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Toshiba Qosmio F750 Review and Rating

Toshiba Qosmio F750

A powerhouse PC blighted by woeful battery life

Toshiba’s all-conquering Qosmio range was the first to bring us glasses-free 3D, and we were so impressed with the X770 back in issue 156 that we awarded it five stars. The Qosmio F750 continues the tradition, albeit with a couple of drawbacks. The substandard keyboard and paltry battery life might put some off, but anyone looking for a movie powerhouse won’t fail to be impressed.

The bright red outer design is eye-catching and complemented by the glossy all-black look under the lid. White LEDs around the touchpad, power button and hotkeys also add a bit of visual flair. Unsurprisingly though, it’s neither light nor svelte. Measuring in at 386 x 265 x 39mm with a weight of 3.2kg the Qosmio is more of a desk-based PC replacement than a portable gaming machine.

Once you fire up the laptop though, the lack of portability gets lost in a storm of power provided by the Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU and Nvidia GeForce GT540M dedicated graphics chip.

Interacting with the Qosmio is made all the better by the fantastic screen Toshiba has incorporated. Capable of full 1080p high- definition visuals, the screen is bright, crisp and coated with the reflective Super-TFT coating that adds a degree of richness to the colours in pictures and movies.

The standout feature is, of course, the glasses-free 3D effect. By using the webcam to track your eyes, you can move your heads freely while retaining the 3D image unlike, for example, Nintendo’s 3DS game system which requires you to keep your head in one position for the 3D effect. While 3D will appeal to some, others might not be converted yet - and to be fair, the effect isn’t as impressive when compared with the standard Active Shutter 3D system. But considering the price of the glasses, and the prospect of losing them, we’re more than happy with this alternative.

Active Shutter 3D

Active Shutter is a stereoscopic 3D technology that relies on a pair of glasses that wirelessly synchronise with the twin display. Each lens of the glasses opens and closes faster than the eye can see and syncs with the two images on the screen to create the illusion of depth.

The keyboard is a pretty standard affair, despite the nice lighting,

so you may prefer to get a separate USB keyboard for heavy use

Average usability

While the screen and sheer power is fantastic, some of the usability suffers. The keyboard is a standard, flat affair and although the keys are nicely sized, there’s some definite flex around the centre and we doubt it could cut it as a serious gaming keyboard. Things are better when it comes to the touchpad; it’s responsive and has a non-glossy surface that is comfortable to use. The only drawback is it’s a little on the small side. For serious gaming, you’re going to want to invest in a USB mouse.

Where the Qosmio really falls down is on battery life. Given the specifications we didn’t expect much in terms of longevity but the Qosmio F750 gave out after only 74 minutes. It’s a problem, but not a deal-breaker. The F750 isn’t trying to be an ultraportable and to buy it thinking so is a mistake. In fact, its big brother the Qosmio X770-107 couldn’t even manage an hour and gave out after 44 minutes.

We can’t help but like the Qosmio a lot and its decisive pros and cons list should make it an easy decision. If you want hardcore visuals and processing power, we’d recommend it - although we’d advise you to also invest in a decent USB mouse and keyboard. If you’re less fussed about power over battery, and don’t like 3D, then save your £1,300 for a different machine.

Introducing the Toshiba Qosmio F750 Laptop Series

Sony VAIO Z Series Review and Rating

Sony VAIO Z Series

The ultimate high-power ultraportable laptop

There are few more high-end laptops than the Sony VAIO VPCZ21V9E (£2,699 inc. VAT) and for the price we’d expect nothing less. It packs awesome power into a tiny frame, but even though the performance and usability is staggering, we just can’t justify the huge price tag.

The laptop itself is supremely light at just 1.2kg. The 13-inch screen is vibrant and clear, and there’s an anti-glare coating that makes it ideal for using in direct sunlight. On the surface this is a fantastic ultraportable, but with a price tag that eclipses both MacBooks and Ultrabooks, what do you actually get?

The build quality is superb with the carbon fibre chassis feeling strong, whilst keeping the weight incredibly light; and while there is some slight flex in the lid and keyboard, it still feels robust. There isn’t a great deal of cushioning on the keys, although there’s a fair amount of space between them, which we really liked.

