Xps 9350 Shutting Down Sleep Again

Dell's XPS xiii squeezes more than screen, more power and even Windows Hello face recognition into a tiny frame, just trips up over software issues.

The XPS 13 is Dell's top-of-the-line meaty laptop and starts at £one,349. Diverse models with different processors, storage and screen resolutions are available.

The XPS line is where Dell shows off its design chops. It is a premium Windows ten rival to Apple'due south MacBook Pro and more than recently Microsoft's Surface Laptop line.

Dell's standout feature has been squeezing the biggest screen possible into as small a frame equally possible by shrinking everything in the hat section of the laptop that isn't screen – much like the modernistic all-screen smartphone blueprint. The 2020 XPS 13 has the biggest display nonetheless, at 13.4in with a 16:10 ratio, and tiny bezels all the way effectually the edges.

The thin bezel at the top of the screen has a webcam with infrared face recognition. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

That means yous get a relatively large brandish in the body of what would traditionally have been a laptop with only an 11in screen. And what a screen it is. The version tested had the 4K touchscreen choice, which is crisper than practically anything else, super bright, colour accurate and all-round gorgeous. It supports HDR video, including Dolby Vision. Models are available with either touch or non-touch FHD+ screens as well.

The body of the laptop is made from aluminium, with your option of black carbon fibre or white glass fibre on the laptop'southward deck. It feels solid, sleek and unique. The wedge-shaped laptop weighs simply ane.27kg and is but 14.8mm thick, with a smaller footprint than about of its contest.

The new, slightly larger keyboard is great. Well spaced, stable, fairly serenity, with 1mm of key travel and good feedback when pressed. The large precision trackpad is responsive, with a tactile but muted click that hopefully shouldn't annoy those around you.

Windows How-do-you-do

The ability push button is as well a fingerprint scanner. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The XPS thirteen ships with not one but two biometric systems for deeply logging you into Windows without a password.

The new design has a Windows Hello infrared face recognition camera squeezed into the bezel at the height of the screen and a fingerprint scanner congenital into the power button. That means you can either log in with a press of the power button or but by looking at the screen when you lot open the lid. Both are fast, accurate and piece of work brilliantly.

Specifications

• Screen: thirteen.4in LCD 4K (3840 x 2400) or FHD+ (1920 ten 1200)

• Processor: 10th-generation Intel Cadre i5 or i7

• RAM: 8 or 16GB

• Storage: 512GB or 1TB

• Graphics: Intel UHD or Iris Plus

• Operating arrangement: Windows 10 Dwelling house or Pro, Ubuntu 18.04

• Photographic camera: 720p widescreen HD with Windows Hullo

• Connectivity: Wifi 6, Bluetooth v.ane, 2x USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, microSD, headphone

• Dimensions: 198.vii x 295.7 x 14.8mm

• Weight: one.27kg

Hot hardware, only USB-C problems

One side has a Thunderbolt three port and a microSD bill of fare slot. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The 2020 XPS thirteen ships with your pick of 10th-generation Intel core fries. Most models have the Core i7 common to all top-spec computers, including the new MacBook Pro, Surface Laptop 3 and Huawei MateBook Ten Pro. The model tested for this review had a Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a 4K screen.

Equally such the XPS 13 has lots of power on tap, making it capable of simply about annihilation, brusque of high-end gaming. Intel's Iris Plus graphics are a step upwardly from the previous Hd integrated graphics, which yous immediately notice when you starting time editing images on a 4K external screen.

Used on battery the XPS thirteen is about silent, with only low-level fans audible when pushed a little. Connect the car to power and start doing demanding things and information technology volition get a fleck hot, with the fans going fairly strong. Even with fans at maximum, they're not quite as loud every bit some competitors.

The deck of the laptop doesn't go overly warm, but you could feel some heat behind the R, T, Y, U and I keys. The vents on the bottom of the laptop are easily blocked by soft effects, pregnant the machine really needs to exist used on a hard table, desk or lap.

The XPS 13 has 2 USB-C/Thunderbolt three ports, a headphones socket and a microSD carte du jour slot, which is very welcome. When 1 USB-C port is taken upwardly past the charger, that only leaves one port for connecting accessories, such as a monitor, meaning you might demand a dock or similar if using habitation-working tools.

The other side has the 2d Thunderbolt iii port and the 3.5mm headphones socket. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

A bug in a BIOS update for the XPS 13 broke compatibility with some USB-C to HDMI adaptors while I was reviewing the machine. The laptop threw up errors for 2 adaptors after the update, just continued to work with a USB-C to HDMI cable and a USB-C to DisplayPort dock. The bug remained until the end of the review period.

A Dell spokesperson said: "We're investigating the effect and will update on our findings. We give thanks customers for sharing their experience on the Dell Community."

Battery life wasn't great, averaging only five and one-half hours of piece of work between charges, including ninety minutes of photo editing, lots of browsing and word processing, with the screen effulgence fix to 70%. The 2020 MacBook Pro and Microsoft Surface Laptop three each lasted 7.5 hours under similar conditions. Lighter use saw closer to seven hours between charges. Models with the lower-resolution FHD+ screen, rather than 4K, will are probable to last significantly longer as the screen is one of the biggest power drains.

A full charge took 2.5 hours with the included 45W USB-C charger in optimised mode, but well under two if using Dell'due south fast-charge setting with the laptop off.

Sustainability

The lid is smooth aluminium with a chromed Dell logo in the centre. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The XPS xiii is ane of the most recyclable laptops you can purchase, and is generally repairable. It is designed to enable repairs by authorised service personnel in the field, not just in a service eye, including replacement of the bombardment.

