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Dell XPS 12 review: a tablet and laptop in one?
April 26, 2013
A Dell video promoting the XPS 12.
The Dell XPS 12 convertible ultrabook is the PC manufacturer's latest attempt to marry laptop and tablet technology into a sleek, sophisticated all-round business machine.
With prices starting at £999, it'll have to be good to convince business owners and executives to ditch their existing iPads and laptops.
We spent a few days with the top of the range model, which clocks in at just under £1,300. Here's how it fared.
Dell XPS 12: good first impressions
This Dell Ultrabook is a sleek, solid machine. It comes elegantly packaged in a classy box (well, it's as classy as a cardboard box can be), and the laptop itself is clearly well made.
The external finish feels good and the screen's hinge is substantial. There are none of the tacky lights, badges or finishes you often see on laptops. Quite simply, it looks and feels like a premium laptop.
Weighing in a 1.54kg, it's light enough to pop in your bag and carry around all day. It also feels more than up to withstanding the odd knock, which is inevitable for any mobile computer.
It's all about the screen
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The XPS 12 has a superb 12.5" touch screen. It's bright, clear and has a full high definition resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. This means text and images are very sharp - it must be one of the best screens at this size on the market. (Learn about screen resolution.)
The only downside of such a high resolution is that text appears quite small in standard mode. You can fix this by cranking up the text size in Windows, but non-technical owners may be unaware this is possible. (Instructions are here.)
The screen has another trick up its sleeve too. It rotates through 180 degrees to transform from a laptop form factor to a tablet.
Basically, you rotate the screen then close the laptop, leaving the screen facing upwards and covering the keyboard. You can see it in action in the Dell promotional video at the top of this review.
The touch screen features are more useful than we'd expected when using the XPS 12 in 'laptop' mode. It's certainly true that the Windows 8 interface makes more sense when you experience it on a machine that has touch capabilities.
In tablet mode, you use the touch screen exclusively. It works pretty well, except when you have to venture into the Windows 8 desktop, which is best navigated via the mouse.
Capable and powerful
As you'd expect from the technical specifications, this is a very capable machine. The Intel i7 processor flies through tasks, and we were particularly impressed at the speed with which the XPS 12 starts up.
That's down to the 256GB solid state drive, which means Windows and other programs load impressively quickly. You can comfortably use this as your only machine - whether in the office or out and about.
In fact, when you're out and about you'll appreciate the responsive keyboard and track pad, although we did find it easy to nudge the volume switch on the side of the case when you're typing at speed.
Battery life is reasonable too, if not stunning (expect to get around five hours of work from it). Die-hard mobile workers may be disappointed that the battery is built-in, so you can't swap it when it runs flat.
Is the design worth the price?
There's no doubt at all that as a thin, light laptop, the XPS 12 ranks highly. The fast load times and impressive screen stand out. We'd happily use it as our main computer.
But we're sceptical about the tablet features. Although the touch screen is useful, it's hardly essential. And while the rotating display is cleverly designed and solidly engineered, in tablet form the XPS 12 is just a bit too heavy.
It's twice the weight of an iPad and significantly chunkier, which means it's not practical to hold the XPS 12 for long periods (like when you're reading during your commute or taking signups at an exhibition).
If you want a top-end laptop for occasional use as a tablet, you won't do much better. But if you want a laptop and a tablet, we'd say buy a laptop and a tablet instead.
You can learn more about the Dell XPS 12 and buy online from the Dell website.
Dell XPS 10 review: a great business tablet with one Achilles' heel
March 21, 2013
Light and slender, Dell's XPS 10 tablet computer looks like a small laptop, except the optional keyboard (not pictured) can be removed, transforming it into a pure 10.1" touch screen tablet.
We spent a couple of days using the XPS 10. Here are our first impressions.
Solid and weighty
Buying the XPS 10The XPS 10 is available direct from Dell. There are several models to choose from. Prices start from £299 for the entry-level model with 32GB of storage and no keyboard. The top-end model is £444, including the keyboard. See options and buy online >> |
The XPS 10 is an attractive, understated piece of kit. It feels solid and - when you choose to use it - the keyboard is pleasant and quiet, if a little undersized.
It would be nice if the keyboard had a backlight, but the large trackpad works nicely without feeling at all cramped.
Because the keyboard contains extra batteries, when you use the XPS 10 in its 'laptop' configuration, the battery life is fantastic. It'll keep going for 16+ hours, which is great if you're on a long flight or simply don't want to recharge so often.
However, the flipside of this staying power is the significant weight of the keyboard. In pure tablet mode, the Dell XPS 10 weighs in at 635g, which is slightly less than an iPad. But adding the keyboard more than doubles this to 1.3kg.
A well-connected tablet
The XPS 10 impresses with its connectivity too. The screen includes a micro-USB port and micro-SD memory card slot, as well as the dock connector for the keyboard. When the keyboard isn't attached, this doubles as an HDMI output via an adaptor, allowing you to connect an external screen when in tablet mode.
There are extra ports on the keyboard, including two USB connections and a mini-HDMI port, for hooking up screens and projectors.
The touch screen is clear and bright - even in sunlight - and allows multi-touch gestures just like a decent tablet should. It responds well when you tap and swipe, comparing favourably with other tablets in this bracket.