Ultraportable

A laptop that weighs 2kg or less and is designed to provide optimum mobility for frequent travel use. It is not to be confused with a netbook, however, as despite sharing similar dimensions and weight, it provides far greater performance and features than its low-powered siblings.

Aesthetically the VAIO is far from our favourite the plain black

look is overly corporate and picks up fingerprints too easily

Aesthetically though, the Sony Z-Series is made to look corporate and, frankly, boring in comparison to something like the HP Envy 17- The black surface picks up fingerprints in seconds and the plain black lid looks more suited to the office than the home.

Under the hood there’s a top-of- the-range, second-generation Intel Core i7 processor, a member of the coveted Sandy Bridge family. These processors offer the ability to handle 3D graphics on board, as well as limitless power, throttling it back until when you need it, which means it won’t sap your battery life while performing mundane tasks like checking email and surfing the web. It offers four cores, and the overall performance is stunning. It aced our tests, and anyone looking to edit high-definition video will find this superb.

Docking station

If there’s one thing Ultrabooks and other ultraportables miss, it’s connectivity. This is where the VAIO has a trick up its sleeve. It comes with an extra docking station which houses a DVD drive (a Blu-ray option is available), an AMD Radeon 6650M processor with 1GB of video memory, and a host of display ports enabling you to connect up to four monitors.

The docking station means the Z Series can instantly transform from one of the lightest and most powerful ultraportables we’ve seen into a PC to match most gaming machines. However, you can expect to pay another £350 for the docking station and for that price you could just as easily buy a second laptop.

Battery life is impressive, and our demanding test eked out 220 minutes. This is enough to watch a Full HD movie away from the mains, and you should be looking at over seven hours of normal use before needing to plug in.

To get this kind of performance from something so small and light is phenomenal, and the option to upgrade further via the docking station is a really nice touch. However, for the first time there are now realistic alternatives in the form of Ultrabooks and Apple’s revamped MacBook Air. Even though the Sony VAIO is the closest laptop we’ve seen to a no-compromise between power and portability, it seems unnecessary to spend this much when there are plenty of alternatives.

Samsung Series 7 Chronos Review and Rating

Samsung Series 7 Chronos

Imposing performance from this surprisingly portable PC

The Samsung Series 7 ‘Chronos’ 700Z5A-S01 (£899 inc. VAT) is the latest entertainment machine from the Korean heavyweights, who recently won our coveted ‘best manufacturer’ award. This laptop isn’t nearly as slender as the MacBook Air, the Toshiba Portege or even Samsung’s own Series 9 ultraportable, but it packs in the power. And thankfully, this doesn’t come at the expense of battery life.

The sleek silver lid is solid at the edges to keep the display from bending, and even the centre is surprisingly firm. However, the palmrests are less sturdy, flexing under light pressure.

We have to admit we were a little disappointed by the overall appearance of the Chronos, but were pleased to see the isolation- style ‘chiclet’ keyboard stretching the width of the interior, giving well-sized keys and enough room for a numeric keypad. Typing is a smooth experience, although the keys don’t travel far when hit. The arrow keys are once again crushed into a single row, but we could find them without looking thanks to their wide design. The keyboard is also backlit, and a built-in light sensor ensures the subtle glow' only turns on when atmospheric lighting is poor, so saves on your battery life.

We were less than enamoured with the touchpad. It’s spacious enough, but uses annoying integrated mouse buttons. You have to push the bottom corners to simulate left and right mouse button clicks, which quickly frustrates as the cursor jerks.

Fine display

Aesthetically the VAIO is far from our favouritethe plain black

look is overly corporate and picks up fingerprints too easily

The Series 7 Chronos’ 15.6-inch display stretches almost to the edge of the lid, with only a slender bezel in place. A sharp 1,600 x 900 resolution keeps images crisp and clean. There’s no glossy coating, so you can use the Chronos outside or in brightly-lit interiors.

If you need a machine to keep you entertained on the move, the Chronos’ 750GB gives you plenty of space for your games, movies and music. A slot-loading DVD drive has also been packed in. If you’d rather use this laptop as a home entertainment machine, an HDMI port can be used to hook up TVs or monitors, and you have three USB ports, two of which are USB 3.0.

