Dell XPS 15 Review: a Glimmer in the Macbook’s Shadow

The last time I owned a Dell computer was back in mellow school . It was an XPS M1330 , which was — for the time — a powerful reckoner , and not cheap either . But after some article of clothing and tear , the case go to infract in interesting ( see : unfixable ) ways , the battery life tanked , and the fan got unreasonably noisy . I bought a Macbook Pro to replace it and never looked back .

Almost ten old age later , Dell are still using the painfully XC - sounding XPS brand ( the X stands for “ Xtreme ” ) , and is hoping to offer a sincere challenge to the 15 ” Macbook Pro with their new XPS 15 laptop .

The most noticeable feature of the XPS 15 is its over-the-top presentation . With almost no bezel around the screen , 4 cat valium resolution , above modal brightness , viewability from almost any angle , and superb colour , it feels markedly more immersive than Retina displays — to the point where coloration flaws on entanglement pages and broken - resolving power initiation wizards become toilsome to look at . Dell ’s togglable PremierColor feature film pushes the display ’s pallet to its limit , and reckon sensational in the right covering .

All Images: Bryan Menegus/Gizmodo

All Images: Bryan Menegus/Gizmodo

The guts of the XPS 15 are also telling . For an intermediate user , the Intel i5 ( or optional i7 ) will have power to spare . Anything above the base mannikin comes with a NVIDIA GTX 960 M , and the top of the assembly line version has 32 GB of memory . I played Team Fortress 2 at the highest potential resolution — while Chromecasting a tab from Netflix , play music on Spotify , and with Photoshop opened — and saw no detectable lag while 12 - year - olds repeatedly shot my character to death and mocked by utter lack of skill .

Those two feature — and they ’re braggy , meaningful feature — are where the ripe aspects of this motorcar commence and end .

That luxuriant display means an perfectly low-down battery life . PremierColor is a power suck , as is the touchscreen . From a full charge I time a pitiful 2 hours and 27 moment while unendingly streaming video with all the Melville Bell and whistles turn on , and a footling over 3 hours on a second attempt .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

Like many Windows machines , the trackpad feels particular and insensitive . The highest spec variant come with a touch screen , which tag on an redundant $ 400 on the pricetag ( compare two otherwise identical modeling ) . And , for the sprightliness of me , I could not find a exercise for that touchscreen — except to do some canonical drag - and - drop tasks the trackpad was unwilling to do . Unlike a tablet where touch feature replace more traditional IO alternative , the keyboard is n’t obliterable . With a substructure of matt black hardware between you and the screen , prolonged use is uncomfortable , and unless you own a separate stylus it has no meaningful functionality with Photoshop .

Sound is also purportedly one of this car ’s selling point . hybridizing tally between my Macbook and the XPS on a pair of Grado SR80s , I detected few if any detectable differences on lossless file — perhaps a slight boost in higher relative frequency on the Mac , but for certain nothing anyone at a consumer layer would manage about . Without earpiece , the position is even more fearsome for the Dell . Despite Apple products ’ report for being tinny and quiet — and to be fair , the Dell is markedly louder — the MBP 15 at least has its speakers pointed up towards the user instead of down , resulting in muddy , muffled playback . Twice over the calendar week I pass with the XPS , the sound stopped working entirely , requiring a restart .

Dell has replaced the pliant shells of sure-enough XPS laptops with aluminum anatomy , but the XPS 15 is inexplicably coat in a goopy - feeling carbon character composite . When my Macbook becomes the inevitable dupe of dirt or food for thought spills , I feel confident subjecting it to some moderately stiff solvents . That confidence does not extend to whatever covers the body of the XPS . This fabric does a reasonably skillful job of dissipating heating plant around where you ’d logically rest your palm , but high temperatures are still an yield at the back of the keyboard and underside of the chassis .

William Duplessie

Along with the XPS 15 , Dell also transmit along their Thunderbolt dock , which purports to unite multiple display at workstations through any number of available TV connective . Unfortunately , what should be a plug - and - play experience turned into 60 minutes of dogfight , and in the closing it did n’t really work . Displays flicker or release off and some Monitor were whole antagonistic . At its best , the Thunderbolt dock netted one more display than simply using the onboard HDMI output , which does n’t seem like a warm enough case for spending $ 299 .

The XPS 15 is thin , loose , powerful , and has a downright gorgeous exhibit . But the few area where it trump Apple are outweighed by its flaws . cut bound presentation is mostly a source of barrage woes , the exploit Dell put into sound will likely go unnoticed by most users , and even its terrific performance , bolster in no small part by a distinct GPU , will be too powerful for casual exploiter but not nearly robust enough for serious gamers . The delimitate trait for most — but not all — Apple products is that they simply work . In no way does the XPS 15 present itself as a contender to the Macbook Pro 15 ” , primarily because Dell ’s raw laptop computer does n’t work on well enough enough of the prison term to justify the deviation in price spot .