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  • milli - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I'm having huge stability problems with this laptop. The problem is Optimus.
    The only way I've gotten it to be stable, is to use the Dell provided drivers and disable Optimus.

    I'm not the only one with this problem:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/41erin/blue...

    This laptop badly needs a BIOS update to fix this issue.
  • smilingcrow - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I give leeway for photos as I know it's not easy photographing electronics at home if you have no experience but these would look bad even on eBay. Don’t recall feeling that way about any other photo shoot on any IT web review so this is a stand out.
    Is it too much to expect Anandtech to issue guidelines and tips for newbie photographers? I don’t think so. Amateur hour.
  • theduckofdeath - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    Hehe, that was my thoughts, too. "Dell sticks to their proven design ideas from the XPS 13" (paraphrased). Too bad we'll never know what that is.
  • close - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    Were you just piggy backing on a BIOS/performance related comment with a remark about photography just to get attention? I would say you give no leeway for photos which is why probably you've run out of people who's vacation photos you can criticize and ended up here :).

    On a related note, I wonder if the battery performance is strictly related to the choice of LCD panel. And since we're on the battery topic, I'm really impressed with the WiFi speed. It's starting to look like we're closer to moving away from wired connections completely.
  • milkod2001 - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    I presume guys who write articles here are paid by amount of words/articles written and not by hours spent with camera and Photoshop.

    By looking at mostly poor quality of images it does not look like PURCH has given each writer a few grand for camera, lenses, accessories and guys probably just use their own crappy stuff.

    Since Anand and others have left it looks like there is still big afford to write good quality articles. But other stuff coming with it goes down to hill and there is a very little improvements if any.

    Just to name a few: the endless and never responded request for EDIT button for comments, some amateurish never fixed website 'features' like galleries -you click on some images, it will bring user to new tab(unnecessary) , click on some image, it will display large image and nothing else, no X or back button etc.
  • dsumanik - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    5 years ago anandtech would have tested and caught a bios issue like that, now the readers are more informed lol
  • close - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    You have 3 available CPUs, 2 GPU configurations, 2 LCD panels, and different software configuration possibilities but you instantly assume that all laptops exhibit the exact same issues and they will be visible on a demo unit in the days or weeks it's available for testing.

    The link to the discussion about this issue includes a handful of comments and if you had the common sense to read them you would have seen that plenty of them suggest that it was fixed by using the Nvidia driver provided by Dell. Since this is a review, not a troubleshooting article I suggest you should not confuse it with a manufacturer support page.

    And people could tell the difference 5 years ago.
  • milli - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    No Close, all models exhibit BIOS problems. Optimus is just the latest. Before BIOS 19, there were a bunch of other issues.

    http://bit.ly/21gI00Z
    http://bit.ly/1QZFIO8

    After spending close to $3000 on a laptop, I'm very disappointed in Dell as they can't get even something like Optimus running stable.
  • close - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    What I was saying was directed to the person claiming Anandtech should have reported this in the product review when clearly it doesn't affect every laptop and also I'm quite sure reviewers only have a narrow time slot to play with the device before it goes on to the next reviewer.

    And I maintain my suggestion for him since he appears to think such issues should be reported in a product review: the manufacturer's support site is the place to go if you're wondering how a product behaves in the long run.
    Anandtech is the place to read reviews about a product, standardized tests run on every piece of hardware and some numbers that you can't find on the leaflet.

    A review isn't made to showcase beautiful photos like some people seem to think (that's the job of the product marketing team) nor to listing a long line of potential issues compiled from support sites and other forums.

    So I understand *you* were just cautioning potential buyers reading this review, the comment from "dsumanik" (just above) is plain ignorant to put it delicately.
  • dsumanik - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    I stand by my original statement, the readers around here are now more informed than the editorial/review staff. No amount of excuse making will change this. In the past Anand (the person) worked with manufacturers on a regular basis to identify and correct issues like the one pointed out with this machine. We will never hear of a resolution to this problem on this website, unless it is in the comment section. And yes, if you are in the business of reviewing products, it IS your responsibility to investigate the issue...a simple check on the forums and a warning paragraph would have sufficed, you'd think the reviewers would haver a checklist to follow by now lol.
  • close - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link

    What I'm telling you is that if that is your honest opinion then you weren't reading Anandtech 5 years ago and that you lost the gamble when you assumed nobody will catch on to your BS.

    And because when I say something I like to make sure I have a sure way of showing it (not just BS) here it is: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridg...

    I would let you draw the conclusion all by yourself but I am confident now that you will be unable to. That is a review for a motherboard with the infamous P67 chipset that was recalled (!) just 4 weeks after the review was written. And yes, this article is 5 years old. And yes, it was written by Anand himself.
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/4142/intel-discovers...
  • Nightwolf1 - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link

    Couldn’t be more true!

    Look here "Issues":
    http://www.ultrabookreview.com/10234-dell-xps-15-9...
  • HurleyBird - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    Try selecting high performance power mode in Nvidia's drivers. That's how I eventually was able to fix the frequent crashes I was experiencing with the GTX 960m.
  • milli - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    Yeah, the Dell driver and performance mode in nV-cp are the only way to get it running for more than 5 minutes. I also installed the beta Intel 4380 video drivers but I haven't yet tested Optimus again.
  • euskalzabe - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Guys, seriously. Shoot RAW pictures and process them. The distortion in many of the pictures you posted gives Anandtech an embarrassingly low-level image. This is not a blog ran on grandma's basement. Shoot RAW, process with PhotoShop or similar, get rid of those distortions. Many people would be so put off by the low quality of the image that they won't consider the product. It's just so unprofessional.
  • rpg1966 - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Which pictures are you referring to? But regardless, anyone who is put off a machinelike this based on a bit of distortion in a review image is probably in the wrong market.
  • euskalzabe - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    For instance:
    http://images.anandtech.com/doci/10116/SizeCompari...
    http://images.anandtech.com/doci/10116/KeyboardB.j...
    http://images.anandtech.com/doci/10116/Bottom.JPG
    http://images.anandtech.com/doci/10116/Open_678x45...

    Don't give me that "wrong market" excuse. Correcting distortion takes 1 click, 2 seconds on Photoshop. Many cameras by now just do it automatically if you are shooting JPEG, all it takes is activating it. It takes minimal to zero effort. I don't know what field you work in, but any respected company that has any sort of visual (printed, digital, etc) presence would never accept the IQ I've been seeing in Anandtech since Anand left (which occurred occasionally before that too). It's such an easy fix. Not doing it is incredibly unprofessional.
  • nathanddrews - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I would argue that anyone that buys a product based upon how good it looks in pictures is the exact opposite of a professional. Also, it's not AT's responsibility to sell the products.

