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Dell Launches XPS 13 2-in-1 Laptop With Intel Kaby Lake Chip, Starts at $1,000 (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the new-laptops dept.

Ahead of CES 2016, which officially kicks off Tuesday, Dell has announced a convertible version of its popular XPS 13 laptop. The machine is powered by a seventh-generation Kaby Lake Intel Core i chip (i5 and i7 options are available), Intel HD Graphics 615 integrated GPU, 4 to 16GB LPDDR3 RAM, a 128GB-1TB solid-state drive (SSD), a 720p webcam on the bottom of the display with support for Windows Hello, a fingerprint scanner, a 46 watt-hour battery, and a 13.3-inch touchscreen, available in QHD+ or FHD configurations. From a report on VentureBeat: The bezel is very narrow, in keeping with the XPS style. The fanless PC offers an SD card slot and two USB-C ports, and a USB-A to USB-C adapter comes in the box. The laptop is 0.32-0.54 inch thick, which is thinner than Dell's 2016 XPS. But the keyboard hasn't been squished down -- the keys have 1.3mm travel, or just a tad bit (0.1mm) more than you get on the XPS laptop -- which is impressive. The laptop weighs 2.7 pounds. The question is whether people will want the convertible option when the laptop is fine as is. The convertible XPS 13 starts at $1000, which is $200 more than the XPS 13 laptop.

114 comments

  1. Sign me up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've already purchased one online. I can't thank you enough msmash!

    1. Re:Sign me up! by hhawk · · Score: 1

      Really looks great.. wish there was a ChromeOS* vers. but Ubuntu would work just fine.

      I run *Ubuntu under CROUTON when using ChromeOS... which for me is the best of all worlds.. a secure, simple OS for 90% of what I need, and Ubuntu for nearly everything else.

      --
      http://www.hawknest.com/
    2. Re: Sign me up! by WCEend · · Score: 1

      Where did you buy the convertible?? It isn't yet released?

    3. Re: Sign me up! by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      The sarcasm store is always open.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    4. Re:Sign me up! by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Really looks great.. wish there was a ChromeOS* vers...

      That's the problem Intel has at the moment: people are looking at these things and thinking "is that like a Chromebook"? And the other problem Intel has is that the cost of the processor alone is 30%+ of the retail price. That's gotta hurt.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  2. Fanless? by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Informative

    So they put a great all powerful CPU in and don't cool it. Yay for thermal throttling, exactly what you want from your all powerful laptops.

    1. Re:Fanless? by Bram+Stolk · · Score: 2

      If they are using the 7Y75, then it is only 4.5W TDP.
      No fan needed for that.
      http://ark.intel.com/products/...

      Seems like a great CPU for that wattage.

      --
      Bram Stolk http://stolk.org/tlctc/
    2. Re:Fanless? by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1

      modern intel cpus are very low power. its amazing, my last gen i7 is a 35w fanless mini-itx box.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    3. Re:Fanless? by ahabswhale · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's actually a Core M processor. Intel has taken to renaming them because of the bad rep. So, if you see a Y in the part number, it's not a real i7 chip.

      --
      Are agnostics skeptical of unicorns too?
    4. Re:Fanless? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      None of intel's chips have anything resembling real names. I don't know what a "real" i7 chip would be anyway. It doesn't refer to core count, or thread count, or any other thing consistently.

    5. Re: Fanless? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, you're right.

    6. Re:Fanless? by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      Not a real i7, It's just an M chip. Intel was having trouble selling their low end garbage so they decided to change the naming to further cloud what you are really getting.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    7. Re:Fanless? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i7 = Hyper Threading
      That's the big difference and if you'd spend 5 seconds googling instead of flapping your gums, you'd know that.

    8. Re:Fanless? by Solandri · · Score: 1

      The Core M processor is actually a dual core mobile Core i7 (4MB of cache instead of 3MB like the i3 and i5). Its primary distinction is that it's binned to operate at extremely low power, and it has aggressive thermal throttling (to keep it within the TDP window). That's why you'll see the Core M outperform the mobile i5 on certain benchmarks - if the benchmark is short enough that thermal throttling doesn't kick in, the Core M's 4MB cache allows it to outpace the i5 and its 3MB cache.

      There was more to complain about with the very first gen Core M (Broadwell). Those would only turbo boost on a single core. If you were doing something which used both cores, it was stuck at its base clock speed which was pretty low (800 MHz to 1.2 GHz). But starting with Skylake they'll all turbo boost on both cores.