An out-of-warranty screen repair costs £299.41, while a battery replacement costs £171.66. Dell also has an avant-garde ability-management utility that can extend the useful lifespan of a bombardment by altering when, how and how much information technology is charged, either automatically by learning from your usage and charging habits or manually via various profiles.

Dell offers gratuitous recycling schemes, even for products from other brands, while its packaging is fabricated from recycled materials. The firm has a number of sustainability and environmental impact schemes under way for 2030, including the recycling or reuse an equivalent product per purchase and use of recycled material. Dell publishes the carbon footprint of its products.

Windows x Habitation

The keyboard and trackpad are great. Firm, responsive and precise. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The XPS 13 ships with a choice of Windows ten Home or Pro, and it is one of the few laptops that can exist bought with Linux instead of Windows, with Ubuntu eighteen.04 models.

Every bit tested with Window x Home, the XPS 13 ships with a lot of Dell utility apps, most of which are useful, such as the advanced Dell Power Manager. Many can be safely ignored or removed, but i particular utility for the included wifi chips acquired no terminate of trouble.

The Killer Networking utilities, which are advanced software components for the gaming wifi chip Dell chose to use hither, prevented the machine from going to sleep when the lid was close, which is a fundamental sin for a laptop as it can lead to information technology turning on in a handbag and cooking itself.

No update, make clean install or troubleshooting could fix the sleeping result. Disabling the Killer utilities with the manufacturer-provided tool was the only way to fix information technology. Killer Networking chips, made past Rivet Networks (recently caused by Intel), are aimed at gamers and allow traffic prioritisation and other avant-garde features, but are notorious for causing these sorts of software problems, which makes information technology a puzzling inclusion in the XPS xiii, which is by no means a gaming laptop.

Observations

The speakers fire out of grilles forth the sides. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

• Occasionally the laptop would come back from sleep with Bluetooth disabled, requiring a reboot.

• The mics were poor for video conferencing at a distance, but the camera was pretty good.

• The down-firing speakers could get very loud indeed, but lacked whatsoever bass and were pretty shrill.

• At that place'south an option to plough on the laptop when the chapeau is opened, fifty-fifty if the XPS thirteen is fully powered off.

Price

The Dell XPS 13 (9300) 2020 with Windows 10 Abode, a FHD+ non-touchscreen, 8GB of RAM and 512GB SSD costs £one,399 with a Cadre i5 processor or £1,549 with a Core i7 processor.

The models with a FHD+ not-touchscreen, Core i7 and 16GB of RAM toll £1,599 with 512GB SSD or £1,699 with 1TB SSD. The model with a FHD+ touchscreen, Core i7, 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD costs £1,749.

The models with a 4K touchscreen, Core i7, 16GB of RAM price £ane,749 with 512GB SSD (as reviewed) and £one,799 with 1TB SSD. Some models are as well available in white.

Ubuntu Linux models cost £1,349 with a FHD+ non-touchscreen, Cadre i5, 8GB of RAM and 512GB SSD, £1,699 with a 4K touchscreen, Core i7, 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD, or £1,749 with 1TB SSD.

For comparison, the Microsoft's Surface Laptop 3 starts at an RRP of £999, the Huawei MateBook Ten Pro costs from £1,299.99 and the 13in MacBook Pro starts at £one,299.

Verdict

The Dell XPS xiii is a fantastic laptop held back past a few failures, nearly of which are bug traditionally associated with Dell and others.

The blueprint, build, look and physical office of the laptop is tiptop-form. The 4K screen is merely gorgeous, with tiny bezels all around. At 13.4in on the diagonal with a xvi:10 ratio, information technology has a surprisingly large amount of existent estate for getting work done, while videos plainly look stunning. It really is a very large screen for such a small laptop.

The keyboard and trackpad are nifty, so is having Windows Hello in both an IR confront recognition photographic camera and a fingerprint sensor.

There's enough of power on tap for doing everything you could want from a 13in laptop outside of gaming. Two Thunderbolt ports, a headphones socket and a microSD menu slot are very welcome. It could do with one more USB-C or USB-A port, only not many machines accept more than two USB-C ports these days. Battery life could likewise exist better, merely if you lot want information technology to concluding longer then buy the 1 without the 4K screen.

The big issues are the fights I've had to have with the addition Killer Networking utilities, which required disabling to get the laptop to slumber properly, and the bug in the BIOS update that crippled a few of my USB-C to HDMI adaptors. These are things that should non happen in a premium laptop costing this much.

The Dell XPS 13 is a five-star laptop hampered by problems traditionally associated with Dell and other third-political party manufacturers that give Windows computers a bad name, which is a real shame.

Pros: fantastic screen, peachy pattern, good keyboard, skilful trackpad, Thunderbolt 3, USB-C, microSD card slot, 10th-gen Intel chips.

Cons: short battery life, only two USB-C/Thunderbolt three ports, software/BIOS issues, expensive, mics non not bad for video conferencing at a distance, speakers are shrill.

The thin, aluminium and black carbon fibre wedge is svelte. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Other reviews

• Huawei MateBook 10 Pro review: Windows 10'southward MacBook Pro rival

• Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 review: still sleek, just no longer unique

• Microsoft Surface Pro 7 review: the best Windows 10 tablet PC y'all can buy

• Apple 13in MacBook Pro review 2020: going out on a loftier?

• Apple tree MacBook Air review: 2020'south most-perfect consumer laptop

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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jul/09/dell-xps-13-2020-review-a-fantastic-but-flawed-laptop

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