    I have noticed a marked increase in "straight from the hip" photography on AT as well, but I can't imagine a professional - to use your words - not buying a laptop based upon a review website's photos. If you were to order this laptop from Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, or Dell, they would have plenty of stock, photoshopped photos or renders to make it look all pretty and shiny. If you go into a store to buy it, you can see it on the shelf.
  • euskalzabe - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Clearly you guys don't work with media materials. Most editors would not accept these standards. At the end of the day, that's what it's about: quality standards. Sure, we don't have to correct distortion, but what does it say to the world when you choose not to do something that takes 1 second of your life to improve your visual standards? Whatever your opinion, there is proof - just look online for articles on the matter - that these little details make a difference in people's perception.

    Frankly, I've long believed there's a reason The Verge has become so popular so fast and it mainly has to do with public image. Check, for example, how they showcase this XPS15 in their review:
    https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-x0jfGXnaZuQRTbXG...
    Feel that difference. Accurate representation of the product. Not distorted. The editors interest in their visual presence has an impact not just on how readers view the product, but also how they view the website. You're careless in one glaringly obvious aspect, who knows what else you're being serious about? It's about professionalism. I respect your opinion that focusing on properly processed (not just good looking, there's more to this than subjective evaluation) pictures is not professional, but I can tell you, the market very clearly has decided otherwise.

    Don't forget AT is not just read by professionals that look for HW specs VS value. There are many consumers that give life to these ads. Consumers that are as influenced by visual presence as anybody else. It's not about convincing people, it's about aspiring to quality standards. When you can't be bothered to implement a dead-easy fix... that says very little of your interest/effort in other areas of your professional venue. In my professional experience, visual presence has proven to be very important and judged both consciously and unconsciously.
  • shadarlo - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    If you think the link you just posted makes this laptop dramatically more appealing then you sir live in some alternate universe than the majority of the population. You might be insanely good in your field, but you have lost the forest for the trees.

    I honestly don't even like the picture you just linked to. As a non-designer I think the shot looks cheap and bland.
  • comomolo - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I agree with you. It takes little time to make things right. Especially wrong is the picture comparing the size of the XPS 15 to a "regular" 15 incher. They haven't even taken care of a proper shooting point so the comparison is useless.
  • Kristian Vättö - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Comparing AnandTech to The Verge is not really fair. The Verge has millions of VC funds behind it, which is why they can have professional photographers and editors taking care of the visual side. They can also have a dedicated office, making it easy to pass devices to photographers and others.

    AT editors are practically freelancers as everyone works from their home. That means no fancy photo studio with +$10k of gear. Everyone takes their own photos and frankly the quality depends a lot on the equipment one has at hand and how experienced one is. I can speak from experience because I had major struggles with photos during my time at AT. Here's a few examples of the worst and best shots I took:

    http://www.anandtech.com/show/7947/micron-m500-dc-...
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/7594/samsung-ssd-840...
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/9023/the-samsung-ssd...
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/8979/samsung-sm951-5...

    If you aren't really interested in photography, I can tell you that taking photos is not easy. It's not something you learn overnight. Frankly, taking photos of electronics is even harder because a ton of light is needed, and without proper professional lighting you'll get all sorts of reflections and tints (most house lights are not pure white in my experience, there's a yellow tint to make it "warmer").

    All in all, I'm not saying that the photos can't be improve and I'm sure Brett will appreciate any and all tips. I just wanted to explain how AT operates as it's majorly different from The Verge for instance.
  • nathanddrews - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    No disrespect to The Verge (and no attempt to brown nose AT), but their reviews are nowhere near the level of AT. It's such a massive divide as to be comical.

    If we're going to get picky about photography skills and not discuss the actual product, many of those linked Verge photos appear to be out of focus and the lightboxes used aren't exactly top of the line, so between the two reviews, I would say AT wins hands down.

    To each his own, then?
  • pikatung - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Probably the best photography I've seen on a tech review site, done on a budget, is from TechReport. They even made a (couple) of blog posts detailing how they do it:

    http://techreport.com/blog/16645/let-there-be-ligh...
    http://techreport.com/blog/22825/how-tr-gets-some-...

    (Loyal Reader of AnandTech and TechReport for years)
  • pikatung - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    And just to show how good shots can be done on a budget:
    http://techreport.com/blog/15857/who-needs-a-prope...

    And I apologize, I don't mean to be whiny. I really do appreciate the in-depth reviews that you all do. Just hopefully some of these links will be helpful and encouraging.
  • Brett Howse - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    Always appreciate tips and feedback. Thanks a lot! I'll check this out.
  • Refuge - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I don't come here for the photos, I come here for the raw, cold, hard data.

    If I want glam shots before I put it in my office, then i'll google around. If I want an in depth, and educational review, I come to Anand.
  • Solandri - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    And hopefully that raw, cold, hard data has been transcribed correctly? The photos aren't merely glamour shots. They can give you detailed information about layouts, colors, fonts, etc. A lot of times it's easier to just look at the pictures to see what ports a laptop has, rather than read a list of ports and *hope* they got it right. Other qualities like keyboard layout, trackpad size position relative to keyboard, size of Fn and arrow keys, etc. are much better conveyed via (undistorted) photos rather than a written description.

    Yeah you can waste time searching for pictures elsewhere. That doesn't mean the site can't be improved by including decent pictures here. (And the problems I see aren't only distortion. Several of the photos are just plain blurry. If you can afford a $800 camera, you can afford a $100 tripod.)
  • Zap - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    One possible workaround for objects closer to 2D such as those SSDs are to just put them on a flatbed scanner. No distortion and super clear images.
  • euskalzabe - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Here's a couple dead easy tips that improve electronics photography: 1) click the distortion correction checkbox on Photoshop or activate it in-camera. 2) Use bounce flash: if they can't spend lots of money on a decent flash, just use the regular one from camera, take business card, wrap it in tinfoil and place it in front of the flash at 45 degrees. That will bounce the forward light up at 90 degrees, effectively giving you a DIY bounce flash (there's tons of tutorials online).

    No need for professional photographers or tons of money. Just attention to detail and being a bit handy with DIY techniques. It's really not hard/costly, at all. I still appreciate the great analysis in AT... but I hold them to a higher standard, which shouldn't be regarded as a bad thing. I want them to be better at everything and succeed further in the future.
  • Hulk - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    It's really not that hard. 1. Always use a tripod. 2. White balance when shooting (white card) or in PS. 3. Go full manual or aperture priority to get the exposure right, spot meter. 4. Shoot the sweet spot of every lens which is generally f/8. Again use the tripod and timer so you can deal with long exposures which will be necessary.

    It's not like you're shooting a moving kid or portrait.
  • Beany2013 - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    To be honest, the best way to get an amateur to take better photos is to hunt down a professional photographer and find out how much they'd charge for a consultation. Given that AT isn't a professional photography site, I'd wager most wouldn't mind not being the ones taking the photos, and would appreciate letting an interested amateur pick up some tips from the trade to improve their overall craft.

    I've been trying to get a semi-client of mine who operates a photobooth to do this for near three years now (I'm not a pro snapper so I don't feel I can teach him well enough) but he still doesn't do it - presumably, texting me is cheaper as I only charge in coffee and cake ;-)

    But it's definitely worth a pop. Taking a usable photo is fine, taking a really nice, professional *looking* photo is very much it's own reward.

