31 Jul
Blog

Dell 27 USB-C Monitor (P2720DC) Review: A Goldilocks Display

Dell 27 USB C Monitor p2720dc review dsc01060

"The Dell P2720DC offers a superbly balanced monitor that is perfect for docking laptops via USB-C."

  • Excellent balanced range of functions

  • Good picture quality

  • Power supply is supported via USB-C

  • Attractive design

As a monitor shopper you can sometimes feel like goldilocks in front of three bowls of porridge. 1080p is boring and 4K is too expensive. A 21-inch is too small to be worth it, and 32-inches is too big for your desk.

The Dell 27 USB-C monitor (model number P2720DC) tries to be the happy medium. It is a 1440p, 27-inch IPS display that wants to impress you with its balance more than with its data sheet. Professional photographers or gamers are not blown away. Instead, it wants to be the monitor that most people like.

At $ 360 (compared to the original price of $ 480), however, it has to prove something. Fortunately, it has a trick up its sleeve that keeps it competitive: USB-C docking with power and chaining. Is that enough to make this monitor the monitor most people should buy?

design

After unpacking, you'll be greeted with one of Dell's superb stands that screw into the rectangular base from below. Then lower the monitor and tilt it forward to snap onto the stand. From there, you have a monitor with a range of settings ranging from height, tilt, pan, and rotate to portrait, so it can be set exactly as you see fit.

I can't imagine an office where the Dell P2720DC would be out of place.

This extensive range of customizations is particularly useful for people who work from home to ensure that their ergonomic requirements are met, to work at their desks for hours, and for companies that adhere to strict ergonomic guidelines for their work areas have to.

Most displays have a kind of tilt function, and it is expected that height adjustments will also be made in this price range. However, Dell always goes the full mile and also adds a twist to the portrait, unless the display is of such a wide format that it won't be able to.

But it's the design that Dell often catches the eye. The display looks very professional, looks incredibly clean and all around and I can't imagine an office where it would look out of place.

Care has also been taken in the details. While in older monitors the cable management cutout in the neck was too low, which led to visible cables, the hole is higher in the latest displays from Dell, so that the cables are only visible when the display is in the highest position – a position that You will rarely use it in.

However, if you don't find the P2720DC fashionable enough, the Dell Ultrathin D2719DC may be just the thing for you. He has a slimmer profile.

Connections and controls

When it comes to connectivity, Dell has gone the extra mile with its P2720DC. As mentioned earlier, this display has USB-C docking, which is helpful in a number of situations.

The most notable thing is connecting laptops. The connector supports 65 watts of power, so it can send the video data from your laptop to the monitor while charging your laptop. This cable also handles data transfer between your laptop and the monitor's internal USB hub.

Here, however, I came across a blatant gap. When you look at the frame, you think the P2720DC has built-in speakers – but that's not the case. Dell reuses the frame from other displays for the P2720DC, but has no speakers built into it. Most competitors like Lenovo ThinkVision P27h-20 have speakers.

You can't get away with loudspeaker music in a large office, of course, but they can be helpful for quickly showing a video to a colleague without fumbling with earplugs, or worse, finding external speakers. Office managers may like it, but the lack of built-in speakers seems an inappropriate place to cut costs.

For the rare situation where you need it, you can use the built-in speakers of a connected laptop with the P2720DC.

When it comes to other connectivity, the display has an HDMI connector and two DisplayPort connectors. One of these two DisplayPorts is an input and the other is an output for connecting a second monitor using the DisplayPort daisy chain function, which also works with the USB-C connector.

The Dell P2720DC is best suited for modern laptops.

I found another gap: a USB-B port for upstream data. To use the display's internal USB hub, you must use the USB-C connection. This makes the display somewhat unsuitable for use with desktops, since USB-C ports are not yet widely used on desktops. Often, even if your desktop has one, you won't be able to view it, which will result in another cable.

If you want to use the hub with an older PC, you will also need to find the correct USB-A to USB-C cable as it is not included.

The buttons for the OSD (screen display) are located in the lower right corner of the monitor. This position makes them a little less ergonomically accessible than from the side, but it helps to place multiple displays side by side, which many buyers may do with the daisy chain function.

The OSD itself is easy to navigate and provides the basics for configuring the display, including brightness, contrast, and color options. It also has a handful of display modes, including Standard, Movie, Games, Comfort, and more.

picture quality

Although the P2720DC may not offer the longest color range or fancy factory calibrations, eyes won't be missing. According to Dell, the IPS panel offers 1.07 billion colors as well as extremely large viewing angles, a contrast ratio of 1000: 1 and a maximum brightness of 350 nits.

The resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels is also the sweet spot at 27 inches and offers a lot of screen space and sharpness. It is possible to jump to 4K at this price, but may need to affect the image quality of the IPS panel as well as some of the peculiarities of this monitor.

If you want to keep these features, you need to easily check if you have to invest an additional $ 200 in your budget for the 2020 27-inch 4K UltraSharp monitor from Dell, the Dell U2720Q.

Dell has also coated the display with an excellent anti-glare layer, which is vital in an office environment. I used the monitor in a room with a window glowing directly on it and lights from everywhere, but the picture still looked vivid and I didn't need the highest brightness setting. Of course, I wouldn't recommend editing photos in such an environment, but the display was more than for office work, which is exactly the goal.

Subjectively, Dell built a wonderful monitor, but how does it work when I throw our Datacolor Spyder X Elite on it?

Long story short, surprisingly good. I measured a peak brightness of 395 nits, which is even higher than what the data sheet promises, and the best contrast ratio also occurs at peak brightness with a maximum of 1,090: 1. The color space coverage corresponds to the data sheet with 100% of the sRGB space, but decreases in AdobeRGB with 78%. The color accuracy was achieved with an average Delta-E (difference to real) of 2.08, which is not bad for a non-calibrated monitor. It's not as accurate as the Acer ConceptD CM2, but it's not a problem.

Professional editors may want to jump to a 4K display with a larger color space.

Against this background, the calibration of the monitor itself has brought no major changes. The brightness, contrast and color gamut remained the same, except that I pushed an additional percent more AdobeRGB color gamut out of the display. I managed to improve the color accuracy to an average Delta-E of 1.3.

To put this into context, a professionally calibrated monitor has a Delta-E of less than 2, so that after calibration, the P2720DC is technically accurate enough for professional machining work. However, professional editors probably want to switch to a 4K display with a wider screen color space for the AdobeRGB area.

However, for those who are not ready to invest in a colorimeter, the pre-calibration results of the Dell P2720DC are good enough for small daily changes of a non-professional caliber.

Our opinion

The P2720DC from Dell is a monitor that promises too little and delivers too much. If you're a laptop user who needs one or more displays, the P2720DC offers the flexibility in connectivity you could want, and the USB-C docking function for a cable makes switching between home and child's play child's play.

