A new year, a new Dell XPS 15. This is Dell's high-end consumer laptop with which they compete with the Apple Macbook Pro on specs and appearance, but for a lot less money. Earlier we called the 2018 XPS 15 (9570) the Macbook Killer, but does the successor charm us again?
Price From € 1399,-Processor Intel Core i5-9300H, i7-9750H, i9-9750H, i9-9980HK
Screen size 15,6”
Screen 1920x1080p IPS, 3840x2160p IPS Touch, 3840x2160p OLED
SSD 512GB, 1TB, 2TB
Memory 8GB, 16GB, 32GB
video card Intel UHD 630, GeForce GTX 1650
Connections USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 3), 2x USB Type-A, HDMI SD Card Reader, 3.5mm jack
Website www.dell.nl
9 Score 90
- Pros
- Build quality and finish
- Excellent display
- Nice keyboard and touchpad
- Excellent battery life
- Negatives
- Heat production in high-end processors
The American expression "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" clearly applies to Dell's "new" XPS 15. At first glance, we seem to have the exact same laptop in front of us as last year. However, given the excellent build quality, beautiful metal finish, excellent keyboard, accurate touchpad, plus good dimensions, weight and good connections, you have to wonder if change is necessary. The XPS 15 is also still easy to maintain and upgrade.
The aluminum on the outside is a touch lighter, internally we see a carbon fiber finish that is very easy to clean with a damp cloth, and also looks hygienic after years. New is the fingerprint scanner in the power button, and the webcam is now located at the top of the screen, which is a lot better than the nose camera of the previous model. The Thunderbolt 3.0 port now offers 4 lanes with which external GPUs and the fastest external SSDs get the most out of it. As far as we're concerned, the basics are still in order, and the modest adjustments are positive.
New specs
Internally, the specs have been upgraded slightly, the larger (highly desirable) battery is now standard, and we're getting 9th Gen Intel Core processors. That's a good thing, because even the entry-level Intel Core i5-9300H is more powerful than the top-end Core i7-7700HQ from two years ago and is actually sufficient for most tasks; only video editors really benefit from the i7 or i9. The new GTX 1650 video card is also considerably more powerful than last year. You don't buy the XPS 15 primarily for gaming, but the occasional game is fine with it.
New is the OLED screen option, which produces beautiful images. However, you mainly buy these if you watch a lot of video, because the 4K IPS Touch and 1080p are also practically perfect panels and more logical for content creation. With the latter you also get a bit more out of the battery; 7-8 hours with heavy use, or 10-12 hours with light use are excellent scores.
Conclusion
The Dell XPS 15 thus remains an excellent (Windows) alternative to the Macbook Pro, where you can miss the touchbar but save hundreds of euros on a comparable premium laptop.
