Dell - XPS 15 15.6" FHD+ Laptop - Intel Evo i7 - Intel Evo Design - Intel Arc A370M - 16GB Memory - 512GB SSD - Platinum Silver

The Dell XPS 15 is a standout laptop that brings together power and style. The 15.6” FHD+ display is stunning, offering clear visuals, while the Intel Evo i7 ensures smooth performance for work or creative tasks. Its sleek Platinum Silver design adds a touch of elegance. With 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD, it handles multitasking effortlessly. The Intel Arc A370M boosts graphics performance, making it great for design or gaming. The laptop is well-built, lightweight, and features a comfortable keyboard.

This is a great option for a combination of editing videos, casual gaming, and handling everyday task. I have a gaming desktop, but plan to use this computer while I am traveling to manage my GoPro videos and pictures. I am impressed with the performance, build quality, and battery life. The high-resolution screen is very bright, and the built-in speakers are excellent (even when compared to laptops that cost twice the price). The XPS is a good value, nothing on it feels cheap and it has solid specs that should ensure it is usable for years. This is my first Dell laptop, but I owned many of their other products and they have never let me down. Pros: 1. Great battery life. You can surf the web or watch videos for around 9-10hrs. It still did pretty well converting GoPro videos, lasting around 4-5hrs. 2. Some of the best laptop speakers I have tried. Good volume, depth, clarity, and decent bass. 3. Great build quality: Solid hinge. Nice looking, brushed aluminum exterior. Soft touch plastic surrounding the keyboard and touchpad. 4 Sharp, bright screen with better than HD resolution (this laptop has a 1920x1200 pixel screen vs a normal screen at 1080p or 1920x1080). 5. Comfortable backlight keyboard. 6. Good performance. The 13th Gen. Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of DDR5 RAM make multitasking easy, with no stutters - even when converting videos in the background. 7. Multi-finger touchpad allows you to scroll and pinch to zoom. 8. Full sized SD card slot makes loading videos or photos easy (I realize a lot of devices use mico-cards now, but it is easy to use an adapter to go smaller). 9. The fingerprint reader integrated into the power button works well and makes logging in easy. 10. A reasonable amount of hard drive space and minimal bloatware give you usable storage of around 395GB to start. Things to Consider: 1. The Intel Arc GPU works hard, and its performance was great (especially considering how quiet this laptop is). It really shines converting videos, freeing up the main processor to allow you to multi-task. I also played FortNite and it was playable with lower quality settings, 60FPS, and full resolution (even on the lower texture setting, it still looked great thanks to the color rendering/resolution of the screen). I would not use this computer for higher end games due to the shared video memory (up to 8GB), but it should work for casual and on the go use. 2. There is no built-in USB-A port (only 3 USB-C ports, 1 of which needs to be used for power when the laptop is plugged-in) and there is no built-in HDMI port. Dell includes a compact adapter, with a USB-A port and HMDI port on it, but it is one more thing to carry (not a deal breaker if you plan on taking the power supply cable anyway).

