. Nosotros even so love the trackpad. Nosotros retrieve the keyboard is a little small (but still good), and we still think the webcam is really awkwardly placed along the bottom of the display bezel.
The real change here is inside, and information technology'southward all about operation.
Performance: What a divergence eighth-gen makes
When Intel announcedd he 8th-gen Core CPU, information technology information technology had successfully squeezed quad-core performance into places it couldn't before, we were highly skeptical of how much actual applied performance you could wring out of a tiny laptop, when all quad-cadre laptops before it weighed ordinarily twice as much.
We tested the 8th-gen XPS 13 against ii predecessors: a seventh-gen Core i7 XPS thirteen and a fifth-gen Cadre i7 XPS 13. We also roped in two much larger XPS 15 laptops with quad-cadre chips—6th-gen Skylake and seventh-gen Kaby Lake fries, specifically.
The results thoroughly surprised us.
For example, using Maxon's Cinebench R15, we can guess the relative performance of the 8th-gen Core i7 XPS thirteen vs. a 7th-gen Core i7 XPS 13. As you tin can meet, the XPS xiii (green bar beneath) destroys its dual-core seventh-gen predecessor (red bar below) and runs up very close to the XPS 15s (turquoise and lavender confined beneath) on multi-threaded workloads. Impressive.
IDG Cinebench is well-nigh pure CPU test and the XPS 13 kills it.
Cinebench also allows you to run a single-thread test, which means the laptop'south running on a single cadre. Running the five laptops through the same examination, the 8th-gen XPS xiii (turquoise bar below) actually outperforms the 7th-gen XPS 15 (lavander bar beneath). No, that'due south not a typo: The tiny XPS 13 can outshine the beefier XPS 15 in some single-threaded tasks.
Mind you, the performance is all relatively shut. Because the vast majority of programs people run typically use simply a unmarried CPU core, however, this speaks well of the new XPS 13's capabilities.
IDG This Cinebench R15 results is an indicator of how well the XPS 13 will perform in single-threaded tasks which is what near people employ day-to-day.
Ane question we wanted to know was how well the XPS 13 and its 15-watt quad-core CPU would hold up on longer, harsher loads when compared to a larger XPS 15 and its 45-watt quad-core CPU. We suspected performance would drop off a cliff one time you subjected the CPU to a really heavy load.
The intensive HandBrake examination tin take xc minutes or more than on many dual-core laptops. The XPS xv with its 7th-gen Kaby Lake quad-cores (turquoise bar below) comes out in front past a very healthy margin, every bit does the XPS 15 with its 6th-gen Skylake quad-core (lavender bar below). But that tiny XPS thirteen (dark-green bar below) turns in a very respectable score. Again, nosotros're talking about a laptop that's almost half the weight of its bigger cousins.
IDG Our Handbrake test tin accept some dual-core laptops two hours to complete.
Graphics Performance
Moving on to graphics, we compared the three generations of XPS 13 we had on hand (using the latest drivers) on 3DMark's Skydiver graphics test. We didn't include the XPS 15, in this comparison, because clearly the larger laptop's detached graphics chip would destroy the XPS xiii.
Looking at the results of the seventh-gen and the 8th-gen XPS thirteen laptops, the eighth-gen is in front by a tiny margin—after all, they both have the same Intel UHD 620 integrated graphics. Both are basically fine for low-ambition or entry-level gaming tasks, but nil to text home about. If you desire more of a gaming experience, wait for a laptop with discrete graphics.
IDG The UHD 620 in the 8th gen CPU is basically the aforementioned as the Hard disk 620 in the seventh gen CPUs.
To gauge functioning in everyday tasks, we use PCMark 8 Work Conventional. The 8th-gen XPS 13 (bluish bar beneath) ties with the 7th-Gen XPS 15 (red bar below), simply all contenders—even the dual-core, 5th-gen XPS xiii—stick pretty close. The lesson here: If all y'all do is browse the Internet and run Microsoft Part you don't need a quad-core CPU, and then don't put out coin for a feature you won't use.
IDG PCMark 8 Work tells united states that yous actually don't need to pay for a Cadre i7 quad-core unless you really need it and most offices tasks don't need it.
Bombardment life
Our last examination is probably the most critical for a portable laptop: bombardment life. For that we loop a 4K video using Windows' built-in Movies & TV player, with the laptop in Airplane mode and with earbuds in place (and sound cranked to most 50 percent). We set the screen to a relatively bright 250 to 260 nits and allow the laptop run from a full charge until it dies.
We compared the 8th-gen, quad-core XPS thirteen to an even broader swath of its forbears. We were very curious to see whether the quad-core CPU would take down the battery.
The answer is no. Get-go, video playback today, using a mod, efficient media role player, resides virtually entirely in the domain of the graphics chip.
Merely the winner is…the original XPS 13 with a 5th-gen Cadre i5-5200U, which pounds out almost 14 hours of playback—and this despite having a smaller battery. Nosotros think it helps that it has a low-power SATA SSD and too its 4GB of RAM vs the 8GB of RAM (more RAM uses more power).
Coming in second with a very decent 12-plus hours of battery run time is the the eighth-Gen XPS 13. That'southward good performance.
The worst performance comes from Dell'south loftier-resolution XPS xiii models with touchscreens. Feeding all of those pixels takes power, and so be ready to pay for it in bombardment life.
Basically, expect very good bombardment life on the XPS 13 for video playback, though it will certainly drop on more intensive tasks. Read our deep dive on some other laptop's battery performance to get more data on how battery life tin vary.
IDG The 8th-generation XPS 13 comes in second in our video playback test, logging more than 12 hours of battery life.
Cost: Of form, the most of import "spec" is probably the price. As reviewed, the XPS 13 with the 8th gen CPU, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD and touch screen came in at $1,299 (although we swore information technology was originally $1,199 when we looked initially.) With the Black Friday season upon us though, Dell had cut the toll of it to $999. That'due south a hell of a bargain, frankly for the operation you're getting.
Dell offers one footstep upwards in the form of the XPS thirteen with a quad Hard disk or 3200×1800 resolution touch screen. Internally, information technology'due south the aforementioned CPU but Dell ups the RAM to 16GB of LPDDR3/1866 and larger SSD options up to 1TB. The base affect screen QHD version with a 256GB SSD pushes the price up to $1,749, with Black Friday prices lowering it to $1,549. That isn't quite the steal the FHD version is and you'll likely take a battery life hit.
Should you buy the Dell XPS thirteen?
In the cease, color the states impressed. We fully expected the XPS 13 with its quad-cadre CPU to offer only marginal improvements at best, but the performance results were truly amazing.
For those who do CPU-intensive tasks, the XPS 13 can truly hang with laptops that weigh almost twice as much. It's close enough that some might even consider skipping large laptops for the XPS 13. Not all, of course. Those who demand more RAM or far more graphics grunt nevertheless take nowhere else to plough—though recent innovations like Nvidia's Max-Q and the upcoming Intel/AMD Radeon partnership could modify that.
But permit's not diminish the fact that you can now become quad-core performance in a two.v-pound laptop. As we said, this Dell XPS 13 is truly the best one yet.
Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/407615/dell-xps-13-2017-review-intels-8th-gen-cpu-makes-a-great-laptop-even-greater.html
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