The lack of built-in speakers can put some people off, and the lack of a non-Type-C upstream USB port for the internal USB hub makes the display somewhat inconvenient for use with desktops. The P2720DC makes up for this with a professional appearance and an IPS panel that provides a pleasant and uniform picture. The excellent anti-glare coating is just a cherry on the top and is ideal for use in well-lit office environments.

Are there alternatives?

Dell competes in a crowded room with the P2720DC, so there are certainly alternatives. A small handful are the ViewSonic VX2785-2K, the Lenovo ThinkVision P27h-20 and, if you don't need a USB-C, last year's UltraSharp 27-inch QHD monitor from Dell, the U2719D, which costs about the same but smaller is steady rests and a factory calibration.

HP also has a competitor with almost identical specifications and prices, the HP Z27n, which only supports a power of 15 watts.

How long it will take?

Dell grants a 3-year warranty on the P2720DC for the exchange service. This means that a new one will be delivered to your office or home before the old one is picked up – and in my experience, this can be done very quickly.

Outside of the warranty period, you shouldn't have to worry either. The P2720DC has LED backlighting that is usually not prone to failure, and there is no complexity that increases the likelihood of failure. Therefore, the P2720DC should last at least as long as a monitor: five years.

Should I buy it?

Yes. If you are looking for a home office monitor with excellent image quality and excellent laptop connectivity, the Dell P2720DC is the one for you.

Editor's recommendations




04 Jul
Blog

Dell XPS 17 Review: Leaving The MacBook Pro In The Dust

"The Dell XPS 17 is a remarkably small 17-inch laptop with incredible performance."

  • Almost perfect screen

  • Incredible performance

  • Four Thunderbolt 3 ports

  • Keyboard and touchpad are excellent

  • Surprisingly small

  • Disappointing battery life

  • Expensive

If you told me that you bought a 17-inch laptop in 2020, I would call you crazy. There are only a handful of 17-inch laptops, and with the good 15-inch laptops, they are hardly worth your time.

That said, unless you're talking about the new Dell XPS 17. Unlike most 17-inch models, the XPS 17 is more than just a large screen. It increases performance. Serious performance. The kind that even the XPS 15 cannot offer.

I expect a lot from a laptop that costs nearly $ 3,000, but with the Nvidia RTX 2060 under the hood and a sprawling 17-inch screen, this could be the ultimate content creation workstation.

design

17-inch laptops are massive. This is one of the reasons why they have gone out of style. However, Dell engineers and designers always strive to ensure that the laptops are as small as possible, and these principles apply here too.

The case is only slightly larger in width and depth than the 16-inch MacBook Pro. You won't notice a big difference if you push it into your backpack even though you have an inch more screen. I was surprised to see that the XPS 17 fits in the pocket of my backpack, which is only suitable for laptops up to 15 inches. This is impressive.

As always, the screen bezels on the laptop are key. With thinner edges around each side of the screen (including the lower chin), the XPS 17 can reduce its overall footprint. The display feels full. It's not as big a difference as upgrading from XPS 13 to XPS 15, but every inch counts. You will appreciate the extra screen, whether you are playing, editing videos, or just scrolling a website.

If you don't use a mouse often, you will appreciate the spacious and responsive touchpad.

Thickness is the only dimension in which the MacBook Pro 16-inch is even smaller. It measures at 0.64 inches and weighs 4.3 pounds. The XPS 17 is slightly larger at 0.77 inches and weighs 4.65 pounds. That's up to 5.53 pounds for the touchscreen option. It's not easy, although the new Razer Blade Pro 17 is still almost half a pound heavier.

However, if you've already seen the new XPS 15, nothing will surprise you. Many of the same design elements have been adopted into the larger form factor, including the keyboard, touchpad, 16:10 aspect ratio, and carbon fiber fabric in the palm rests.

The keyboard and touchpad are highlights. If you're like me and don't use a mouse often, you'll particularly appreciate the spacious and responsive touchpad. The click is quiet and the tracking is almost perfect. The loose mechanism in my test device of the XPS 15 was fixed in the XPS 17.

Ports and connectivity

Connectivity has been added to highlight the "Pro" nature of the Dell XPS 17. It has four Thunderbolt 3 ports, two on each side. That means you have access to display output, superfast transfer speeds, charging, and more.

These are two more Thunderbolt 3 ports than the Dell XPS 15 and even a 16-inch MacBook Pro with a full-size SD card slot. Photographers and videographers should be enthusiastic.

If you come from an older XPS, MacBook or even Razer Blade, older ports may be missing. If you need HDMI or USB-A connections, you have to rely on dongles or a Thunderbolt 3 hub.

The XPS 17 also features Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5, the latest wireless connections designed to provide strong network performance and a reliable Bluetooth connection.

performance

The Dell XPS 15 is already an extremely powerful laptop. When I heard that the XPS 17 would improve things a bit, I was curious how this could be achieved. After all, the two laptops have the same processor options. The basic model includes the Intel Core i5-10300H and extends to the Intel Core i9-10980HK with eight cores.

The Core i5 model only has four cores and integrated graphics, so you shouldn't expect anything special in terms of performance. It starts at $ 1,372, more than a base XPS 15, and you pay for the bigger screen. Laptops like the LG Gram 17 or the HP Envy 17 follow this approach – and remain relatively niche products.

The processor performance is not found in smaller laptops like the Dell XPS 15.

However, the processor used in my test device was the Intel Core i7-10875H, an 8-core piece of silicon. Together with 32 GB of RAM, the XPS 17 achieved impressive results in Geekbench 5 and Cinebench R20. It is 8% faster in the multi-core Cinebench R20 than in the 16-inch MacBook Pro with Intel Core i9-9980HK. Geekbench 5 single-core is also 9% ahead.

Laptops with the AMD Ryzen 7 3800H or the Intel Core i9-10980HK offer a slightly faster processor performance. However, a Core i9 variant of the Dell XPS 17 will close the gap. In the meantime, this upgraded Core i7 is very powerful, even for content creators, developers, designers, and anyone else running heavy-duty applications.

However, processor performance is not something you cannot find in the XPS 15. For me alone, this does not justify the larger space requirement and the higher price of the XPS 17. The graphics hardware is a different story.

Graphics performance

The Dell XPS 17 features a brand new heat solution that uses a combination of steam chambers and a redesigned airflow system. Better cooling enables the use of more power-hungry components like the Nvidia RTX 2060. We're not talking about a powerful graphics card for such a thin and light laptop.