Adequate storage, good performance
The XPS 10 includes either 32GB or 64GB (gigabytes) of storage space. That's not a huge amount, particularly when you realise the pre-loaded software can leave as little as 16GB of usable space on the smaller-capacity model.
It is still room for lots of text documents or thousands of images. However, it would be wise to avoid downloading large video or music files, as these could eat up that space quickly.
Overall, the XPS 10's performance certainly feels snappy. Chuck in the enormous battery life and this Dell tablet starts to look like a real winner.
Is Windows RT enough?
The XPS 10's Achilles' heel is that it comes with Microsoft Windows RT, a special version of Windows designed for tablets.
The problem with Windows RT is that it can't run most standard Windows software. That means some of the programs you use in your business are unlikely to work on the XPS 10.
The tablet does come with a web browser, email software and other tools which mean it's fine for browsing the internet and using many cloud services. There's also an app store where you can download apps that will work on the tablet, although it's sparsely populated compared with competing app stores from Apple and Android.
Most usefully, the XPS 10 includes a special version of Microsoft Office, meaning you can work on Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
However, when you buy the tablet you'll get the Home & Student Edition of Office, which is not licensed by Microsoft for commercial use. As ZDNet has revealed, you'll need to buy an additional commercial license to legally use this version of Office in your business.
It's worth noting this isn't really Dell's fault. Microsoft hasn't made other versions of Office available with Windows RT. But it still seems bizarre that a tablet specifically marketed as being 'great for work and play' comes with key software that you can't legally use for work.
Our conclusionThe Dell XPS 10 is a nicely-built tablet with a brilliant battery life. It has few weak points when used in either tablet or laptop modes, and during our limited time with it we've been impressed. But whether it's right for you will probably come down to whether you can manage with Windows RT. It's confusing to use a version of Windows that doesn't run your existing software and the limited-but-expanding range of apps could be a source of frustration. (In fact, one of Dell's competitors, Samsung, has cancelled its Windows RT tablets.) As a tablet for internet and email then the XPS 10 is an excellent piece of kit. If you're happy to pony up for a commercial Microsoft Office license and the other apps you need are available for Windows RT then it could be a great addition to your business. Just make sure you're comfortable with the software's limitations before you make the leap. Get more details and buy online from Dell >> |
Dell Vostro 3560 business laptop review
November 07, 2012
Dell's Vostro range of laptop and desktop computers is aimed specifically at smaller businesses. We got our hands on the company's 15" Vostro 3560 laptop, and tried using it day-to-day in our company. Read on to see what we thought.
Design, size and weight
The Vostro 3560 has a pleasing appearance and a sleek, classy look to it. As with many laptops, the outside of the case is made of metallic-effect plastic. We'd prefer it to be actual metal, but that was probably outside Dell's budget.
Having said that, it looks and feels solid. The matte grey plastic around the screen is a little thicker than we'd like, but the overall effect is great.
At 2.57kg, the Vostro weighs about average for a laptop of this size. It's fine for mobile working now and again, even though it's not super-light.
The keyboard is well-spaced, making it harder to hit the wrong keys, even if you have sausage fingers. It has a positive action and is nice and quiet, so you can type for extended spells without having to connect an external keyboard.
In line with recent trends, there's a nice large trackpad with two wide buttons. You can scroll using two fingers on the trackpad, rather than having to click and drag scroll bars on screen.
Display
The 15.6" display is bright, and lacks a glossy coating, which makes it well-suited to use under bright lights. You can see the screen clearly from a wide viewing angle, so this could be a good laptop for giving ad-hoc presentations in meetings.
The version we tested had a crisp, clear full-HD screen, so you can watch HD video on it at the full resolution. It's also available with a lower-resolution screen.
Performance
The Vostro 3560 we tested had an Intel i5 processor. It was well up to anything we threw at it during day-to-day business use. It's well-suited to running apps like Microsoft Word and Outlook, or running several programs at once.
We tested it using Windows 7, which loaded in under 30 seconds. The 3560 now ships with Windows 8.
The model we tested had an optional dedicated graphics card. This makes a big difference to the graphics performance and is a good option if you want to play games or run graphics-intensive software like Photoshop.
It's worth noting that the base level model only comes with 2GB (gigabytes) of RAM, which is borderline adequate nowadays. You can upgrade after buying, or opt for a model with 4GB, 6GB or 8GB instead.
Storage and connections
Even the entry-level Vostro 3560 comes with a 320GB (gigabyte) hard drive, which should provide more than enough storage for general business use. There's also a built-in DVD writer, so you can read and burn DVDs easily.
There are a generous 4 USB connections, all of which are the fastest USB3 type, so they can transfer data nice and quickly. The connectors are close together, which means a chunky memory stick or mobile broadband dongle can block the adjacent ports.
You can also connect external displays or a projector via VGA and HDMI ports.
Vostro 3560 conclusions
We really enjoyed using the Vostro 3560 for a few days. It has a classy, solid feel that belies its price, and it's more than capable in a business context.
True, it's not incredibly light, and it lacks the touch screen features appearing on other laptops. However, performance is good, the screen is excellent and with an entry-level price of £299 (plus VAT and shipping), it represents great value for money.
Buying the Dell Vostro 3560The Dell Vostro 3560 is available direct from Dell. Prices start at £299 + VAT and shipping. The £479 mid-range model looks like excellent value. Get 10% off when ordering online from Dell.co.uk by using the promotional code H3983?MGC4XBL4 |
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