Evaluation of Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook with 5.2mm touch screen.

IT 168 evaluation XPS is Dell's top-level home notebook series, and it is one of the few product lines that can compete with Apple's MacBook. In which 13 inch XPS 13 refers to 13 inch MacBookPro. After entering 20 15, with the release of the fifth-generation Core processor, Apple has just upgraded the MacBookPro, but the new MacBookPro with no other changes except CPU is inevitably disappointing. In contrast, the new XPS 13 with the new 5.2mm ultra-narrow screen frame is eye-catching.

Although the new generation Dell XPS 13 is a breakthrough, it continues this series of traditions in naming. Like the previous work, it is called XPS 13. Although the shape and style of the fuselage seem to have changed little, it has been fine-tuned in many details, such as moving the camera from the top of the screen to the lower left corner; The radian of the corner part of the fuselage is smaller than that of the previous product; These subtle changes bring us a better experience while maintaining the original style of XPS 13.

As far as the new XPS 13 is concerned, it is a very breakthrough design product. The ultra-narrow bezel of 5.2mm allows the 13.3-inch display to fit into the 1 1 inch notebook body! This seemingly simple change brings users a 13.3-inch format that is more suitable for office work, and at the same time provides the portability of 1 1 inch notebook, which is an innovation of the original notebook.

Of course, products with this breakthrough design are usually not cheap, but the lowest price of the new generation XPS 13 is only 6999 yuan! It is equipped with the 5th generation Intel Core i5-5200U processor, providing a full HD display, 4GB memory and 128GB solid state drive.

In addition, in order to meet the needs of high-end users, XPS 13 is equipped with a touch screen with a resolution of 13.3 inches, 3200× 1800, and the fifth-generation Intel Core i7-5500U processor has strong performance and full power, providing 8GB of memory and 256GB of solid-state drive, and the price is as high as/Kloc. Today I'm going to introduce you to the top version of XPS 13.

It's really cool to experience the ultra-narrow screen border for the first time in Dell XPS 13!

XPS 13 from Dell? The body size of 304 mm× 200 mm completely subverts our impression of 13 inch notebook. Its size is only a little longer than A4 paper, and its width is even smaller than A4 paper! You should know that the body size of most 13 inch notebooks is generally around 325mm× 225mm!

As for the secret of Dell XPS 13 ultra-small body, I think everyone already knows it, that is, the 5.2mm ultra-narrow screen frame! Although the body is similar to that of a 12.5-inch notebook, the single-sided frame width of Dell XPS 13 is only one third of its width! It is particularly worth mentioning that the advantages of this ultra-narrow bezel are not only reflected in non-touch models, but also the single-sided bezel thickness of the touch version of Dell XPS 13 in this test is the same 5.2mm!

After the screen border is narrowed, the first benefit is to increase the screen ratio. To put it bluntly, it is to put a larger display screen in a smaller size body, which improves portability and brings better display effect. Just like previous tablets, the first generation products used a 10. 1 inch display screen, which was relatively portable, but it looked too laborious in daily office applications. In the third generation, the screen size will increase.

In addition to the higher screen ratio mentioned above, I think the ultra-narrow border looks cooler visually! Especially for laptops, the screen is relatively large, and the 5.2mm ultra-narrow bezel looks nothing from a distance!

Of course, the ultra-narrow bezel has also slightly improved the design of Dell XPS 13, such as moving the camera group at the top of the screen to the lower left of the screen and arranging the microphone on the front cabinet of the keyboard. Although the layout is different from the traditional notebook, it does not bring us any inconvenience in use.

Simple appearance and connotation, fine workmanship and sufficient materials.

As the flagship ultrabook of Dell, the manufacturing process of the new generation XPS 13 continues the high standard of this series. Although it looks simple and simple, its charm can only be realized after it is really used, and it shows a low-key luxury.

The appearance design of the new Dell XPS 13 is still very simple, and there is no other decoration on the silver-white metal top cover except the central circular Dell LOGO. However, XPS 13' s solid materials, fine workmanship and excellent design reveal a sense of high quality, which is beyond the reach of ordinary notebooks.