Dell bills their XPS laptops for “Creators and Creativity” and describes them as “premium, precision-crafted laptops with innovative features”. While this may be true, as in any lineup there are those at the top, middle, and bottom of the pecking order. This particular build of their 9530 is lower, middle-class in size and specs. The XPS line comes in 13”, 15” (this one), and 17” variations, and within the 15” segment, this particular build contains the lower level of two available processors, the lowest level of four graphic cards, the 512GB solid-state hard drive is the smallest of five, and 16GB of RAM (the least of three choices offered). It also contains the lesser of two display choices, this one not having touchscreen capability. As in just about everything, you get what you pay for, and while I may have given you the impression that this a simple, bare-bones laptop, this Dell XPS is not that. The chassis is the same finely crafted, CNC-machined, aluminum version that all of the other builds in this line use. Dell’s description calls out a carbon fiber wrist rest, and it appears legit rather than inexpensive plastic made to look like carbon fiber. The back-lit keyboard and track pad are the same on all builds, and the ports are also identical in variety and quantity, including two USB-C Thunderbolt 4, one USB-C Type 3.2, an SD-card slot, a headphone jack, and a wedge-shaped lock slot. Fit, finish, materials, and attention to detail are all top-shelf. The 2023 XPS line uses the same design and chassis build as the 2021 XPS that also resides in our household, but that isn’t a bad thing as it is a very sleek and stylish machine even though it weighs in at a little over 4 pounds, 2 ounces. The display, while not being of the touchscreen OLED variety, does offer good resolution and color, an anti-glare, matte-texture finish that virtually does away with annoying screen reflections, and uses less power than the OLED option for longer battery life. It still comes with a screen hinge that offers a lot of resistance, making it a bit difficult to open using just one thumb, and a well-defined cutout offering more grip would be something I would welcome, although this might be by design for those machines with touchscreens to keep the screen in place as you poke at it with your finger. The display almost fills the chassis lid with color and movement by having very narrow bezels on all four edges. Dell offers users three different ways to unlock the computer with facial recognition, a fingerprint reader integrated with the power button in the upper right corner of the keyboard, or the time-worn option of typing in a password. The spacious keyboard lacks only a ten-key number pad, but it’s doubtful anyone will miss it other than people that crunch a large quantity of digits, and the tactile feedback and spacing of the keys are perfect. The speakers consist of top-firing tweeters and woofers with additional ports for the woofers on the lower edge of the chassis bottom. Cooling intakes are on the bottom of the chassis, so use on a hard surface to keep these open for airflow is probably a good idea. Backlighting of the keyboard is evenly distributed and comes on immediately when your fingers first brush the keys or trackpad. This laptop comes with the home version of Windows 11 and a one-year subscription to McAfee LiveSafe is included. Microsoft Office on the other hand is only a five-day free “pass” which does allow you to keep any documents created during this time, unless you choose the “buy” option for Microsoft 365 which gives you a free one-month trial. If you are familiar with Windows you shouldn’t have any surprises on this machine. Wireless connectivity is Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax). The Dell XPS line for 2023 offers many variations for a variety of needs and this particular spec serves up a nice mix of performance and features at a more than acceptable price point for an offering from what many would call the premier personal computer maker.

The Dell XPS 15 model 9530 is another in a line of impressive high-end laptops oriented towards the creative user. This laptop is an Evo Design unit and comes outfitted with a 13th generation core i7-13700H processor, Intel Arc™ A370M Graphics and its 4-sided InfinityEdge non-touch FHD+ (1920x1200) display allows for plenty of room to create on. This model also comes with a 512GB NVMe SSD and 16 GB of DDR5 RAM. The device is outfitted with Wi-Fi 6 AX wireless and Bluetooth. For ports, it is also well proportioned with 2 Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports with Power Delivery on the left side. On the right, it has a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port with Power Delivery/Display Port, an SD card slot, and a wired headset port. Rounding out the impressive features of this laptop is the sound system. It features a quad-speaker system with Waves Nx 3D Audio and has 2 Stereo Woofers rated at 2.5 W each and stereo tweeters rated at 1.5W each for a total of 8W of total peak audio. . Any of the 3 USB C-Type ports can be used to charge the laptop, which is a convenient feature. The device is shipped with a 130-Watt Type-C power adapter and a USB-C to USB-A v3.0 & HDMI v2.0 adapter. The laptop is manufactured from CNC Machined Aluminum with a carbon fiber composite palm rest that includes a massive 5.91 in. X 3.54 in. Touchpad. This manufacturing and the 86Whr battery result in a sturdy 4.21 lbs. for the laptop. While a bit high for today's travel standards, this does not concern me too much should one need the capability offered by this system while on the road. Usage Impressions The screen is wonderful, has good responsiveness and contrast. The sound system was next up for testing and it is equally impressive while listening to numerous test songs that I use for testing audio devices. Performance was tested by rendering a nearly hour-long video that was handled without a hiccup. The system comes with a 6-cell, 86WHr battery. The battery life is also impressive and lasted for several days of regular use of a few hours each day. I would say that it has no issue exceeding 7 hours of life. The last area tested was multi-monitor support and I was able to run the primary display and 4 external displays including an external 4K display for a total of 5 displays (one via USB Display Link). Summary The XPS 15 is an impressive laptop. It has outstanding features and capabilities. With all the features and capabilities this laptop will help one to accomplish any task they set out for it to accomplish. Pros: Performance, Battery-Life, Multi-monitor support, Graphics, and Sound. Cons: Weight.

