Hardware-
First of all, the hardware is absolutely fantastic. I'm not going to lie, it's a pretty unabashed copy of the Macbook Pro. On the outside, the only main difference is the color of the aluminum. However, the inside has a extremely nice black coating that gives the palm rests a very comfortable feel as well as a unique look. While the design is very sleek, the laptop is still quite heavy at almost 6 pounds. This isn't as bad as it sounds, but for people who will be taking this everywhere, it might be worth testing the weight and seeing if it's for you. Thankfully, the weight does make the laptop feel very sturdy and while I wouldn't be slamming this into the ground anytime soon, it should still survive the occasional drop.
The keyboard and trackpad are great as well. The keyboard could do with a little more depth, but it is still comfortable to type on and I had few complaints as I was typing this review. The trackpad is simply amazing. It is made by Synaptics and it is flawless. I've even stopped using a mouse due to its performance. It feels amazing and multi touch gestures work perfectly. It puts pretty much every other Window machine to shame. My only nitpick would be that it has trouble differentiating right and left clicks every now and then but outside of Apple, no other manufacturer has such a good touchpad.
Many people have complained about the WiFi and honestly, I've had no major problems. Reception is slightly weaker as compared to other laptops, so I'm guessing the aluminum is interfering somehow. However, I'm still getting around the same network speeds as compared to other laptops, although my speeds have been slightly lower so hopefully Dell can fix this with a driver update.
Display and Speakers-
The display is a 350-nit TN panel covered with Corning Gorilla Glass. While IPS panels, such as those found in the new Asus Zenbooks, have a more varied color gamut and better viewing angles, the display on the Dell is still awesome. Everything is crisp and clear, and most text is readable without having to zoom in. Contrast is great with the low black levels and viewing angles are still great. The L502X had a better color gamut but this is still a great display, especially for those coming from the traditional, low quality 1366x768 TN panels.
The speakers are great as well, even if they don't impress as much as the display. They're loud and clear but they're a bit lacking in bass, especially coming from the L502X with the integrated subwoofer. That being said, they still outclass most every other laptop in sheer volume and clarity. Dell has some included software that you can mess with to provide you the sound that you would like.
Performance-
I've never been a fan of benchmarks, and I generally rely on real world testing to see how the computer does. So far, I've been nothing short of impressed. The 3rd Gen Intel i7 and 8GB of RAM handle everything smoothly and lag is virtually nowhere to be found. I've opened multiple windows of Chrome playing 1080p video and I still have no trouble doing other activities. The computer does use a traditional hard drive instead of a SSD, and while performance could benefit from the addition of a SSD, I honestly haven't seen the need to. The hard drive is plenty fast, but it does generate a noticeable amount of heat under the left palm rest, so keep that in mind. The Dell also uses a 32GB SSD to quickly start up and shut down the computer, as well as quickly open frequently used applications and so far start up and shut down times have been great, although they fall short of SSD only computers, especially ultrabooks.
As far as games go, the 2GB NVIDIA Geforce 640M video card should be able to play most everything at respectable frame rates, although you will probably have to turn down some effects if you want to play games at the full 1080p resolution. However, games such as Assassin's Creed Revelations and Skyrim look great and the computer has no problem with playing them with most effects turned up. There have been many complaints of throttling, especially have 1-2 minutes of intense gameplay, but I've noticed no problems. If you purchase the laptop, I would suggest upgrading to the new BIOS as to make sure you don't come across any throttling issues.
As far as bloatware goes, Dell has been surprisingly lenient. There's very little true bloatware, other than the annoying McAfee trial, some included Dell software, and Microsoft Office Starter 2010 (which isn't even really bloatware) so kudos to Dell.
Noise and Heat-
Unfortunately, the laptop has a tiny bit more noise than I would like. This probably has to do with the fact that it uses a hard drive, instead of an SSD. That being said, if you're browsing the web or doing regular office work, you'll never hear it, especially if you're playing music. But if you start playing games and doing some other intense multimedia work, the fans will spin up and definitely make themselves heard. Thankfully, the fans are located in the hinge so you're not exposed to the air and the computer doesn't tend to heat up to the point of discomfort.
Like I mentioned before, I suspect the hard drive generates a certain amount of heat which is noticeable, but never truly annoying. I had no problem using the machine on my lap for hours.
Battery-
Unfortunately, the battery is sealed within the machine so there's no replacing it without a lot of effort. However, I find the battery to be plenty sufficient for most activities. Obviously, the display will use the most power so toning it down, and deactivating things such as the keyboard backlight will extend the battery life a great deal. If you're just doing plain web browsing mixed in with office work, expect around 4-6 hours of battery and if you're playing video, expect around 4-5 hours. This is acceptable, although some Ultrabooks and Macbooks do feature slightly better battery life.