      I would never get one because I do lots of things which require sustained CPU capability (gaming, compiling, number crunching, data processing, etc). But for the 95% of the population who only needs bursty CPU power for web browsing and firing off tweets and Facebook posts, it's pretty ideal. I got one for my dad and he loves it - the extremely long battery life and lack of fan noise (no fan to make noise) are big pluses in his book.

      Intel has begun mixing it up lately though - some of the newer dual core mobile i5s have 4MB cache, some 3MB. It's getting to the point where you need to look up the exact CPU model before buying.

    9. Re:Fanless? by kriston · · Score: 1

      Yeah, not good. I want performance and will not tolerate CPU thermal throttling at any time.

      Dell really didn't think this one through.

      The uneven tablet mode will infuriate perfectionists, too.

      And what's with that Nostril Camera highlighting the user's grooming habits? Yuck.

      --

      Kriston

    10. Re:Fanless? by radarskiy · · Score: 1

      i3, i5, i5 stand for: good, better, best.

      Seriously, that the definition of these marketing terms. They divide a market segment into 3 tiers. The low end is i3, the high end is i7, and the middle tier is i5.

    11. Re: Fanless? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't understand. I5 is muddle but listed last. So it should be high end.

    12. Re:Fanless? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      So is a high end i7 former M with a Y in the part name better or worse then a full blown i5? Is a top tier i3 from the previous generation faster or slower than the i5 of the current generation?

      The names are meaningless.

    13. Re:Fanless? by nine-times · · Score: 1

      But for the 95% of the population who only needs bursty CPU power for web browsing and firing off tweets and Facebook posts, it's pretty ideal.

      I would say that's true even for people who are doing normal office tasks. Even running something like Microsoft Outlook or doing some light editing in Photoshop isn't going to require more than an occasional burst of CPU. Most people overestimate the power they require for their computing. I've dealt with a lot of people who say they require a high-end CPU, tons of RAM, and a nice video card. Then they spend all day in Office apps, CPU basically idle, using 2GB of RAM, rendering nothing in 3D except for their OS putting drop shadows behind windows.

  3. Tired of 2010 options by vinn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm getting so sick of laptop manufacturers, in particular Dell, offering specs from 2010. You should just be shot if you ship a laptop with 4GB of RAM. Start at 8. No hard drive should be smaller than 200GB. Don't even think of putting anything less than an i5 in an XPS or Latitude line.

    --
    ----- obSig
    1. Re:Tired of 2010 options by sims+2 · · Score: 1

      IKR the walmart here is still selling brand new junk with 2GB of RAM.

      Aside from that what's a kaby? It looks like someone wanted to type kirby lake and their lawyer got pissed.

      --
      Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
    2. Re:Tired of 2010 options by unixisc · · Score: 1

      I agree w/ the rest of what you wrote, but 200GB hard drive? Why? Even a 64GB flash drive is more than adequate. Also, one can use thumb drives, external hard drives/SSDs or even cloud space. I have potentially up to 5TB of cloud storage as a result of buying Office 365, which lets me upload all my files in case they need to be retrieved or anything

    3. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's silly, I don't live in a particularly high-tech area yet even in 2011 the cheapest notebook in shops around here had at least 4Gb RAM.

    4. Re: Tired of 2010 options by corychristison · · Score: 1

      About a month ago I bought an HP Envy x360 Convertible 15", 1920x1080 resolution, Intel Kaby Lake i5-7200U, 8GB RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD.

      Paid $900 Canadian Dollars (~$670 USD).

    5. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      64 gigs is pretty good if you're dealing with an OS and an office suite. If you plan on doing much else it's teh suk. I won't put anything less than a 64gigger in my DSLR let alone a laptop.

    6. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree w/ the rest of what you wrote, but 200GB hard drive? Why?

      200 GB isn't anywhere near enough.

      Even a 64GB flash drive is more than adequate.

      Not for me. My current laptop purchased in 2008 currently has 1TB /w 700GB in use.

      Also, one can use thumb drives, external hard drives/SSDs

      I remember sticking floppy disks into computers to load software. It was a lot of fun. I so want to go back to that.

      or even cloud space

      F NO.

      I have potentially up to 5TB of cloud storage as a result of buying Office 365, which lets me upload all my files in case they need to be retrieved or anything

      Or you can buy a normal copy of office instead of perpetually paying rent for software product having seen no worthwhile improvements in at least a half decade.

