Dell Inspiron 13 7000 Special Edition 2-in-1 Review
3DMark and Far Cry 2
Next up, we have 3D graphics testing with 3DMark Ice Storm. Ice Storm Extreme raises the rendering resolution from 720p to 1080p over the standard preset, and uses higher quality textures and post-processing effects in the Graphics tests to create a more demanding workload. In Unlimited mode frames are rendered in 720p off-screen while the display is updated with thumbnails every 100 frames to show progress.
3DMark Ice Storm And Cloud Gate
Synthetic DirectX Gaming And Graphics Testing
Let’s take a look at how the Inspiron 13 7000 SE compares to some premium tablets and recent laptops on the market.
The Inspiron 13 7000 SE handled this test fairly well. It didn't land at the top, but it certainly held its own. In fact, it put up a respectable challenge to even a few laptops (as in, pure laptops, and not 2-in-1 convertibles). As you can tell, it handily beat a multitude of pure tablets as well. We wouldn't suggest a hardcore gamer grab this unit and expect miracles, but it's very capable of doubling as a fun machine once you're off the clock.
The Cloud Gate test is aimed at entry-level PCs and laptops, and has two subtests: a processor-intensive physics test and two graphics tests. We run the test suite at its default 1280 x 720 resolution and at default rendering quality settings. Keep in mind that 3DMark Cloud Gate scores aren’t comparable to scores from say, 3DMark Fire Strike (gaming PCs) or Ice Storm (smartphones and tablets).
Even when compared to some very nice ultrabooks, the Inspiron 13 7000 SE performed very well here. It was just a smidgen short of taking the crown, and it rivaled both Dell's XPS 13 and Asus' T300 Chi for the lead.
To get a feel for gaming performance, we also fired up Far Cry 2:
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Far Cry 2's benchmark is a bit old and dusty, but it's a decent indicator of what a system of this caliber can do with an older, less-taxing Direct X game. And while the Inspiron 13 7000 SE couldn't quite muster a 30fps average, it came close. For a 2-in-1 with integrated graphics, its not bad.
