The Dell XPS 13 (9360) is presented as the windwos 10 alternative to Apple’s MacBook Pro as it has almost identical specifications, but for a price well below the apple model. In this analysis of the Dell XPS 13 you’ll see if it’s really worth betting on.
Serious rival for 2016 MacBook Pro
If you’re considering buying an ultrabook to work or study, and you’re not attracted to the idea of overpaying for the apple logo on the lid of your laptop, stay tuned for what we need to tell you because the Dell XPS 13 9360 is probably what you’re looking for.
Although the Dell XPS 13 has a lot in common with its older brother, the Dell XPS 15, they are completely different concepts and the 13-inch XPS cannot be considered a gaming laptop on any of its aspects.
The main difference with its older brother, besides the obvious of its size, is that it does not incorporate a dedicated graphics card as we do find in the 15-inch model. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a sporadic game to a game that doesn’t require too many resources, but it’s not a team designed for it.
The Dell XPS 13 is essentially a lightweight and rugged work equipment that gives you a good number of hours of battery life with performance at the level than expected for an ultrabook priced above 1,200 euros.
Sober and durable design
Dell has remained conservative in the design of this new evolution of its XPS 13 because, except for the inclusion of a new external finish in rose gold that adds to its already classic silver grey, virtually nothing has changed externally. Dell may have endorsed the popular saying «if something works don’t touch it».
The exterior design of the Dell XPS 13 9360 is sober and elegant lines where high-quality aluminum takes center stage and combines with the high-strength polycarbonate and carbon fiber inside the ultrabook forming a profile with smooth, edgeless lines.
Its compact size deceives the naked eye and makes it look like we’re looking at an 11-inch or 12-inch device when, when we open it, we discovered a 13.3-inch screen. This little prodigy is produced thanks to its InfinityEdge display that just needs 5mm of frame around it.
This allows the Dell XPS 13 to be in size only 304 x 235 x 9-15 mm and only 1.2 kg in weight. These dimensions and weight make it an ideal companion for those who need to always carry a laptop, but without the inconvenience of having to endure an excess of luggage that always takes check in at the end of the day.
At the bottom, we find two longitudinal bands of non-slip rubber that act as clamping legs that raise the laptop from the table surface for easy cooling.
The uses of these non-slip bands ensure the stability of the device even on uneven surfaces such as the side table of an aircraft, since occupying much of the width of the laptop makes it easier to accommodate on the table, which is always more complicated when the laptop has only 4 support points.
When opening the laptop, we find that the hinge offers remarkable resistance, which makes it necessary to use both hands to open it, offering excellent stability in the chosen position and allows an opening of up to 142 degrees.
The first thing that catches the eye, in addition to the narrow frames of its screen, is the carbon fiber coating that occupies the entire surface of the wrist rest around the keyboard and touchpad.
This carbon fiber coating has plunged us into a love-hate relationship in which you have to adore the touch and resistance of this surface, but you hate the ease it has to catch the footprints, especially considering that it is the area that you inevitably have to use, press and maintain contact with the fingertips.
Quality screen, but not bright
The Dell XPS 13 is available in two versions with completely different InfinityEdge IPS IGZO displays. On the one hand, we find a panel with Full HD resolution of 1,920 x 1080 pixels equipped with a matte screen finish anti-glare and lacks touch functions.
While on the other hand, a version with QHD+ resolution of 3,200 x 1,800 pixels with touch functions and protected by a bright Corning Gorilla Glass is available.
The unit we’re using for this review of the Dell XPS 13 9360 is the touchless, matte panel finish version of the full HD version. This display offers excellent viewing angles without loss of intensity or sharpness in colors even from extreme angles.
The matte surface of the panel effectively disintegrates the reflections of the external lights on the screen making it much more comfortable to use and avoiding having to change the tilt of the screen when working indoors where the light points cast reflections on the screen. In this sense, the XPS 13 exhibits frankly spectacular behavior.
However, despite obtaining a clear and well balanced image with respect to the colors, a little more intensity in the brightness is lacking to improve its use outdoors in full sun, since it is in this section that this panel slacks with respect to the other available screen version.
In contrast, the Full HD matte panel offers a longer range of use, surpassing in two hours the equipment that integrates the touch screen with 4K resolution.
Highlighting one detail that we have discovered in this analysis of the XPS 13 9360 is that, having such a narrow frame at the top of the screen, you have to take special care when opening the laptop or you will not be able to avoid leaving your fingerprint at the top of the screen. Something that stops happening after having to clean up that area a couple of times.
Performance rather than solvent
The highlights of this Dell XPS 13 9360 are found inside, and are spearheaded by the integration of the new Intel Core i5 7200U and i7 7500u and i7 7560U Kaby Lake 7th Generation processors that offer an average performance improvement of around 15% over the processors assembled by the previous model , in addition to improving energy management which also promises superior autonomy.
Inside the Dell XPS 13 9360 we’re analyzing we find the most modest processor in the XPS 13 range, but don’t think it doesn’t fit as it’s none other than a dual-core Intel Core i5 7200U processor with Hyperthreading (HT) function that doubles the number of processing threads and comes with 8 GB of LPDDR3 memory at 1866 MHz that doubles the number of processing threads and comes with 8 GB of LPDDR3 memory at 1866 MHz that , as is increasingly the case, you will not be able to upgrade as it is welded to the motherboard. So you should pay special attention when purchasing the device to choose a model equipped with 8 or with 16 GB of RAM.
This processor incorporates an integrated Intel HD 620 graphics chip that enables native 4K video encoding, which represents a good evolution from the previous generation Intel HD 520, but still keeps it at a distance from the performance of Intel Iris built into some previous-generation Intel processors.
But as we have already said, we have to be aware that we are not facing an ultrabook whose objective is graphic performance, beyond the usual tasks of viewing videos, occasional video editing or photography or playing sporadically of unrethanding video games.