    I agree with other commenters that the main meat of the article is definitely the words though; these photos might not be studio quality, but they're plenty clear enough for their purpose. Having them a bit nicer would be a bonus, and as a techy person and amateur snapper myself, I'm pretty certain Brett would enjoy learning how to bodge some nicer pics in - it's a lot of fun messing with this stuff with 'our' analytical kind of mindset.
  • Shadow7037932 - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    Here's the thing, you don't need $10k in gear to take good photos. You can get a refurb D3200/D3300 (~$330-350) with a fast standard zoom with good sharpness (Sigma 17-50 f2.8 OS HSM) for ~$300-350. Add in an off camera flash or two (~$60-70ea). Add in a CPL filter (~$50-60 for a good one) for dealing with reflections and a light box (~$40-50 for a large one) and you're all set.

    As far as white balance and other things goes, shoot RAW, and deal with it in post. Or do it in camera using the custom white balance.
  • nagi603 - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    As someone who has invested into photography, you don't need 10k. Not even close. Frankly, your micron shot doesn't even have correct white balance. Fixing that would be a breeze if you shoot in RAW, use the same temperature lights, and used any post processing software. And yes, I've been there, I did shoot stuff as a journalist. Now I'm shooting events as a hobby, so I know what I'm talking about.
  • tuxRoller - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    It's too bad the Verge doesn't spend as much time on article content.
  • Brett Howse - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    Photography is clearly not my strongest suit, but I've got some things I will try for the next review which I hope will help with the photos. Laptops are not the easiest thing for my to photograph and get a good result. Please bear with me as I try to step up my game on the images.
  • trenchtoaster - Friday, March 11, 2016 - link

    I have been reading AT for years now and this is the post which drove me to create an account and comment. I literally have no idea why the image you linked is any better than the ones from the article that you posted previously. What makes the image you linked so much better? I feel like I am missing something
  • sircod - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I didn't notice it until you pointed it out, but that is pretty bad. Looks like he is shooting on a Canon EOS Rebel T4i, which apparently doesn't correct geometric distortion on its JPEGs.
  • Brett Howse - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    That's exactly what I am using, and apparently it does not. I, as an amateur photographer, did not even notice the distortion until it was pointed out, but I'll try to avoid it in the future.
  • close - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    You think someone buying a $1500+ laptop takes the decision based on how the pictures of the laptop look like on a website? Maybe people will assume the laptop is all bendy and with uneven color, right? I mean it's obvious they made one side of the laptop too bright and the other too dark.

    You go to a review site for he things you can't see in the store, not for some glamour shots. Yeah, of course they could be better but personally I don't think this subtracts anything from the value of the review.

    Also going for the IQ argument because you think the picture looks bad makes you look even dumber than your idea that "people won't buy the laptop if the picture wasn't shot RAW".
  • Zak - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    All of these picture are below eBay quality. I'm not put off of a machine but I'm not going to waste my time reading the review either for its perceived lack of professionalism.
  • Beany2013 - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    That's a staggeringly childish attitude to have, no matter how you cut it.
  • thesloth - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Quit complaining - the pictures look fine.
  • XLNC - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    He's absolutely right. These pictures look amateurish. Flash photography with a wide angle lens? We should expect more from AT.

    Also, couldn't a better wallpaper been chosen for the display shot? One that fills the screen without black side bars, perhaps.
  • WhisperingEye - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    It's like one of those fun houses, where the hallway has a door at the end, but when you try to walk down it, you realize it's only three feet long and the door is tiny. These pictures are all wonky, but I like this laptop which I didn't know about 10 minutes ago.
  • Daniel Egger - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I totally agree. The images are a huge turnoff and it's very saddening to see that AT still cannot get around to improve the quality of the images.

    I don't even think that it would be necessary to produce studio quality photos. But some simple measures like making sure there no flares and reflections in the image when shooting and some basic preprocessing straightening out the lines (simple click on "Upright Auto" in Lightroom), doing a white balance and an automatic image adjustment would go a *long* way.
  • Chrisrodinis1 - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Hi Euskalzabe! Can you please critique the video we just posted on the FX2 G13 enclosure? Thanks!
  • osxandwindows - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    took you long enough.
  • zepi - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    XPS 15.6" 16:9 screen : 357 x 235 x 11-17
    RMBP 15.4" 16:10 screen : 359 x 247 x 18

    I don't know if I buy the argument of this being 14" size device.
  • zepi - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Though it is for sure smaller than your average 15" PC laptop, that much is sure.
  • DanNeely - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link



    I think what you're seeing is partly that the RMBP was previously a good candidate for smallest 15.x" laptop and comparing against an outlier instead of the norm. (Not sure if it was the smallest; but it was close), and partly the difference in screen dimensions from the aspect ratio and dinging the dell's 16:9 for being wider while letting the RMBP off the hook for its 16x10 being taller. The LCD dimensions are 345.4mm × 194.3mm (dell) vs 331.7mm × 2073mm (RMBP). Dell's managed to trim 16mm of side bezel off vs Apple's offering.

    For direct comparison, here are the dimensions of Dells 14/15" Latitude laptops ('traditional' business class machines). It's not quite as narrow as conventional 14" laptops; but it's total area (LxW) is only 5% larger than the 14" model while being 13% smaller than the old 15.6.

    E6440 338x232x31.8
    E6540 379x250x33.4
  • boskone - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    You can charge the XPS 13 via a suitable USB type C charger, like one for the Pixel 2. Any chance of verifying that with the 15?
  • BillyONeal - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I have one and can verify that it works well with the TB15 dock -- the dock's drivers are still flaky as hell though.
  • DanNeely - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Do you have all the latest drivers installed? Poking around on reddit suggests that manually downloading and installing the latest from Dell's site, (plus a USB3 hub driver from elsewhere?), fixed the bulk of the issues. The ASmedia driver that post recommends is slightly older than Dell's current driver; I don't know if it's more stable, or just that Dell had an even older one up at the time the post was made.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/440olx/if_y...
  • lazarpandar - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    My stupid questions are famous
  • BillyONeal - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Yes, installing that USB 3 driver made the dock not completely useless; but still seems flaky occasionally.
  • willis936 - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Would you guys consider adding csgo to the graphics testbench? The number of players has been steadily rising in the past few years and it is relatively demanding for a simple game. The hard part is the prospect of a moving target since they plan on moving from havok to source 2 this year and occasionally update resources such as player model reskins. I think it'd be a good metric at 1080p minimum settings nonetheless.
  • Shadowmaster625 - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    The battery is clearly done charging at 107 minutes.
  • Brett Howse - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    Many laptops charge to 99% much faster than the last 1%. That's why I always include the charge graph. But our test is from dead to 100%, not 99%.
  • Daniel Egger - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    If that thing was running OS X natively I'd buy it right away. Apple, please have a look how *matte* displays are done right and deliver. Thank you.
  • BillyONeal - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Erm, at least the one I have isn't matte.
  • Daniel Egger - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Multi-touch? I believe all multi-touch screens are glare out of necessity, with Dell XPS the non-touch types should be non-glare.
  • DanNeely - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    There's no reason they need to be, the OEM could directly apply the same anti-glare coating you can get in a screen protector to the glass at the factory. They don't because a majority of people seem to prefer the smoother feel of glass to the slightly rougher surface of an matte surface. Hopefully as highdpi screens become more common market volumes will be large enough to support both types of screens at reasonable costs. Alternately, install a matte protector in the factory where cleanroom facilities can be made available to avoid dust headaches that make installing larger protectors a PITA.

