20 APRIL2020|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE
Thereare clearbenefitstotallerrrlaptop
screens,aswe’veseenwiththe 3 :2formatof
Microsoft’sSurfaceandHuawei’sMMMateBook
series: youcan fit more separatewwwindows
onscreenatonce,anddon’thavetoscrollas
muchtoviewlongerpagesandfileees.Dell’s
new16:10panelisabitclosertostandard
widescreenthan3:2,butit’sadefinnnite
improvement over the Full HD disppplays
usedonpreviousXPSversions.
It’sasuperbscreen,too.Wemeeeasured
anamazingmaximumbrightnessooof
538cd/m^2 ,outshiningevenApple’sss
newest16inMacBookPro(Shoppeeer
385),whichtoppedoutat471cd/mmm^2.
Acontrastratioof1,761:1, meanwhhhile,
ensuresthatthepicturelooks
fantasticallysolidandvibrant.
Evenmoreimpressiveiscolour
performance.Inourcolorimetertessst
theXPS 13 2-in-1deliveredavery
creditable 97 .1%coverageofthe
sRGBcolourspace,withanexcellentaverage
delta-Eof1. 18 .That’snotquiteperrrfffeeecccttt,bbbuuutttiiittt’’’sss
nearenough tosatisfymostprofessionals
working in thevisual arts. There’s supportfor
HDR video streaming, too, althoughnot for
wide-gamut appsorgames.
We’ve only one reservationabout the XPS
13 2-in-1’s screen, andthat’s to do with
sharpness.The expensive 4K+ variants have
an ultra-high pixel density of 338ppi, but on
the Full HD+modelsthat’sslashed to 169ppi.
That’s quite abit coarser than the227ppiof
the Apple MacBook Proorthe 267ppiofthe
MicrosoftSurfacePro 7, anditshows. Text
in particularlooks slightly soft-edgedand
grainy, rather than perfectlysharp and
smooth. It doesn’t ruinthe visual experience,
but it’s disappointing at this price.
THEBIG 1-
The XPS132-in-1 uses Intel’s latest top-of-the-
rangemobile Corei7processor,the i7-1065G7,
so despite its slimline design, we expected
strong performance.And in ourstandard 4K
mediabenchmarks, that’s exactly what we got,
with scores that held up very well relative to
the Corei7versions of itsmain rivals. Its
overall scoreof99inour 4K benchmarksis
well ahead of theLenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga
(Shopper383)and MicrosoftSurface Pro 7
(Shopper386). The latteractuallyuses the
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2-in-1’ssuperiorcoolingcapabilities.
Thisconvertiblealsohappilykeepsupwith
theCorei7-poweredversionoftheregular
XPS 13, as well as the corresponding model of
the MicrosoftSurface Laptop 3.
As forgraphicalperformance, the Core i
version of theXPS 13 2-in-1comes with
bog-standard integrated graphics, butthe
Corei7siliconincludes amorepowerful Iris
Plus-branded GPU. Whilethisdoesn’t mean
you can runthe latest 3D games with all the
detailsettings whacked up to maximum, we
could get Dirt Showdownrunningatasmooth
57fpsusingacombination of theHigh preset
and a720p resolution. Even Metro: LastLight
Redux managed aplayable32fpsat1080p,
albeit on High settings rather than Very High,
andwith SSAA disabled.
ANDCARRYON
Batterylifeisanother strength. In our video
rundown test, with the display settoa
standard brightness of 170cd/m^2 ,the XPS 13
2-in-1 lasted averycreditable 9h 8m, easily
outlasting both its2-in-1 competitors and
the Surface Laptop 3. The standardXPS 13
faredevenbetter,withanoutstandingscore
of 10h 35m, buteven so,the convertible
version remains astrongperformer.
One area where the XPS 13
2-in-1 isn’t quitesoimpressiveis
storage performance. Although
Dell usesNVMe SSD storage,
the 256GB Toshibadriveinour
review model delivered merely
average performancefor adrive
of this type: a1,872MB/s
sequential readspeedand just
a679MB/s writespeed.
Formost tasks this won’t be
aproblem at all,but it does
mean that whensavinglarge
files,you don’tquite getthe
same sort of snappiness as on
the ThinkPad X1 Yoga.
As afinal plus pooooint, since the XPS 13 2-in-
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theveryfastestWi-Fi speeds–justassoonas
youbuy acompatible router.
TURNING POINT
Inevitably, everyconvertible design has its
trade-offs,but the XPS 13 2-in-1 is the most
attractivetakewe’ve seen on theidea. Dell
has created asuperb,uncompromising
laptop,which also just happens to offer the
convenient option of flipping around intotent
or tablet mode.
If you have no usefor the folding design,
you cansavemoney by choosingaregular
Dell XPS 13 or aSurface Laptop with ataller,
sharper screen. Conversely,ifyou plan to use
tablet modeonaregular basis, you might find
the Surface Pro7suitsyou better: it’s thinner
and lighter,and doesn’thaveakeyboard
stickingawkwardly outofthe back.
Formany everydaylaptop users,however,
theideaofahigh-qualitytouchscreen system
that can occasionally be transformed into
othermodes will hitthe sweetspotperfectly.
Even if you’dordinarilyturn your nose up at a
convertible design, therefore,you maywell
find it hard to resist the charms of this fast,
stylish, powerful andportable two-in-one.
DarienGraham-Smith
SPECIFICATIONS
Windowsoverall
Multitasking
Batterylife
0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100
See page 84 forperformancedetails
PROCESSORQuad-core1.3GHzIntel Core i7-1065G7•RAM
8GB•DIMENSIONS296x207x13mm•WEIGHT1.33kg•
SCREENSIZE13.4in•SCREENRESOLUTION1,920x1,200•
GRAPHICSADAPTORIntelIris Plus Graphics•TOTAL
STORAGE256GBSSD•OPERATINGSYSTEMWindows 10
Home•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.dell.
com•PARTCODEcn
9h8m
99
85
y