There are a lot of things to like about the Dell-XPS 15 laptop. It's sleek and elegant, and does several things very well. If it's the right computer for you all depends on what your needs are --and there are a few things I'd consider drawbacks (but not many). Unboxing it is pretty cool--it's genuinely elegant packaging (maybe even a little overkill haha). The laptop itself feels nice and looks very good. The silver metal casing feels very sturdy. It also includes a charger as well as video adapter. Mine had almost a full charge straight out of the box. Powering up it looks really good as well. The backlit keyboard is perfect for a laptop. The rubber keys are soft and comfortable even for extended sessions. I'm typing this review on it right now in a dark room sitting on my couch --it's very comfortable and easy to type on without many misses or difficulty keeping my fingers on the (and I have big hands). The display is very nice and crisp. I've watched a couple of movies in high definition and they look almost perfect. The sound is what it is--you can't expect much from laptop speakers. They're not terrible and I've heard worse from laptops, but they're small and can only produce so much sound. It is very easy to connect headphones through bluetooth, one of the usb or usb-c ports, or even the old-fashioned way with the headphone jack. It has a convenient selection of ports and an sd-card reader. The specs on this computer are fantastic for some features---the CPU is very fast, but there are a couple of odd decisions on internal parts that 'bottleneck' the laptops performance. If you are looking to game you are better off looking elsewhere --particularly at this price point. There are other options in both laptop and desktop, including from Dell, that play games very well for this price. I'd also not recommend it for video editing for the same reasons. What it does GREAT is work with large, cumbersome programs and big files. The processor is fast and the memory is perfect for many open windows and programs at once without bogging down the system. The fan is quiet as well, and doesn't run all that often unless you're putting the laptop through some serious paces. There are only a couple of slight drawbacks --it's surprisingly heavy for it's size and 'level' of computer. I've had other versions of this system in the XPS series that had roughly the same footprint but seemed like they weighed half the amount. Likely due to the real metal casing--so there is some compromise between durability and weight, but it's something to keep in mind if you are going to need to carry this laptop around all day. A few other small annoyances--there's no fingerprint reader built into the system. Windows Hello (if you opt to use it) works best with a reader or pin. I've tried using the facial recognition--and like almost every facial recognition program it doesn't always recognize you depending on conditions. I've also had it completely freeze the computer once, requiring a restart. A fingerprint reader would have been very welcome--especially since this is the version that doesn't have a touchscreen. I typically prefer to keep my laptop cameras off, ands pins are a little too insecure but the best option for me for this system. Many XPS' have the reader included so I don't know if it's just this model or they're going to stop including those altogether, but it's a good option to have. It also seems a bit pricey not to have the touchscreen. That doesn't matter to me so much as I don't find myself using them very often on a laptop, but at this pricepoint for what would be considered a 'work laptop' for most people a touch screen is standard for many brands. The costs here are definitely due to the mostly high end internal parts and protective case, but it seems like a glaring omission. One weird, minor annoyance--the power button on the keyboard is not backlit for some odd reason, and I've accidentally hit it several times already. No idea what the thinking was in that design choice. For anyone interested I've included the benchmark score for this model and set up in a picture below. Overall if you need a high end, fast computer for running multiple, difficult programs at once this is a great machine. It's probably above most users needs even for that. It's also a sturdy computer that seems capable of withstanding a few bumps without too much of an issue (not that I'd recommend testing that, of course). It's likely not capable of playing many current high end games, but plays videos very well with a bright and detailed display. Recommended, of course, depending on your needs. I always recommend knowing exactly what your needs and/or wants are when shopping for any kind of PC or laptop and getting as close to that type of system as your budget allows.