    7. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have potentially up to 5TB of cloud storage

      Yes, but that means you're an idiot. People who do real work don't put it in "the cloud" (also known as "the place where it can be stolen, and you can lose it entirely, while paying for the privilege, lucky idiot that you are.") They put their stuff on a fucking hard drive so they have actual control of their own data. They back it off to local storage so some shitheaded black hat can't lift it and make ill use of it.

      A serious laptop will have serious storage. It will have an ethernet connection (or two.) It will have several USB ports of v2 or v3 vintage (preferably both at this point in time.) It will have a card reader. It will have an output for at least one more monitor. It will have decent display resolution, a decent keyboard with fucking function keys, and a large enough display to ensure you don't need a fucking microscope to work with it. It'll have a fucking headphone jack. And yes, of course, it'll have bluetooth and wifi.

      And it'll be fast as hell and have at least 16 gigs of ram.

      it probably won't be thin, and the professional won't really care.

      And then, and only then, will they get a professional to be happy to part with one or several thousand dollars.

      But yeah, you can have the idiot's money because it's "thin" or "convertible" or even just "new." Look at the new Apple laptop. Or the old-and-crippled-and-internally-unexpandable-and-unrackable-and-unstackable garbage can desktop they keep trying to pretend is "pro." Perfect examples. Total pieces of shit. Totally unprofessional. They sell well. To idiots.

    8. Re:Tired of 2010 options by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Unless you're doing all of your file interactions via a web browser (which is a truly sucky experience), that "cloud" storage is still getting copied to your local drive.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    9. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Skylake is the new arch for their 14nm process, the successor to Broadwell, and the current generation for most of their chips. Kabylake is a refinement of that, and is becoming the current generation. Coffee Lake is probably another refinement of that, and will be out about the same time as Cannonlake, and probably be the same thing, except that Coffee will be on 14nm and Cannon on 10nm. After that, is Icelake, which is a new arch for the 10nm process, and I think that Tigerlake is the refinement of that one. I have no idea why all their stupid codenames are now all lakes. As silly as these names are, it's still better than their numbers, which are dumb as fuck.

    10. Re: Tired of 2010 options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Take a look at Clevo/Sager/System76. They aren't sexy or thin, but great hardware for the money, plenty of ports, and (from what I've read) essentially Intel reference designs, so good driver support in Linux (I assume in Windows as well). I paid a bit more going with System76, but I didn't want to spend $900 to mess with drivers, as Ubuntu is preinstalled.

    11. Re:Tired of 2010 options by itsenrique · · Score: 1

      Not true. MS Office in windows, save to onedrive, you don't need the local sync client set to sync. On linux, you can use google-drive-ocaml-fuse to mount g drives without locally syncing them. These are just two random examples. Honestly, I agree with everything OP said except 200GB drives as well, it's just not financially practical if you want an SSD for lower level mods, it's the part that is still replaceable on many laptops as well(!!), whereas RAM is almost always soldered. I agree though, all these 2-4GB things coming out seem destined for a landfill pretty soon, especially if they run windows.

    12. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I almost completely agree. I'm a road warrior consultant and while I can't say I do "real" work a lot of times, I need a lot of storage, a fair amount of CPU power and don't want dongles. I'd happily have a laptop that's twice as thick as I have (HP Spectre x360) if it was performant and light weight. I f*cking hate this race to being as thin as possible by sacrificing real usability. Give me a decent keyboard with key travel I can type 95 WPM on. Give me an ethernet jack built in. Give me all the standard ports. Put it in a magnesium alloy frame and charge me $2k for it--I'm perfectly happy to pay for functionality that doesn't weigh 5 pounds.

    13. Re:Tired of 2010 options by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Actually, a while back, I had a Winbook that had 2GB RAM and 32GB flash drive. It was barely anything - Windows 10 alone took 20GB, and all the other apps almost filled up the thing. I pulled off some tricks like moving My Documents to the SD card, and also shadowing things to OneDrive, but still struggled. However, my SD card was 64GB, and it had all the space I needed. I however couldn't use it as an app storage: (I could, but no app would run unless installed on the C:\ drive)

      Given that experience, my estimate is that 64GB is the minimum I need before I'd stop playing tricks like moving My Documents to an SD card. On my laptops, I've never had less than 250, so I don't even look at storage. But I wouldn't have any issues even at 64GB. If it's

    14. Re:Tired of 2010 options by unixisc · · Score: 1

      How exactly do you fill 700GB? I have some 50 music videos, and it easily fits within even an 8GB SD card. This laptop I'm typing on right now is 1TB, and I have just used 50GB. I doubt that floppy disks would contain anything that would be useful today. I would have bought a normal copy of office, but I could only have used it on 1 computer: I needed to install it on 3.

