DELL XPS 13 7390
The XPS 13 comes with Dell’s CinemaStream and CinemaColor tech, optimisingvideo
for a top-notch small-screen viewing experience.
he 7390 2-in-1editionofDell’s
dependableXPSlaptopseriesisthe
baselineforconvertiblelaptop
performance.It’snotflashylikethe
HPSpectrex360,oruniqueliketheHPZBook
X2.Thisisa 2-in-1forthosewhowanta good
laptopanda goodtablet,packagedintothe
samedevice.
TheXPS 13 hasthesameIntelprocessoras
theSpectrex360,soperformanceisbroadly
comparabletoHP’ssleeker2-in-1.ThisXPScan
handlea spotofgaming,aswellasperform
mid-levelrenderingandvideoprocessingtasks.
Infact,itoutperformstheHPx360bya small
amountinsomeareas,likelyduetoa superior
thermaldesignthatpreventsCPUthrottling.
There’splentytosetDell’sofferingapartfrom
thex360,though.Forstarters,it’sa fewhundred
poundscheaper;theXPSdoesn’tcomewitha
stylus,butthisisstilla significantlycheaper
productthantheSpectrex360.From£1,239for
a decent2-in-1laptopisa gooddeal,sothe
XPShasthevaluefactorcornered.
TheLEDdisplayisslightlylargerthanthex360too.It’sa 13.4-inchLEDpanelwitha satisfyingly
largeviewingangle.Sonot great for privacy, but
excellentforwatchingmovies or giving a
presentation.It’snota 4K screen, sadly, but this
bright,near-edgelessdisplay still packs excellent
coloursandfeelsgoodto use in tablet mode.
Soundqualityisgood,with the dual-speaker
setupproducingfullandrich audio. The fans can
geta littlenoisyattimes. Battery life is fine,
lastingslightlylessthanthe Spectre x360 in our
tests.Both2-in-1ssufferfrom their 10th-
generationIntelCPUsbeing a bit more power-
hungrythanoldermodels, but in broad terms
bothlaptopshavesolidbattery life.
StorageiswheretheXPS falls down – its
512GBinternalNVMeSSD is respectable, but
halfthatofthex360,which skews the value
propositionofthetwolaptops somewhat.
TheXPS’sdriveisalsosignificantly slower,
witharound30%poorerread times and 50%
slowerwrites.Whilethisdifference won’t be
toonoticeable,anyoneworking with large
fileswilllikelypreferthex360.
There’splentytoadmire here. The
360-degreehingefeelssturdy, and we love
thealuminiumandcarbon fibre finish. It’s not
asflashyasthecompetition, but in a way it
doesn’tneedtobe;ifyou’re not bothered by
aesthetics,a laptopdoesn’t need to be fancy, it
justneedstobegood.T
DELL XPS
13 7390
An affordable, good-quality 2-in-1
laptop that sets the bar high“TheXPS 13 isn’t as flashy
asthecompetition, but
it oesn’tneed to be”
2
April 2020 | |^75
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