Dell XPS 13 2-In-1 Review - Portable And Flexible Living On The Infinity Edge
XPS 13 2-In-1 Battery Life And The Wrap-Up
In our second test, we loop a 1080p MP4 HD video file repeatedly with WiFi enabled, until the battery is exhausted. In all tests, Windows 10 Quiet Hours have been enabled and displays are calibrated with lux meters on pure white screens to as close to 115 lux as possible. For the average notebook this is somewhere between a 30 - 60% brightness setting (you'd be surprised how much panels vary).
Since notebook displays significantly affect power consumption and battery life, it's important to ensure a level playing field with respect to brightness of the panel for battery testing. However, since many notebook displays vary in brightness at each respective brightness setting in the OS, this calibration with the meter is also critical to ensure all displays are set to as near identical brightness output as possible before testing.
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Dell XPS 13 2-In-1 Performance Analysis And Final Thoughts
As you've seen in our gauntlet of benchmarks, Dell's XPS 13 2-In-1 offers competent and capable performance for this class of convertible hybrid notebook device. Though different lower-end configurations of the machine may offer less satisfying results, the Core i7-7Y75 configuration option will handle the every day computing tasks of mainstream users with ease. In fact, in light of the machine's battery life results, we think Dell cherry-picked the right config to send us for testing. Couple the fastest Intel Kaby Lake-Y chip with Dell's FHD 1080p touch display and you have the best of both worlds, for both performance and maximum up-time. We might suggest going with the 16GB of RAM option, if you've got a little extra dinero kicking around, but you can't go wrong either way with this setup. The XPS 13 2-In-1 is certainly a worthy addition to the Dell XPS lineage.
All told, Dell’s XPS 13 2-In-1 is a flexible, capable, gorgeous little hybrid with a head-turning design that is as much a pleasure to work with as it is to kick back with for a bit of leisure time. It’s definitely pricey for the product category, starting at $999 ($1299 as tested here) but when you build one of the best-in-class machines on the market, we guess you can command a premium. You'll have to be the judge if its price tag is justified, but Dell once again hit a product design home run with this flexible 13-inch XPS variant.
And let's just come out and tell it like it is - if you were considering a 12-inch MacBook, the Dell XPS 13 2-In-1 is a better option in just about every measurable way. Or, if you're considering the current 13-inch MacBook Air, Dell's standard XPS 13, now with Kaby Lake, eats it for lunch. That may be just our not completely humble opinion, but that's what we do here, offer opinions. It's refreshing to see Windows 10 device OEMs like Dell leading the charge and the XPS 13 2-In-1 is on point.
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