Three Weeks With the XPS 15z

I'm not sure how helpful this will be to anyone but when I was deciding on getting the XPS 15z as my system replacement for my 1645 I couldn't find anything substantial on it in these forums. It was mostly just one-off comments about a specific component or part of the build quality nothing substantial or definitive, even comprehensive reviews were from people who had only been using it for a few days, and I think it takes a bit longer than that to fully explore the quirks of a new machine.

Build quality- A lot of people have complained about the build quality and I've seen some people praising it. My opinion on it is that it's built really well. I like the aluminum body, I am worried about it getting scratched up, but that's true of all aluminum computers not uniquely this one. One major issue that I've seen pop up time and time again, is the chrome trim coming off almost immediately. I happen to like my chrome trim, but it does remind me of the trim on my 1645 (which did always almost inevitably start peeling) after three weeks my trim is still firmly attached. I'm not sure if maybe they've slightly fixed the way it's attached, or if I'm just careful or if others are throwing their laptops in a bag and hoping for the best, but I travel with mine four days a week and my trim is fine. The hinge on the laptpp is solid and the screen doesn't wobble like the 1645 sometimes would.

Display-As noted in my signature I have the 1920x1080 WLED display this display is very bright, and I use it on minimum at all times (I can't stand bright light) but this is where my praise of the display ends. I'm not sure if perhaps I'm simply spoiled by the gorgeous RGBLED I had on my 1645 but the colors on this display are for lack of another word...meh. They're not as bright or vibrant, but are just "good enough" games look good on the display as does HD content. My issue is that I know how good they could look and don't so I am disappointed. As they say ignorance is bliss.

Performance-I pushed for the 525M + i7 and 8GB ram combo on my machine I'm really happy with the performance. I can boot to a useable desktop in about 1:50 and while that's not SSD performance I don't really care storage>speed. I need the space and the price per GB for a SSD doesn't interest me. As for games I don't know how many people are interested in my opinion on this because one I don't care about FPS much, if I get 30 or more I'm fine. Also I don't play many FPS shooter games. I think I have crysis and that's about it. The rest are games like Assassin's Creed, and Bioware RPGs, also I play a lot of RTS games, Supreme Commander, Forged Alliance, Starcraft 2, and Rise of Nations. Games like those the bottleneck is often RAM and CPU, not GPU. All of the above mentioned games runs really well with almost all the settings turned up (except AA I never use that) and at native resoluton. While this computer isn't nor is it intended to be a gaming powerhouse it is more than capable in this department. Also the heat that a lot of people complain about I have yet to notice, even after hours long sessions on Starcraft II. There is some noticeable heat but nothing uncomfortable.

Usability- A lot of people I also noticed (myself included) griped about the keyboard. It looks horrendous in photographs, I' em not sure if it really looks better in person or if it's just cognitive dissonance, but I really like the way it looks now that I've seen it in person. The keyboard is small, but the relative narrowness of the keyboard is offset by the island layout. I think I type faster and with even less errors than I did on my much more spacious 1645 keyboard. One thing I wish that they hadn't done is doubled up so many buttons. There's room to expand the keyboard a bit. What I mean by this is that the arrow keys have two functions as do all of the "Fx" buttons. I HATE the fact that the media keys require me to push FN to use them it's a hassle, and yes you can switch it so you need to push FN to press f1 for example that is also a hassle as I frequently use both the media keys and the F buttons. It's a royal PITA.
The trackpad is pretty good, but not as good as the one I'm coming from. The gestures are hard to perform or at least get it to register them. And it simply doesn't do as much. there's no way to "middle" click with this trackpad, when on my old one you simply clicked both the left and right at the same time. Very useful for opening windows automatically in a new tab or closing a tab. Also holding down 3 fingers on the pad on my old laptop opened notepad, or did anything you set it to do. I absolutely loved that. It was very convenient. This trackpad is basic and rudimentary in comparison.
That being said it functions as it should and perhaps I am just spoiled.

Battery life-The battery life on this thing is great. It's rated for almost 8 hours, but as we all know that's only under the most ideal of circumstances and power saving the point of not using the laptop for anything. Realistically I frequently see/get about 6 hours when I'm doing very light tasks, and on average about 5-5.5 hours with average loads.

Anyway I've written all this to share my opinion on what I think is actually a really great computer. I wasn't expecting this based on the complaints I saw in this forum, and just a few days ago I still noticed people asking should they buy this or not. Hopefully this helps people make a decision. By the way I am not implying that the forum opinons weren't helpful it's just that they weren't enough. Most comments were limited to one particular thing about the laptop or from people who didn't own one.

 

Thanks for your review of the machine Fenikkusu. It is true to that this machine caught a lot of flak when it came out and a few have complained about it. However, having used it a bit myself at a friend's home I can only agree with what you are saying.

Sure, it is not a high end machine like the XPS 15 and 17 in terms of processing power, but it is still a very handy machine to have that you can easily take with you while traveling. And getting 5.5 hours of battery time in my opinion is very good.

 

Haha thanks. I do think in terms of computers that are on par with it's portability it is pretty high end just in different ways than the 15 and 17. One thing I did forget to add in my original post is the speakers. They're really really mediocre.