Dell XPS 15 9500

The build quality is outstanding, the display is first-rate, the performance is adequate, it operates quietly enough for use in an office setting, and the speakers are among the finest that have ever been included in a Windows laptop.

Design &'' Build

The design of Dell's XPS laptops displays an incredible level of uniformity. It continues to employ a soft touch keyboard plate despite the growing popularity of bare metal laptops. The trend has not influenced this decision. The series-staple plastic composite used in the construction of the black Dell XPS 15 is strengthened with a layer of woven carbon fiber. Carbon fiber was replaced with woven glass in the Frost White variant of the Dell XPS 13, which was not yet available at the time of the review.

The Trackpad and Keyboard

Over the last several years, Dell has introduced new keyboard layouts throughout its XPS product line. It followed Apple's example and narrowed several of its keyboards, often resulting in unsatisfactory performance. Even if it does not feature a very shallow keyboard, the one on the Dell XPS 15 for 2020 is still noticeably shallower than the one on the Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 Gen 7 laptop. The critical depth is the one aspect of the XPS 15 that I would if I could alter anything about it.

Screen &'' Speakers

One of the most notable characteristics of the previous iteration of the XPS 15 was the presence of an OLED screen. The 2020 XPS 15 does not provide this as a configurable option; nonetheless, the top-tier 4K Ultra HD+ (3840 x 2400) LCD is a surprising improvement over the previous choice. It has a glossy surface, protection from Gorilla Glass 6, and a display that has an aspect ratio of 16:10. Consequently, it is reflective; however, the Dell XPS 15 does feature a coating that is quite good at reducing reflections.

Dell XPS 15 (2020) screen

You can choose seven different profiles when using Dell PremierColor, including sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3. Choose the sRGB format if you want something more similar to what was on your previous laptop. The default option is comparable to Adobe RGB, which gives the impression that dark reds and blues have a lot of vibrancy. Another software called CinemaColor has options for watching movies, playing sports, staying up late, and animating.

Dell XPS 15 speakers

These speakers provide sound comparable to that of a good Bluetooth speaker. The bass is credible, with actual output in the 80-100 Hz band, while the mids and treble are convincing and exceptionally clean and clear compared to the Dell XPS 15; gaming laptops that weigh twice as much sound dreadful.

Specs &'' Performance

Because it does not have a Core i9 CPU, our review unit of the Dell XPS 15 comes with discrete graphics and a high-resolution UHD+ screen at a price far lower than that of a system with that chip. It has an Intel Core i7-10750H processor, 32 gigabytes of random access memory (RAM), one terabyte of NVMe solid-state storage, and an Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti graphics card. However, despite the fact that only the entry-level model has a Core i5 processor and does not have a separate graphics card, most of my comments apply to most Dell XPS 15 models.

Dell XPS 15 (2020) design

If you want to do more with your laptop than write a paper, the Dell XPS 15 is not a fan of working on carpets, beds, or even on your knees. Due to the lower voltage of their CPUs, low-voltage laptops may get away with this even if they have bottom-loaded intake holes since the heat generated by their processors is lower.

It scored 6531 on the Geekbench 5 and 5049 on the PCMark 10. Earlier on in this review, I made an unfavorable comparison between the keyboard on the Dell XPS 15 and the one on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. On the other hand, our findings demonstrate that the XPS is noticeably more powerful. Because of its low voltage CPU, Lenovo received a score of 3842 on PCMark 10, which is approximately 25 percent lower than average.

Battery Capacity

The Dell XPS 15 that was evaluated comes with a battery that is 86Wh. It's a giant cell. However, it has a smaller capacity than the 100Wh battery that comes with the MacBook Pro 16. You might profit from purchasing the 1080p version of the XPS 15 rather than the one with the UHD+ display. Dell claims its entry-level display model has a battery life of up to 24 hours while doing standard office tasks and almost 17 hours while viewing Netflix.