***WHEN THE BACK LOOKS BETTER:*** My induction to this laptop brought excitement: i7, big screen, CARBON FIBER - why wouldn't you find a compact, aluminum-backed laptop attractive? Well... ***THE SCREEN:*** In 2023, you can get OLED on far less expensive computers. You may sacrifice some features to get there, but Dell hasn't created this laptop in a vacuum. As a matter of fact, better IPS panels exist for fewer dineros. Dell doesn't have an excuse to put a 60 hz screen on something this premium - especially with the "Anti-Glare" finish (instead of Anti-Reflective) creating viewing-angle differences. The "anti-glare" (read: "matte") coating combines with edge-lighting to exacerbate bloom (where white objects bleed a bright "shadow" onto darker surrounding portions of the screen). Text-clarity is compromised by tiny plastic texturing instead of coming through as simple pixels. The screen gets bright and the aspect ratio is more usable than a typical widescreen for productivity - but this quality of screen has existed for 10 years. ***STORAGE AND EXPANDABILITY*** Dell got this 3/4 right. You get 512GB of fairly quick NVMe storage and an additional open slot for slapping in a second drive. To access it, you have to unscrew very small screws with even smaller torx bit heads and remove the bottom cover, which requires a thin guitar pick (or similar tool), diligence and patience. Unfortunately, the steel of the screws is not strong enough to endure the process unscathed. Several of my screw heads showed blemish marks. This could easily be fixed by screws with a larger head, higher quality steel, or a regular old Phillips style. No premium device should be so easy to tarnish by a fundamental and necessary access process. ***PORTS:*** For card reading, Dell included a full-sized SD card slot. This is a huge pro as so many "premium" devices have been moving to MicroSD card readers or wholly ditching a card reader at all. This sits next to a USB-C port, with two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports on the other side - though a huge con comes in the form of a lack of USB-A ports all together. You do get a headphone jack - so congratulations, content-creators. Editing video is so much easier when you can immediately hear your clips. ***PERFORMANCE & NOISE:*** This machine offers a whole lot of performance for very little sound-pollution. Due to the fact that Dell put two fans in the unit, you get half the hiss of a more compact unit, yet the full 100W of processing power from the included i7 13700H. With various workloads - and keeping it set to "optimized" power consumption in the BIOS - wattage (as viewed in HWMonitor) danced around. In one of my favorite tests - CEMU emulation - it's behavior resulted in sometimes peak performance (100W, 60 fps), sometimes very low frame rate (23W, 33 fps), and a majority of the time, acceptable frame rate with low-er power consumption (40W, 50 fps). "Quiet" mode resulted in consistently low wattage and low frame rate (23W, 33 fps), and "peak performance" resulted in a consistent 100W, 60 fps. Being that the difference in fan noise from "Quiet" to full blast was negligible, I would just plug in and crank it. ***SOUND:*** Speaking of "cranking it", this laptop has excellent speakers. They come a bit boomy, but EQ software (like "Peace" on top of "Equalizer APO") can clean it up and customize it how you like it. I found myself jamming to tune after tune once I got it dialed in. ***KEYBOARD:*** The keyboard is fine. Spacing is fine, travel is fine, feel is... non-descript. The keys are flat, so you can't _sink in_ to them. You will find yourself looking at the keys for a while. They're easy to see in the dark, as the backlighting is good - but Dell could have done better. You should _love_ typing on your computer's keyboard. I don't love typing on this. ***CONCLUSION:*** This is a competent workstation, decent gamer, and satisfactory email-slayer. The weight is 4.5 lbs, but the fan noise is quiet for an i7. The battery is 86Wh, and you can expand to a second NVMe. Unfortunately, small things add up and keep me from loving this computer. If you're going to use it docked, it'll be great for you. If you're going to game, the screen is good (though only 60 fps). If you want to consume content, I'd spring for the OLED option when they mark it down. -Highly Excellent

This is not just another sleek and pretty silver laptop by Dell, instead the XPS 15 15.6” FHD+ Laptop has been designed and built on a 64-bit operating system that has been engineered for productivity and speed. The Intel Evo i7-13700H 13th generation processor boots up quickly, connects to Wi-Fi instantly and assist with the battery’s quick charge. I am not too thrilled with being forced to move to Windows 11 Home, but that is the latest Windows technology so that is pre-installed on this computer. I do really like the Anti-Glare Infinity Edge 1920 x 1200 resolution screen because it present vibrant colors and is pleasantly easy on the eyes. It incorporates technology