The Dell XPS 15 is a desktop replacement laptop, is a wonderland of lavish features, cutting-edge components, and ,overall, one of the best laptops I've tested. Even more impressive is that most of its parts are customizable before finalizing your purchase: The XPS 15 can be completely over the top or priced to meet a certain budget. It's one of the few 15-inch laptops that has support for a full 1080p screen resolution, a Skype-certified HD webcam, floor-thumping speakers, and every wireless technology imaginable. If the Intel Core i5 processor and Nvidia GeForce GT 420M (with Optimus technology) aren't groundbreaking enough for you, there are options for quad-core processors and a more powerful graphics card. The only thing left to do now is hand the XPS 15 the Editors' Choice in the desktop replacement laptop category.
t would take another review to fully explain the XPS 15's list of impressive features, but I'll try to summarize them. It comes with 3 USB ports (two of which are USB 3.0, the other an eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port), DisplayPort, HDMI, and an HD Webcam. The Webcam, which allows you to shoot video in 720p, is a first for a laptop. It's also Skype-certified, which means you can video chat in high definition and not have to worry about distortions. A Blu-ray drive wasn't included in this configuration, but you can add one for another $100. The HP dv7-4183cl and R580-JBB2, on other hand, are sold with Blu-ray drives. Like HP, Dell is only offering the fastest hard drives with the XPS 15.This one ships with a 500GB, 7200-rpm drive.There's no shortage of wireless features either, including 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WiMAX (4G), and mobile broadband (CDMA and GSM 3G technologies). If you're the type who likes to hook a laptop up to an HDTV (via an HDMI cable), Intel's Wireless Display (WiDi) does the same thing minus the cable.
The transmitter is built into the laptop, so there's no dongle hanging off of a USB port. However, you will need to buy a Netgear Push2TV ($100 option), a receiver box that tethers to your HDTV. A pair of JBL speakers and a subwoofer is included, because regular ones just won't cut it. Volume levels and bass response, as you would expect, are beyond what you can achieve with the Samsung R580-JBB2 and Acer AS5820T-5951. In addition to studio-quality sound, there are microphone enhancements such as echo cancellation and noise reduction.Top-of-the-line components are the pieces that complement many of these high-end features. The XPS 15 runs a dual-core 2.53-GHz Intel Core i5-460M processor and 4GB of DDR3 memory, which are the perfect combination for this laptop. But faster parts dissipate more heat, particularly in the base of the system. Systems like the HP dv7-4183cl and Dell 17R run the same processor, but up their memory to 6GB. Even then, the XPS 15 emerged the victor in tests like Handbrake (2:45) and Cinebench R11.5 (2.3). If you're a hard core performance enthusiast, you can ramp the processor to a quad-core variant and max the memory to 8GB. The XPS 15 also earned top marks in PCMark Vantage (6,426), an overall performance test that takes advantage of yet another component graphics.The XPS 15 is one of the first systems out of the gate with the Nvidia GeForce GT 420M graphics chip (the GeForce GT 435M is also available). Not only were 3DMark06 scores (7,404) best in class, but the Nvidia chip can turn itself off when it's not in use and automatically switch to an Intel integrated graphics chipset, a technology Nvidia calls Optimus. It's the reason why battery life turned out better than expected.The 9-cell battery, however, creates a bulge from the bottom, elevating the laptop about an inch from the back.
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