    15. Re:Tired of 2010 options by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Yeah. I use the OneDrive utility, which does what you describe. The convenience here is retrieving things if I either get a new laptop or need to do a retrieval. Yeah, I could use an external hard drive as well - which I have, but on Windows, using OneDrive to retrieve things is that much easier. Plus I get to share my music b/w the laptop and my mobile devices.

    16. Re: Tired of 2010 options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Midget Lake is even better. Wait until late 2017.

    17. Re:Tired of 2010 options by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      No hard drive should be smaller than 200GB

      Show me a 2010 laptop with a 200GB SSD. I don't use my laptop to sore endless amounts of crap. That's what SD cards, memory sticks and external HDDs are for. 128GB is perfectly reasonable for many.

      4GB of RAM not so much.

    18. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Jamie+Lokier · · Score: 1

      I have a couple of cheap laptops at work which have integrated 32GB SSDs in them.

      Every few days, both of them download several GB of data, then ask for permission to update Windows, and then fail due to insufficient storage.

      There is hardly any data on them, other than the original Windows install they shipped with.

    19. Re: Tired of 2010 options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have your kirby lake processor inhale an Apple A10 Fusion, it gains a smugness aura. But most users will have it inhale an AMD chip, so it can radiate intense heat, which is a more braggable attack.

    20. Re:Tired of 2010 options by vinn · · Score: 1

      Here: https://www.cnet.com/au/produc... I didn't even bother searching - that was the first Google review I looked at. That system had a 160GB hard drive with a minor upgrade to 250GB. I've been getting 128GB SSD drives in laptops for the past few years, but they almost never work any more in any of my clients businesses. The biggest thing driving it is Dropbox, Google Drive and box.com usage. So many companies (or departments) are ditching fileservers and moving to those systems and they think that the storage just magically lives elsewhere. Instead, you end up with 30GB of cloud storage saved locally on every device.

      --
      ----- obSig
    21. Re:Tired of 2010 options by nine-times · · Score: 1

      Meh. Here's the thing, a lot of people want things to be cheap, and getting something this nice and thin and light for under $1000 is a pretty good job of keeping prices low. In order to make that price, Dell was going to have to cut corners somewhere. I'd rather have less RAM (as long as it's at least 4 GB) and less hard drive space (as long as it's over 100 GB) than sacrifice on the quality of the screen (for example).

      In short, I think it's fine to sell a laptop with these specs as long as they also provide an option to scale up those specs for people who want something more. If it's 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB drive soldered onto the motherboard, with no upgrade options, then I'm a bit annoyed. But not too annoyed, because really it means I just won't buy it. But I'm only using 128 GB on my work computer right now, and that includes 2 VMs.

    22. Re:Tired of 2010 options by fbobraga · · Score: 2

      Windows 10 alone took 20GB

      Found the problem!

    23. Re:Tired of 2010 options by fbobraga · · Score: 1

      How exactly do you fill 700GB?

      it's a disease: they are called "accumulators" (there's even Discovery Home & Health TV show about it), can't leave old junk behind...

    24. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I bought a camera today.. and 256GB of storage to put into it.

      I can take 80GB of 1080p video in a day, this camera will do 237Mbps 4K video. Still images have 50MB files and I've been known to take 2000 photos in a day. I'm also taking the camera on a ten day holiday later this year and wasn't planning on taking a laptop..

    25. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Cederic · · Score: 1

      I have 600 videos posted on youtube, all recorded in 1080p HD, all with the originals held locally.

      That's 600GB of original content that other people ask me to share with them, just from one single hobby that takes up 9 days a year.

      I guess I could just delete it all though. We should burn down the museums, art galleries and libraries too, look how much space they waste.

    26. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Cederic · · Score: 1

      My 2011 laptop has a 240GB SSD and another 750GB 7200rpm drive.

      Why the fuck would I put data on shit I have to carry with the laptop when I can just put it onto the laptop? Shit, you're like the Apple fanatic I work with that tells us constantly how slim and elegant his shiny expensive laptop is, and doesn't ever mention the 17 peripherals he also carries around to make the fucking thing usable.

    27. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IKR the walmart here is still selling brand new junk with 2GB of RAM.

