Dell XPS 15 (2020) review
Our Verdict
The Dell XPS 15 2020 offers excellent functioning and one of the well-nigh immersive, colorful displays of whatsoever 15-inch laptop.
For
- Gorgeous, immersive display
- Groovy overall performance
- Loud, rich speakers
- Comfy keyboard and touchpad
Against
- So-so bombardment life
- Gets loud under force per unit area
Tom's Guide Verdict
The Dell XPS 15 2020 offers splendid performance and one of the almost immersive, colorful displays of any xv-inch laptop.
Pros
- +
Gorgeous, immersive display
- +
Keen overall performance
- +
Loud, rich speakers
- +
Comfy keyboard and touchpad
- +
Cons
- -
So-so battery life
- -
Gets loud nether force per unit area
- -
Dell XPS 15 2020 specs
Starting price: $1,079
CPU: tenth Gen Core i5 and Cadre i7
RAM: 8GB/16GB/32GB/64GB
Storage: 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB PCIe 3 x4 SSD
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics, Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti
Display: 15.6-inch Infinity Edge display (1920 x 1200 or 3840 x 2400)
Battery: 56WHr or 86Whr
Size: 13.57 ten 9 ten 0.7 inches
Weight: iv pounds (non-touch on, 56Whr battery), 4.5 pounds (touch, 86Whr battery)
The Dell XPS 15 (2020) review I've written for you here afforded me a surprising experience: I was completely okay with letting my desktop collect dust for a few days. The truth is, Dell's latest fifteen-inch laptop packs tenth Gen Intel power (we're waiting on Tiger Lake) and discrete Nvidia graphics into a slim, attractive package. And it delivers what a lot of people want: workstation-like operation in a incomparably united nations-workstation-similar pattern, making information technology one of the best laptops for engineering students.
Simply the real crown jewel of the Dell XPS fifteen (2020) is the revamped InfinityEdge display. This iteration does away with the thick bottom bezel from past XPS 15s, giving you a screen that is less hindered by a chunky edge; it makes movies and games look all the more immersive.
That big upgrade is complemented by some smart tweaks to the keyboard, touchpad and chassis that make Dell'southward portable workhorse even more comfortable to apply.
- Need more screen? Check out our Dell XPS 17 2020 review
- Equip your new laptop with the best mice for your needs
The Dell XPS 15 2020'south battery life could be better (at to the lowest degree on the 4K model), and it can go quite noisy under a heavy workload. Only with great operation and a gorgeous display packed into an attractive, slim package, the new Dell XPS fifteen is one of the all-time laptops you lot can buy if yous're seeking a larger productivity machine.
Dell XPS 15 2020 review: Price and availability
The Dell XPS 15 2020 starts at $1,079 (only information technology's currently on sale from $one,259) and is available to order now from Dell. For that price, you'll become a 10th Gen Cadre i5-10300H processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, Intel UHD graphics and a 15.6-inch 19200 ten 1200 InfinityEdge display.
Stepping up to the $i,305 (normally $i,659) configuration gets you a speedier Cadre i7-10750H CPU as well equally detached Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphics. For $180 more you can double the memory and storage, for 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.
Nosotros reviewed a high-end $2,114 (MSRP: $two,408) version of the XPS xv, which packs an Intel Core i7-10750 GPU, 32GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphics and a 4K bear upon brandish. Y'all can become fifty-fifty more than all out than that if you need, with a $two,456 (unremarkably $2,859) configuration that packs a Core i9 CPU and 1TB of storage.
The Dell XPS 15 doesn't yet have back up for Intel'due south 11th Gen Tiger Lake CPUs — merely you tin become modern processors if you go for a slightly smaller system. Our Tiger Lake XPS 13 review shows how it also offers longer battery life (on a less-sharp screen). Check out our Dell XPS xiii vs. Dell XPS 15 face-off to run across how the XPS stacks upward to Dell's smaller flagship laptop.
And those who want the about-modern processors should check out our best laptops of CES roundup. The future of laptops is packed with interesting secondary screens, new GPUs and more.
The XPS fifteen dropped in May 2020.
Dell XPS xv 2020 review: Design
Like the new Dell XPS ane3 earlier it, the Dell XPS 15 2020 refines one of the best laptop designs always made to well-nigh-perfection. Its slim chassis is as sleek as ever, with a smoothen silver aluminum lid and sharp 0.71-inch edges that contrasts nicely with the soft-touch keyboard deck inside.
The latest XPS xv makes meliorate employ of real estate than last year's model, with bigger keycaps, a much larger touchpad and slim front firing speakers that are all laid out elegantly on the deck. But the biggest design change is the laptop'southward new iv-sided Infinity Edge brandish, which ditches the thick bottom bezel from previous iterations for Dell's virtually seamless 15-inch laptop screen yet (more on that later).
