Dell XPS 15 2 in 1

 

A thin, powerful hybrid with real gaming chops. From the moment I first saw the new Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 back at CES 2018, I knew it was going to be an impressive device.

So it was with great excitement that I received the hot new product for review a few weeks ago and began testing it.

And in news that will no doubt please tech enthusiasts who also demand strong creative and gaming capabilities, the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 didn't disappoint, delivering on everything and making a very strong claim to being one of the best hybrid laptops on the market today.

What follows is my review of the new hybrid system, broken down into key areas of assessment such as design, hardware and performance, as well as a number of benchmarks that add a bit more to filling out the full picture.

But before we get to the actual review, you should check out the hype-packed Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 launch trailer that summarizes its remarkable hardware and features.

DELL XPS 15 2-in-1: PRICE & AVAILABILITY

The Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 is available now from £1,699 for the base configuration and up to £2,498.39 for the top-spec model. Browse our Dell discount codes and save.

You can view all Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 configurations in the official Dell online store (opens in a new tab).

Currys PC World also stocks two Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 models, the entry-level Full HD screen, Intel Core i5-toting model (opens in new tab) and also the 4K screen, Intel Stacked Core i7 model (opens on a new tab).

DELL XPS 15 2-IN-1: SPECIFICATIONS
CPU	Intel Core i7-8705G #120 in Top CPUs Intel Core i5-8305G #346 in Top CPUs
GPU	AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (Vega 870, 4GB HBM2) #103 in Top GPUs
Display	IPS, 15.6 Inches, Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS, 15.6 Inches, 4K UHD (3840 x 2160)
HDD/SSD	up to 4000GB SSD
	1 x M.2 Expansion Slot (2280 PCIe, NVMe)
RAM	up to 16GB
OS	Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Home
Battery	75Wh, 75Wh, 4-cell, 75Wh, 6-cell
Body material	Aluminum, Carbon
Dimensions	( 13.94 " x 9.25 " x 0.63 " ) 354 x 235 x 16 mm
Weight	1.97 kg (4.3 lbs)
Ports and connectivity
Type-C  USB = 2	3.2 Generation 2 (10 Gbps)
Type-C  USB = 2	3.2 Generation 1 (5 Gbps)
Card reader	microSD (SD/SDHC/SDXC)
Wi-Fi	802.11ac
Bluetooth	4.1
Audio jack	combo audio / microphone jack
Features
Fingerprint reader	Avail
Web camera	720p HD + infrared (VGA)
Backlit keyboard	Avail
Microphone	Dual-Array Microphone
Speakers	2x 2W
Optical drive	Not Available
Security Lock slot	Noble lock
Maglev keyboard	Available
Gyroscope	Available
eCompass	Available
Accelerometer	Available
Corning Gorilla Glass 4	Available

 

DELL XPS 15 2-V-1: DESIGN & BUILD QUALITY

Take the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 out of the box and the first thing you'll notice is its anodized aluminum lid and base, which are emblazoned with the Dell logo. It's cool to the touch and exudes an air of quality, with the system's screen (more on that soon) opening and continuing to rotate 360 ​​degrees thanks to the reinforcement of equally premium aluminum hinges.

Opening the lid then greets you with the carbon fiber keyboard frame previously seen on the XPS 15, as well as an all-new maglev system keyboard (more on that below) and a glass-covered trackpad.

Above the keyboard is the InfinityEdge system display, which boasts not only a very effective anti-reflective coating (killing shiny reflections nicely), but also an almost bezel-less bezel that really gives the panel presence when switched on. The bottom center of the screen houses the XPS 15 2-in-1's 720p wide-angle HD webcam, as well as the Dell logo.

Around the back of the system you're greeted by nothing but a scooped air vent, while along the sides of the system you'll find a selection of ports that include two Thunderbolt 3 ports as well as a USB-C 3.1 connection brace. A microSD card reader and a headphone jack complete the port package.

DELL XPS 15 2-V-1: HARDWARE AND SCREEN

When it comes to hardware and screen, the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 hits hard.

The 8th generation Intel Core i7-8705G quad-core processor is paired with a Radeon RX Vega M GL graphics card (also integrated Intel HD Graphics 630), 16GB of 2400MHz DDR4 RAM and a spacious 512GB SSD.

Now, it's important to note that this isn't an entry-level hardware spec, but actually north of the two big models that approach the flagship level. That said, the base model still comes with the same GPU and just drops the CPU to an 8th generation Core i5 and 8GB of DDR4 RAM, so you're not talking about crazy differences in capabilities.

This powerful core hardware is then bolted to, in this case, an absolutely fresh 15.6-inch InfinityEdge anti-glare touchscreen display with 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) resolution. And simply put, this thing is an absolute beauty and a joy to use.

From watching movies to editing photos and playing games to browsing the web in tablet mode on the couch (which is super easy and smooth thanks to the system's aforementioned 360° aluminum hinges), the vibrancy, color depth, and touch accuracy of this panel really blew me away, while almost the non-existent bezels made the ones on my old Dell Alienware M11X R3 laptop screen look absolutely brilliant in comparison.