The XPS 17 outperforms the Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti of the XPS 15 in 3DMark Time Spy by 35%. It's even on par with the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, a gaming laptop that uses the same RTX 2060 GPU. In contrast to the XPS 15, which always had limited gaming performance, the XPS 17 is a fully-fledged gaming laptop. It plays Assassin's Creed Odyssey at 41 FPS (frames per second) at 1080p and ultra detail, and this is an extremely challenging game. That's 37% better than the XPS 15 and just a few frames behind the ROG Zephyrus G14.

Of course, performance in lighter games like Fortnite, which was playable at almost 60 FPS, even held up to 1440p with Epic graphics settings. If you want to connect an external monitor with a high refresh rate, you can even enjoy frame rates of up to 116 at a resolution of 1080p with settings for high details. Of course it's not a good experience at 4K, but that's not surprising.

The XPS 17 had similar frame rates in Battlefield V. 4K is prohibited, but the 1440p gameplay was smooth and looks crisp.

The lack of a higher refresh rate or G-Sync support is the only function missing in the gaming experience. Limiting the frame rate and enabling V-Sync is probably the best way to avoid screen tears in most games, but it's not quite the experience of a high-end gaming laptop. As much as I wish all new laptops had 120 Hz or 144 Hz screens, we are not there yet.

But here, too, the XPS 17 is not labeled as a gaming laptop, and these inflated graphics have many other uses. It is blown through 3D modeling and AutoCAD and is an extremely powerful option for video editing.

The Dell XPS 17 cannot stand the performance of the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch.

I tried some video renderings in Adobe Premiere, in which the graphics card can be fully used on some laptops. The XPS 17 was one of the fastest laptops in our test that exported a two-minute 4K video clip to ProRes 422. The task was completed in just five minutes and 47 seconds, and the XPS 15 was exceeded by three minutes. With an Intel Xeon processor, you might get more out of a chunky workstation, but the two are hardly worth comparing.

The Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch doesn't hold a candle for the XPS 17 despite the recent graphics card upgrade. The only device that could hardly beat in this test was the Microsoft Surface Book 3 15. In this 2-in-1 Device, the graphics card is in a separate housing. It's not a fair fight, but it shows how powerful graphics cards can be if the software is optimized for them.

The new Razer Blade Pro 17 can outperform it as a video editing option when it launches later this year. It offers the same eight-core processor in addition to the much more powerful Nvidia RTX 2080 Super Max-Q graphics card. I won't know for sure how it will work until I test it myself, but the specs look promising.

The base model of the XPS 17, of course, uses built-in Intel graphics, which means that you can't expect to be a slot machine. There's also an option for an Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti graphics card if you want a little more performance at a lower cost. The GTX 1650 Ti option can serve you well if you want to play games with medium detail settings.

Display and speakers

Like the Dell XPS 15, the XPS 17 offers two display options. One is 1,920 x 1,200, which comes in the base model. It's more pixels than a standard 1080p screen, but most people will want to choose the 3840×2400 display. It is almost perfect. It's the most color accurate screen I've ever tested, and its color gamut is up to 96% in the Adobe RGB color space. Not even the MacBook Pro 16-inch can compare it, although it is known to be a leader in picture quality.

The XPS 17's 4K display never has as high a brightness and contrast ratio as an OLED screen, but the XPS 17 isn't a problem there either. The contrast ratio is 1530: 1, which makes it a beautiful screen for games and films and produces a wide range of color depths. With a maximum of 491 nits, I never had a problem with screen glare even when working outdoors.

The speaker grille is larger, but the sound itself is not.

I had high hopes for the rest of the multimedia experience on the XPS 17. Like the XPS 15, the speakers are hidden under a series of laser-cut holes on the keyboard deck. Here the speaker grille is larger, but the sound itself is not.

The audio of the XPS 17 sounds almost identical to that of the XPS 15, which offers a little bass and a decently rounded sound profile. It's better than many laptops, even expensive options like the Razer Blade Pro 17. But do they compete with the MacBook Pro 16-inch or even the MacBook Air? Unfortunately not. The bass and the abundance of audio quality are simply not there.

Battery life

I didn't expect the Dell XPS 17 to offer good battery life. Most laptops with 4K screens don't last long on a single charge, and adding an extra 5 cm screen doesn't help. I didn't expect it to be that bad.

Despite a massive 97 watt-hour battery, the XPS 17 only lasted about four and a half hours on my normal day of use. My workflow is not overly large and mainly consists of web applications, dozens of tabs, and video or audio streaming.

If your workload is simple, endurance will improve significantly. In our video playback test, in which a local 1080p video is repeated until the battery is empty, the XPS 17 took almost seven hours. But in everyday use, the MacBook Pro 16-inch will still outlast it.

I also tested it on the Basemark 3.0 web benchmark, which simulates battery life and puts a heavy load on the CPU at the same time. The XPS 17 only lasted three hours. This is a poor score for a modern mainstream laptop and is more like dedicated gaming laptops.

Of course, if you choose a lower resolution screen, you should see at least a few hours of extra battery.

Our opinion

If the Dell XPS 17 had been nothing more than the XPS 15 with a larger screen, I would not have been impressed. However, if you're looking for absolute performance, there's a new king in town – and it's nowhere near as big as you might think.

It is not cheap and the battery life is disappointing. However, if you're looking for a sleek, professional laptop that can handle heavy workloads, the Dell XPS 17 is the all-in-one package.

Are there alternatives?

The MacBook Pro 16-inch is the main competitor of this laptop. However, it's more expensive and doesn't offer as powerful graphics performance.

The Razer Blade Pro 17 poses a major threat to the XPS 17. The updated model now offers the same eight-core Intel processor, but can be configured up to an Nvidia RTX 2080 Super Max-Q graphics card. It also has a much faster 300 Hz refresh rate screen for smoother games. The Razer Blade Pro 17 is bigger and heavier and can only be configured with a 4K screen starting at a whopping $ 3,800.

Finally, the Dell XPS 15 should be considered as an alternative. It's a little cheaper, smaller, has better battery life, and is still quite powerful.

How long it will take?

The Dell XPS 17 should last for at least five years. It is a well built and powerful laptop. However, you cannot update the memory or memory. There is also only a one-year warranty, although Dell offers an extended accidental damage service or premium hardware support up to four years.

Should you buy it

Yes. The Dell XPS 17 is an extremely powerful laptop specially designed for content creation.

Editor's recommendations




11 Jun
Blog

Dell XPS 15 (9500) Review: The Best 15-inch Laptop

dell xps 15 9500 review 2020 03

"The elegant design and impressive performance of the Dell XPS 15 make it an excellent choice for creative people."

  • Efficient design

  • An additional Thunderbolt 3 port

  • World class display

  • Excellent performance

Dell hit 15 gold with the XPS. It was the perfect alternative to the MacBook Pro 15-inch, a laptop with problems ranging from thermal throttling to unreliable keyboards.

