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Predictably, the latest Dell XPS 15 review unit fared far better in the Fire Strike 3DMark bench than the XPS 15 before it. Likewise, every other performance test, including Cinebench’s CPU and OpenGL benchmarks, saw marked performance gains over last year’s iteration.
Unfortunately, the Dell XPS 15 clearly wasn’t meant for high-end gaming, as evidenced by our Grand Theft Auto V and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided benchmarks. Even at the lowest settings (with DirectX 12 enabled, mind), our review unit couldn’t hit 30 frames per second.
Unless you plan on sticking with less demanding game categories, like indies and esports, the inclusion of Nvidia graphics won’t get you much further beyond rigorous photo and video editing, not to mention 4K media.
Here is how the Dell XPS 15 fared in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark Cloud Gate: 9,958; Sky Diver: 12,298; Time Spy: 1,672; Fire Strike: 5,180
Cinebench CPU: 403 points; Graphics: 76.28 fps
Geekbench 4 Single-Core: 4,294; Multi-Core: 14,089
PCMark 8 Home: 2,991
PCMark 8 Battery Life: 3 hours 38 minutes
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 5 hours and 54 minutes
GTA V Ultra: 20.3; Low: 116.9
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Ultra: 2.6 fps; Low: 29.3 fps
Powered by a Skylake Intel Core i7 chip and a GTX 960M GPU, this is how the Dell XPS 15 from last year did:
3DMark Cloud Gate: 16,942; Sky Diver: 12,541; Fire Strike: 3,930
Cinebench R15 CPU: 679cb; Graphics: 69.46 fps
GeekBench 4 Single-Core: 3,248; Multi-Core: 12,449
PCMark 8 Home: 3,424
PCMark 8 Battery Life: 1 hour and 52 minutes
Likewise, the Gigabyte Aero 15 outranked the Dell XPS 15 in every test.
Given that they both take advantage of the same processor, it’s clear just how superior the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 used by the Aero 15 is to the Dell XPS 15’s GTX 1050.
For gamers, the right choice is obvious.
However, if your choice is between the XPS 15 and the 15-inch MacBook Pro, bear in mind that Apple’s laptop uses only a 2GB graphics chip, while Dell’s offering dons 4GB of video RAM.
Luckily, PC users whose rampant lifestyles see them constantly on the move, the battery life on the Dell XPS 15 has seen significant reform.
This is most likely the outcome of Dell’s implementation of a more energy-efficient Kaby Lake processor and a 97Whr battery over the 84Whr one in the previous 15-incher.
What results is a battery life of 3 hours and 38 minutes, according to our PCMark 8 testing, a lofty achievement when compared to the 1 hour and 52 minutes we saw last year.
We liked
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
From its extensive battery life to its subtle yet alluring design, the Dell XPS 15 is – through and through – an improvement upon its forebear. It attempts to be a jack of all trades and, for the most part, it succeeds. Allowing the user to customize their laptop based on their own personal needs is always a nice touch, seeing as not everyone needs a touchscreen or a dedicated graphics card.
On our review unit in particular, the 4K InfinityEdge display made our nearby MacBook’s Retina display look muddy in comparison. Although we couldn’t get it to work on the model sent to us by Dell (an easily fixable problem), the fingerprint scanner on the Dell XPS 15 is a luxury slowly becoming a standard.
That goes without mentioning the wide range of ports, including those we don’t often see anymore, like full-size HDMI and two USB Type-A’s in addition to the long-endangered SD card slot.
We disliked
After falling short on battery life last year, it’s a little unnerving that some of our benchmarks came out short of elevation when it comes to the graphics. We’re still concerned about the GTX 1050 GPU being future-proof for even indie gaming much less media editing, rendering and enjoying.
What’s also worrying is that Dell still can’t seem to improve its webcam placement. No one wants to look down at their webcam. That’s why on desktops, the webcam clips to the top of the monitor. That’s why virtually every other laptop maker puts the webcam up top. InfinityEdge is gorgeous, but arguably not worth the compromise it leads to regarding the Dell XPS 15’s webcam.
Other pet peeves include a trackpad that’s just a little too clicky for comfort and the forced pre-installation of McAfee security that we didn’t ask for.
Final verdict
The Dell XPS 15 is everything you’ll need for your day-to-day routine for school, work or passive entertainment. It doesn’t really specialize in any particular trade, but instead, it’s a well-rounded notebook with a handful of excusable missteps.
As long as you’re not fooled by the Nvidia moniker into expecting a laptop built with high-end gaming in mind, Dell has once again crafted a reliable clamshell that simply gets the job done – whatever that job may be.
The Dell XPS 15 ranks among the best 15-inch laptops money can buy, but it's not without its problems. Its space-saving design and great performance all add up to a machine that feels like a capable desktop PC and a great 4K monitor rolled into one.
If you're mainly going to be using this notebook away from a wall socket, however, it's a poor choice. Neither is it appropriate if you want to stay on the cutting edge of laptop tech for the next few years.
