Gadgetory

welcome back to hard Rome boxed a couple of weeks ago you might have seen our coverage of Intel's KB Lake G processor a combination of a quad core cable X CPU with an AMD Radeon rx Vega M GPU and four gigabytes of HB m2 on a single package we've already gone through all the performance numbers and game demos you could possibly want now let's discuss whether it's actually worth buying the first cable 8g laptop the Dell XPS 15 2 in one as the name of this laptop suggests we're looking at a convertible laptop here with a 360 degree hinge you can use it as a giant 15.6 inch tablet or in more useful span and tent modes at this size I don't find the tween one aspect of this laptop all that useful most convertibles are sticked using as a laptop anyway but when we're talking about a 15 inch system the size makes some of those other usage modes less practical the hinge is sturdy and easy to operate though and there aren't any noticeable compromises that affect the laptop experience this is still a laptop first and other usage mode second which is the right approach to take with this sort of device in terms of build quality we're looking at the same excellent build as Dells entire XPS line and you get a beautiful matte metal on the lid and base along with a soft touch carbon fiber styled keyboard surround it's a very sturdy laptop thanks to that combination of materials plus it has a nice premium touch that you really should be getting at this price point it wouldn't be an XPS laptop without a slim bezel display so you're getting that here as well I still think Dell does the best slim bezel laptops out there and it's awesome to get it in not just the 13-inch form factors but 15-inch as well unfortunately the trade-off for such slim bezels is the nostril vision camera position below the display which isn't great for frequent webcam uses but the slimmer bezels do allow the laptop to take up a smaller footprint and while not a small or particularly portable laptop due to its large 15-inch screen it's one of the smallest devices you can get in its class the thickest parts are just sixteen millimeters thick and that tapers down nicely and overall it weighs just two kilograms ideally I'd like to see that weight come down a tad but you are getting a 75 watt hour battery insight along with the premium aluminium construction and both of those things add to the way the port selection is pretty lacking on the XPS 15 to n1 especially compared to the non convertible XPS 15 there isn't a single USB a port on this device still has instead opted for two Thunderbolt three ports on the left and two USB C 3.1 ports on the right the USB C 3.1 points double as DisplayPort outputs but there is no commonly used display connector on this device and while dual Thunderbolt 3 is nice the lack of USBA is annoying if you want to use many common peripherals without a dongle as the market transitions to USB C I still think it's critical to include at least one USB a port and other sides are quite thin I think a slight design revision could have allowed full-size USB here you also get a 3.5 ml headphone jack and a micro SD card slot again it would have made more sense to have a full SD slot here especially as the laptop is designed for creative professionals both a full SD slot and a USB a port are included with the regular Dell XPS 15 so it's disappointing to see the two-in-one cut these features the keyboard uses Dells shallower XPS K design used across their 2 in 1 laptops which provides slightly less feedback than the deeper keys with a longer travel on the non-convertible XPS s the keyboard here is fine it's not bad but it's not particularly satisfying to type on and I definitely prefer this standard XPS keyboard over this one it's also a bit disappointing that this 15 inch laptop does not include a numpad but that does allow the keyboard to take center stage the trackpad is good on Power Cells other XPS laptops and I like the inclusion of a fingerprint reader in the power button the nostril vision camera array also supports Windows holo facial recognition if you prefer that for authentication the display it's available in either 1080p or 4k resolutions both are 15.6 inch IPS LCD panels and both include touchscreens I received the 4k mode to review and it packs a hundred percent Adobe RGB gamut coverage so it's perfect for content creators that need the extra color space in typical Dell fashion this is a professional-grade display that includes features designed for creators their premiere color utility allows you to choose between several display modes including a vibrant mode with proper color management that allows you to get the most out of your display on with additional modes that can clamp the screen to DCI p3 srgb or Adobe RGB depending on you this is super handy if you're using an app that doesn't handle color management well yet you require those larger gamuts without going into a ton of detail the 4k display here performs well with brightness above 400 nits a strong contrast ratio of 1660 to 1 and average Delta is around the 3.0 mark in a default mode when measuring against srgb and that can be further tightened by selecting a specific mode and both the DCI p3 and Adobe RGB modes provide near full coverage of those respective gamut so it's a very good display all around performance is something I've covered in detail in another video so I'd highly recommend checking out my review of KB Lake G for a full breakdown of how this exact model performs but I will briefly summarize my findings here quickly for those that just want you know a brief overview the latest Dell XPS 15 21 95 75 comes with an intel core i7 8700 5g in the upper end models or an i5 83 o5g in the lower models both of which are 