Hesitating between New XPS 14 and 15

14: Light, longer battery time.
15: FHD, more powerful CPU choice, with DVD drive.

Who has similar hesitation and wants to share opinions?

 

I've been thinking of going down to a 14" for a while now. For me, the issue is more with the much weaker GPUs that are standard with most 14"ers. I travel a lot for work, and like to be able to game on my laptop while I'm away from home.

If it wasn't for the GPU (which you didn't mention), I'd go for the 14. The lack of FHD screen sucks, but it doesn't mean that Dell won't offer one in the future, or that you can't find a 14" with a FHD elsewhere (though I don't know for sure, haven't looked recently).

As far as the CPU goes, the low-voltage i7 available for the 14 will be powerful enough for most people in most usage situations (though this drives up the price a bit, and I'm not sure if the standard low-volt i5 would be enough).

I have found myself only very rarely using my DVD recently. For the few times I need it (usually to install something) an external USB DVD would work just fine. Unless you like to watch a lot of movies on physical DVDs (or Blu-ray) it shouldn't be a problem.

This is just my opinion though. We could probably give you better advice if you let us know what you plan to use it for.

 

XPS 14's GPU is weaker but not that weak, it can have 1GB 630M. I guess it is still adequate for most games that you wanna put on a 14" screen.

But I don't see Dell has a choice for an FHD XPS14.

For DVD, I do not watch movies on physical DVDs, but, I occasionally burn DVDs for backup etc. Yes this can be solved by using an external drive but when should I carry it? If I need to carry it always (occasional use but can't predict), then the total weight is already heavier than a 15.

I don't have experience on ivy bridge CPUs, I guess ULV i7 should be enough but I feel more comfortable with a regular one.

So, each of these small points doesn't matter too much, and some of them are just 'psychological', but, they add up and bring me hesitation.

The main stopper for me is the FHD.

 

I have the XPS L1521x with the 640m. If gaming is important to you, you should get the 15. Otherwise the 14 should be fine. If all you want to do is occasionally play games at low res the 14 is ok, but the GPU performance difference is quite large. For everything else the 14 should be great. The i7 3615QM in my notebook is massive overkill for most tasks, even stuff like compiling .NET programs (I would assume that most people probably don't do this).

 

*FHD
*Better GPU
*Better Processor
*Optical Drive
*3 USB Ports

I vote for L521x

 

Most of the posts on this forum indicate that the screen on the XPS14 is pretty bad, definitely worse than the one on the 15. Multiple people are considering returning their laptop. If the choice is between those two, I'd take the 15 every time.

 

I heard from other posts 15 has vertical grids on screen. This will be very annoying.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/677227-xps-15-l521x-display-thread.html
BTW 15 CPU should be 3612QM, not 3615.

 

Yeah now it looks like both screens might have the same problem...

 

Can you give me a link refer to that discussion? I'd know some details.

 

You will need to go thru the entire thread to follow along w/ the display discussion here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/673546-xps-14-ultrabook-owners-lounge.html

Basically, it looks a little grainy in places, particularly the upper left corning (like the IE forward/back, IE tabs). It's not terrible, but it's not great either. And yes, a number of folks are returning it. Can't speak to whether the 15 has the same issue. For me, 14" 1600x900 was a requirement, downsizing from a 15" 1080p (Latitude E6510). The 6510s screen is hands down better quality but not as bright.

Other than that, I can say the XPS 14 in an i5 is plenty fast for day to day use, and most work related tasks. I don't game, so can't speak to that. I'm very happy (in spite of the display) with my XPS 14. I am sure the 15 is just as nice, but I wanted lighter weight and longer battery life.

I will be keeping my XPS 14. If display drivers updates improve the display, great, if not, it'll be fine for what I use my laptop for. I'll live w/ it.

Basically, if you don't mind 5.5lbs, physically bigger, and less battery life...definitely go w/ the 15". Even if the display has similar issues, it'll be less noticeable on the 15" running FHD. If you are coming from a marginal quality display or need to downsize and want longer battery life, get the 14", it's not that big of a deal and it's an incredible notebook.

 

One thing I don't feel comfortable about 14 is the resolution, only 900 vertically, even less than traditional 1280*1024 on a 17" CRT. I also don't like 1920*1080, I still prefer 16:10 but it seems there is no such choice now. Although it's namely 15.6" screen, the actual size is smaller than a 15" 16:10 screen. This is a business trick.