    I'm indifferent to the feel and prefer the matte appearance. However I have a protector on my phone but not my tablet or laptop; although that's primarily driven by the difficulty of getting a dustfree install on larger screens. I know other people swear by it, but I'm 0/2 with large protectors in a shower fogged bathroom.
  • nerd1 - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Why are you looking after inferior OS with fewer applications?
  • Daniel Egger - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    OS X is the most productive platform (of the many I use daily), plain and simple. Linux is nice and quick for command line interaction and running server applications but seriously lacks in the day to day job desktop area. Windows is great for gaming but sucks balls in pretty much any other department. "Inferior" is very much in the eye of the beholder; from a technical standpoint it certainly is not but clearly not everyone is capable being the judge of that.

    The *only* Windows application I *need* to use for work every now and then for which there is no good native Linux or Mac equivalent is XenCenter but for that I do have a sufficiently working Wine Bottle; for everything else I do have very capable applications, some of which are not even available for Windows...
  • nerd1 - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    I run all three OSes (windows, OSX and linux) on different machines and OSX has the worst file and windows management among three, even with EC (which seems to cause more harm than good)
  • Daniel Egger - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    Nonsense, it has the best windows management (without tinkering) and either best or second best file organisation (with Linux) depending on what features you need and filesystem you're using on Linux; the legacy file organisation from Win 3.1 times is totally bogus and maybe you don't happen to have noticed but in non-English languages they're basically the only OS using translated names in the file system for some system directories making Windows essentially the only OS where you can't switch languages after the fact and causing lots of funnies when writing software. The only thing that truly sucks on OS X is fork performance (compared to Linux): A complex script run on OS X is usually executed a magnitude and some slower than on Linux, so if you compile a lot of cross-platform software (like me) you're loosing lots of wall time there...

    The things that bother me most about Windows are:
    - It provides horrible privacy even after manually adjusting all of the 80 (partially hidden!) settings
    - It is still quite unsecure, you'll have to install and maintain lots of tools to make sure you don't pick up any malware
    - It comes with pretty much no usable tools, so just to get the bare minimum onto a fresh installation you'll have to spend a full weekend with chocolatey and/or portableapps just to make it usable
    - Commandline is pretty much unusable, doing most of the work with a UI is a magnitude slower than on Unixish OSes
    - Keeping all applications up-to-date is *the* *horror* and chocolatey unfortunately doesn't help much lately
    - Weekly security updates, in Windows 10 even enforced, enforce a reboot completely disrupting the workflow. On OS X is usually have an uptime of many *months* before an update forces me to do a reboot and even then the state of my environment is preserved so I can basically ACK the reboot, pick up a coffee and continue where I left off. In Linux only Kernel updates require a reboot and those necessary for security usually only occur every other year or so.

    Enough ranting for me on this topic. Just the view from a single IT and software development pro, YMMV.
  • ESC2000 - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    I can't speak to a lot of that but I can't believe you're claiming that OSX has a better file system or window management system. Even diehard OSX fans generally seem to admit that those are weaknesses of OSX. Can you even "snap" windows into place on OSX like you can on windows? My mom switched to OSX 3 years ago and still complains that she sometimes can't find files which is one of the reasons her next computer will be a PC. Malware or the lack thereof is admittedly a plus in the OSX column.
  • sphigel - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    These storage options are infuriating. You have to get the i7 model just to get an SSD?! That's ridiculous. SSDs benefit everyone regardless of how much processing power they need. They should be offered on every configuration.
  • osxandwindows - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    So true
  • keeepcool - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Buy an M.2 SSD, remove bottom cover, mount SSD; put cover again, install SO in said SSD, done.
    It might take 30 minutes..
  • TwoMetreBill - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Are you sure the drive is user replaceable or are you speculating? I want to use the 2TB Samsung SSD so am hoping I can buy it with the hybrid drive and then swap it out. Even better would be to get it with the 256GB M2 SSD and then add the Samsung but I'm probably asking too much.
  • XDudert - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I got a xps 15 9550 and a bit tricky with drivers, but since i wanted a 2,5" drive and a ssd I bought it with a harddrive/ssdcache and as long you're able to read simple instructions you can put in an SSD in it myslef currently rocking a 1Tb HDD and a samsung 950 Pro 512Gb M.2 SSD with no issues and it's way faster than I'll ever need :) (about a philips svrew driver for about 12 screws and a usb with right drivers is all you need)
  • milli - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Super easy to swap the drives. You just have to remove the bottom cover.
    I bought the 32GB cache version. Replaced the cache drive with a Samsung SM951 NVMe M.2 drive.
  • nerd1 - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I got XPS15 9550 with 1TB HDD. Now running two SSDs (one m2, one SATA) together.
  • WhisperingEye - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    seems a shame, since you missed out on the bigger battery, to save money by using your own SSD.
  • gw74 - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    in the UK the range has been updated to all-SSD
  • TEAMSWITCHER - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Are there pictures of the power brick that comes with this laptop?
  • zeeBomb - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Ty brett
  • Space Jam - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I wasn't expecting this review and oh man did I want it.
  • xenol - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Thermals of the components are great, but what about the chassis? I got turned off a laptop once it was really working because the keyboard area got too hot.
  • XDudert - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Been playing for quite a few hours without any problem and have not seen any complaints so as long as you're not hyper sensitive or something there shouldn't be any hot areas
  • Brett Howse - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    It doesn't get hot to the touch. Just warm. They did a good job on the thermals but it was done with lots of airflow and therefore lots of noise, but it does keep it cool.
  • Amazing2u - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Ughh.... What's with all those Supermicro adds? It makes the like looks amateurish!!
    Also, I'm trying to print this article in IE11 but it keeps showing the "sky" background of the said ads on every page. :(
  • Klug4Pres - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    I tried the XPS 13 in a store, and I could not believe how limited the key travel is, so it's disappointing that it is no better here.

    I am surprised anyone can put up with it.

