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- #Dell xps 15 vs macbook pro 2016 specs how to#
- #Dell xps 15 vs macbook pro 2016 specs portable#
- #Dell xps 15 vs macbook pro 2016 specs software#
- #Dell xps 15 vs macbook pro 2016 specs windows#
Microsoft Surface Book (2.4GHz Core i5-6300U, Intel HD 520) Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (2.4GHz Core i5-6300U, Intel HD 520) Toshiba Radius 12 (2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) Razer Blade Stealth (2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) Performance and battery lifeĭell XPS 15 (2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ, 2GB NVIDIA GeForce 960M) It's not a dealbreaker - at least not for me - but you'd be mistaken if you thought a big, powerful machine meant you'd also be getting big, powerful sound. That said, I could hear a little tinniness creep in on various tracks running the gamut from oldies and show tunes to classical and jazz. The quality was also good enough for my non-audiophile ears and indeed, I spent hours one weekend streaming music while getting work done. The volume is so loud that when listening to Spotify alone in my apartment, I tended to keep the levels at 20-something out of 100. The sound coming from the stereo speakers on the machine's bottom side is also pleasing, though not as spectacular as the visuals. I know I'm not looking forward to going back to my 3-year-old MacBook Air after this. To the extent that we all spend too much time these days staring at our screens, we can all appreciate a display this color-rich.
#Dell xps 15 vs macbook pro 2016 specs software#
There's also software on board that remaps colors outside the RGB color range but really, I don't think you need to work in a creative field to justify the upgrade. Between the 350-nit brightness rating and the 100-percent Adobe colorspace coverage, it's simply a lovely display. Though the machine comes standard with a plain 1080p, non-touch panel, it's offered with a 4K, color-accurate touchscreen - the one I'm looking at as I type this. And yes, it has more to offer than just extra screen real estate for spreadsheets and Photoshop workflows. Display and soundĪside from the thin design and the powerful internals at work under the hood, the big draw here is that 15-inch display. In particular, single-finger tracking can be flaky, with the cursor not always going where I wanted it to, or taking on a life of its own, accidentally rearranging my pinned browser tabs.
#Dell xps 15 vs macbook pro 2016 specs windows#
But, while it's not a nightmare to use (faint praise), it has some of the problems issues plaguing many other Windows touchpads I've tested. It's large, which is good, because it means you'll have plenty of room for your fingers as you scroll and pinch to zoom. If you can get over the learning curve, as I did, you'll be just fine. I found at times that I had to strike the buttons a little harder than I would have otherwise, lest the keyboard fail to register my presses. The only thing I would caution you on is the keys: Although they are springy enough for easy typing, they're perhaps not as bouncy as they look, given how much travel they have. I typed not just this review on it, but also some other stories I happened to be working on. The backlit buttons here are amply sized and well-spaced.
#Dell xps 15 vs macbook pro 2016 specs how to#
The company might have trouble making a reliable touchpad (still does), but make no mistake, it knows how to build a comfortable keyboard. Like I said, Dell didn't mess with a good thing.
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There's also a Kensington lock slot tucked on the right edge, up near the hinge. Over on the left, we have full-size USB and HDMI sockets, a small Thunderbolt 3 port and a headphone jack, with an SD card reader and a second full-size USB connection on the right. Housed inside that slender frame is a large enough selection of ports to satisfy most power users.
#Dell xps 15 vs macbook pro 2016 specs portable#
I'm not going to pretend it's as light or compact in my bag as all the 13-inch ultraportables I've been testing recently, but it still feels portable for what it is. The machine starts at 3.9 pounds, going up to 4.4 with a touchscreen, and has a tapered profile that slims to 0.45 inches thick from from 0.66. Like the x360 - and, more crucially, the MacBook Pro it competes with - the XPS 15 is relatively thin and light. Indeed, I found that using the XPS 15 in my lap was a more comfortable experience than balancing HP's big-screen Spectre x360 on my legs. Likewise, the XPS 15 crams a 15.6-inch screen into the sort of chassis you'd normally find on, say, a 14-inch system. For the XPS 13, that meant a 13-inch display in the body of 12-inch laptop. The XPS 15 keeps all of the physical attributes that made the XPS 13 great, including a sturdy aluminum frame, soft carbon fiber palm rest, comfortable keyboard and a nearly bezel-less display that allows for a smaller footprint than you'd get otherwise.
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You don't put out the best Windows laptop of 2015 and follow up soon after with a radically different design.
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