The Series 7 Chronos certainly doesn’t skimp in the performance department. A Sandy Bridge Intel Core i7 processor is in charge, backed up by a generous 8GB of memory. You can run any software imaginable, and should be able to for some time to come.

Sandy Bridge

Intel's Sandy Bridge technology is the codename for its latest generation of ultra-powerful processors.

So, given all that power, how does the battery life stack up? Powering through four hours of our tests before the screen faded to black, the Chronos equaled the likes of the Sony and the Lenovo but unfortunately can’t touch the Asus. We can’t help but look favourably on the Samsung because the extra performance so outstrips most of the other laptops in this group.

The Series 7 Chronos may lack the sexy, curved chassis of the MacBook Air, and the slender build of some new Ultrabooks, but it’s easily the most powerful laptop in this group test. We would also argue that it represents the best value for money. If you need a portable entertainment machine that won’t be out of date any time soon, then the Chronos is well worth considering.

Lenovo IdeaPad U300S Review and Rating

Lenovo IdeaPad U300S

A solid performer but doesn’t stand out from the crowd

Despite the Lenovo IdeaPad U300S (£899 inc. VAT) being a fantastic ultraportable laptop - with a comfortable keyboard, lightweight design and decent amount of power - it does little to stand out from rivals like the Asus Zenbook. That said, the Lenovo’s brushed metal body feels solid, there’s little flex and there are contours and lines which add detail, making it more interesting than the myriad Apple MacBook Air clones we’ve seen elsewhere.

An Intel Core i5 processor is under the hood, which we were a bit disappointed to find when other manufacturers have added Intel Core i7 processors into a smaller chassis. There’s also 4GB of RAM and a small but fast 128GB SSD drive.

The less powerful Intel Core i5 processor showed through in our lab tests and the 7244 score in Cinebench is on the low side, when compared with the Asus Zenbook UX31 and Acer Aspire S3. These are much more powerful systems, and the Lenovo has little in reply to make it a real winner.

The battery life made up for this somewhat with 231 minutes of use in our harsh lab tests. This translates to around five hours of web surfing and emailing, which equates to a good day on the move, but nowhere near the seven hours quoted by Lenovo on their marketing literature. However, this still beats much of the competition in this group test. The Lenovo features a 13.6-inch screen, and in a nod to true portability, there’s a matt screen with a coating to help stop reflections in direct sunlight. Matt screens tend to polarise opinion: some complain they make the panel dull and lifeless; others love the ability to work outside, and near windows, that you don’t get with a glossy screen.

Both of these statements are true: with this screen the Lenovo is unsuitable for those who want to enjoy movies and pictures, but it’s still a great choice for people who want to work on the move.

Frustrating to use

The Lenovo's keys are well cushioned and separated,

but the extra row of keys on the right edge have squashed

the Return key

Two of the major complaints about Ultrabooks are poor, uncomfortable keyboards and single button track pads that are frustrating to use. The Lenovo is little better than most.

On the plus side, the keys are as comfortable and natural to use as any Ultrabook. They’re well cushioned, well-spaced, with isolation style keys jutting through the aluminium chassis. However, Lenovo has made the Enter and Backspace keys very small, with the Home, End and Delete keys to the far right. These meant mistakes were common, and it took us a while to get used to the keyboard. The trackpad, however, is terrible and often clicking and navigating led to chaotic moments, where clicks were misregistered.

Trackpad

Also known as a touchpad, these rectangular pads are found beneath the keyboard and are touch sensitive. You use them to move the cursor on-screen and left and right mouse buttons allow you to select menu options.

In short, the Lenovo IdeaPad U300S is a good ultraportable laptop, but doesn’t offer more than its direct competition on test here. Battery life is average, performance is mediocre, despite being thicker and heavier than any other Ultrabook, and the keyboard and trackpad are still awkward to use.

The matt screen will make this Ultrabook attractive for business buyers, but the lack of a VGA and Ethernet connection found on its Toshiba rival mean that many will inevitably overlook this laptop.