But now that Apple has the 16-inch MacBook Pro, the ball is back on Dell's pitch. The new XPS 15 is the answer. With improvements to almost every aspect of the design, this is the biggest revision of the XPS 15 since its debut.

Is this the ultimate premium laptop for creative people?

design

Known and yet fresh. That's how Dell describes the new XPS 15, and I have to agree.

The look of the Dell XPS 15 has not changed in almost five years. It took a long time to redesign, especially with all the advances the XPS 13 has received over the years.

Almost every aspect of the XPS 15 has been updated in some way. The only design elements that have remained intact are the black carbon fiber fabric used in the palm rests and the aluminum on the lid. The use of aluminum and carbon fiber makes the XPS 15 look like an XPS product, but this is where familiarity ends.

The first thing you'll notice is the display. The XPS 15 now has an aspect ratio of 16:10 for a slightly larger screen. I really like this choice. It made a difference with the XPS 13, and with the larger XPS 15 it made an even bigger difference.

More screen and less wasted space are always good.

The screen measures 15.6 inches and offers a resolution of 3,840 x 2,400. That's more pixels than a conventional 4K screen and a higher pixel density than the 16-inch MacBook Pro. Angry.

Of course, a bigger screen generally means a bigger laptop. Not here. Despite the larger display, the dimensions of the new laptop roughly correspond to those of the previous model. It still weighs only 4 pounds (or 4.5 for the version with the larger battery) and is 0.71 inches thick. More screen and less wasted space are always good.

This emphasis on efficiency also applies to other areas. The keyboard has a wider, more comfortable layout with larger keycaps and a lot of travel. The touchpad is significantly larger and now corresponds to the size of the MacBook Pro 16 inches. However, you don't need to worry about it being too big – the palm rejection is as good as it gets.

My device had a problem with the touchpad. When pressed, it moves slightly as if it were working, but does not register a click. I learned that I have to push harder for it to work as expected. It's annoying with an otherwise excellent tracking experience.

There's no question that some design elements of the laptop were inspired by the MacBook Pro 16-inch, but it doesn't feel like a copycat. The look is XPS through and through.

The port selection has been reduced this time and the HDMI and USB-A ports have been replaced by plenty of USB-C. Two of them are Thunderbolt 3 ports and one is a standard USB-C 3.1 port. Fortunately, Dell has kept the SD card slot, which is a great blessing for creatives. No doubt some of them will miss their old peripheral ports like a wired mouse, but more future-proof, more powerful ports like Thunderbolt 3 are never a bad thing.

Display and speakers

Dell boasted of its new speakers, which are now located directly on the keyboard deck. The placement offers a much more satisfying audio experience than in previous years, and more bass can be heard here than I've ever heard of an XPS product.

However, this doesn't mean that it competes with the MacBook Pro 16-inch. It still fades in terms of clear bass and full mids. The speakers of the XPS 15 are even thinner than the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

If you are a video or photo editor, you will love this screen.

The display and speakers have been redesigned for the better. The larger panel that Dell chose is as good as they come. Although it is an LED (not OLED), 100% was achieved in both sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces. It also has one of the most color-accurate screens I've ever seen – even the MacBook Pro 16.

Although I miss the deep black and high peak brightness of the OLED screen (which is no longer on sale), this is still one of the best laptop displays I've ever tested. If you are a video or photo editor or even a graphic designer you will love this screen.

Of course, you do not get this high-resolution screen in the basic model. It's an $ 294 upgrade to make the 1,920 x 1,200 jump – but it's a must for creatives.

Battery life

Thanks to this insanely high-resolution screen, the battery life is impaired. Dell has put a large 86-watt-hour battery in this model, but the 4K + XPS 15 still only lasts about 6 hours with a light workload. Don't expect to spend all day outside of a store.

The 1080p version of the XPS 15 was a record for battery life in the past, but this 4K model sucks batteries away like no one cares.

It is particularly noticeable when you do hard work. I tested this with the Basemark benchmark, which puts a heavy load on the CPU, and it only took less than 3.5 hours. This is not uncommon for a 15-inch 4K laptop, but it is something you should be aware of.

Compared to the MacBook Pro 16-inch and other 4K laptops, the battery life of the XPS 15 is even.

performance

The performance of the XPS 15 has always been the most important feature. In contrast to laptops like the Surface Laptop 3 15 or the LG Gram 15, the XPS 15 is not just a larger screen. It is more power. It has a 45 watt processor with up to eight cores and 16 threads. It also has an option for a discrete graphics card and plenty of memory.

My test device came with the Intel Core i7-10875H, the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti, 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD. This, of course, is one of the high-end configurations that costs $ 2,200. That's expensive, yes – although it's $ 500 cheaper than a similarly configured 16-inch MacBook Pro.

The system measures quite well. In Cinebench R20 it stomps on the MacBook Pro 16-inch and the XPS 15 from last year. However, the gap in Geekbench 5 is even bigger. However, this lead does not hold up in real performance. It's 5% slower than the MacBook Pro in handbrake video encoding and 15% behind last year's XPS 15.

Video exports to Adobe Premiere Pro are a good challenge for both discrete graphics and a powerful processor. Rendering a 2-minute 4K clip for ProRes 422 took 8 minutes and 42 seconds. Compare this to the 9 minutes and 27 seconds for the Razer Blade, which is equipped with a six-core processor and a powerful Nvidia RTX 2070 for graphics.

It's a solid performance, though it's not earth-shattering. The XPS 15 that I tested last year did that in under 5 minutes thanks to the Core i9-9880HK. It was a faster, fully unlocked processor, and the 32 GB of RAM that was included in my test device didn't hurt either. The latest version of this unlocked 10th generation chip has not yet been shipped in the XPS 15, although Dell says it will be available soon.

While the XPS 15 is a powerful laptop, it is also a fantastic 15-inch laptop in general.

The Microsoft Surface Book 3 was another laptop that surpasses this XPS 15 in terms of video editing. Although there is only one quad-core processor, its powerful graphics dominate the Premiere rendering.

The XPS 15 costs from $ 1,300 for the base model, which gives you only a quad-core processor, integrated graphics and 8 GB of RAM. This model doesn't work nearly as well as the model I've tested, but should be more than sufficient for buyers who don't have a specific, demanding application in mind. While the XPS 15 is a powerful laptop, it is also a fantastic 15-inch laptop overall. The basic model is well suited for users who are looking for a first-class laptop for everyday use.

Gaming performance

The XPS 15 has never been a gaming laptop, and that hasn't changed. The system continues to prioritize processor performance, making the GPU not glow like a gaming laptop.