      Aside from that what's a kaby? It looks like someone wanted to type kirby lake and their lawyer got pissed.

      I have an Apple Mac Pro mini-form-factor cylindrical tower with 2 GB RAM running Microsoft Windows 10 which is sufficient for web browsing, chatting / posting on Facebook, and streaming movies. It would be near useless for seriously intensively software compilation or data analysis of large data sets though. For my data analysis work I have an 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD ultrabook although sadly the memory cannot be upgraded; 16 GB RAM should be the minimum for notebooks and ultrabooks.

    28. Re:Tired of 2010 options by fbobraga · · Score: 1

      That's 600GB of original content that other people ask me to share with them, just from one single hobby that takes up 9 days a year.

      If it's on a Case for the HDD with an USB conn, share it's content cannot waste much time, you know...

      I guess I could just delete it all though.

      It's not already on YouTube?

    29. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Cederic · · Score: 1

      If it's on a Case for the HDD with an USB conn, share it's content cannot waste much time, you know...

      Sorry, could someone put that into English for me please?

    30. Re:Tired of 2010 options by fbobraga · · Score: 1

      it helps: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cover-... ?

    31. Re:Tired of 2010 options by Cederic · · Score: 1

      How does an external hard drive help me share videos with people? You want me to post an entire HDD instead of just uploading the one they want to a file share?

      Hmm.

    32. Re: Tired of 2010 options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An external drive works on several computers, you know...

    33. Re:Tired of 2010 options by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Why the fuck would I put data on shit I have to carry with the laptop when I can just put it onto the laptop?

      Removability. Why would I bother doing some manual transfer if I can just click an SD card out of my laptop and into my desktop when I need to do something. It's a fuckload faster than transfering something over some shitty wifi connection.

      Shit, you're like the Apple fanatic I work with that tells us constantly how slim and elegant his shiny expensive laptop is, and doesn't ever mention the 17 peripherals he also carries around to make the fucking thing usable.

      Apple fanatics carry adaptors and shit for reasons because their devices suck.
      I carry only accessories that make my life easier. Such as a 500GB removable drive so I don't spend 5 fucking hours transferring my current video editing stream between my laptop, desktop and work computer. So get yourself off your "everyone who disagrees with me is some idiot Apple fanatic wannabe" high horse. I take great offence to being compared with those brain dead idiots.

  4. May be this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was waiting for a desktop-OS, powerfull, DELL-robust, usable size, dual use machine and can be this. Not like the Yoga joke or Microsoft expensive toy.

    Sure you also.

    1. Re:May be this by _merlin · · Score: 2

      Dell Precision. It's the only serious portable left.

    2. Re: May be this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm happy with my Lenovo p50 other than bios is a little funky. Had to be reset often

    3. Re:May be this by bongey · · Score: 1

      More telling is Intel killed off their KBL-H(mobile workstations) in the 2017 road map and alos moved investor meeting to from Nov to Feb. Most likely having to adjust to Ryzen actually being a threat in 2017. Note wccftech screws up some the arch sizes but the headline is correct. http://wccftech.com/intel-kaby...

    4. Re:May be this by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      Yep.

      I have Xeon in mine.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    5. Re: May be this by ELCouz · · Score: 1

      Happy with my P70... it's flawless!

    6. Re: May be this by Builder · · Score: 1

      Have they stopped using the BIOS to force-load bloatware / junk into Windows yet ? Is there any way to turn that off ?

    7. Re:May be this by pezezin · · Score: 1

      I'm still using my 8 years old Precision M4400. That thing is rock solid, and the battery still last 2 hours. If I ever buy another laptop, it will probably be a Precision.

    8. Re:May be this by fbobraga · · Score: 1

      and what about the ThinkPads?!

    9. Re:May be this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm still using my 8 years old Precision M4400. That thing is rock solid, and the battery still last 2 hours. If I ever buy another laptop, it will probably be a Precision

      Same here. The Dell M4400 is a charm. It also has a WUXGA display (1920x1200), and those extra 120 vertical pixels really help. We recently upgraded ours to have a 1050GB SSD. It already had 8GB RAM, which is apparently the maximum supported. We use Xubuntu 16.04 on it (no dual boot), after Xubuntu 14.04, but Ubuntu earlier than Xubuntu.

    10. Re: May be this by ELCouz · · Score: 1

      No force-load bloatware on the T / P / X line (workstation & business laptops)... AFAIK, only the entry-level / consumer Lenovo where affected by this. They stopped in 2015 this crap.

