Dell XPS 13 9340 laptop review - The compact subnotebook with long runtimes and quite a few flaws

[Redaktion]

Dell has created the new XPS 13 out of its old XPS 13 Plus and—the same as with its larger siblings—this means it has an unconventional keyboard and an annoying touchbar. The new Core Ultra processor from Intel delivers decent everyday performance, however, its IPS display is a lot dimmer than advertized.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-9340-laptop-review-The-compact-subnotebook-with-long-runtimes-and-quite-a-few-flaws.837639.0.html

[Hotz]

Interesting again, as the 155H (Dell) can be compared to the 155U (Lenovo). The latter one has to be added manually.

Both are limited to the same TDP (24W), but the 155H has 8-Arc-graphics-cores and the 155U has 4-Arc-graphics-cores. The gaming results show, that the 155H is around 32% faster than the 155U. I also did that comparison between the HP Spectre and the Lenovo previously, and the results were similar.

Overall it's mostly only interesting regarding upcoming Arrow Lake desktop, which also gets 4-Arc-graphics-cores. If the full-sized iGPU version is only 33% faster than the half-sized iGPU version, then the desktop iGPU performance would be quite performant. Performant enough for casual gaming. Though not as good as the 8600G according to my guesstimation, but still a huge step up from the UHD 770.

[Plants]

Very nice summaries at the beginning of the articles. Most tech sites put catchy phrases and clickbait there. Here, you get an actual quick jist of the review.

[chris@amd]

what's the point of this device? zenbook 14 has bigger 14" and way nicer OLED display, bigger battery, better port selection, similar good build quality with almost same weight at far cheaper price! and performance is way better as it's not throttled as much as xps. who the heck are going buy this non-sense machine really is out of question.

[PHVM_BR]

"The new Meteor Lake processor's CPU performance is only better than its predecessor in short bursts."

Comparison of apples with bananas since the previous model was tested in ultra performance mode and this one in optimized mode...

[Neenyah]

zenbook 14 has bigger 14" and way nicer OLED display, bigger battery, better port selection, similar good build quality with almost same weight at far cheaper price! and performance is way better as it's not throttled as much as xps.

That is all true but the main problem is that it's - Asus. So a scummy company and while Dell are not saints either they are at least a bit better than Asus in pretty much all regards.

who the heck are going buy this non-sense machine really is out of question.

This is a good question though.

[Bon]

what's the point of this device? zenbook 14 has bigger 14" and way nicer OLED display, bigger battery, better port selection, similar good build quality with almost same weight at far cheaper price! and performance is way better as it's not throttled as much as xps. who the heck are going buy this non-sense machine really is out of question.

This is smaller and will fit in a smaller backpack. Honestly wish it were 12 inches (with the corresponding size reduction).

Though it definitely is much too heavy for its size. You're right, the Asus is somehow the same weight despite a larger screen.

[ab]

I think XPS 13 has no intention to be competition to Zenbook 14, rather to Zenbook 13. At the same time- I fully agree that Z14 is a lot better, however...
I like this new, very minimalistic design. Not sure about keyboard, but I will test it when I have a chance. I love my Zenbook 14 but must agree XPS13 fits better in the backpack, it's more portable where Zenbook 14 is more comfortable. Speaking about screen- having at the moment 3 Dell laptops on my desk, I would recommend go to bios and check if it's not dimmed there in screen settings- all my dells had this setting applied on battery as well as on AC power. If this is a case here, it might be very embarrassing...

Packing 16 cores in such small body is quite impressive as some people need more cores, no matter how stupid it sounds. I know that many people complain 155H about performance, but this device is not a power horse and still will be performing well- even if thermal limitations, and you can have up to 64 GB ram.

Wi fi 7- it's sort of gadget for me at the moment, looking great in spec but so far, not many benefits from that. Very limited number of users will benefit from that standard, it's rather evolution of WIfi6 than revolution, where wifi6 was inded revolutionary. I know numbers are impressive (4096 QAM and up to 320 MHz channels) but in practice, you may not be able to use it due to interference, distance form AP etc. It is worth to mention that for example Apple was failing own customers for years with implementing 160MHz channel (something what we know for years), finally fixed with M3 processor. Not sure why person making review thinks it's so important, but many IT pro people not fully understand wireless networking (and hardly any non-IT pro person). 

Many people talking now about era of ARM processors- Apple M or snapdragon. I must agree they offer great performance per watt but their architecture causing too many limitations. In fact, snapdragon may finally push apps makers to look more friendly into ARM direction- time will tell. We hear about snapdragon for long months, by this time- intel and amd are making improvements. In addition, ARM processor are vulnerable to side channel attacks, possibility is low but threat is real (sophisticated attack is required or human error). For some reason, not many people speak about this. I wonder if we ever see in the nearest future an article explaining it to apple customers. Or maybe while reviewing any sort of macbook? 

Personally, I wouldn't worry about Intel or AMD, they are still the best on the market because they don't have arm limitation - whoever does virtualisation or using Kali knows what I am talking about.
I see massive potential in Intel- they greatly improved integrated GPU (it used to be the weakest point), it's sort of warning to AMD. I wonder what is going to happen when intel further improve manufacturing process and catch up to 4 nm... that will be quite interesting.

The last thing- there is a lot of noise regarding latest Asus scam etc. I understand that this problem is related to other than Europe (EU). I have been working in IT industry since 2002, saw a lot living in EU and outside EU. I saw this video regarding asus and it was easy situation to solve (I agree- annoying and not fair, but welcome to real life where money is the king).
While leaving in EU, I would never use the manufacturer warranty as it has no point- they may keep repairing your device forever. EU law makes the seller responsible for the product (in case of electronic device- 2 years)- you bring/send your device to seller and they have responsibility to fix it or give you money back. It's much better option than banging the wall dealing with manufacturer customer service.
   

[scrawywd]

Would you mind test the CPU and GPU benchmark in the "Ultra Performance" setting? Your result seems conflict with the LaptopMedia (e.g. their 3D marr timespy graphic is 3701). Not sure which one to believe cause that's a huge difference (all the way from bad performance to top tier)