    This is style over substance in my view.
  • DanNeely - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    It's the same keyboard, and a laptop this thin is always going to have tiny key travel unless manufacturers adopt a design that puts the mobo and batteries in a ring around the edge and has the keyboard sitting directly on the bottom plate.
  • Anon32 - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    A few errors or omissions:
    1. You can get 32 GB RAM directly from Dell
    2. The largest disk size is a 1TB PCIE

    Also I do hope you applied all of the driver and BIOS updates prior to the tests. :)
  • Ryan Smith - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    1) I checked on this and 32GB SKUs aren't listed, nor are they available through the configuration menu.

    2) Correct and corrected (the highest-end SKU offers this option). Thanks
  • Anon32 - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-15-9550-laptop/pd?oc=...
  • Anon32 - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    Here is the 32 GB Model from the UK site.. not everyone lives in the US ;)
    http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-15-9550-laptop/pd?oc=...
  • dsraa - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    $999 for a i3 system??? yikes......I''d rather forget the screen, and buy an i7 system similar for HP at the same price...
  • Meteor2 - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    I spend a lot more time looking at he screen than the processor
  • WhisperingEye - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    lol, what? I look at the paint on my walls, but it doesn't keep my roof over my head.
  • royalcrown - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Yeah, showcase infinity edge in the article by leading with a 4:3 pic....derp !
  • Zak - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Would it be possible to get better quality photos in reviews? Amateurish, noisy, blurry, smartphone photos with heavy barrel distortion and bad white balance really are inadequate,
  • Brett Howse - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    I've mentioned this a couple of times, but I'm going to try and work on better photos for the next review. Photography is not something I'm strong at so it will take some work and practice.
  • prime2515103 - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    When are they going to come out with a 17" or 18" laptop with a 150Wh battery?
  • nerd1 - Friday, March 4, 2016 - link

    Won't happen. Most airlines now have very strict battery capacity regulations (<100Wh)
    Apple managed to fill 95Wh battery in their MBP 15" already.
  • wallstreetcrapola - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    The worst laptop I ever had as far as display completely going dark/switching off for no apparent reasons and it happens everyday. Infact it blanked off 5 times before I finished this commentary. I have the Microsoft version of the XPS15. Drivers updates automatically so I am not sure what it is and a user should NEVER have to "figure" it out! The notebook is oin no way over heated as I write this.
  • Ogewo - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    In this review:
    With HDD
    1.78 kg / 3.9 lbs
    With SSD
    2 kg / 4.4 lbs

    From Dell:
    3.9lbs (1.78kg) with 56Whr battery, SSD and non-touch display;
    4.4lbs (2kg) with 84Whr battery, SSD and touch display
  • Brett Howse - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    The extra half pound is the larger battery, which takes up the space of the 2.5" hard drive bay. If you get the large battery you can't get the HDD.
  • doubledeej - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    Dell lost me as a customer when they started removing the dedicated Home, End, PageUp, and PageDown keys from their keyboard. It makes their laptops next to impossible to use productively for writing code or documents, which is about all I do these days.
  • arswihart - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    I have this laptop, it's balls out, better display than Macbook Pro, light as a first-generation 13" ultrabook. Don't care about key travel, touch pad works great, beautiful to behold.
  • nerd1 - Saturday, March 5, 2016 - link

    Key travel is clearly worse than older XPS series and thinkpads, but about the same as macbook retina (and way better than new apple wireless keyboard for DESKTOP)

    People seem to adapt to absolute miserable key travel of new macbook/ipad pro anyway.
  • Notmyusualid - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    Sorry if I missed it.

    Name the wireless card please...

    Much appreciated.
  • Notmyusualid - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    No worries, found it:

    BCM43602.

    Someone out there is reporting that the connector sizes do not match existing wifi cards.

    Pulled a 7260 from my AW18, and was hoping to finally find an upgrade to my trusty 6300N, which blows the newer .ac card out the window (for range).

    Oh well.
  • Xajel - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    Hmmmm, I was off-listing Dell from my list of laptop options mainly duo to their chargers ( that weak data pin+wire which tends to fail and stops the laptop from charging while the charger is still working )... but this laptop is good I see, I might live with that charger thing but I have two things...

    I believe the laptop can be configured with the 1080p panel, so it will be better in terms of battery life. but AFAIK the 4K panel is superior in terms of picture quality which I prefer over half hour battery life specially that the 4K panel will have some DPI issues also...

    But I would love to see a repetition of the display tests but for the 1080p panel to see the difference... the other thing I would like to know is the Type-C port, I believe the article mentioned it capable of power delivery also... does this mean that we can charge the laptop also ? if true then is the original charger 90W or 120W ? I'm asking this coz the Type-C spec. can handle up to 100W so if the laptop require a 90W charger then it won't be a problem, but if it requires 120W charger then charging will be a little slower ( unless the laptop was idle or turned off )

    In all cases -even with slower charging- I prefer a standard Type-C charging solution over proprietary one, specially the famous faulty Dell chargers...
  • Brett Howse - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    Yes you can charge over the Type-C. The power adapter size is listed in the specs but it's a 130w version, so over Type-C it would charge a bit slower.
  • Ryan Smith - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    Aye. If it can even accept 20V over Type-C, that still maxes out at 5A @ 20V, for 100W.
  • Soac - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    The CrystalDiskMark READ scores are not correct. The Laptop comes setup in RAID mode for some strange reason... When switched to AHCI mode, the Reads go up to 1.7Gbps. I have the 512GB PM951. I would advise checking this out.
  • Ryan Smith - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    We've checked, and there's only a single drive (and not a RAID device) present in the Windows device manager.
  • Soac - Wednesday, March 9, 2016 - link

    I don`t think I have explained correctly. The Laptop came setup in RAID mode on the BIOS, from the forums I saw that it happened to everyone, and yes this is for the 1 single drive 512 samsung m.2. Hence why I said it didn`t make sense. However, if you change the BIOS setting to AHCI the read speeds go up to 1.7Gbps.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    CrystalDiskMark 5.0.3 x64 (C) 2007-2015 hiyohiyo
    Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    * MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
    * KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

    Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 1723.554 MB/s
    Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 600.373 MB/s
    Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 0.000 MB/s [ 0.0 IOPS]
    Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 0.000 MB/s [ 0.0 IOPS]
    Sequential Read (T= 1) : 0.000 MB/s
    Sequential Write (T= 1) : 0.000 MB/s
    Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 0.000 MB/s [ 0.0 IOPS]
    Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 0.000 MB/s [ 0.0 IOPS]

    Test : 1024 MiB [C: 21.6% (102.8/476.4 GiB)] (x5) [Interval=5 sec]
    Date : 2016/03/09 23:13:32
    OS : Windows 10 [10.0 Build 10586] (x64)

    Funny enough, someone was saying that in RAID mode the drive felt faster... so it would be cool if you could test it.
  • medi03 - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    Would be interesting to see how it fares at gaming vs amd's carrizo notebooks.
  • iks - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    While this is surely a great piece of tech, with a superb screen, capable hardware, and decent, cooling I still wonder, what is the target audience of this and other similar devices? Have the guys over at Dell and other companies actually tried to do productive work that involves a lot of typing on this so-called "keyboard"? Especially programming? Using impossible to hit buttons with no proper spacing, a short F row, minuscule arrows and no dedicated page up / page down / home / end. Sorry, but a keyboard like that is just dumb, and a torture to use.
  • nerd1 - Sunday, March 6, 2016 - link

