2019-09-01_Computer_Shopper

82 SEPTEMBER 2019 |COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE 379

ULTRAPORTABLES

THEEVER-PRESENTDell XPS 13 series

has long been setting the standardfor

ultraportablelaptops, which is perhaps

why there’s relativelylittle difference

betweeneach new iteration,includingthis

latest 2019 version.

As ever,there are amultitudeof different

specs to choosefrom, but the £1,399

model we tested sits in the middle,with

aFull HD display, Intel Core i7-8565U

processor,8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD

storage.Everythingsits inside alovely-looking

aluminiumand carbonfibre body,making for

asturdy yet pleasantlylightweightbuild.

More specifically,itweighs 1.2kg –the

same as the Asus ZenBook UX433FA–and

has identicalphysicaldimensionsto the

previous XPS 13, measuringjust 7.8mm at its

thinnestpoint. Sadly,this results in aslight

connectivitydeficiency:you do get three

USB Type-C ports, of which the two on the

left-hand side are Thunderbolt3-enabled,but

there are no HDMI or full-sizeUSB ports.

There is amicroSD card slot and 3.5mm audio

jack on the right edge,however,and Dell

includesaUSB Type-C adaptor in the box.

LOOK UP

The biggestdifferencebetweenthis XPS 13

and the previous modelsis the size and

positionof the webcam,which now –thanks

to aredesigned,smallerlens –sits in the top

bezel instead of down in the lower-leftcorner.

This is an enormousimprovement,spellingan

end to the era of unflatteringly low angles

when taking avideo call.

The chiclet keyboardis an absolute

pleasureto type on. It’s asmall laptop,which

necessitates amore compactkeylayout, but

we found it to be very user-friendly.With a

palm planted either side of the touchpadall

of the keys are within easy reach, and there’s

no need to move your hands about toomuch.

There’s asturdinessto this keyboardthat

you don’t often find in alaptop,outside of the

Lenovo ThinkPad family.Each stroke makes a

thumpingsound rather than aclicking noise,

which creates asense of solidityand

dependability,and travel distanceis perfect,

too. The LED backlightingcan either be

turned off or set to two levels of brightness

when pressingthe F10 key.

Not everything’sperfect, however.For the

most part the touchpadon the XPS

13 is fine,but when using

two-fingerscrollingit

sometimesappearsto have a

mind of its own. We found that the

DELLXPS13(2019)

★★★★★

£1,399•From http://www.dell.com

VERDICT

There’sanewCPUandanewtop-mounted

webcamforthisupdatedXPS13,thelatest

in alineofgreatWindows10laptops

scroll commandcan over-respondmassively,

going all the waytothe toporbottom of

the page,althoughthis is quiteinfrequent.

Worse,two-fingerscroll will occasionally

activateanerratic cursor-spasmingthat

whips it all over the screen and even clicks on

things you’ve not asked it to.

While this doesn’t happenall the time –

it comes in bursts –itisenormously

frustratingbecauseonce it kicks off there’s

not much you can do.This is presumablya

software fault, but we couldn’t saywhether

it affects any other modelsbesidesthe

one we’ve tested.

When moving the cursor about the

screen,the touchpadis responsiveand

accuratefor the most part, and almost the

entire surface area of the touchpadcan be

pressed;you don’t have to be that accurate

with the leftand right clicks.

FORGETABOUTIT

The circularpower button, meanwhile,can

act as afingerprintsensor forunlocking

Windows,althoughlike the trackpadthis

has reliabilityissues. After about aweek of

using the fingerprintunlock function,the

reader stopped recognisingour finger

presses,and we had to go throughthe

enrolmentprocessagain.

There are no gripes to be had with the

display, however.While this is merely the

Full HD versionand not one of the 4K

resolutionmodels,it’s abrilliant screen:it

reachesan sRGB gamut coverage of 95.2%

and an average delta-Eof 1.6, meaningthat

it’s well suited to colour-sensitivephoto- and

video editing tasks, as well as watching

movies. Ahigh peak brightnessof 413cd/m^2

also helps ensure high visibilityeven in

overbearinglightingconditions,while

the matt finish keeps reflectionsto a

minimumas well. The contrastratio of

1,643:1 is well above average,too.

The upgradeto an Intel Core i7-8565U

processor,with its base frequencyof 1.8GHz

and amaximumclock speed of 4.6GHz,

keeps performanceon apar with the 2018

model we tested. That doesn’t sound like

somethingto be very proud of,but then

that model had 16GB of RAM rather than

8GB, and cost £250 more at launch.

In our 4K applicationbenchmarks,the new

XPS 13 scored 95 overall, and managedto stay

cool and quiet even when the system was

being pushedto its limits. It’s not the absolute

best in its class –the Razer Blade Stealth

managed115 overall with the same CPU –but

it’s still avery fast laptop.Battery lifeisgreat,

too: the XPS 13 lasted for10h 35m of video

playback before finally runningdry,an

impressivesix hours longer than the Blade

Stealth 13 (which,in fairness, has adedicated

GPU in the Nvidia GeForce MX150).

SAMEAGAIN,PLEASE

The SSD’s 1,938MB/ssequentialwritespeed

is anotherhighlight,althoughits sequential

writespeed of 397MB/sis disappointingly

slow foraNVMe drive.

Nevertheless,Dell has done

generallydone anotherfine job

with the latest XPS 13. The

touchpadissue is aworry,and

we wouldn’t mind some more

ambitionbeing shown in next

year’s update, but neitherof those

stops this being one very desirablelaptop.