  5. Coil Whine by psychofox · · Score: 1

    I wonder if they have fixed the coil whine issue... https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/...

    1. Re:Coil Whine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Considering they have not fixed the placement of the camera which gives your nasal cavity prime coverage, I doubt they have fixed the coil whine. I have heard from many people that have gone through multiple XPS replacements that it is simply a crap shoot whether you will get one that doesn't have something wrong with it, and Dell support has been largely ineffective. One co-worker had to do a charge back after the 3rd replacement (for coil whine and display glitches) because Dell refused to give him a refund.

  6. Dell is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dell is not on the list here. Cheap junk is all I can say!

  7. 46 W-Hour seems feeble. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How long this thing can stay unplugged? 25 minutes?

    1. Re:46 W-Hour seems feeble. by ahabswhale · · Score: 1

      It's a Core M processor, so I'm sure it's fine.

      --
      Are agnostics skeptical of unicorns too?
    2. Re: 46 W-Hour seems feeble. by fubarrr · · Score: 1

      in real life, the difference between Y and U is negligible: 2~3 w/h

    3. Re: 46 W-Hour seems feeble. by ahabswhale · · Score: 1

      Put another way, a U will use 55.5% more energy. Doesn't sound negligible to me.

      --
      Are agnostics skeptical of unicorns too?
    4. Re: 46 W-Hour seems feeble. by fubarrr · · Score: 1

      Yes, but the screen will drink ~10 watts anyways. As Y are more of a genuine SoC, the rest of the chipset will be eating less than for U. As peak currents are less for Y, Dell most likely put a more feeble and less efficient DC-DC power converters. Wireless will eat the same amount of power regardless. A cheap WiFi chip that does half of the work of the chip in software can burn a lot of power if the host CPU is something low-power like Atom or Y (if you have a 45w cpu, a little overhead is not felt that big), the one that does everything inside drinks a lot of power by itself. A thinner package also means that battery cells

      Lots of trade-offs both ways.

  8. 16GB as maximum nonsense! by okigan · · Score: 2

    Stop this 16GB as maximum nonsense!

    1. Re:16GB as maximum nonsense! by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Can't wait for 1TB RAM, once the prices get there. But wonder whether any of our '64-bit' OSs are artificially crippled to not support it?

    2. Re:16GB as maximum nonsense! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A consumer laptop does not currently need more than 16GB of RAM with an SSD installed.

      Anyway the time when SSD and RAM merge on laptops is soon - and DRAM will be a thing of the past.

    3. Re:16GB as maximum nonsense! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Windows works fine with at least 4TB as we have windows servers here with that much memory, considering it is the same Kernel but slightly tweaked as the desktop OS then Windows will be fine which means Linux and everyone else should also be fine as I seriously doubt windows were the first to support 4TB of ram.

    4. Re:16GB as maximum nonsense! by gravewax · · Score: 1

      TB support has been around for a long time in 64 bit OS's. Even windows desktop supports 2TB and latest server edition 24TB.

    5. Re:16GB as maximum nonsense! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      640 kb ram ought to be enough for anybody...

    6. Re:16GB as maximum nonsense! by unixisc · · Score: 1

      A consumer laptop does not currently need more than 16GB of RAM with an SSD installed.

      Anyway the time when SSD and RAM merge on laptops is soon - and DRAM will be a thing of the past.

      As somebody who worked on flash memory previously, I don't see this convergence happening soon!

      SSD uses NAND flash, which shares the denisities of DRAM, but is as slow as molasses. The only flash that is potentially as fast as DRAM, but still some orders of magnitude slower in terms of write times, is NOR flash. But NOR flash does not have the cost/price or even the density levels of NAND flash. The trends you're talking about have been there on cellphones for at least a decade now, where DRAM is combined w/ either NOR or NAND flash to provide a memory subsystem for the platform. Different vendors have tried different combinations, but the last I looked, there hadn't been a convergence of the type you are describing.

    7. Re: 16GB as maximum nonsense! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck you faggot.

    8. Re:16GB as maximum nonsense! by fbobraga · · Score: 1

      A consumer laptop does not currently need more than 16GB of RAM with an SSD installed.

      1/4 of this, with an SSD, is well suited today for most use cases...

  9. yeah, but will it run Linux by FudRucker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    without any dirty tricks, i dont want to lay down 1000+ bucks on a new laptop only to be stuck with windows and no possible way of installing Linux on it

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    1. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by hambone142 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Amen, brothuh!