    Say that to millions of mac users. Apple's DESKTOP keyboard is even worse than this.
  • BPB - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    I am a developer, and I use a company issued Dell at work (decent specs). The keyboard doesn't matter to me since I dock it at work. At home I leave it closed and plug a monitor/keyboard/mouse into it. So why should I care? I do occasionally use it by itself, but I don't mind since it's not very often. I guess what I'm saying is, how many developers use a notebook without plugging in peripherals?
  • iks - Thursday, March 10, 2016 - link

    Well, I'm learning to use Vim to overcome button limitations on the different keyboards I may get to work on in future. People work on 60% boards after all.
    As far as plugging peripherals in / out, aren't you afraid of the ports coming loose over time?
  • jasonelmore - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    I wanted to point out that the laptop on this article has different materials depending on if you get the 1080p version vs the 4k version.

    The 1080p version has a lot more plastic vs the 4k one.
  • nerd1 - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    1080p version lacks the glossy glass (which I hate), but it is identical elsewhere.
  • rstuart - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    I own one of these, but I run Linux. Typical Linux issues - if enable the NVidia card it doesn't boot, and it will be because NVidia hasn't released drivers for it yet. I'm mostly a command line user, so that doesn't worry me overly. The Intel drivers causing the kernel to crash 2 out of 3 boots on the other hand drove me nuts. The latest kernel has fixed that thank god, so it's rock solid now. I was surprised to read people running Windows are having the similar issues - here I was putting it down to Intel's poor support for Linux. It's more of a case of Intel not having good drivers, at all, on anything. Be patient, and be forgiving of Dell - it's Intel's problem, not Dell's.

    Apart from the display, it works extraordinarily well out of the box. As a Linux user, this is not something I'm used to. On the down side, there is not much in the box as Dell hasn't got their act together yet accessories - mostly because of the change to USB-C.

    The one thing I do question myself about is going with the UHD display. It is gorgeous. But according to Dell the HD display roughly doubles the battery life, and in reality eye candy fade but not having to worry about charging during the day would have been appreciated for a long, long time.

    One other feature not mentioned in the review is everything (battery, WiFi card, DIMM's, HDD/SSD, fans for cleaning) is accessible with the removal of 8 or so easy to find screws on the back. Unlike some other makes, Dell laptops have been getting better in this regard over the years.
  • nerd1 - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    Installing linux on latest hardware is generally a nightmare... which distro are you using? Do they now (finally) support switchable graphics and hi-dpi display?
  • cpoole - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    not sure about rstuart but I am running ubuntu-gnome 15.10 with kernel 4.4 built from intel DRM nightlies and I have almost 0 problems with the laptop. Hi-dpi works great and if you're running the nvidia proprietary drivers turning the gpu on and off with the nvidia tweak tool is a breeze... although I havent used it for anything other than a cuda demo.
  • nils_ - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link

    Switchable graphics do work on a per-program basis but it's a hassle. Makes the NVidia chip pretty much a waste. Everything else is due to Intel being slow to get their drivers into the kernel and distributions running on outdated, sometimes self-maintained kernel versions.

    So yeah it now sucks a bit more than t used to.
  • eightspancrow - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    There's a lot of complaints about the photo quality which I get but - why would you use a 4:3 wallpaper as your cover photo on a laptop specifically featuring an ultra small bezel? It's kind of mystifying because then the black fill..... looks like a huge bezel. This is currently the featured article on the front page and it makes something that honestly looks pretty futuristic/cool into what looks like somebody's office computer.
  • dsumanik - Monday, March 7, 2016 - link

    I stand by my original statement, the readers around here are now more informed than the editorial/review staff. No amount of excuse making will change this. In the past Anand (the person) worked with manufacturers on a regular basis to identify and correct issues like the one pointed out with this machine. We will never hear of a resolution to this problem on this website, unless it is in the comment section. And yes, if you are in the business of reviewing products, it IS your responsibility to investigate the issue...a simple check on the forums and a warning paragraph would have sufficed, you'd think the reviewers would haver a checklist to follow by now lol.
  • nils_ - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link

    I really like the infinity display, other than that I could do without the GTX960M (give me Iris Pro instead) and I don't need a touch screen. Would be great to have more BTO options.
  • TraciR - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link

    Why put the XPS 13 keyboard in the bigger XPS15?

    This is design laziness from Dell. I have an XPS 13, and miss the proper key layout, but perhaps it wouldn't fit.

    PgUp, PgDn and bigger arrow keys are a must. Look at Lenovo for how to do a laptop keyboard.
  • Valantar - Wednesday, March 9, 2016 - link

    Am I the only one who would want a dGPU-less (but preferably Iris/Iris Pro-powered) version of this? Slightly slimmer (if possible), same battery size, and a QHD display. And external GPU support through TB3, of course.
  • nils_ - Wednesday, March 9, 2016 - link

    nope. I don't need dedicated graphics in a laptop.
  • Valantar - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link

    Exactly. Dedicated graphics add too much power draw for too little gain outside of humongous gaming "laptops." A good iGPU and the option of external graphics through TB3 (either with a desktop class chassis or a dock/slice/brick style mobile GPU with it's own battery) is all anyone would need in a device like this.
  • nerd1 - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link

    It's SWITCHABLE. So it won't drain battery when not in use. And it can play most games at 1080p. It's the same GPU as Alienware 13.

    External GPU is stupid idea in general. You'need a huge separate case and separate monitor, which is as large an often just as expensive as building a separate gaming desktop.
  • Valantar - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link

    No, no, and no.

    Even optimus-enabled laptops draw more power than dGPU-less equivalents - the dGPU remains "on", but sleeping. Optimus isn't a hard power-off switch. Also, Heat production is a major concern, which isn't really solveable in a thin+light laptop form factor. I'd rather have a ~45W-60W quad core with Iris/- Pro than a 45W quad core with HD 520 + a 65W dGPU.

    Second, you don't need a huge case for an external GPU - that current models are huge is a product of every single one presented aiming for compatibiliby with even the most overpowered GPUs (like the Fury or 980Ti). A case for dual slot mITX sized (17cm length) dektop GPUs with an integrated ~200W power supply wouldn't need to be much larger than, say, 10x20x15cm. That's roughly the size of an external dual HDD case. As the market grows (well, technically as the market comes into existence in this case), more options will appear, and not just huge ones.

    Also, there's the option of mobile GPUs in tiny cases. Most of these come in the form of MXM modules, which are 82x100mm. Add a case around that with a beefy blower cooler, and you'd have a box roughly the size of an external 2.5" HDD, but 2-3 times as thick. Easy to carry, easy to connect. Heck, given that USB 3.1/TB3 can carry 100W of power, you could even power this from the laptop, although I don't think that's a great idea for long term use. I'd rather double the width of the external box and add a beefy battery. Thin and light laptop with great battery life? Check. Gaming power? Check. Better battery life than the same laptop with a built-in dGPU? Check.