I use E6500 now. The performance and the build are good. But the screen is terrible. The brightness is not even, there are dark corners. It's said to be LCD pad design problem and cannot be replaced.

For the weight, E6500 without battery is the same weight as XPS 15. Normally I don't carry battery to and from work unless I need to travel.

So I start to vote 15, unless there are new negative comments.

 

Yeah the 630m is pretty much a rebadged 555m which was a very good chip so the 630 isnt bad at all NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

Resolution isn't the only important spec for a good monitor. I like my current 900p LG panel much more than 1080 panels I've had on other laptops. Things like color saturation and accuracy, contrast, and lack of graininess are just as important as resolution (up to a point at least, 768p is inadequate on anything over 13"). The only laptop I've ever returned was due to screen graininess.

Besides, 1080p on a 15.6" laptop is ~140ppi, 900p on a 14" is ~130ppi, only a small difference in relative resolution compared to screen size. Full 1080p on a 14" screen will give you 157ppi. Text rendered that small would be very difficult for a lot of people to read, and text scaling in Windows doesn't always work that well, especially if you still need to use older programs.

 

I hate it when the GPU manufacturers do this, but there are 2 very different versions of the 630M. One is equivalent to the 540M, the other one the 555M. One is good, the other not so much. Both are specified and marketed as the 630M, and the only way to tell which one it is is to have somebody with the XPS 14 run GPU-Z and let us know how many shaders GPU-Z reports. If 96 shaders, then it's only a 540M, if 144 then it's 555M.

Can anyone with the new XPS14 shed some light on this? Due to the thin/low power niche of the 14 I assume it's the 540M version, but confirmation would be great. I'd consider buying it if it was the 555M version.

 

Ah i see, they did it with the 555m aswell with some 555 versions only having 96 cores, i belive that was in a lenovo model.

 

XPS 14 has 96 shaders according to GPU-Z.

 

Thanks for confirming it.

 

I currently have a 15z and I'm 'upgrading' to a 14. While I prefer the 640m and the 1080p screen on the 15 I chose the 14 because of the wireless issues which scare the hell out of me. Check out the forums before you hit the Buy button... It's ugly.

It's a damn shame that Dell's laptops consistently seem to have a fatal flaw: the 14 apparently has a very narrow viewing angle; the 15 has bad wireless; the 15z had trim that peeled off; the original Inspiron 14z had the stiffest mouse buttons ever inflicted on a laptop; the new Inspiron SE's have keyboards you could use as a trampoline...

It's frustrating because I'm a Dell user through and through. I'm hoping the 14 screen isn't as much of a problem as some say but if it is, I'll be moving on to an HP Envy or a stodgy yet reliable Thinkpad.

Seriously, check out the forums before you commit to a 15. Dell is currently sending our wireless dongles as a stopgap (I'm serious) until they figure out what exactly the problem is. Dell acknowledges the problem but currently has no solution. If they did I'd have a 15 in the mail right now...

 

^ I know how you feel.

The viewing angles and poor screen quality pointed out by most reviewers (external) on notebookcheck made something, like getting the XPS 14 to replace my M1330, that would have been a certainty, an absolute nightmare. If it was only one or two reviewers and a couple of members here, I would not care. But it seems to be an issue with most owners.

While it seems to pack enough punch for its size, screens are such a big part of what makes a laptop decent. With W8 coming out and all these new IPS panels or TN displays with decent viewing angles, it makes Dell's current offerings seem sub-par. With that said, competitors seem to be lacking as well.

I think in terms of the true ultrabook market, the Zenbook Prime and Macbook Air have it nailed. But the XPS14 isn't really that much of an ultrabook and it fills a nice niche between ultrabooks and 15" laptops as there aren't really many competitors in that area. But the apparently awful display makes it a potential dealbreaker, imo.

It also seems to me as if the XPS 14 has made little-no impact. I've seen people rave about the Zenbook, Samsung 9 Series and so on. But I've asked on plenty of other forums and looked for decent video reviews of the XPS14 and nobody outside of this place seems to own one and there are barely any reviews out there, let alone decent ones.

It seemed like the perfect replacement for my M1330 at first, as well. If the positive press outweighed the negative, I'd probably have ordered it on sight. But all the negatives I hear certainly don't encourage me.