      Whenever I see "Win 10" listed (which is always) as an OS, I turn the other direction.

      I'd like to see some good hardware with a Windows alternative. Given the spyware with new Windows, I will not be buying any hardware running the abomination. That's unfortunate as Win 7 works pretty well.

      I just resent the intrusiveness of Win 10.

      No thank you.

    2. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by DogDude · · Score: 4, Funny

      Whenever I see "Win 10" listed (which is always) as an OS, I turn the other direction.

      So, then, you spend all of your time spinning around in a circle?

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    3. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I have the "normal" XPS 13 and it runs Linux without problems (with a recent kernel)

    4. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      why is the xbox called the xbox 360? because when you see it, you turn 360 degrees around and walk away.

    5. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Cramit · · Score: 5, Informative

      Dell actually officially supports linux on the XPS 13 and Precision 15. You can buy it with ubuntu pre-installed and save $100. All drivers are on their project sputnik page.

    6. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1

      probably a western digital circle, too, with variable rpm!

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    7. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FYI, if you turn 360 your still on approach.

    8. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by unixisc · · Score: 1

      You're thinking 180. 360 degrees is 0 degrees, which is the same direction that you're currently looking

    9. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, I don't know of anyone that is actually running Windows 10. All of my friends that experienced a forced install, I have helped revert to Win 7 with updates turned off, or they have asked me to switch them to Linux. I basically handed them Linux Mint (KDE) disks. Non of them had any trouble installing or any issues since except that I had to show some how to use GIMP. Now want to go back to Windows. Oh, and my friends and I game in Linux all the time.

    10. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Windows 7 is a proprietary black box, they were always able to spy on anything you did, and obviously already did.
      Just because they publicly added some irrelevant anonymous telemetry data collection on top of that insecure base for the latest windows release doesn't make it any more compromised than it already was.

    11. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I doubt they will release a developer edition for this.
      Touch support on Linux is hit or miss and those flip laptops are more of a toy than a developer tool.

    12. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The touch screen on my XPS 13 works fine with a default Ubuntu install, Dell uses mostly Intel chipsets in their XPS line and these are rather well supported from Intel's 01.org website.

    13. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny how all of the people saying that "Linux works without any trouble" are AC's...

    14. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by fbobraga · · Score: 1

      360Â around it and keep going forward :P

    15. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Cederic · · Score: 0

      Touch support on Linux is hit or miss

      Over 107 million Linux touch screen devices in use in the US alone. Just not running Ubuntu.

    16. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      without any dirty tricks, i dont want to lay down 1000+ bucks on a new laptop only to be stuck with windows and no possible way of installing Linux on it

      The Hewlett-Packard Spectre 13 notebook runs GNU/Linux perfectly including the function keys and keyboard backlight option.

    17. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whenever I see "Win 10" listed (which is always) as an OS, I turn the other direction.

      We recently bought a 3k Lenovo P50S laptop. The first thing was a reformat. The second was to install Xubuntu 16.04 on it. It works like a champ.

    18. Re:yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Dell actually officially supports linux on the XPS 13 and Precision 15.

      Where on this page do they support linux? It's Windows 10 only, even in bloody Finland!

    19. Re: yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i have an x1 carbon 3rd gen and the touchscreen works just fine under ubuntu 16.04 and 16.10 default install/upgrade. also i have worked as a remote road warrior for the past 5 years and I can tell you that carrying a 2.5 to 3 kg laptop everywhere gets old really fast. I had a sony vayo which weighed just 930 grams and it was a dream to carry. i7u processor, 16 gb mem, 14 inch fhd display and a battery that would just not quit. sadly, they don't make them anymore.

    20. Re: yeah, but will it run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't know about right now, but 5-6 years ago or so I tried buying a XPS15 with linux: they directly told me "no". then I told them: is an option without any OS as I will remove it right away ? (I didn't want to increase the statistics of windows using computers) they told me they will charge me 50â for windows removal only... so I told them fuck it, I will remove it myself. I live in spain BTW, I'm guessing they work differently in different countries.

      so, I will check out what you are saying, but I looked recently and didn't find an easy way to select linux or information in the page (for sure is not in the common options of "operating system")

  10. CES 2016 by Known+Nutter · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ahead of CES 2016...

    Excellent job, editors. If you didn't get the memo, it's 2017.

    --
    Beware of the Leopard.
  11. Still only 16 GB of RAM! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Been looking for a replacement for my crappy five year-old Dell which has 16 GB. Was hoping they wouldn't cripple their next model in order to help with potential future sales, but sad to see they did.