HP Envy 17 review and rating

HP Envy 17

A premium laptop with excellent design and performance

The Envy is HP’s high- performance range and is constantly improving, especially since the arrival of the Beats audio editions. With a 17.3-inch screen, the Envy 17 (£1,400 inc. VAT) is the big brother of the family and has the features and performance to prove it.

While the plain black lid of the Envy 17 doesn’t scream desirability, the inside more than makes up for it. A sleek, brushed-aluminium design stands out against a black isolation-style keyboard that bears an uncanny resemblance to something you might find on a MacBook. To the far right is a large circular button that calls up the Beats audio control panel for playback and recording options.

A handy button by the keyboard calls up the Beats audio panel,

for full control of your music and high-quality recording

capabilities

Typing on the keyboard was comfortable and easy, however we did notice an unnerving spot of flexing around the far left-hand side, above the slot-loading DVD drive (upgradable to Blu-ray). The keys themselves are backlit, and you’re also granted a full numeric keypad. The large, central touchpad has a slightly thicker coating that is responsive and comfortable to use. It features integrated mouse buttons built into the pad which will be a blessing for some and a curse for others.

Screen envy

The real reason you might consider the Envy 17 over its smaller relatives is the bright 17-3-inch LED-backlit screen. With a pixel resolution of 1,920 x l,080p, this is geared towards full high-definition content. You can also buy a more expensive 3D-capable Envy 17, but unless you’re a die-hard 3D fan, it isn’t worth the extra outlay. Viewing angles are impressive and the screen feels firm on its hinges.

LED-backlit screen - A screen with an LED (light- emitting diode) backlight has a more noticeable difference in contrast than traditional CCFL backlighting.

Matching the visuals provided by the screen is the audio output from the speakers. Alongside the larger speaker above the keyboard are smaller speakers either side of the front of the chassis for stereo sound. Regulated by the integrated Beats technology, the bass is much more noticeable and as a result, the sound is thicker and fuller. You are also given a fancy-looking equalizer to adjust the levels yourself to get the most out of your music. And, if you plan to record, you can take advantage of the noise and echo cancellation provided by Beats.

Unsurprisingly for HP’s premium model, the Envy 17 has some seriously powerful components, albeit not the best we’ve seen at this price point. The Sandy Bridge Intel Core i7 CPU is backed up with 8GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon HD 7690M XT dedicated GPU. There’s enough power here for anyone interested in high-end gaming, programming or editing. In fact, the HP 17 ships with Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 and Adobe Premier Elements 9 to get you started. And, thanks to the 1.5TB hard drive, you won’t be short of space to fill up.

There’s no doubt the Envy 17 is a luxury machine. And if you’re happy to spend £1,400 on a laptop then the Envy 17 is an excellent choice. This is very firmly an entertainment and creative machine though - if you want portability or a business-orientated laptop, look elsewhere. There are the smallest of side-niggles, such as the keyboard flex and the battery life, but we were still mightily impressed. This is certainly one of HP’s finest creations.

Dell Inspiron 15R | Good usability compensates for poor portability

Dell Inspiron 15R

Good usability compensates for poor portability

Dell has been on good form recently, releasing a wealth of great laptops. And, while the Inspiron 15R (£429 inc. VAT) has been around for six months now; it’s still a good choice thanks to the strong performance, usability and design.

If the Inspiron 15R has a flaw, it’s the lack of portability thanks to its rather chunky measurements and 2.7kg weight. You’ll be able to fit it into your laptop bag, but the extra weight is noticeable. Still, we feel that despite its proportions, the Inspiron 15R has a nice design.

It features Dell’s SWITCH interchangeable lids, meaning if you don’t like the pattern on the top of the machine you can buy a different one and simply switch it round. A neat idea, except for the fact that each lid retails for around £30 - far too much in our opinion.

The rest of the laptop chassis is a glossy black with a large touchpad and a comfortable isolation-style keyboard. Although the keyboard flexes during typing, the keys are well-sized with a decent amount of travel. A small touch is labelling the uppermost F-keys that double as shortcut functions in orange. This stands out against the black keyboard and makes altering volume or brightness a quick and easy experience.

