Dell XPS 15z review

The Dell XPS 15z is one of the thinnest 15 inch laptops currently available on the market. The standard XPS 15 was an excellent machine the reason for this sports line is that thin laptops are all the rage at the moment.

This is by no means an ultraportable but it packs a whole lot more then you’ll find on one of those skinny machines everyone is squeeing about.

What we like best

Let’s just start by congratulating Dell on such an excellent design. The anodized aluminium casing, razor thin on the lid and curved front edge at the front like the face of a blue whale is a fair thing to gaze upon.

This laptop is under an inch thick at its thickest point and we may turn our noses up in this ultraportable age at a laptop weighing 2.54 Kg, but that’s actually pretty good for a 15 inch machine.

This laptop has a full and varied selection of ports – finally we’re seeing a machine with more USB 3.0 ports than 2.0. The addition of these ports along with an HDMI makes this an excellent entertainment machine, you’ll be able to plug in and watch high quality entertainment on the 15.6 in screen capable of displaying full HD. Another feature which should spark your interest is the capacity for 5.1 surround sound, giving a premium entertainment experience.

The components of this machine are very impressive as well. You have the option of a second generation Intel Core i7 with Turbo Boost up to 3.50 GHz which is an incredible amount of raw processing power for such a svelte machine. We were also fans of the spacious hard drive, you have two options the 750GB SATA space enough for a moderate movie collection. A 256 GB SSD is also available, the solid state drive reduces movable parts in your computer so if you intend to travel with your Dell XPS 15z then the systems memory will be that little bit safer.

What we like least

We’re certain you could get used to the keyboard, and it is obvious that a lot of effort has gone in to its design but it’s not quite right.

Speakers on either side are never a good idea and the large wrist rests on either side of the spacious touchpad make the keyboard seem a bit cramped. The keyboard isn’t quite full sized, which you should really expect with a 15 inch laptop. The keys themselves are concave and curved with a space age font that illuminates with the backlight. It is cool to behold, but if you intend to get some serious work done you’ll find yourself reminiscing over ThinkPad keyboards.