We live in a time where laptop manufacturers like Dell seem to have become obsessed with the word “portability”, and in the interest of creating small, light and battery-powered products they seem to have forgotten one fundamental aspect. : performance.
Let’s take for example one of the flagship products of this brand, the new laptop model Dell XPS 13. The most basic and economical configuration of this model carries an 11th Generation Intel Core i7-1195G7 processor, a 4-core CPU and 8 process threads “up to 5 GHz”, but whose base speed is 2.9 GHz and, having Keep in mind that the slim design of Dell XPS 13 laptops does not allow advanced cooling solutions, it will hardly work at 5 GHz. This processor may be fine for normal use of the computer, but if we go to the professional field of course won’t measure up.
Continuing with this laptop model, it integrates graphics intel iris xe that, although they are sufficient for a “normal” use of the laptop, they are completely insufficient for slightly more advanced tasks that go beyond playing videos or browsing the Internet. The processor with integrated graphics is accompanied by 16 GB of LPDDR4X RAM in its basic configuration, and in this regard we are not going to fault it because it does seem enough to us, as well as the 512 GB NVMe SSD (the capacity itself may be insufficient for many, but they give the option of incorporating a model of up to 2 TB).
These Dell XPS 13 incorporate a screen of 13.4 inches with resolution… Full HD+ (1920 x 1200), a resolution that is not only not standard but is again insufficient for professional use in the middle of 2022. Of course, within what is possible, it is understandable since with the integrated graphics it is not that the equipment is going to be “left over” either. with a 4K screen, right? Well, Dell does offer the possibility of integrating an Ultra HD+ screen (3840 x 2400 pixels) with an extra cost of 130 Euros, but as you will understand if the iGPU is maintained there are quite a few ballots that the equipment “crawls” as you intend to do. something beyond surfing the Internet.
Finally, we have to talk about the connectivity, which again for the sake of providing a thin and light design, is completely insufficient: the equipment has two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, a minijack output for headphones, and a microSD card slot, neither more nor less. In other words, since you intend to connect something to the device beyond its own power adapter, you will have to spend a fortune on a Thunderbolt 4 port multiplier.
Finally, let’s talk about money: this is a 13.4-inch computer with Full HD resolution, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of SSD and a 4-core CPU with integrated graphics. In any other manufacturer this equipment would not cost more than 800 Euros, but since we are dealing with a Dell XPS 13 its price is… €1,628.99! And that’s the basic model.
Of course, this time we have given you an individual example with the XPS 13, but the same applies to the entire family of products. For example, if you want a Dell XPS 17 with a 17-inch UHD+ screen, a Core i7-11800H, 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, a 1 TB NVMe SSD and an RTX 3060 (a device with features that are much more suitable for a professional field, although in terms of connectivity it also leaves something to be desired ) you can also buy it, in this case for a price of €2,649.99. The problem here is that if you buy a similar equipment from another manufacturer it would cost you 1,500 Euros (for example, in the Lenovo Legion range), so the difference is more than evident.
Is it worth “investing” in a Dell laptop?
As we have explained throughout this article, if you were considering buying a Dell XPS laptop, you may want to think about it a little better, since, as we have shown, they are actually computers that we could say are “pure facade”, with designs modern, thin and light but then they are rather average under the hood, and expensive on top.
If you intend to buy a “good” laptop, we recommend you look at the many alternatives that you have on the market: they may not be as aesthetically attractive (or yes, because in the end that depends on taste), but of course what is clear is that you can have the same hardware for significantly less money from other manufacturers. Therefore, and answering the question in the title, no, It’s not worth buying a Dell XPS laptop today when you have other better and cheaper alternatives on the market.