65 watt KB Lake G parts with a quad core CPU and 20 compute unit Vega GPUs my review unit as configured came with 16 gigabytes of ddr4 2400 memory although 8 gigabytes appears to be the standard across most models that said like with a lot of Dell systems you have the option to configure both storage and memory through their website CPU performance is good slightly outperforming the last gen cry 7 7700 HQ though falling short of the newer six core coffee-like laptop CPUs like the cry 78758 dat 705 G's also a fair bit faster than 15 what you serious processes like the I 78550 you despite both being quad-core so if you're tossing it between this and something like a Dell XPS 13 the 15-inch 2 and 1 is a decent amount faster as far as graphics performance is concerned the Vega M GPU with 20 compute units sits around the same level as an nvidia geforce gtx 1050 or 1050 Ti so it's great for accelerating compute workloads like Adobe Premiere while also being capable of gaming at 1080p with medium ish settings in the latest tiles Fortnight is a great example of a game that runs extremely well on this laptop despite its thinness all up cable AG is a pretty impressive chip though it can't match the performance offered by the Dell XPS 15 with its combination number six Core i7 8750 H and G Tex 10:50 TI graphics so if you'd rather ditch the two-in-one design and 360 degree hinge for faster internals the XPS 15 might be more up your alley my review unit was kitted out with plenty of storage as it includes a one terabyte SK Hynix PC 401 nvme PCIe REM Drive this SSD is fast without blowing me away something like the Samsung PM 981 we're seeing in a lot of other high end laptops these days is noticeably faster in sequential rates and writes although this SK Hynix Drive performs very well in random speed tests getting the one terabyte SSD though is very expensive so I'd probably stick to 512 gigabytes for most buyers thermal performance is an interesting one as the temperatures of the CPU and GPU varied depending on the workload split for example if the CPU is the only component being used it reaches a peak of 85 degrees Celsius however if it's being used alongside the GPU in a stress test the CPU hits just 75 degrees and the GPU 67 degrees and in gaming the CPU is a little cooler at around 72 degrees Celsius while the GPU stays at that same 67 degree figure these figures are quite good but it does come at a cost the cooler isn't particularly quiet reaching 43 point for DBA in both gaming and video encoding stress tests that gaming result isn't too bad but when slamming the CPU in a render it's quite loud compared to other devices surface temperatures were also very hot the area around the f4 key reached nearly 50 degrees Celsius and the entire right side of the keyboard was above 45 degrees including the WASD Keys while gaming you'll have to put up with the keyboard acting as a bit of a hand warmer there the XPS 15 21 does come with a 75 watt hour battery which is on the lower end of the battery range for 15-inch ultra portables but it is still good enough for decent amounts of life like a lot of these sorts of systems the 95 75 will give you better battery life than a gaming laptop even one with a large batch like the gigabyte error 15 X but it won't last as long as a smaller 13 inch device with a 15 watt CPU like a lot of modern portable laptops there's a lot to like about the Dell XPS 15 - in one this machine has a great build a solid 360-degree hinge a great display good performance and so on there are a few annoyances here and there like the lack of a you be a port and a shallow keyboard but overall it's a good system that buyers will like and as far as 15 inch convertibles go the XPS 15 95 75 would be right up there as one of the best however I think a lot of prospective buyers would be better off with a non convertible Dell XPS 15 it's kind of neat to have the 360 degree hinge but the size of this 15 inch laptop makes it difficult to get the most out of the tablet and other form factors with 13-inch convertibles it's a lot easier to make use of the tablet motors they're smaller and lighter but the XPS 15 2 & 1 is a 2 kilogram based and best suited to use on a desk in laptop mode that's not to say you shouldn't consider the XPS 15 to anyone especially if you're an artist that wants to make use of the included pen to draw in the display in its stand mode I just think for most other professionals that wouldn't use that feature and would rarely take advantage of the 360 degree hinge the XPS 15 with its faster processor a larger battery and wider port selection is a much better option especially when you consider the XPS 15 is at least 130 dollars cheaper for an equivalent configuration if not more when the XPS 15 2 in one isn't discounted through Dells website speaking of price the XPS 15 21 definitely isn't cheap a model with just the core 787 o5g eight gigabytes of RAM and 256 gig of storage will set you back one thousand five hundred and twenty nine dollars right now down from an MSRP of seventeen hundred dollars that price quickly jumps to over seventeen fifty dollars if you want a decent 16 gig of ram and 512 gigabytes of storage while the 4k screen is an additional 400 bucks my review now has configured with a one terabyte SSD is an eye-watering 2400 us and if I told you this very unit was 4200 Australian dollars which includes more than 600 bucks of Australia tax you probably be even less impressed that's it for this review of the Dell XPS 15 21 if you're interested in more in-depth performance numbers I'd recommend going back and checking our previous coverage of KB Lake G consider supporting us on patreon so we can continue to make awesome content and I'll catch you in the next one