    And third, in case you aren't keeping up with recent announcements, you should read up on modern external GPU tech in regard to gaming on the laptop screen. At least with AMD's (/Intel's/Razer's) solution, this is not a problem. We'll see if Nvidia jumps on board or if they keep being jerks in terms of standards.
  • nerd1 - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link

    Have you EVER used a Optimus enabled laptop? My XPS 15 typically draws around 10W during idle, which means the GPU should draw less than a couple of watts while idle. I can say that is negligible, considering XPS 15 can equip 84 Wh of battery. Just do the math.

    And iris pro is a joke, it's much weaker than 940m, which can barely play old games at 768p. 960m is roughly 3-4 times more powerful and can play most games at 1080p.

    Finally external GPU. External GPU should have its own case, its own PSU and should be connected to external display unless you want to halve the bandwidth. Then why just don't add CPU and SSD to make a standalone gaming desktop? Dell Graphics Amp cost $300, and Razer one will cost much more (naturally) One can build decent desktop (minus GPU) at that price.
  • Valantar - Tuesday, March 15, 2016 - link

    If the GPU - that is supposed to be switched off! - uses "less than a couple of watts" out of 10W total power draw, that is <20% - definitely not negligible. Of course, with the review unit the 4K display adds to it's subpar battery life, but I have no doubt that the dGPU adds to it as well.

    And sure, Broadwell Iris Pro was only suitable for 720p gaming, as seen in ATs Broadwell Desktop review. However, Skylake Iris Pro increases EUs by 50% (from 48 to 72), in addition to reduced power and other architectural improvements. It's not out yet, but it will be soon, and it will eat 940ms for breakfast. This would be _perfect_ for mobile use - able to run most games at an acceptable resolution and detail level if absolutely necessary, but with an eGPU for proper gaming.

    And lastly: "External GPU should have its own case, its own PSU and should be connected to external display unless you want to halve the bandwidth." What on earth are you talking about? Why SHOULD they do any of this? Of course it would need it's own case and some form of power supply - but that case could easily be a very compact one, and the power supply could be through TB3 if you wanted to, although (as stated in my previous posts), I'd argue for dedicated power supplies and/or dedicated batteries for these. And why would using the integrated display halve the bandwidth? It wouldn't use DP alt mode for this, the signal would be transferred through PCIe - exactly the same as dGPUs in laptops do today. You'd never know the difference: except for some completely imperceptible added latency, this should perform exactly like your current laptop, given the same GPU.

    Your argument goes something like this:
    You: eGPU cases are too bulky and expensive, and you need to buy a monitor!
    Me: They don't have to be, and you don't have to!
    You: But that's how it SHOULD be!

    This makes no sense.

    Of course, there is a difference of opinion here. You want a middling dGPU in your laptop, and don't mind the added weight, heat and power draw. I do mind these, and don't want it - I'd much rather add an external GPU with more processing power. I'm not arguing to remove your option, only to add another, more flexible one. Is that really such a problem for you?
  • nerd1 - Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - link

    a) You haven't provided ANY proof that idle GPU with Optimus affects the battery life a lot. And based on your logic, more powerful iGPU will increase the power consumption JUST AS WELL.

    b) Intel has been claiming great iGPU performance FOR YEARS. Yet the actual game framerates with iGPU are much worse than benchmark results. For example, BioShock infinite with high setting and 720p shows ~35fps with Iris pro 5200, and ~56fps on 940m with DDR5 (one in the surface book), 115fps with 960m.

    c) You need external monitor otherwise the bandwidth will be halved (as you need to send the video signal back to the laptop), hampering the GPU performance. There already are external GPU benchmarks around. Please go check.

    d) No sane person will make/buy external GPU system that only accepts very expensive mobile GPUs, which makes the whole point of external GPU moot. External GPU box should at least be able to top double-width GPU (980 ti for example) that requires PSU of at least 300 Watts range.

    And you are arguing to remove the dGPU from the system, which is given almost for free (unlike Apple), and way more powerful than whatever iGPU intel has now, and does not affect the battery life too much.
  • Valantar - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link

    Wow, you really seem opposed to people actually getting to choose what they want.

    a) The proof for added power draw with idle optimus GPUs is quite simple: as long as it's not entirely powered off, it will be consuming more power than if it wasn't there. That is indisputable. And sure, a larger iGPU would have higher power draw under load, and possibly at idle as well. But it still wouldn't require to power an entire separate card, separate power delivery circuitry, and other dGPU components. So of course, higher performance iGPUs consume more power, but not nearly as much as a dGPU, and probably less than a less powerful iGPU + sleeping dGPU.

    b) Sure, Intel has been claiming great iGPU performance for years. Last year, they kinda-sorta delivered with Broadwell Iris Pro (48 eu + 128mb eDRAM), but not really in terms of performance vs. power. This year, there are Iris 540/550 (48 eu + 64MB eDRAM) units with better eDRAM utilization and lower power (BDW was 45-65W, SKL is 15W and upwards with Iris 540, 28W with Iris 550). And then there will soon be Iris Pro 580, with 72 EUs and 128MB eDRAM at the same frequencies, at 45W and upwards. Given GPU parallelism, it's reasonable to expect the Iris Pro 580 to perform ~40% better than the BDW Iris pro given the 50% increase in EUs (in addition to other improvements). In your BioShock Infinite example that falls short of matching the 940m (a 40% increase from 35fps is still only 49fps).

    But - and this is the big one - that's comparing it with a separate ~30W (probably slightly higher with the Surface Book due to GDDR5s higher power draw than DDR3) GPU. So, in 45W, you could get a dual core i7 w/low end iGPU (Iris not needed for gaming in this scenario), and a GT 940m. Or you could get a Quad Core i7 with higher base and turbo clocks and an Iris Pro iGPU. Comparing those two hypothetical systems (with identical power draw, and as such fitting in the same chassis) my money would be on the Iris Pro all the way. Sure, you could easily beat this with a 945m, 950m or 960m. But those are 40, 50 and 60W GPUs, respectively. And you'd really want a quad core to saturate those graphics cards, in which case you're stuck with Intel's 45W series. Which leaves you with the need for a drastically larger chassis and higher powered fans to cool this off, as you'd need to remove at least 85W of heat. Sure, there is a market and a demand for those PCs. I'm just saying that there is a market for lower powered solutions as well, and if a 45W system can perform within 90+% of a 75W one, I'd go for the low powered one every time. You might not, but arguing that systems like these shouldn't exist just because you don't want them is just plain dumb.