to help reduce blue light which can have long term detrimental results on the biological heath of the eyes. Even with this technology, it still delivers 500-nit brightness which allows for great screen viewing, even while outdoors. The 16 GB system memory operates at a RAM speed of 4800 megahertz which allows for multi-tasking and even though this model is not marketed for gaming, it can compete with others on various graphic intense task because of this. The 512 GB SSD helps increase the battery life because the SSD is flash based which eliminates moving parts. The graphics card, an Intel Arc A370M, is not the top of the line as would be in a gaming computer, but what it does do in this design is allow for fast creation in a light portable designed product. If this computer just had an internal DVD/CD Drive, then it would be near perfect. Where that is important, an external device can be used. The computer’s design does incorporate a smart disc media card reader. The laptop’s USB ports are limited and that is acknowledged and addressed by Dell with the addition of an external 1 USB-C to USB-A v3.0 adapter which also incorporates an HDMI connection. What is built into the laptop are two Thunderbolt 4 connection ports and an additional “C” type cable connection to accommodate the power adaptor and charging cord. The Backlit Keyboard is always a nice feature that I have become accustomed to over the years in my laptops and keyboards. It is a particularly useful feature when working in lowly lite areas like on an airplane or working in evenings at dusk. The keyboard is smooth, and the tactile feeling of the keys allows for fast typing with very few, if any, mistakes. I do miss having a numeric keyboard to interface with on the right side of the primary keyboard. Dell has chosen to omit this on this model. The 0.92 megapixels camera delivers 720p resolution. This is certainly adequate for zoom meetings but is a little grainy if you are using it to try to deliver the exact color of an object through visual communication. There is also a headphone jack, a microphone input jack, and a USB Type C charging port. This laptop was designed without an ethernet port which is a little surprising. Wireless connections are based on 802.11 AX, Wi-Fi 6 and there has been no issues with instant internet connection to the router. Sometimes touchpads want to lag, but this one does not seem to do that at all. It is a glass surface, operates smoothly and seems to be precise. Constructed of aluminum. the laptop Is noticeably light. It I less that one inch thick at only 0.71 inches, is 13.57 inches wide, 9.06 inches deep and weighs 4.21 pounds. The operating system opens by either use of a password, numeric code, or the built-in fingerprint reader. The Dell PS 15 laptop operates on a 6-cell battery or an electrical power supply of up to 130 watts. The computer comes with a 1-year Premium Support Warranty on both parts and labor.

It gets more and more difficult to evaluate computers today. Frankly, it's easier when the occasional terrible product is produced- you know too much plastic, sketchy screen hinges, mushy keyboad feel, somehow painfully slow... This Dell XPS 15, is the opposite. It has a proven aesthetic and high build quality that rivals "you know who" I love the "Platinum" satin, real metal case and the carbon fiber-like palm/keyboard surround that feels like satin. No flash here, all elegance with a good feel. The screen hinge is consistent- you never feel like you're going to damage the machine. The screen, this one with the 15.6" FHD+, anti-glare specs, is beautiful and spacious. It's nearly edge-to-edge. The slim black bezel gives piece of mind protection. I haven't updated my tech in a while since Dell's products tend to last a long time. I love the face recognition feature that allows you to frequently avoid entering passwords/pins not just to login to your computer, but also on many websites with the Edge browser. Tech-wise my model has 16GB of memory at 4800Mhz and a 512GB SSD. It's running Windows 11 Home on a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 "EVO" processor, with Intel Arc A370M graphics using 4GB of dedicated memory. It's fast and more than sufficient for what most people are doing- surfing the web, watching videos and editing photos. I haven't had a chance to use it for gaming, nor intense architectural graphics. As far as connectivity to peripherals and external storage, there's a full-size SD-card slot, one USB 3.2 Gen2 Type C port with DisplayPort, two Thunderbolt ports (also USB TypeC 3.2, Gen2) and a 1 headphone port. A USB-C to USB-A v3.0 and HDMI v2.0 dongle adapter is also included. I found the stereo speakers powerful and a delight. Finally, the keyboard is optionally backlit. Nice. Set-up, is time consuming, but super easy as Windows gets more and more polished. Many of my settings I share with my Microsoft work and personal accounts transferred over (by my request). Recapping, this is very nice looking performer for the masses. Recommend!