However, upgrading from the Nvidia GTX 1650 to the 1650 Ti offers a significant improvement in game performance that I was happy to see. It was 105 to 20% faster than the previous model and can play most games with at least 60 frames per second (FPS). In Battlefield V I had to reduce the settings to medium to get there, but in Fortnite and Civilization VI you can easily play at maximum settings and still get 60 FPS.

This is an important number because the screen is locked at a refresh rate of 60 Hz. Anything over 60 FPS is not seen.

The only game that proved unplayable at maximum settings was Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Only 26 FPS were achieved with Ultra High, 47 FPS with High (the middle setting of the game).

There are many more powerful gaming laptops out there. Laptops with more graphics options like the Surface Book 3 or Dell G5 SE are also better gaming experiences. But for those who want to use the XPS 15 on the side for a couple of games, it's just the ticket.

Our opinion

The Dell XPS 15 is the best 15-inch notebook you can buy. The design is beautiful, the screen is out of this world and the performance is impressive. The eight-core Intel Core i7 model I've tested isn't the most powerful version of this laptop, but with the Core i9 on the way, the XPS 15 will likely be one of the most powerful video editing laptops you can buy. However, it is not cheap. To get a model that is similar to the model I tested, easily spend over $ 2,000 on the combination of a premium case, a color-accurate 4K display, and powerful fixtures.

Are there alternatives?

If you want an even more powerful XPS laptop, wait for the Dell XPS 17. Not only does it have a larger screen, it also has a powerful Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics card for even better performance.

The MacBook Pro 16-inch is a good alternative, although it's a little more expensive.

How long it will take?

The Dell XPS 15 should last for at least four or five years. From the components inside to the durability of the chassis, everything is first class. However, the guarantee has nothing special. It's still just a one-year standard hardware warranty, although Dell offers premium care packages like extended support up to four years or accident damage service.

Should you buy it

Yes. It's the best 15-inch laptop you can buy, and an excellent choice for creatives who need a lot of power under the hood.

Editor's recommendations




21 May
Blog

Dell G5 SE Gaming Laptop Review-In-Progress: Peak AMD

Dell G5 Se Gaming Laptop Review 02

Dell G5 SE gaming laptop in progress: Peak AMD

"The Dell G5 SE is an extremely competitive midrange gaming laptop."

  • Excellent CPU performance

  • Great gaming performance for the price

  • Solid value across configurations

  • Bulky

  • The benefits of AMD Smartshift are opaque

Nvidia does not manufacture PC processors. Intel doesn't make PC graphics cards – at least not yet. AMD is the only company that does both, and hopes that a more harmonious relationship between CPU and GPU can lead to additional performance.

The Dell G5 SE offers our first glimpse of this potential. It is equipped with both a Ryzen 7 4800H and the Radeon RX 5600M graphics card, the latest and greatest AMD it has to offer. Does it last?

performance

On the outside there is not much to say about the Dell G5. It looks like it used to – robust and armor-like. It's the opposite of slim in almost every way.

The "SE" refers to what happens under this conservative exterior. Thanks to the Ryzen 7 4800H, this laptop offers eight cores and 16 threads of computing power. It also has 36 processing units and GDDR6 memory in the RX 5600M GPU. My test device was also equipped with 16 GB RAM, a 512 GB SSD and a 144 Hz screen with 1080p – all for a cool $ 1,200. That is a very attractive price.

This is a gaming laptop, so I started with 3DMark. The results in Time Spy were very encouraging for AMD. It missed a midrange version of the Dell G7 that I tested in late 2019 and that was powered by a 9th generation Nvidia RTX 2060 and an Intel Core i7-9750H. A 5% gain isn't much in benchmarks, but a profit is a gain.

It's going crazy here. The G5 SE has managed to develop the best thin gaming laptops like the Razer Blade 2019, which we tested with the RTX 2070 Max-Q from Nvidia. This is impressive. The G5 SE is a chunky laptop by comparison, but it's also a lot cheaper.

The processor performance is strong in itself, but who is surprised with eight cores and 16 threads? AMD's mobile Ryzen blows Intel's 6-core gaming chips in Cinebench R20 and Geekbench 5 out of the water. Here, too, the Razer Blade beats Cinebench Multi-Core by 49% and Handbrake by the same amount in video coding. I'm not surprised, especially after reviewing other Ryzen 4000 laptops like the ROG Zephyrus G14 or Acer Swift 3.

However, the actual story is not just about these components. The real magic comes from working together.

Gaming performance

Playing is a good place to start. Games strain the GPU more than the CPU, but it's a combined effort that requires a balance between the components.

I tested three games: Civilization VI, Fortnite and Assassins Creed Odyssey.

Civilization VI is a CPU-intensive game, and this is where a Ryzen 4000 laptop can shine. There were only a few FPS (frames per second) behind the Razer Blade with an Nvidia RTX 2070, which reached 79 FPS in ultra settings. Compared to the Nvidia RTX 2060 in the Dell G7 I tested, you still see 19% better frame rates.

This trend continued in Fortnite. The AMD-powered G5 delivers 85 FPS with Epic settings, slightly behind the RTX 2060 in the G7 and the Zephyrus G14. You should probably set the settings to "High" to take better advantage of the laptop's refresh rate of 144 Hz. There the G5 SE achieved an average of 105 FPS.

The final challenge was Assassin's Creed Odyssey, a game that brought even the most powerful gaming laptops to a standstill. The gameplay was pretty smooth with an average of 53 FPS. With high quality – the middle setting of the game. At Ultra High, you drop to 44 FPS, which is still playable but a bit choppy.

All games were of course played at 1080p as this is the native resolution for the Dell G5 SE. As you can see, the RX 5600M isn't the most powerful graphics card in the world and sits comfortably between the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti and the Nvidia RTX 2060. Fortunately, you can purchase a basic configuration of the G5 SE for as low a price as $ 880 that always still comes with the same GPU. This is great value compared to what you get from Nvidia at this price.

SmartShift in action

In addition to the new GPU and CPU, the Dell G5 SE also introduces AMD technology, which connects the two. It's called SmartShift, a way of organically sharing the energy between the two components. Every laptop has an upper limit on the performance it can play with. SmartShift uses AMD's InfinityFabric on both ends to transfer more power to the CPU or GPU when the thermal headroom allows – even beyond standard performance. According to AMD, SmartShift can lead to an up to 10% improved frame rate in games.

The problem is that SmartShift cannot be turned off. So I can't prove it works. My last attempt to test SmartShift was video rendering in Adobe Premiere Pro. I loaded a 2 minute 4K video clip and exported it to the ProRes 422 codec, carefully observing the power distribution between the CPU and GPU. Rendering video in Premiere is a task best suited for a processor with a high number of cores. However, you can also tap the graphics card. This way you can see how smart SmartShift really is.