    Edit: ah, bugger, I just noticed that the Iris Pro you're citing (5200) isn't BDW but the HSW version - which had fewer EUs still (40, not 48), and is architecturally far inferior to more current solutions. Which only means that my estimates are really lowball, and could probably be increased by another 20% or so.

    c) You seem VERY sure that it would (specifically) halve bandwidth. What is this based on? DP alt mode over USB 3.1 using two lanes? If so: you realize that TB3 and USB 3.1 are not the same, right? Also, that supposes that the GPU transfers this data as a DP signal - which has 20% overhead, compared to the 1,54% overhead of PCIe 3.0. So, it would seem far more logical for the eGPU to transfer the image back through PCIe, and have it converted to eDP at a later stage (or in the iGPU, as Optimus does: http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/nvidia-opti... Also, given that AMD specifically mentioned gaming on laptop monitors with XConnect, don't you think this is an issue that their engineers have both discussed and researched quite thoroughly? Sure, there are external GPU benchmarks around. Based either on unreleased (and thus unfinished) technology, or DIY or proprietary solutions that are bound to be technically inferior to an industry standard. Am I saying performance will be unaffected? No, but I'm saying that you probably wouldn't notice.

    d) Says you. Sorry, but why not? People buy laptops with these "very expensive mobile GPUs" already installed, right? And sure, the case and PSU would add a small cost (60-90W power bricks are VERY cheap for OEMs, but the TB3 controller, cooling solution and case would cost a bit. I'd say the total would be <$100. First gen ones would probably be expensive, but then they would drop. Quickly.). Saying that ALL eGPU boxes should handle EVERY full size GPU at max power is beyond dumb. Not even all computer cases fit those cards, yet the still sell. Should some? Sure, like the Razer Core. But that's the top-end solution. Not everyone needs - or wants - a case that could fit and power a 980ti. Saying that there shouldn't be lower-end solutions is such a baffling idea that I really don't know how to argue with that - except to say: Why the hell not? It would be EASY for an OEM to build an eGPU case with support for cards up to, say, 150W (which encompasses the vast majority of desktop GPU sales) for $200.

    And giving you the GPU for free? Really? Let's look at the $1000 and $1200 versions of the XPS 15. For $200, you get the i5 over the i3, twice the HDD storage, and the 960m. The Recommended Customer Price for the two CPUs is $250 and $225, respectively (http://ark.intel.com/compare/88959,89063). So that's $25 of your $200. At Newegg, the cheapest 500GB 2,5" drive is $39,99, while the cheapest 1TB one is $49,99. And of course, these are retail products at retail prices with retail margins included. OEMs pay far less than this. But I'll be generous, and give you the full $10 difference. So far, we've accounted for $35 of your $200 price hike, and there is one component left. In other words, you're paying $165 for that GPU. The only reason the i5 isn't in the $1000 model is that Dell wants product differentiation.

    I for one would gladly buy a $1300 XPS 15 with the i5 and the 960m moved to an external case - or, of course, even more to add a more powerful GPU. The point is the flexibility and upgradeability. Many people are very willing to pay for that, especially when it comes to laptop GPUs.
  • carrotseed - Wednesday, March 9, 2016 - link

    the 15.6in variant would be perfect those working with numbers if there is an option for a keyboard with a separate number pad
  • Valantar - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link

    There's no room for a numpad due to the smaller chassis - you could fit one, but it would require shrinking keys and ruining the keyboard. No thanks.
  • carrotseed - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link

    you can keep the keyboard the same size and shrink the numpad a little. Do you see those big empty spaces on both sides of those keyboards on the XPS 15? I'm sure the small cost of having two options for the keyboard can be passed on to those who will opt for the numpad variant.
  • carrotseed - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link

    erratum: **...the keyboard on the XPS 15***
  • Valantar - Tuesday, March 15, 2016 - link

    In a laptop as thin as this, you need to consider that the last 1.5-2cm of each side is unusable for keyboards due to ports directly under the keyboard bezel. Unless you want a thicker laptop or a keyboard with zero key travel, this would leave you with far too little space for a numpad.
  • Nightwolf1 - Thursday, March 10, 2016 - link

    It is appalling that a computer at that price is a do it yourself project (assemble yourself)!
    Firmware updates back and forth, take it apart to move the mother board so USB and other ports fit into the holes so the connectors can come in!
    Chinese junk, why would Dell put there name on this?
  • Valantar - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link

    It seems like you've had a bad experience, would you mind expanding on that? Taking it apart to move the motherboard (which should be very firmly screwed in, after all) seems pretty drastic.
  • Nightwolf1 - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link

    Just start reading this thread!

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/dell-xps-1...
  • Valantar - Tuesday, March 15, 2016 - link

    Ouch, that looks bad. Hopefully they get that sorted out pronto, and fix the issue for anyone involved free of charge. That should NOT have passed QC.
  • Nightwolf1 - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link

    If that's not enough, then read here!

    http://www.ultrabookreview.com/10234-dell-xps-15-9...
  • esii - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link

    Hi AnandTech, will you be able to confirm what thunderbolt 3 controller does XPS 15 9550 use? It seems to me that i cannot find any x4 link in PCIe configuration with HWINFO64, so i am suspecting that it uses a x2 link for thunderbolt 3. If this is true, then it can only interact with motherboard with a rate up to 20Gbps for PCIe 3.0 x2. I hope i am wrong.
  • Nightwolf1 - Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - link

    It would be great if Anandtech would contact Dell, for an explanation of all these problems buyers have experienced with their Dell XPS 15 9550, but it is perhaps too much to ask for?

    The question is, when it is possible to have one that is not faulty (if at all)?
  • luyuan20 - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link

    Can anyone that owns an XPS 15 9550 comment on how long the fans take to return back to idle after playing an intensive game? I've had Dells in the past not be able to reduce fan speed back to idle after gaming. Thanks in advance. Looking into a UHD/i7/16GB/512GB model.
  • jacksonjacksona - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link

    welcome to
    W_W_W_._a_j_k_o_b_e_s_h_o_e_s._C_O_M

    n i k e $38
  • koi karp - Monday, September 5, 2016 - link

    I own an XPS 15z. Had to replace the screen twice under warranty. It's broken again and the warranty period is over. The shiny trim also broke off pretty early. The Battery also no longer charges and cannot be replaced. In contrast my first notebook, a Toshiba Tecra 8000 with windows NT!, still "works" after more than 15 years. Nothing's broken off. I guess I can still use the Dell as a desktop with an external monitor but It has been a disappointment. I will not make the mistake of buying a Dell product again.
  • jbeazle123 - Wednesday, September 14, 2016 - link

    FYI if you don't but both hard drives the 2nd hard drive bay is useless there are 2 or 3 required parts depending on your XPS 9550 model and they are always either not in stock or they don't know what you are talking about. They will however sell you an extra hard drive that you can't install.

    This is a very well documented issue on reddit and in the Dell forums. Besides this there have been a lot of problems with the intel graphics driver on the 6th gen chips and other issues that are only finally getting ironed out some. Also this laptop will not drive a 4k monitor at 60 Hz even through the usb-c with the proper cables and 60 hz hdmi port on your tv.

    http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop...

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