Integrated graphics

If the Inspiron 15R's art-filled lid is a little too much for your tastes,

it's easy to replace with a gentler design - but at a price

The Inspiron 15R is built around a second-generation Intel Core i5 processor with 4GB of RAM. The lack of a dedicated graphics card isn’t a serious omission as the integrated Intel HD Graphics card can handle its fair share of image rendering. While Battlefield 3 is off-limits, you can certainly enjoy older games as well as watching movies or YouTube clips.

In fact, we’d recommend this machine if you plan to watch a lot of media, because the 15.6-inch Super-TFT coated screen is a highlight. It’s bright, crisp and clear and the panel boasts a good viewing angle. Text on the screen is easily readable, even if you’re not looking at it front on.

As we mentioned earlier, portability is a little dubious here and isn’t helped by the 154-minute battery life the Dell managed during our tests. Part of that is due to the brightness of the screen and the volume achievable through the speakers, but we would still have liked to see it last longer. If you’re planning to use your new laptop on the move, then you might want to look elsewhere.

That said, there are a healthy selection of features available on the Inspiron 15R that include an HDMI port for connecting to an external monitor or HDTV and an eSata port for transferring data to and from compatible hard drives at high speed. Something you might want to consider if you have a lot of data to store - although the 500GB internal hard drive is not to be sniffed at.

eSata - External SATA works in the same way as internal versions. It's a high-speed alternative to USB, especially for external hard drives.

Elsewhere you have two USB ports, a VGA and Ethernet port, 8-in-1 card reader and a DVD rewritable optical drive.

Overall, despite shortcomings such as the battery life and a slight lack of portability, we took a shine to the Inspiron 15R and feel it works well as a family laptop and media machine. Offering good value for money and the (expensive) option to customise the design, this is a worthwhile choice for anyone looking to pick up a new laptop.

Asus U46SV | Surprisingly bulky, but with impressive performance

Asus U46SV
Surprisingly bulky, but with impressive performance

As much as we loved the Asus U36JC (a powerful ultraportable reviewed in Issue 149), we can’t say the same for the U46SV (£699 inc. VAT). It may be the spiritual successor to the U36JC, but we were surprised by the chunky build and rather uninspired design.

The chassis is 38mm thick, which is rather bulky for a laptop this size. It also weighs a lot more than the U36JC at 2.3kg. The U46SV won’t exactly weigh you down, but we expected something a lot slimmer and lighter. Compared to the likes of the Sony Vaio S and Samsung 9003X, this is a boxy beast.

We also aren’t massive fans of the U46SV’s aluminium build, which feels strangely plasticky. The lid is especially weak, bending in the centre under light pressure, and looks rather low-rent, with a basic circular design. Still, we can’t complain when it comes to the keyboard. The popular isolation style design means keys are well spaced, which makes it perfect for touch-typists. The keys are a great size, with no tiny Shift or Return; even the arrows get plenty of space.

Isolation style - A popular keyboard design of late, isolation- style keyboards feature keys that protrude through individual holes cut in the laptop's chassis. This increases the space between each key, making them easier to access, while reducing the amount of dust and dirt that can settle beneath them.

For some reason Asus built this with a jutting lip at the rear, which prevents the lid from tilting back more than 45° from vertical. This makes it tricky to get a good view of the screen when sat on your lap. Thankfully, the display has decent viewing angles and is impressively bright, although images are occasionally washed-out.

The isolation-style keys mean this laptop is comfortable to type on,

and Asus hasn't skimped on the size of the Shift or Return keys

However, we still enjoyed watching high-definition movies and browsing our photo collection. Speaking of which, you can carry a large chunk of media around on the 500GB hard drive - more than 100 HD films, or 100,000 songs or photos. A 5-in-l memory card reader can be used to boost storage space, or quickly copy your holiday snaps onto your laptop.

Asus has also stuck an extra power button above the keyboard, for booting into its Express Gate OS. This gives you quick access to your media and the web, booting up in seconds. However, we aren’t massive fans of the stripped-down UI and limited functions and would rather wait the extra 20 seconds it takes to boot into Windows.

Strong performance

While we’re less than impressed by the overall design, we can’t deny this laptop is stuffed with power. One of Intel’s latest Core i5 Sandy Bridge chips is backed up by 4GB of memory, providing good enough performance to run any number of applications simultaneously. This sort of bulletproof spec should mean that most users won’t have to upgrade for years.

