Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Laptop Review: No Core i9 Nonsense

[_MT_]

As much as i'd want a ryzen based Xps 15, that will probably never happen because even with the release of USB 4, there will probably be TB4 released by then which will have even higher bandwidth than 40GBps, like 60 or 80. Of course i'm just assuming that, maybe it will not happen but we will have to wait and see.

TB4 is indeed coming. Should arrive with Tiger Lake. However, Intel only claimed 40 Gb/s bandwidth at CES 2020. That was strange and it's not really clear at the moment what exactly is going to be the improvement. And, as I already wrote, USB4 is not TB3. TB essentially exposes PCIe. USB is not PCIe. It's going to use the same physical layer (although I read there are going to be some tweaks, they're going to use different encoding) but USB is still going to be USB and do what USB does. It will not morph into PCIe. Which is what eGPUs use.

All the barriers for TB3 support on AMD platforms should be down. It is up to manufacturers. I think Ryzen XPS is going to happen as long as AMD keeps up the good work. Who knows, perhaps one is already in development for the 5000 series mobile Ryzen. Since this is one of their high-end lines, what really matters is how much they believe the market is going to buy into Ryzen. And we're not talking about enthusiasts here. But also how much engineering support AMD can offer and how much they believe AMD is not going to screw them (AMD has dropped the ball a few times). Not to mention their own engineering capacities. They're not going to drop Intel. So that means doing double the number of motherboards. It's a process. We might not like it but that's how it is. In the server world, we're also slowly getting the variety of systems.

[Jfkskxj]

Wow, these temperaturę s are terrible!

[_MT_]

"It's too bad that there are still no AMD Ryzen options for the Dell XPS series. The Ryzen 7 4800H, for example, is able to handily outperform any mobile Intel 10th gen Core i7 model and even many Core i9 models as well. "
Yip, its the difference between me buying one and not. 42% improved multi-core performance is no joke. I would expect better thermals and battery also leading to better GPU options. Dell could have had a best seller on their hands if they had provided an AMD option.

I'm not sure you can get all at once. This chassis just doesn't look that great so I'm not sure you'd be able to get all the performance. More, for sure; all of it, wouldn't hold my breath.

[Sds]

Totally not worth such money

[Mazarin64]

How come Temperatures are in the con's column when all of the Macs run hotter (much hotter) and it's not a con for them ??

[Ankit]

Like the XPS 13, can the touch model of this new XPS 15 be used in tent or tablet mode? I've been looking for this answer all over the internet but couldn't find it anywhere.

[RicoVIking9000]

Like the XPS 13, can the touch model of this new XPS 15 be used in tent or tablet mode? I've been looking for this answer all over the internet but couldn't find it anywhere.

No, this device does not support 360 degree hinges, and neither does the XPS 13 9300. The XPS 15 9500 does not even have pen support like the previous models did. if you would like a 2-in-1 XPS, the XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 came out late last year and was the first device with ice lake chips. Since it's a few months old, it's quite a bit cheaper than the newest clamshell XPS 13.

And just a tip, if you have questions about Dell in general, their subreddit (r/dell) is pretty popular and will help you out.

[Muhammad Anhar]

XPS 17 just came out and it has better specs than XPS 15, but $2600 for RTX 2060 and "forced" 4K option? Ouch

[Muhammad Anhar]

XPS 17 just came out and it has better specs than XPS 15, but $2600 for RTX 2060 and "forced" 4K option? Ouch

Correction: $2850. Still expensive.

[S.Yu]

1060 in 2020 is...in a word, bad. Why would anybody choose this over Blade 15 again?

[RicoVIking9000]

1060 in 2020 is...in a word, bad. Why would anybody choose this over Blade 15 again?

One's a gaming laptop, one isn't
The XPS gets far better CPU power. Longer battery. Quieter fans under everyday tasks. Thinner, smaller, better speakers. Better keyboard and touchpad. Better configuration options.

Comparing apples to oranges, these are targeted to completely different people. The XPS can be considered more of a jack of all trades.

[S.Yu]

1060 in 2020 is...in a word, bad. Why would anybody choose this over Blade 15 again?

One's a gaming laptop, one isn't
The XPS gets far better CPU power. Longer battery. Quieter fans under everyday tasks. Thinner, smaller, better speakers. Better keyboard and touchpad. Better configuration options.

Comparing apples to oranges, these are targeted to completely different people. The XPS can be considered more of a jack of all trades.

Did you just make that up? You just made that up. Because this XPS is 0.2mm thicker than Blade 15, the CPU is ~20% faster in single core and ~10% faster in multicore, much smaller than the GPU difference and partly because the Blade 15s are a year old; "everyday tasks" will hardly get the fans spinning in either model while the XPS fans are actually a few dbs louder under load. Regarding the input devices, I find XPS 13 2N1's(not a gaming model) keyboard with very shallow feedback yet still perfectly usable, while the previous Razer Pro had a mechanical keyboard, so it's not an issue of whether it's a gaming laptop or not, there's also personal preference here as I can't get used to keys with really deep travel either. The trackpad on the Razer seems perfectly fine. You do correctly point out that the XPS has longer battery life and that it has surprisingly good speakers for a notebook, I thought Blade 15 had 99Wh but that may have been a previous model, now it only has 80. I suppose that battery life would be the strongest argument for the XPS, but it's not a feature known to fetch a premium, neither is an advantage in integrated speakers. In that sense, the XPS still seems overpriced for the specs.

[Ark]

I don't understand. Isn't dell claiming that the 4k display is covering 100% of adobergb ?

[RicoVIking9000]

You're right, I think 16:10, small form factor, and the sleek design are the biggest selling points.

I don't understand. Isn't dell claiming that the 4k display is covering 100% of adobergb ?

Yes, it does actually get 100% RGB. The reason the benchmarks don't report it is because of the blue light filter Dell uses for the eye health of the end user; it throws off the reader

[sandybo]

Great review as always! that will be nice if you can also review the XPS 17 9700 top model as its getting out there with doubts on the power adapter issue (not being able to output rated 130W) under heavy load.