The Dell G5 SE didn't share as much power as I expected. The GPU was only occasionally tapped to keep the processor in the spotlight. The rendering time of the Dell G5 SE was good and the export was completed in just under 8 minutes. This happens fairly quickly and beats Intel laptops like the Razer Blade. More expensive options like the Dell XPS 15 or Microsoft Surface Book 3 surpass it by a few minutes.

SmartShift is said to work with an automated algorithm that determines the best performance allocation from moment to moment. However, according to Dell, AMD must also whitelist applications to better optimize their performance.

Battery life, display and more

There's more to tell about the G5 SE, including battery life and display quality. I will continue my in-depth testing and will update this review soon.

While the effects of SmartShift remain opaque, the Dell G5 SE is still an example of how dominant AMD processors have become in consumer hardware. While the company's top-end GPUs still can't compete with Nvidia, the Dell G5 SE is a competitive mid-range gaming laptop for its price.

The Dell G5 SE was available for sale on the Dell website on May 21, starting at $ 880. The start configuration has a Ryzen 5 4600H with six cores, 8 GB RAM, an SSD with 256 GB and the same RX 5600M graphics card as in my test device.

Editor's recommendations




31 Mar
Blog

Dell XPS 13 (2020) Review: Laptop Endgame

"The Dell XPS 13 has been the best laptop you can buy for years, and it will continue to do so in 2020."

  • Beautiful design

  • Higher 16:10 screen

  • Almost frameless frame

  • Two Thunderbolt 3 ports

  • Larger keyboard and touchpad

  • Excellent performance

Two designs have defined the past decade in laptops. The first ten years were all about the MacBook Air, which dominated the first half of the 2010s and inspired a sea of ​​doubles. In the second half, however, everything revolved around the XPS 13 from Dell. A trend that is ubiquitous today began with the original laptop with a thin front panel and a small footprint.

However, after four years of iteration, Dell has invented something new. Something fresh. Something that takes everything I've loved about the design to a new era.

Don't call it a restart. This is the endgame of the laptop.

Design and display

More of what matters. That has always been the motto of the XPS team, but here it is more obvious than ever. It starts with the screen, which is now 13.4 inches in an aspect ratio of 16:10 and a little closer to the square than the conventional 16: 9. It is only 0.1 inches larger than previous versions, but it feels like it more. The 16:10 ratio means extra rows in my Word document, more rows in my spreadsheet, and fewer scrolls on a web page.

This results in black bars on most videos, which are usually formatted for 16: 9. However, for the person who spends most of their time on a laptop in work mode, this is a worthy compromise.

The 16:10 screen is the same one used on the XPS 13 2-in-1, which was already the leader in the class. It offers a brightness of 500 nits, one of the best contrasts I've ever seen, and excellent color accuracy.

It's sharp too. The resolution is 1,920 x 1,200, which means more pixels than on a typical 1080p screen. You will not select any pixels on it. So if you're not an image editor, you shouldn't have to choose the higher-resolution panel. The advantage of the 4K + screen is more than just the number of pixels – it also offers a wider range of colors.

It is not just the panel itself that matters. In this way, the lack of frames frames the screen. The top and sides are as small as ever, but now the lower bezel can join in. Dell uses a unique drop hinge that sits barely under the surface of the keyboard deck. A part of this bezel, which was already small, cannot be seen. It's a little trick to make the bezel look so much thinner. With the white model I tested, I made the decision to change the bezel color to black instead of white. It makes it even less pronounced.

Despite the slim bezel, Dell pushed its 720p camera module up and the nose cam is a thing of the past. It's not a great webcam, but it is enough if necessary. To use the space even better, there is now an IR camera for easy Windows Hello face recognition.

Keyboard and touchpad

When moving from the screen to the keyboard deck, the design continues to follow the philosophy "more of what counts". Not a millimeter of space was left on the keyboard deck.

The look of the keyboard can be inspired by the XPS 13 2-in-1 – if not in terms of feel. The keycaps are larger and each have less space. They now extend to the sides of the keyboard deck.

The power switch (and the integrated fingerprint reader), which used to be on the right next to the layout, is now integrated in the top right, as with MacBooks. Another small change to the layout, which I really appreciate, is the full size arrow keys left and right. Earlier XPS keyboards contained half-sized keys, with the gaps filled up and down. This often resulted in the page being accidentally skipped.

It has quickly become one of my favorite laptop keyboards to type on.

Part of the keyboard that I'm glad Dell didn't redesign it is the actual feel of the key press. Instead of following the path of the butterfly mechanisms (as with the XPS 13 2-in-1), they still have 1 mm of travel and a snappy mechanism. Since we saw that even Apple moved away from its own butterfly keyboards, Dell made the right choice here. It has quickly become one of my favorite laptop keyboards to type on.

The same applies to the touchpad, whose overall size has grown compared to the previous year. Dell has also worked to dampen the click mechanism to make it quieter. I would still prefer it to be softer, but the tracking and gesture support is excellent as always.

Ports and build quality

You will find major changes to the pages if you are familiar with the older XPS 13. Due to the nature of this edge-to-edge keyboard, there is no more space for connections next to it. There are only a few and they are now pressed as close to the back as possible. On the right side there is a Thunderbolt 3 port and the headphone jack. Another Thunderbolt 3 port and a microSD card slot are on the left.

This is a USB-C less than the previous model, which is shit. Dell is now at the Apple level of port selection and fits the MacBook Air in the USB ports. Unlike this device, I would rather have a Thunderbolt 3 port on each side than together. This makes charging easier, regardless of which side the socket is on. The HP Specter x360 swaps the additional Thunderbolt 3 port for USB-A to support older accessories.

Despite the overall stiffer feel of the XPS 13, it's now easier to open.

The sides are now covered with diamond-cut aluminum, which gives the frame a little shine and gives the workmanship overall a more stable feel. A thin layer of polycarbonate fibers covers the wrist-rest with its unique weave structure. Aside from the unibody aluminum design of the MacBook Pro, this model is well built as laptops come.

The extra aluminum adds only the slightest amount of extra weight, which is now 2.8 pounds. This corresponds to the weight of the MacBook Air and the HP Specter x360 13. At 0.58 inches, however, it is somewhat thinner than these two laptops.

Despite the robust feel of the XPS 13, opening is now smoother. What a relief. For years it was one of the few premium laptops that couldn't be opened with just one finger. One-finger opening is now easy, although I wish there was a lip to make it even easier.

performance

It's easy to look at a laptop's processor and call it good. However, the performance offers more than just a data sheet. The XPS 13 makes that clear. Despite using the same parts as other laptops, Dell has consistently worked to improve the performance of its components.