At 13.57 x nine x 0.7 inches and iv.five pounds, the new XPS 15 is roughly the same size as the 16-inch MacBook Pro (xiv.ane 10 9.7 x 0.64 inches, 4.3 pounds) despite the latter'south bigger screen. It'due south also almost on par with the xv-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (thirteen.iv x nine.6 10 0.6 inches), though Microsoft's laptop is notably lighter at 3.4 pounds. It'south worth noting that the XPS xv is a slightly lighter 4 pounds if yous opt for a non-touch screen and the smaller 56Whr bombardment.
Dell XPS fifteen 2020 review: Ports
The Dell XPS xv 2020 packs a total of three USB-C ports for charging and connecting to external displays and peripherals -- two of which are Thunderbolt iii for extra-fast connectivity. You as well get a total-sized SD card reader as well as a headphone jack, as well equally a USB-C to USB-A adapter out of the box.
Apple's 16-inch MacBook Pro has more Thunderbolt 3 ports with a total of iv, just lacks the XPS 15'due south SD carte reader. That, combined with the included USB-A adapter, gives the XPS xv a solid amount of connectivity, simply you still might need a dock or dongle if you're a ability user that depends on a variety of peripherals at once.
Dell XPS 15 2020 review: Brandish
The Dell XPS 15 2020 borrows the best thing about the new XPS 13: a truly 4-sided InfinityEdge display, with no chunky bottom bezel to distract you from whatsoever yous're working on, watching or playing. But the effect is fifty-fifty more dramatic on the XPS 15'south 15.6-inch brandish, which now has a 92.9% screen-to-body ratio for maximum immersion.
All of that existent estate, paired with the rich 3840 x 2400 resolution on our review unit of measurement, fabricated me never want to put the XPS fifteen down. When I watched Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on Dell'southward laptop, colorful red and green laser blasts popped nicely confronting a blue ice cave as TIE Fighters chased the Millennium Falcon. The screen too did a nifty chore preserving fine details, such as the stubble of Poe Dameron's face and the orange-and-white patterns on BB-8's outer trunk.
With then much screen infinite, I was able to work comfortably in split up-screen fashion for hours at a time, bouncing between documents, videos, and Slack chats without having to zoom in on anything. The rich, deep blacks on the XPS fifteen's display fabricated reading and editing a breeze, and fabricated my Dell S2417DG gaming monitor look tiresome past comparison.
The XPS 15 gets plenty bright for piece of work and play, registering an average brightness of 434.two nits on our calorie-free meter. That'due south a chip brighter than the 16-inch MacBook Pro'due south 429 nits and better than the Surface Laptop three's 380 nits.
The XPS 15'due south real-globe color performance was backed up by our lab tests, as the laptop replicated an impressive 132.2% of the sRGB color gamut. Dell'due south notebook tops the MacBook Pro's 113.9% equally well as the Surface Laptop iii's 101% rating.
The bear on screen on our Dell XPS 15 2020 proved fluid and responsive, and I had no issues scrolling through web pages or pinching to zoom into pictures and documents.
Dell XPS 15 2020 review: Audio
The Dell XPS 15's top-firing stereo speakers are some of the all-time I've heard on any laptop, filling my living room with lively, loud audio that was specially heavy on low-end.
The moody, bouncy bass of Hayley Williams' "Simmer" popped loudly and cleanly out of the XPS 15'south speakers, getting me to bop my head forth instantly. I noticed that the song would become a tiny bit distorted at maximum book, but it sounded impressively total and clear just a few notches below the max.
The bass was in one case again the highlight when I switched to the aggressive culling rock of Dance Gavin Trip the light fantastic'southward "Prisoner." The massive wall of distorted guitars sat nicely against the high-pitched vocals of the songs chorus, while the cleaner, funkier guitar riffs in the poetry also sounded brilliant and crisp.
When I jammed the somber audio-visual stone of Phoebe Bridgers' "Garden Vocal" on the XPS 15, the singer-songwriter'southward voice was so lucid that it sounded similar she was in the room with me. And as present every bit Bridgers sounded, the XPS did an as not bad task preserving the reverberating guitar plucks under her croons.
The Dell XPS 15's audio functioning is amplified fifty-fifty further past the Waves Maxx Sound Pro technology and Waves professional person tuning, as well as a diverseness of EQ presets fabricated possible by the included companion app. The XPS' speakers sounded significantly louder and fuller with the Waves app activated, and I plant presets such equally Rock and Pop to be useful for brightening their corresponding genres.
Dell XPS 15 2020 review: Performance
Packing a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750 processor with 32GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, the Dell XPS 15 2020 is a genuine multitasking monster. Dell'due south powerhouse allowed me to bounce between dozens of Chrome tabs in split-screen manner while simultaneously conducting video calls, sending Slack letters and rocking out to Spotify, all without a single stutter.
On the Geekbench v overall performance examination, the XPS xv scored vi,174, which is a flake behind the Core i9 powered MacBook Pro sixteen-inch (seven,250). Dell'south laptop turned in a 25,934 on the older Geekbench 4 exam, more than than doubling the AMD Ryzen five 3580U-powered Surface Laptop 3 (11,612).
The XPS xv took 10 minutes and half dozen seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p on our HandBrake exam. That'southward not quite equally quick as the eight minutes we saw from the MacBook Pro 16-inch, just well ahead of the most 25 minutes that the Surface Laptop 3 took to complete the job.
