Dell XPS 12 Review: A Jack of All Trades Flipscreen Ultrabook
by Jarred Walton on February 22, 2013 2:13 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Dell
- XPS
- Intel Insider
- Ultraportable
- hybrids
- Ultrabook
Dell XPS 12 Laptop Performance Summary
We’re taking the same approach to benchmarks that we used with the Acer S7 and Surface Pro reviews—which is to say, we’ll use all of our typical laptop benchmarks along with some of the tablet-centric benchmarks to round things out. Performance as you’d expect is basically on par with other Core i7 ULV offerings (e.g. Acer S7), so faster than the Surface Pro, substantially faster than any non-Core products, but worse battery life than ARM offerings. Given the size and weight, this is much more a part of the laptop with a touchscreen crowd as opposed to being a tablet with laptop aspects, so our primary focus will be on how it compares with other laptops. Here’s the quick overview of the base components for the various laptops we’re including. Note that at present, only the XPS 12, Acer S7, Surface Pro, and Vizio CT15 were tested with Windows 8; the rest were running Windows 7.
| Laptop Configuration Overview | ||||
| Laptop | CPU | Graphics | Storage | Battery |
| Acer Aspire S7-391-9886 | Intel i7-3517U | HD4000 | 2x128GB SSD | 35Wh |
| Apple MacBook Air 13 (Mid-2012) | Intel i5-3427U | HD4000 | 256GB SSD | 50Wh |
| ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A-DB71 | Intel i7-3517U | HD4000 | 256GB SSD | 50Wh |
| Dell XPS 12 | Intel i7-3517U | HD4000 | 256GB SSD | 47Wh |
| Dell XPS 13 | Intel i7-2637M | HD3000 | 256GB SSD | 47Wh |
| HP Envy 14 Spectre | Intel i7-3667U | HD4000 | 2x128GB SSDs | 56Wh |
| HP Folio 13 | Intel i5-2467M | HD3000 | 128GB SSD | 60Wh |
| Intel IVB Ultrabook Prototype | Intel i5-3427U | HD4000 | 240GB SSD | 47Wh |
| Microsoft Surface Pro | Intel i5-3317U | HD4000 | 128GB | 42Wh |
| Toshiba Satellite U845-S406 | Intel i5-3317U | HD4000 | 500+32GB Hybrid | 54Wh |
| Toshiba Satellite U845W-S410 | Intel i5-3317U | HD4000 | 500+32GB Hybrid | 54Wh |
| VizioCT15 | Intel i7-3517U | HD4000 | 256GB SSD | 52Wh |
There aren’t really any surprises here; the XPS 12 performs right about where we’d expect. Acer’s S7 does come in slightly ahead in most benchmarks, which is interesting considering it’s thinner and thus cooling the chip (and enabling higher Turbo Boost clocks) should in theory be more difficult, but clearly that’s not the case. Whether it’s a lack of fine tuning for performance, minor differences in other components, or prioritizing quiet over fast, unless you’re really concerned about a difference of a few percent all of the i7-3517U Ultrabooks perform about the same. Actually, that’s not quite true, as Windows 7 models seem to hold a slight performance advantage in several tests as well (particularly battery life, which we’ll get to in a moment).
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azdesertguy - Friday, February 22, 2013 - link
With the dell, it's primarily a laptop that can stand in decently for a tablet. With the surface it's primarily a tablet that can stand in decently for a laptop.Both have compromises; The surface keyboard cover and stand are tough to use on an actual lap while the dell trades a superior keyboard and usable actual lap experience for additional weight and bulk as a tablet
And both of them are expensive and less than stellar battery life (though good performance)
in other words, at this point, most should buy either a tablet or a laptop if that's what they need and it's only a select few that need the jack of all trades type
chrnochime - Friday, February 22, 2013 - link
Well, the price shows close to 800 right now instead of around 700, so.azdesertguy - Friday, February 22, 2013 - link
As commented in the article, calibrating the display on mine was a challenge and one I have not yet conquered.I have noticed wide swings in color accuracy and contrast dependent on the brightness setting. There is a term for this problem which escapes me at the moment.
In addition the auto-brightness adjustment makes things 10x worse. So much so that I finally just turned it off
JarredWalton - Friday, February 22, 2013 - link
I've turned off auto-brightness on pretty much every device I've used that has it. Tablets in a room, being held in my hand, will often suddenly get very dark if you angle it away from the ceiling lights or accidentally cover the light sensor with your hand. I'd much rather have a constant 200 nits than swings from 100 to 300 to 200 ad nauseum.Cygni - Friday, February 22, 2013 - link
STARTING? For this piece? You seriously have to be joking me.gescom - Friday, February 22, 2013 - link
This integrated graphics standard called Intel hd4000 is like a ugly nasty virus. Everyday there's more of it. At least it's display has more of a meat than another virus called 1366x768.euler007 - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
I have maybe 15 laptops with HD4000 integrated graphics, haven't gotten a complaint yet.Not everyone is a gamer, some people just do office work with their laptop with occasional 3D use. No problems in navisworks.
pattycake0147 - Monday, February 25, 2013 - link
Maybe this just shows my ignorance on the subject, but is the battery really 47Wh? When you multiply 8.3V by 4160mAh the results is 34.5Wh. Like I said I'm not an expert, but that's my understanding.JarredWalton - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
Sorry, wrong figures other than 47Wh... the numbers in the table were probably from the Acer S7 and I missed updating them. I've corrected them now.Silma - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
Just genuinely curious,What apps are you missing, how long did you spend trying to find a similar app in Windows Store and are there no webpages offering a similar service?
I really don't understant the fetishism for apps especially on devices with decent screen resolution. Very few of them are more than a glorified web pages, most of them are 100% buggy unsecure crap
Looking at the 3 pages of googlestore's top paying apps I see mostly games, system utils (homescreen replacements, backup) and apps that exist on Windows phone (soundhound, tunein)