The same tricks play a role here, for example strips of Gore material with which the heat is dissipated. The processor is now upgraded to the latest 10th generation Intel Ice Lake chips.

Dell continues to raise the bar for performance.

That's not too exciting in 2020, but again, the XPS 13 beats its rivals in terms of single-core performance in Geekbench 5 and Cinebench R20. Even the 16 GB of RAM that was included in my test device was overkill for what most people will do with this laptop. (The Core i7 model I tested costs $ 1,250, but there will also be a Core i3 option starting at $ 999.)

This is one of the most powerful quad-core laptops you can buy, and it even shows the muscles in HandBrake video encoding. At the end of last year, Dell released an XPS 13 with a six-core processor, but this new model is only 7% slower in HandBrake. Impressive.

Yes, Dell continues to set the benchmark for performance. When you upgrade to the 4K + model, you have a premium photo editing laptop. That doesn't mean you should buy this laptop for 3D rendering or video editing, but for most tasks, you won't find a faster laptop of this size.

It should be noted that the $ 999 Core i3 with 4 GB of RAM is also available (although it is not currently for sale). This dual-core processor doesn't have nearly the same performance, although I haven't tested it myself. However, if you only need a laptop to surf the Internet, Microsoft Word and watch movies, the Core i3 is more than sufficient.

Intel's discrete graphics have improved significantly with Ice Lake, allowing the XPS to play 13 games. Type of.

Dell still pulls better frame rates out of these components than its rivals, but that doesn't mean it's a gaming laptop. Fortnite can be played in 1080p if you lower all settings. However, you need to cut it down to 720p to get smoother gameplay. Casual and less demanding games can be played well enough, but the Razer Blade Stealth 13 with an Nvidia GTX 1650 offers better performance.

Battery life

I have high expectations for the battery life of expensive laptops. Somehow the XPS 13 surpassed them. In our test for easy surfing on the Internet, it took over 11.5 hours. Laptops such as the MacBook Air, the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and the Surface Pro 7 were destroyed. It doesn't outperform the best of the best like the HP Specter x360 or ZenBook 13 UX333, but it's not far behind either.

Battery life always depends on what you use it for. At one extreme, the XPS 13 can take up to 14.5 hours to play video locally or 5 hours to do more difficult tasks. Consistent use throughout a working day should not be a problem for the average person.

If you buy the 4K + model, you can expect these results to drop by a few hours. This also makes this 1080p + model the ideal solution for most people.

Our opinion

The Dell XPS 13 is the best laptop you can buy. This has been true for several years and also in 2020. It's not an easy task if you make so many changes to an iconic design. The XPS 13 has slowly become a little more expensive over the years, but if you are that good, premium branding has been earned.

There's a good choice if you want to spend less than $ 1,000. For everyone else, the XPS 13 should be your next PC.

Are there alternatives?

There are some very close competitors to the XPS 13. If you are looking for a laptop with a 360 degree hinge, I recommend the HP Specter x360. It's small and nifty like the XPS and a little cheaper.

Another great option is the new MacBook Air. With quad-core processors and a better keyboard, it has regained the respect of previous Mac generations. However, it probably can't keep up with battery life, and performance still lags somewhat.

The Surface Laptop 3 from Microsoft is another interesting option at an affordable price, a tight thickness and a tight weight. It also offers a larger 3: 2 screen with a higher pixel density as long as you can carry the large frames.

How long it will take?

Thanks to its modern components and robust build quality, the XPS 13 is designed for durability. The standard one-year warranty is nothing special, but this laptop should last at least three or four years.

Should you buy it

Yes. It is the best laptop you can buy.

Editor's recommendations




24 Mar
Blog

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Review: Powerful, Affordable, Expandable

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 2020 review

"The Inspiron 15 7000 is nothing special, but its expandability makes this midrange laptop something special."

  • Practical expandability

  • Solid productivity performance

  • Good keyboard and touchpad

  • Attractive price

  • The color accuracy of the screen is deactivated

  • Uses older graphics card

Laptops are nowhere near as upgradeable as they used to be. Whether it's battery, storage, or storage, you stick with everything you buy.

There are some rare exceptions to this trend. One of them is the latest Inspiron 15 7000 model from Dell. This Inspiron is not soldered on, but has easily accessible RAM slots and additional connections for a second PCIe M.2 SSD and even a 2.5-inch drive.

It starts at just $ 800, although the 7591 we tested was a bit more powerful. This special configuration for $ 1,050 includes a Core i7-9750H, the GTX 1050, 8 GB RAM, a PCIe SSD with 512 GB and a full HD non-touch display (1,920 x 1,080). That's a very attractive price for a 15-inch laptop with so much performance.

Is the upgradeability of this laptop different from the crowded field of excellent 15 inch laptops?

Upgradeable internals

The Inspiron 15 7000 is a "midrange" laptop, but that doesn't mean it isn't built well. The model I checked is made from stamped aluminum. This is a nice improvement over the 7590, which uses a magnesium alloy. This means that the 7591 is solidly built for a laptop of this price, without the lid, the keyboard deck or the housing bending or bending significantly.

This is important for a laptop that you want to open. The option to expand is not just a function for hobbyists. You can save money by updating it yourself, and you can even extend the lifespan – as long as you're ready to dig a little.

Turn the laptop over and you will find standard Phillips screws (no hex screws that require special tools). Remove them (the back three can easily be detached and left in the case), and you can gently break the cover off and reveal the inside.

You can save money by updating it yourself, and you can even extend its lifespan.

There you will find two RAM slots, a second M.2 PCIe slot for an SSD and a 2.5-inch bay for a third drive. If you have installed a single RAM stick, you will be running in single-channel memory mode. This has a significant impact on performance. Connect a second customized module and switch to two-channel mode to significantly accelerate storage performance.

If you add a second M.2 SSD, you can configure RAID 0 (striping) or RAID 1 (mirroring) for either better performance and more storage space, or redundancy and more reliability. Finally, you can add a third 2.5-inch drive for additional storage.

As mentioned earlier, this is an unusual level of access and upgradeability for an Ultrabook. You'll need to switch to an expensive premium laptop like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 to find a laptop that can add a second SSD with RAID support. With some other laptops like the Dell XPS 15, you can replace RAM and (single) SSD. However, the Inspiron is the only notebook in its class that allows you to add up to two additional drives.

Surprisingly, although the Inspiron 15 7000 is uniquely expandable, it's not overly large or heavy. It's 4.12 pounds, which is lighter than the 4.5 pounds of the XPS 15, but heavier than the 3.76 pounds of the ThinkPad. At 0.78 inches thick, the Inspiron is a bit thicker than some of the premium models, but not much. You don't have to lug around a bulky laptop to improve upgradeability.