The 512GB SSD in Dell'southward laptop transferred roughly 5GB of files in 7 seconds on our custom file transfer test, for a transfer charge per unit of 708.9 MBps. That blazes past the Surface Laptop iii's 256GB SSD (282.seven MBps). Only while information technology'due south not an apples-to-apples comparing, the 512GB SSD in the xvi-inch MacBook Pro was predictably blistering, turning in a write speed of 2,805 MBps and a read speed of 2,540 on the Blackmagic deejay speed test.
Dell XPS fifteen 2020 review: Graphics
Our XPS xv unit came loaded with a detached Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti GPU, giving Dell'southward slim workhorse some respectable gaming and graphics muscle.
The XPS 15 ran Shadow of the Tomb Raider at a playable 29 frames per 2d at 1080p with max settings, just barely edging out the Radeon Pro 5300M in our 16-inch MacBook Pro (27.2 fps). Dell's laptop breezed through the less demanding Clay 3 racing game at 134 fps on 1080p and 69 fps at 4K, trouncing the integrated AMD Vega nine in the Surface Laptop 3 (56 fps at 1080p).
Dell XPS 15 2020 review: Heat and noise
With and then much power and a discrete GPU packed into a slim design, the XPS xv's fans tin get quite noisy. While it didn't happen often, I occasionally noticed that the laptop would beginning sounding like a miniature jet aeroplane when I ran a lot of applications at one time. It can also get a bit warm, with the keyboard and underside reaching temperatures close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit on our heat gun (we consider anything beneath 95 degrees to exist comfortable).
Dell XPS fifteen 2020: Keyboard and touchpad
Between their soft-bear on coating, ix.7% larger keycaps and snappy 1.3mm travel, the Dell XPS xv's keys are an absolute delight to type on. I never got hand fatigue as I spent hours cranking out articles and composing emails, and performed at my usual pace on the 10FastFingers typing test at xc words per infinitesimal with a 96% accuracy rate. I typically hate ditching the mechanical keyboard at my desktop setup, but I was happy to employ the XPS 15 equally my principal work machine for days.
The XPS 15's touchpad got an fifty-fifty bigger upgrade, at present measuring 62% larger than the previous version at 5.9 x 3.five inches. I was able to coil through web pages and pinch to zoom with ease, and three-finger gesture controls for switching apps and entering multitasking way registered instantly.
Dell XPS 15 2020 review: Webcam
At present that videoconferencing has go the norm, I'd actually like to see mainstream laptops step their webcam quality upward. That's unfortunately not the case with the Dell XPS fifteen 2020's photographic camera, which made my face look pixelated and blotchy despite accurately capturing the colors of the Spider-Man affiche behind me.
I give credit to Dell for getting the webcam on the impossibly slim top bezel equally of last year (no more olfactory organ cam!) and the photographic camera is however serviceable for everyday calls. But if y'all want your colleagues to run into yous equally clearly every bit possible, yous'll want to spring for i of the best webcams equally an add-on.
Dell XPS fifteen 2020 review: Battery life
The Dell XPS 15 2020 can final through near of a normal workday on a charge, just you lot'll want to keep a plug handy. Dell'southward laptop lasted 8 hours and i minute on our battery test (continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi), which is decent for a 4K laptop, but still behind some key competitors.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro lasted most three hours longer at ten hours and 55 minutes with its 2072 ten 1920 display, while the Surface Laptop 3 endured for the same 8 hours as the XPS with a 2496 x 1664 screen.
The XPS 15 2020's bombardment life is in line with the 4K version of its smaller XPS 13 sibling, which lasted 8 hours and 14 minutes on our test. The 1080p Dell XPS 13 lasted a fantastic 12:39, so we're eager to encounter how a lower-resolution XPS 15 holds up once nosotros become our hands on one.
Dell XPS 15 2020 review: Verdict
The Dell XPS 15 2020 follows in the footsteps of the new XPS thirteen past making pocket-sized but welcome refinements to one of the best laptops you lot tin buy. The improved, truly bezel-less InfinityEdge brandish is one of the most immersive and gorgeous screens y'all can detect on a laptop, with bright color and plenty of real estate for getting work done.
The XPS 15'south larger keycaps and touchpad make Dell's laptop comfortable to use for long stretches of fourth dimension, and information technology's impressively loud speakers can fill up small rooms with rich audio. Pair that with 10th Gen Intel CPUs and an optional Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti GPU, and the XPS 15 2020 has more than enough muscle for everyday multitasking also every bit video editing and gaming.
The 4K version of the XPS fifteen doesn't final quite as long as the 16-inch MacBook Pro (though we expect amend bombardment from the 1080p version), and the organization'southward fans tin can go a bit noisy at full speed. Power users may also want to consider the new Dell XPS 17, which packs a bigger screen and optional RTX graphics for superior content creation. But if you're looking for a portable workhorse that's equally attractive equally it is powerful, the XPS 15 is amongst the best in its class.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/dell-xps-15-2020
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