After the top cover is opened, the new XPS 13 is dressed in black, providing a 3K touch screen and a non-touch 1080P matte screen. This test is a 3200× 1800 ultra-high resolution touch screen model.

The keyboard area of Dell's new XPS 13 has also been adjusted to match the overall tougher body shape. The original shiny and round keycap has been replaced by a flatter square keycap, which is more unified with the whole machine style in visual effect. On the premise of slightly shortening the key stroke, you can still feel a sense of frustration when pressing it, which is not available in most similar products.

Although Dell's new XPS 13 is smaller, the area of the touchpad is still very large, which is also the consistent classic design of XPS 13 series. The keyboard part is very close to the screen, which not only expands the use area of the touchpad, but also increases the area of the palm rest. With the absorption modeling of low front and high back, the comfort of users when typing is improved.

Here, I have to talk about Dell's new XPS 13 touchpad separately. This touchpad is really the best one I have ever used. It not only has sufficient use area, but also has smooth finger sliding on it, rapid and accurate cursor movement, crisp key sound and moderate elasticity.

In the material part, Dell XPS 13 has always been concerned, and so has the new generation of products launched this time. The top cover and bottom cover of the fuselage are made of aluminum alloy, and the keyboard cover is made of carbon fiber, with a skin-like touch on the surface.

Limited by the shape and thickness of the fuselage, Dell XPS 13 does not provide VGA interface like the ultrabook of the same type, but is equipped with mini DP video output interface, which is more practical than the model equipped with mini HDMI interface, because the mini DP interface is more widely used and the wires are easier to obtain.

In addition to the mini DP interface, Dell XPS 13 also has a USB2.0 interface, 1 headphone microphone interface and an SD card reader. In particular, a key is designed on the left side of the body of Dell XPS 13. When pressed, the small light next to it will light up. This is a unique function of Dell XPS series to check the battery power, and even if it is turned off, you can know the approximate remaining power of the notebook battery.

The fifth-generation Core has strong performance and is cool and comfortable to use.

The new XPS 13 official website offers four main configurations. Today's test is a high-end version, equipped with the fifth-generation Intel Core i7-5500U processor, built-in Intel HD graphics card 5500-core graphics card, 8GB dual-channel memory (onboard), and 256GB solid-state drive.

▲ Hardware parameters

In the processor part, the fifth-generation Intel Core i7-5500U is built with the most advanced 14nm second-generation 3D tri-gate transistor technology, and its core architecture is upgraded to Broadwell, which integrates Intel HD graphics card 5500-core graphics card, TDP 15W, and it is the replacement product of the fourth-generation Intel Core i7-4500U in model.

In terms of parameters, the basic frequency of the fifth-generation Intel Core i7-5500U is 2.4 GHz, and the highest turbo frequency is 3GHz. Compared with the fourth generation Intel Core i7-4500U, the main frequency is increased by 0.6GHz, and the core frequency range is reduced. However, the fifth-generation Intel Core i7-5500U supports the enhanced Intel SpeedStep dynamic energy-saving technology, with a configurable TDP-down frequency of 600MHz and a configurable TDP-down frequency.

▲ Processor performance test

As the backbone of the fifth-generation Intel Core U series, the performance of the fifth-generation Intel Core i7-5500U is the mainstream. The multithreading score of CINEBENCH R 15 is about 14% higher than that of the previous generation Intel Core i7-4500U, and the multithreading performance is about 14% higher than that of the low-end XPS 13.

▲PCmark 8 scored higher.

PCmark 8 is a new generation of benchmark testing software for overall performance of the whole machine. It provides five different tests for different application modes: family, creativity, work, storage and application. Among them, Storge mainly tests the storage efficiency and stability of computers, and Applications mainly tests third-party software such as Microsoft Office. Our test of XPS 13 is creative. As can be seen from the final test results, the total score of 2925 points is above average in notebook computers. Compared with XPS 13 equipped with 5th generation Intel Core i5-5200U, the total score of XPS 13 equipped with high-end version is increased by 20%.