In fact, I think it would be really hard for me to go back now to a system that even had modestly sized bezels, so I'm hoping other manufacturers will follow suit and start phasing out hybrids with minimal bezels consistently.

As mentioned above, the other major hardware addition this time around is the all-new XPS 15 2-in-1 maglev keyboard. It's a keyboard that uses rare-earth magnets under its keys rather than membrane switches to mimic the feel of traditional physical keyboard response, but with only a tiny 0.7mm of travel.

The result of its inclusion is an improvement in the thinness and lightness of the notebooks, which at just 2 kg and dimensions of 35.4 x 23.5 x 0.9-0.6 cm are definitely very portable, but also a slightly unique typing experience with slightly stricter requirements key presses and a faster reset takes some getting used to in my experience. Even with the board's super low profile, it felt like a complement to Microsoft's excellent Precision touchpad with an always-glass surface.

Within an hour or two of using it, I found myself typing on the keyboard like normal, and I really have to take my hat off to Dell for innovating in such a well-worn area of ​​hardware, and in such a great way. Chapéu Dell, chapeau.

DELL XPS 15 2 in 1: GAMES AND PERFORMANCE

Unsurprisingly, the 8th generation intel cpu delivers. And it delivers both in terms of day-to-day use – with the xps 15 2-in-1 booting up like lightning, switching between laptop and tablet mode quickly, and running our test set of apps without a hitch – and on paper at submission a very strong set of benchmarks score.

As seen in the adjacent box, the dell xps 15 2-in-1 scored an impressive single-core score of 4,139 and a multi-core score of 12,604 in the geekbench 4 cpu test, before hot opencl followed. A score of 66,688 in its compute test as well. The numbers don't lie – the xps 15 2-in-1 is a hybrid processor.

And in what was music to our ears on the t3, the xps 15 2-in-1 carried that strong ui and application performance into gaming as well.

As regular t3 readers are sure to know, we're big pc gamers here, and we definitely appreciate a system that can push some slick graphics and effects. As such, we were very, very interested in how amd's radeon rx vega m graphics chip fared in our benchmarks.

The results were good. In 3dmark advanced edition, the xps 15 2-in-1 returned a score of 2,231 in the directx 12 time spy benchmark, as well as 6,288 and 17,792 in fire strike and sky diver, respectively.

Now, while that falls short of the t3's best gaming laptop buying guide king, the asus rog zephyrus, which scored a whopping 5,576 in time spy, 13,929 in fire strike and 30,844 in sky diver, it does. Look good compared to many other gaming laptops, beating the likes of the asus rog strix zx753vd-gc266t, which itself packs an nvidia geforce gtx 1050 gpu.

And this performance undoubtedly exceeds the benchmarks into real game scenarios. I ran one of our test games on the xps 15 2-in-1, rise of the tomb raider, and ran its in-game benchmark. The results, as seen from the nearby pit, were very impressive.

The game returned an overall benchmark frame rate of 45.67 at 1920x1080 with all settings set to high, well above our minimum standard for smooth gameplay of 30fps.

Then i loaded up the proper game and enjoyed the buttery smooth tomb raiding, guy killing and jaguar running. The game looked and ran great.

The only downside i'd mention here for the xps 15 2-in-1's gaming performance is that the system gets hot and loud when pushing some serious pixels. Air flows from the aforementioned rear exhaust with a noticeable hiss, and the area under and around the keyboard parts – especially the w,a,s,d key zone – got really hot after about 20 minutes of tomb raiding.

DELL XPS 15 2-IN-1: CONCLUSION

There is no doubt about the quality of the dell xps 15 2-in-1 display. The hybrid notebook and slate in its maximum configuration is truly a system that will not leave technology enthusiasts and demanding users wanting.

Yes, the xps 15 2-in-1 can be beaten by specialized systems that focus more on one or two specific areas rather than going all-in, like some equally expensive gaming laptops that beat it in our gaming benchmarks. For example. However, if you need a system that can deliver high levels of productivity and creativity, not just gaming, then this laptop should be right up there in your consideration.

It's not perfect, the battery life is nothing to write home about (the system's battery life can't compete with, say, the hp envy x2) and the tendency to run loud and overheat when the cpu and gpu are under heavy load. (for example, when playing games), but overall these are minor points.

So overall, this slim and attractive 2-in-1 is very impressive and competes right at the top end of the hybrid 2-in-1 market. You get the premium build quality long associated with dell systems, but you also get amd radeon rx vega m graphics capabilities with an nvidia gtx 1050 processor, a truly innovative maglev keyboard, and one of the most luxurious screens on the market today.

Which leads to the conclusion that aside from the surface book 2, the dell xps 15 2-in-1 is probably the best hybrid on the market today.

Far from being a jack-of-all-trades, the dell xps 15 2-in-1 comes close to being a jack-of-all-trades.