Wrap-Up-
Like I said, I believe this is a fantastic machine. While it would have been nice if Dell had some more original design features, it's still rock solid and actually feels better than the Macbook Pro. General performance is great, and the screen and speakers make this an excellent laptop for anybody interested in viewing a lot of movies or listening to music. The occasional gamer will enjoy the dedicated graphics and everybody will appreciate the respectable battery life. If only it was around $100 cheaper, it would be absolutely perfect and I believe it would then deserve 5 stars for being such a great all around laptop. For now, I'm giving 4.5 stars and rounding down until Dell can work out some of the kinks with the WiFi and throttling other users are reporting. If you're a college student who needs a machine with better battery life and less weight, I would suggest the new Macbook Air or the new Asus Zenbooks but this machine will handle everything you need and more.
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I purchased this computer after buying and returning a MacBook Pro just couldn't wrap my mind around OS X after 20 years of windows. Old habits die hard! This is a fantastic computer excellent display, trackpad technology getting closer to Apple, excellent construction, and overall excellent performance. The only problem, and it is major in my opinion, is that the WiFi speed drops to near zero when more than 10 to 20 feet from a router. The WiFi problem has been extremely well documented on the discussion threads at Notebook Review online. There is even a Dell representative answering questions and disseminating the latest updates. As of today, 1 August, Dell does not know if the problem is software (drivers) or hardware related. Driver updates and swapping the WiFi card to another brand have not yielded success, so signs are pointing to a hardware problem, but nothing has been confirmed by Dell.Bottom line if WiFi capability at a distance of more than 10 feet from the router is required, purchase with extreme caution until Dell can ensure the issue is fixed. If Dell cannot offer a fix soon, I will return mine while I still can.
Best Deals for Dell XPS XPS15-9375sLV 15-Inch Laptop (Silver)
So I just had to write this review feel like I owe it to Dell for putting together such an awesome laptop. This is going to be a short one but hopefully useful to somebody:Laptop's wireless works fine. (ref other review)
It is SOLID. Awesome build quality
Screen -was my #1 consideration. it is unbelieveably sharp! with wide view angles and extreme color definition. I LOVE IT
Discrete graphics performance -Really good -surprisingly good actually for a laptop. I can play SWTOR on almost the highest settings. Looks really good. Plays smooth. Doesn't overheat
Only other thing I'll say is definitely do get it with windows 8. Yes no touch screen. But what's cool is the latest models touchpad is designed for win8 so you can flick in from the sides to pull up charms menus etc --right on the touch pad -which is also pretty awesome itself.
Can you tell I like my laptop? HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
Honest reviews on Dell XPS XPS15-9375sLV 15-Inch Laptop (Silver)
This laptop is a perfect MacBook Pro alternative. I bought 16GB of RAM and replaced my HDD with another SSD. Works amazingly fast and is sleek and thin with great battery life. Way better specs than the MacBook Pro --and HALF the price. The Gorilla Glass and 400-nit 1080p screen gives the Retina Display a run for it's money --extremely bright and super sharp. Dell has had some mistakes --but this is NOT one of them. Excellent laptop, excellent price.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell XPS XPS15-9375sLV 15-Inch Laptop (Silver)
As others have indicated, although XPS15 laptop is a very good computer in many aspects, unfortunately it suffers from real WiFi issues. At work were my older dell laptop would achieve 40+ Mb/s download speeds, the newly purchased XPS15 could barely surpass 5-6 Mb/S. Furthermore, XPS15 WiFi download speed would come to complete halt on the second floor of my home, an issue that I have never had with my other laptops! After contacting Dell, their customer service first offered to send me an external USB WiFi dongle but I did not consider this to be a real solution. On my second call, Dell service offered to replace the internal WiFi hardware with a newer version of INTEL card, although they would not guarantee that the new hardware would resolve the issue. After reading in other forums about newer model XPS15's owners complaints about similar WiFi issues, I decided to return the computer to Amazon for refund. Kudos should go to AMAZON!It seems that Dell has failed to fully test the new XPS15 laptops before marketing them. In my opinion something within the computer electronics interferes with the WiFi receiver (in my case, WiFi upload speeds were normal). If so, such a problem can not be fully addressed by changing the WiFi hardware or drivers. Considering that Dell has not resolved this issue yet and due to the fact that it does not take long before newer models are introduced, I doubt that Dell would ever fully address this laptop's WiFi problems.
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