▲PCmark 8 hard disk performance test

XPS 13 has a built-in 256GB Samsung PM85 1 M.2 interface solid state drive (also called NGFF interface), which is a new generation interface standard tailored by Intel for Ultrabooks. Compared with mSATA, the volume is further reduced and the space is saved. At the same time, in terms of performance, by bypassing DMI bus and switching to PCIe bus with rich bandwidth, it creates the most important condition for SSD to break through the speed limit of SATA3.0. For XPS 13, from PCmark 8? According to the test results of Storge project, it completely surpasses the products equipped with mechanical hard disks and is at the same level as other models equipped with SSD.

▲ Application testing

In order to see the application performance of the new generation XPS 13 more intuitively, we tested its practical application. From the final test results, it can be seen that the new generation XPS 13 can fully meet the needs of daily office entertainment, and the startup speed and program loading speed are obviously faster than those of products using mechanical hard disks.

▲ Running speed test

Since the performance of the new XPS 13 is so good, plus the ultra-thin body, what is its heat dissipation performance? In order to fully demonstrate the heat dissipation effect of the new XPS 13, we tested it at room temperature of 25℃ for 30 minutes and photographed the heat distribution on the fuselage surface.

▲ Heat distribution on the keyboard surface

For the keyboard surface, the palm rest of Dell's new XPS 13 is relatively cold, and there is a little heat accumulation in the upper left of the keyboard, and the temperature in the orange-red area is 47.2℃, which will be warm to the touch.

▲ Heat distribution at the bottom of the fuselage

Next, focus on the bottom of the fuselage. As can be seen from the temperature distribution chart above, most areas at the bottom of Dell's new XPS 13 are still relatively cool, and only the temperature near the cooling hole is relatively high, reaching 55.6℃, indicating that XPS 13 has good heat dissipation effect, reasonable heat distribution and comfortable daily use.

The real 3K display is delicate and accurate.

The visual shock brought by Dell's new XPS 13 is not enough only by the ultra-narrow frame of 5.2mm, but also needs the support of the display screen with outstanding display effect. The high-end XPS 13 in this test brought us a touch screen with a resolution of 3200× 1800, using Sharp LQ 133Z 1 LCD panel.

In addition to standard RGB, many notebooks with 3200× 1800 resolution screen adopt PenTiel arrangement screen. As can be seen from the schematic diagram of pixel arrangement above, the number of sub-pixels arranged by PenTiel is two-thirds of the standard RGB of the same area!

Only the three primary colors of red, green and blue can make up all the colors, but two colors can't make up all the colors. Therefore, when an image is actually displayed, one pixel of PenTile will "borrow" another color of its neighboring pixels to form three primary colors, which is a technology to simulate high-resolution effect by reducing the number of sub-pixels. Its biggest advantage is low cost and high visual brightness, but its disadvantages are also very obvious. For example, when displaying some fine content, the clarity will be reduced, resulting in small-sized text can not be clearly displayed. At the same time, in order to make up for the color problem, when color is divided, the dividing line will produce sawtooth lines twice the actual pixel spacing, while the standard RGB arrangement has high definition, delicate display and more realistic color reproduction, which shows that it is also a 3K high-resolution screen, and it makes sense that Dell XPS 13 is more expensive. ?

▲ screen display effect

The screen brightness of Dell XPS 13 high-resolution version is 343cd/m2, and the display color is 16.7M(8bit), covering 77% of NTSC color gamut and 99% of sRGB color gamut. The overall display effect is excellent.

In the battery life part, we tested XPS 13 in working mode with PCMARK 8. The main test items include lightweight basic operations such as web browsing and text editing. From the test results, it can be seen that the new XPS 13 achieves a long battery life of 7 hours and 20 minutes under the optimization of the power control of the fifth-generation intelligent Core processor.

Summary:

Undoubtedly, Dell XPS 13 with 5.2mm ultra-narrow bezel has injected new impetus into the dull notebook market. Perhaps this change doesn't look as fancy as two-in-one and deformable products, but the reduction of body size, the persistence of display size, the improvement of mobile office experience and the shock of visual effects are all real, and it brings users as much help as two-in-one and deformable products. Moreover, it is more difficult for Dell XPS 13 to innovate in the original form of notebook. After all, the existing form of notebook has been used for decades, and many manufacturers have disdained to invest more energy in traditional products. Dell XPS 13 proves to us that as long as we put our heart into it, there will always be a breakthrough.