This laptop also caters to movie and music editors with its Nvidia GeForce GT 540M graphics card. You can run dedicated editing software without any kind of stuttering, and even have a blast on most modern games. If you’re more into watching movies than fiddling with them, you can enjoy HD video with impressively smooth playback.

Despite excellent performance and graphics, this laptop also boasts fantastic battery life. Most portables manage less than three hours on our tests before dying, but the U46SV lasted almost double that before the screen went black. It’s a shame the body isn’t slimmer and lighter, or this would be one of the most powerful portable laptops we’ve used in a long time.

Acer Aspire S3 A powerful portable marred by poor battery life

Acer Aspire S3

A powerful portable marred by poor battery life

The Acer Aspire S3 (£899 inc. VAT) is one of Acer’s dinkiest laptops yet, and the price is appealing considering the impressive specs list. With a thickness of 18mm at its widest point, the Aspire S3 may not be as ‘size zero’ slender as the Toshiba or Asus, but it’s certainly thin enough to slide into an oversized handbag. The lid is impressively slim - and also tough enough to take a pounding. There’s almost no flex in the centre either, so the display remains protected even when the laptop is bumping around in a bag.

The reduced chassis space means a compact keyboard, the nemesis of anyone with sausage fingers. Thankfully most keys are wellsized, and although the arrow keys are almost comically tiny, touch typing is still a breeze. The touchpad is also a decent size, but cursed with integrated mouse buttons. You need to push the left and right corners of the pad down to simulate mouse clicks. The cursor often skips across the screen when the corners are pushed, leading to incorrect menu selections - after a couple of hours, we came close to busting out the power tools and giving the Aspire S3 a few new air vents. Thankfully you can tap the touchpad’s surface for left mouse clicks instead.

The integrated mouse buttons in the Acer touchpad

makes the cursor run wildly round the screen when

you try to click

The 13.3-inch display is perfectly serviceable for both business and pleasure. It isn’t the brightest screen ever, but the 1,366 x 768-pixel resolution means images are sharp and HD movies look crisp. The glossy Super-TFT finish is reflective, however - a hindrance if you want to use the Aspire S3 outdoors. Regular travellers will prefer the Toshiba’s matt screen. Ports are standard for an Ultrabook, with an HDMI connector and two USB ports crammed onto the rear. If you have tons of files to lug around, you'll need to use one of the USB ports to hook up an external hard drive.

Despite the specs listing a 240GB solid state drive, the Acer only reported 200GB of storage. This fills up far too quickly, especially if you’re hoping to carry some tunes or movies with you, although at least it gives you super speedy and reliable access to your data. You also have an SD card reader for extra storage.

Small but powerful

The real selling point of the Aspire S3 is the set of components stuffed in its tiny gullet. The dual-core Intel Core i7 ULV processor, backed up by 4GB of memory, had no problem handling all kinds of software at once. Applications loaded quickly (helped in part by that speedy solid state drive) and ran smoothly. In fact, the Aspire S3 proved to be the most powerful Ultrabook we’ve reviewed, narrowly beating its Asus rival.

Intel Core i7 A range of dual and quad-core processors with up to four processing cores fitted on to a single chip. Delivering staggering levels of power and providing full support for 64-bit software, performance can be more than double that of dual-core chips, such as those from Intel's older Core 2 Duo range.

Graphical performance is also dependable. Although the GPU is integrated, it’s still capable of running multimedia software such as photo and video editing suites, without suffering from glitches or crashes. Unfortunately, the battery life was a lot less impressive. We ran HD video on loop and were disappointed when the Aspire S3 died after 181 minutes. Considering this is an Ultrabook, which is built for portability, the result is disappointing. If you’re often on the road, consider the Samsung or Asus instead.

Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook | A fantastic portable that could claim the Ultrabook crown

Dell XPS 13

A fantastic portable that could claim the Ultrabook crown

Anyone in any doubt that Ultrabooks are anything other than the spotlight device for 2012 will have to take stock after a slew of new machines were revealed at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. One of CES’ brightest lights was undoubtedly the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook (price TBA) which should hit the shelves by the end of March.
We couldn’t wait that long to get the lowdown on the Dell XPS 13, so we’ve nabbed a pre-production model for review. And, from the looks of things, we reckon it could rival the Asus Zenbook for the top Ultrabook title.
Like all Ultrabooks, the XPS 13 certainly turns heads. From the outside, it looks like a smaller version of the Dell XPS 15z and 14z which is no bad thing.
A curvaceous silver aluminium shell at a feather-weight 1.4kg means when you pick the XPS 13 up, it’s akin to holding a tablet. Conforming to the design restrictions laid out by Intel for the Ultrabook format, the XPS 13 measures 7mm at its thinnest point and 18mm at its thickest.
Once you lift the lid and peer inside, the craftsmanship of the device becomes apparent. Unlike the silver interiors of the Zenbook UX31 or the Acer Aspire S3, the XPS 13 is jet black and devoid of any stickers or markings. The
interior of the chassis is coated with a soft rubber surface that feels comfortably like the interior of an expensive sports car.
The exception to the rubber coating is the centrally-placed glass multi-gesture touchpad.
The touchpad features integrated mouse buttons, similar to the Aspire S3. While we feel that this doesn’t offer the best usability, we will concede that these buttons are aesthetically more appealing.
Similarly, the isolation-style keyboard is a joy to use. Because of the thinness of the chassis the keyboard here - like other Ultrabooks - has a very shallow travel. This isn’t much of an issue though, and the spacing of the keys is well proportioned - as is the slightly curving design of the keys themselves. Dell has also given the keyboard a backlight that works very well with the all-black interior.
Screen saver
We had to marvel at the screen on the Dell XPS 13 - even though we were told the pre-production model could face further tinkering to improve it. It wasn’t so much the colour of the picture, which admittedly had a faint paleness about it, but the engineering of the screen. There’s almost no bezel around the edge, which enables Dell to keep the size down, without compromising screen real-estate. Although the XPS 13 has a 13.3-inch screen, it feels like it’s staring at you from an 11-inch chassis. The 1366 x 768 pixel resolution here is pretty standard for an Ultrabook and will allow you to enjoy 720p high-definition videos on the move.
When you’re done admiring the outside of the XPS 13, you’ll find the interior components are just as pleasing. Our pre-production model came sporting a quad-core Intel Core i7-2637M CPU, which isn’t to be sniffed at, especially considering we might see this Ultrabook retail for around £899. The Sandy bridge chip runs with an integrated Intel graphics card with about 1.5GB given over to shared video memory.
In practice, performance is what you’d expect from Dell and Intel. You can comfortably multitask with several programs in Windows 7 and run graphical websites and programs, although games will be beyond this machine.
Another key feature is the 256GB SSD internal storage. Because an SSD has no internal moving parts, operating like a USB flash disk, it is faster, lighter and needs less power to operate. This is one of the most important features of an Ultrabook and helps the Dell XPS 13 reach a battery life of 177 minutes.
Slot machine
If you wanted to add more storage, or any other peripherals for that matter, you can take advantage of two USB slots either side of the chassis. One of which is the faster USB 3.0 format. Unfortunately that’s about it for expansion ports, the only other being a mini DisplayPort for hooking up an external display.
There is also built-in 802.11n wireless and Bluetooth of course, but if its connectivity you’re after, the best bet is still the Toshiba Satellite Z830.
But despite these relatively minor shortcomings, we can’t help but be
mightily impressed with the Dell XPS 13 and readily admit that it’s jaw-droppingly attractive. We feel the performance is also on a par with what we would expect from an Ultrabook and were glad to see that the battery life carried through admirably.
At time of going to press, we still hadn’t had a confirmed price for the Dell XPS 13, which will be a key factor for many people. What looks likely is both a Core i5 and Core i7 model being made available at different price points.
Either way, the XPS 13 is the most desirable Ultrabook we’ve seen and an excellent choice for anyone wanting a highly powered, highly portable machine. On the strength of this great machine,
2012 is undeniably the year of the Ultrabook.
While this wasn’t a final build, we will be fully benchmarking the Dell XPS 13 in a future issue, to find out how it stacks up against the rest of the Ultrabook market.

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