    1. Re:Still only 16 GB of RAM! by itsenrique · · Score: 1

      RAM prices just have not fallen enough I guess. Lately, across all spectrums consumer computing, I sense a... disturbance in the force. Smartphones don't need to be new to run all the apps you need at a reasonable speed. Laptops are improving in some areas, but in some, it's the same as 5 years ago, as an earlier commenter mentioned. Desktops have seen great strides in the SSD department, but RAM prices still suck, and ancient motherboards and processor specs abound. Intels NG desktop stuff is mostly just going to be more power efficient too! I mean I love the atmosphere, that is great, but raw computing power just seems stalled lately, it's like living in molasses world compared to a decade or (especially) two ago!

  12. Filling space by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    Games, at the very least. You say music videos, but at what quality. And music videos are generally the smallest of video files. Let's plays, not to mention shows and movies are generally larger. Tutorial videos? Like ones on how to use Unity or the "Processing" environment?

  13. 4GB RAM, DDR3 and 720p camera? by AbRASiON · · Score: 1

    What on earth? This better be a cheap option and not a high end model. It's now 2017, it should ship with DDR4, 8GB and at least a 1080p camera.

  14. USB-A to USB-C adapter comes in the box by cerberusss · · Score: 2

    Quote from the fine article: The bezel is very narrow, in keeping with the XPS style. The fanless PC offers an SD card slot and two USB-C ports, and a USB-A to USB-C adapter comes in the box.

    Apple, pay attention. As a convenience to their customers, Dell puts an adapter in the box.

    --
    8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
    1. Re:USB-A to USB-C adapter comes in the box by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Quote from the fine article: The bezel is very narrow, in keeping with the XPS style. The fanless PC offers an SD card slot and two USB-C ports, and a USB-A to USB-C adapter comes in the box.

      Apple, pay attention. As a convenience to their customers, Dell puts an adapter in the box.

      And I agree, it is something that Apple should consider; but it isn't like it's a Grand Gesture. Those adapters cost about $2.50 RETAIL on Amazon. (I know, all the more reason Apple should include one or two).

  15. Looks nice! by polyp2000 · · Score: 1

    I have an XPS15 rev (9530). Its really lovely but not anywhere near needing replacement yet. Its well made and easy to look after both inside and out. It runs Ubuntu flawlessley and I've upgraded the mechanical drive to an SSD. It really flies!

    This new XPS13 looks nice and ill definitely be investigating Dells offerings when im ready for an upgrade as i am hoping this trend continues.

    --
    Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
  16. When will the... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...i9 come out? I don't just want the best, I want the BESTEST!

  17. USB-C Only? Ok, so where's the Hate? by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

    When Apple released the USB-C Only MacBook Pros a couple of months ago, they were excoriated by lots and lots of people for "Removing all the Useful Ports" and "Forcing people to use Dongles" and "ignoring the needs of 'Pro' Users" (and variants on those themes).

    So, you're saying that just because Dell has decided to include one measly $2.50 USB-C to USB-A Adapter (not even two, one for each port), they are somehow exonerated from all that unbridled Hate? Even though their USB-C ports don't even appear to support TB 3?

    Wow. Just. Wow.

    1. Re:USB-C Only? Ok, so where's the Hate? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also this model suffers coil whine under heavy loads like a word document. lol. But only apple sucks!!!!!

  18. The price difference is complicated by Shirley+Marquez · · Score: 1

    The least expensive model of the 2-in-1 is $200 more than the least expensive conventional XPS 13. But the 2-in-1 has an i5 processor rather than an i3 and it has a touchscreen. It's hard to do a direct price comparison of the two models because none of the configurations line up exactly in features, but the spread is certainly far less than $200 for similarly configured systems.

    If you want the lowest priced system period or the lowest priced one with the Quad HD display, the conventional XPS 13 is what you want. On the other hand, the 2-in-1 offers the lowest priced configuration with 16GB RAM. Recent XPS 13 models have the RAM soldered to the motherboard so they can't be upgraded; what you buy with the system is all you are going to get.

    The 2-in-1 uses a Y-series processor, which is slower than the U-series processor in the conventional XPS 13. But it also yields longer battery life, despite the fact that the 2-in-1 model has a smaller battery. The weight of the two systems is the same; the more complex hinge in the 2-in-1 is heavier but the smaller battery balances it out. And the 2-in-1 is fanless so it's completely quiet.