The connectivity, which also affects how well you can equip a laptop, is very good. You get three USB-A ports, a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 support, a full-size HDMI 2.0 port and a microSD card reader. Connect it to a Thunderbolt 3 dock and you can connect to multiple 4K displays and a variety of other peripherals. However, wireless connectivity was a step back since only Wi-Fi 5 was used instead of the newer Wi-Fi 6 standard for Bluetooth 5.0.

performance

I ran our usual performance benchmarks before adding a second 8 GB RAM module and the performance was disappointing as expected.

Before adding the additional RAM, for example, the Inspiron achieved 1,071 in Geekbench 5 in single-core mode and 3,864 in multi-core mode. After adding the RAM, these numbers were shifted to 1,124 and 4,695. Compare that to the Lenovo Yoga C940 15 with the same CPU and the same two-channel RAM at 1,106 and 5,117.

The upgrade had less impact on our more realistic tests. In Handbrake I encoded a 420 MB video in H.265 to test the content creation performance. Before the upgrade, the Inspiron took a full 3 minutes to complete the test. After that it took two minutes and 50 seconds. The Lenovo C940 lasted 2 minutes and 17 seconds.

By adding the second RAM module and switching to two-channel mode, Geekbench performance was increased by 12% and the laptop was updated with the competition. The increase in the handbrake test was only around 6%. The memory I bought was from Crucial, a single stick with 8 GB of DDR4-2666 MHz RAM that only cost about $ 30. This is one of the more cost-effective performance improvements I've seen for some time.

I didn't notice any difference in the SSD performance compared to the RAM upgrade. The Western Digital PCIe offered an average performance that is lower than the much faster SSDs in the XPS 15 and ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 in the Lenovo Yoga C940 equipped with Intel Optane.

However, if you add a second SSD and configure RAID 0, storage speeds will increase significantly. This is another performance boost that is quite unusual for ultrabooks and that only Lenovo matches.

Design and display

Upgradability is good, but the Inspiron still needs to work well as a laptop. The good news is that it is a solid offering in many ways.

The keyboard is comfortable, with plenty of travel and a snappy mechanism. It doesn't quite match the keyboard level of expensive laptops like the XPS 15 and HP Specter x360 15 or the Magic Keyboard of the new MacBook Pro 16, but is good enough for fast typing.

The touchpad is also above average and offers plenty of space for a Windows 10 touchpad (but not like the massive version on the MacBook) and support for Microsoft Precision touchpad drivers. Windows 10 multi-touch gestures work fine and it's a pleasure to use them.

Next is the ad. At 15.6 inches, Full HD is a little less sharp than I prefer. For me, 1440p or 4K is a very preferred resolution for these larger panels. The screen that Dell chose for the Inspiron doesn't bother you in everyday use. At 323 nits it is pretty bright, although the contrast only reaches 820: 1. That is below the 1000: 1 threshold that we like to see.

The color gamut was average at 74% of AdobeRGB and 98% of sRGB, but color accuracy was unsatisfactory at 4.52 (1.0 and below is considered excellent). You shouldn't rely on this laptop to make precise photo edits.

The Lenovo Yoga C940's panel was similar, with better contrast and color accuracy, but slightly less impressive color accuracy. If you want a fine-tuned swatch, you'll need to upgrade to a laptop like the Dell XPS 15 and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme.

After all, battery life also plays a role. Here you make a real compromise for the additional storage option. If you choose the 2.5-inch drive bay, you're limited to a 56-watt-hour battery – like in my test device. If you give up this slot, you can use a 97-watt-hour battery, similar to the XPS 15.

This had a negative impact on the battery life. For example, the Inspiron fell behind the Lenovo Yoga C940 by about 6 hours in our web browser test and by just under an hour in our video loop test. However, the Inspiron did surprisingly well in our demanding Basemark web benchmark test with 4 hours and 40 minutes, well over an hour longer than yoga.

Game performance

My test device was equipped with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 instead of the GTX 1650, which is an optional upgrade. The GTX 1050 was only very popular a year or two ago and offers a passable experience when playing casual games and modern titles with lower resolutions and graphic details.

I ran our usual set of gaming benchmarks and the Inspiron was run in accordance with other laptops running the GTX 1050. Fortnite displayed 52 frames per second (FPS) with 1080p and high graphic details, and Epic 41 FPS. In the meantime, the Inspiron managed 77 FPS in Civilization VI at 1080p and medium details and 40 FPS at Ultra.

This is not a dedicated gaming laptop. So be ready to reduce the resolution and graphic details.

In a heavier game like Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the Inspiron achieved 32 FPS at 1080p and High Detail and dropped to unplayable 17 FPS at Ultra High Detail. Overall, these results are on average 10-15 FPS lower than those of laptops equipped with the newer GTX 1650, including the Dell XPS 15 and Asus ZenBook 15 UX534. If you want to play more on this laptop, you want to upgrade to this faster card.

The Inspirion 15 7591 is suitable for casual games and even comes out in modern titles. However, this is not a dedicated gaming laptop. So be ready to reduce the resolution and graphical details to get the best experience possible.

Our opinion

The Inspiron 15 7000 is a unique upgradeable ultrabook. The ability to add two storage drives is more than almost any other laptop I've tested. Do-it-yourselfers will love it from a conceptual level, but it's a throwback to a time when laptops can last more than a few years.

Unfortunately, the configurations from Dell are confusing. The 7591 I tested only came with a single RAM module, and the older GTX 1050 is a bottleneck when gaming. You can opt for the 7590 with its GTX 1650, but you can only add one additional drive.

Whether you choose the $ 800 base model or something with discrete graphics, the Inspiron 15 7000 is a balanced mid-tier laptop.

Are there alternatives?

Yes, there are several 15-inch alternatives, although there aren't many in this price range. The HP Envy 15 is outdated, as is the ZenBook 15 from Asus. The 15-inch Surface Laptop 3 uses weaker quad-core processors, as does the LG Gram 15.

The XPS 15 from Dell offers a more stable case, faster performance options and a better screen. With the same specs, it's around $ 300 more expensive, although the XPS can be configured much higher. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 almost corresponds to the expandability of the Inspiron and can also be a little faster, but is twice as expensive.

If you want to consider a 2-in-1 device, the Lenovo Yoga C940 15 is a good option. It's a bit faster to play than the Inspiron and around $ 500 more expensive. The expandability of Dell is also not possible.

How long it will take?

The Inspiron 15 7000 is well built and should last as long as you need it. With the ability to easily open the case and update components, you can add more RAM and memory as needed. That means the Inspiron lasts a little longer than your average laptop.

The 1-year warranty is industry standard and, as always, is disappointing.

Should you buy it

Yes. It's a solid laptop for the price, and the expandability features are a plus.

Editor's recommendations




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