Dell XPS 13 Gold Edition review: Our favorite ultrabook is all dressed up with everywhere to go - ferrierahatiorth

Gordon Mah Ung

At a Glimpse

Skillful's Rating

Pros

• Nigh compact innovation for a 13.3-inch laptop
• Quickest integrated nontextual matter carrying into action

Cons

• Middling battery life
• High-priced

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Dell's XPS 13 Gold Edition laptop computer reveals a bit-known secret about consumer tech. Apparently, when information technology comes to perceived value, consumers aren't Eastern Samoa swayed by specs like a space-core C.P.U., SSD, OR artwork as more as they are by a gimmick's color.

Yes, fashion often trumps functionality—just luckily, Dingle's latest XPS 13 offers flashy looksand evenly flashy performance.

Forward, it's gold. And as we know, gold is best.

Second, its top-of-the phone line Kernel i7-6560U C.P.U. features Iris Nontextual matter. That's Intel marketing verbalize for the company's fastest graphics core. Besides having twice the nontextual matter execution units as a typical HD 520-equipped laptop computer, like the standard XPS 13, IT also features 64MB of Random memory embedded in the CPU package. This embedded Drachma functions as a memory cache that helps overall graphics carrying out. According to Intel, because it rejiggered the cache design for its 6th-gen Skylake parts, that stash testament give other applications a rise in performance, too.

Gordon Mah Ung

Chromatic is best, but the XPS 13 Gold Edition's chassis is otherwise selfsame to the silver version.

Different, only the same

The rest of the XPS 13 will feel identical to the antepenultimate version I reviewed. Information technology has the same sturdy build quality, with a carbon fiber deck and Al encasing the top and bottom. IT has Thunderbolt 3 and charging built into information technology its USB Type C port, in addition to a dedicated charging port. And, of course, it has that "InfinityEdge" bezel, which gives you a 13.3-column inch screen in a body that most other companies would pair with a 12-inch or even 11-inch panel.

While the silver version of the XPS 13 comes with different form options, the Gilded Edition is limited to a fixed configuration and price. In addition to the gold consistency, you get a 3200×1800 venire, a 10-point touchscreen, 8GB of LPDDR3-1866 RAM, and a 256GB PCIe SSD.

The price for this on Dell.com is $1,750, which is about $50 more than a parallel configuration in silver. Fortunately, the street price is less painful—we found the XPS 13 Gold Edition on Amazon for $1,390.

If you're like us, you care less about the color and more nigh the specs and performance, so let's find out what that top-end Intel CPU gets you.

Handbrake performance

Our first test involves encoding a 30GB MKV filing cabinet into a smaller MP4 victimisation the Mechanical man Tablet preset in Handbrake. This task punishes the CPU beyond what the average person volition do on an ultraportable laptop, simply its runtime is a good indicant of how a good deal a laptop computer will unbend as IT heats ahead.

The results assign the XPS 13 pretty much dead even with the Core i7 versions of the Microsoft Surface Book and Razer Blade Stealth. I also threw in the Core i5 versions of the XPS 13 for comparison (a 5th-generation Broadwell model, and a 6th-generation Skylake model without Iris graphics). You get a pretty decent boost over the original Broadwell-supported XPS 13, only not enough to justify an upgrade from a up-to-the-minute Skylake CPU with Intel HD graphics.

The XPS 13 Amber Edition is so fast thanks to its Pith i7 CPU.

CineBench R15 performance

One issue with our Handbrake run is the outpouring load it puts on laptops. As the laptops heat energy up, they typically inactive down. A more reasonable measurement of CPU performance is achieved with CineBench R15, which uses Maxon's 3D rendering engine and takes just a couple of minutes to foot race.

The XPS 13 Gold Variant with a Core i7-6560U is au fon dead even with the Center i7-6500U in the Razer Blade Stealth. The Core i7-6600U in the Surface Volume takes top honors.

Work performance

Since most people don't expect to run 3D rendering programs OR encode video happening a 3-pound laptop, we used PCMark 8's Work Conventional test to measure the XPS 13's speed patc doing office-drone pipe tasks like Christian Bible processing, web browse, and television conferencing. As you can see, in these tasks, all but people won't be able to tell the difference between a Core M3 or Core i7 processor. If you have a arrangement with an Atom X7 chip, however, you leave posting.

So if you're buying an XPS 13 Gold Edition because you "need more than performance to use Mentality and Watchword," you're really just trying to warrant the fact that you like this laptop's color.

PCMark 8 Work Unoriginal proves you can't really feel a difference between most of the CPUs here.

Graphics operation

The Marrow i7-6560U holds fairly knockout in the CPU benchmarks, but where it shines is graphics performance. In Futuremark's 3DMark Overcast Gate test, you can see that the Core i7-6560U's Fleur-de-lis graphics easily take the lead among the machines equipped with integrated graphics.

Still, the Rise up Book with its GeForce graphics (which we think to cost a GeForce GT 940 splintering) is top dog. That's no surprise—a distinct GPU with its own GDDR5 Tup is expected to win.

What does translate to? My own experience says that selfsame old titles, such as Counter Come to: Source or Portal, will turn in reasonable performance. Games much as Minecraft should also function fine. For anything modern, though, you should buy a gambling laptop computer.

Among the laptops that rely on integrated graphics, the XPS 13 Gold Version's Iris graphics offer the top-grade graphics operation you sack get.

Battery life

Though it has the same 56WHr stamp battery every bit its silver similitude, the XPS 13 Au Edition's battery life-time is so much shorter, falling from a reasonable 529 minutes to 322 minutes.

Some of that juice is going to the higher-resolution panel and touch screen, of course. As for the rest of the power consumed, I'd point the finger at Pith i7-6560U, even out though I consume no definitive proof that the higher-performance artwork core and eDRAM are to blame.

Regardless of the demand reasons for the shorter battery life, it's not uppercase. It's not horrible—I have seen worsened—but considering how large the battery is in that XPS 13, just ended five hours of runtime is pretty lackluster.

The high-res panel and touchscreen has a direct price in battery liveliness.

Conclusion

There are really two upgrades going on with the XPS 13 Gold Edition. The first is the color, which has a cosmetic ingathering that's soul-explanatory.

The second is the CPU. The Core i7-6560U with Flag graphics arguably gives you the best graphics carrying into action in an ultraportable laptop today. You also get jolly much high-grade performance shy of going to a musculus quadriceps femoris-core chip.

The only real negative with the XPS 13 Gold Edition is its mediocre battery animation, which nates't be avoided since Dell's more power-friendly, nary-frills model is only available in silver medal. Is the gold coating worth that much? Non to me—and probably not to you, either—merely to a lot of people, style trumps all.

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• Computers and Peripherals
• Laptops

One of instauratio fathers of hardcore technical school reporting, Gordon has been covering PCs and components since 1998.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/414522/dell-xps-13-gold-edition-review-our-favorite-ultrabook-is-all-dressed-up-with-everywhere-to-go.html

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