The already popular and loved Dell XPS is receiving a humongous upgrade thanks to Intel and co. Intel’s latest processors are making their way to laptops and the XPS is one of them. The laptop not only gets the new Intel processor but also gets the Nvidia 1050 Ti GPU to go with the new processor upgrade.
Intel’s new processors have taken the world by storm. The company had already broken the internet when they announced their Core i9 processor for Desktop PCs. However, the announcement of the i9 chip for laptops has taken it a step further. The new six-core chip is the first of its kind to ever be fitted inside a laptop and according to Intel, it will improve performance, gaming, video editing and much more significantly. Simply put, overall performance is going to sharply increase.
Then there’s the Dell XPS, the laptop that hardly got any bad reviews. It wowed the world with its beautiful design and infinity edge display. The laptop came in different versions which you could upgrade all the way up to a version which had a 4K screen. However, the Dell XPS 15 was never a “gaming laptop”. The new Intel chips are not necessarily made for just gamers either. The increased power that comes through the new Intel laptop chip can be used for many other things such as 4K video editing.
Since the new six-core processor is capable of a lot more compared to its predecessors, it will only add to the list of things the XPS can already do. Dell looks to slightly alter its new XPS 15 Form Factor by incorporating the new six-core H-series processor into it. Since there are different versions of Intel’s new processor in the form of i5, i7, and i9 processors combined with the fact that the Dell XPS also has different upgradeable versions, it makes sense to introduce the upgraded XPS with different versions too.
The base model of the upgraded Dell XPS 15 starts with the Core i5-8300H CPU but there’s also a Core i9 version available as well. You can play around with the options to get the right model for you, with the i9 being the most powerful version of the XPS you can get. The base model starts at $999 but a fully maxed out Dell XPS will get you the new Core i9 processor, along with Nvidia Geforce GTX 1050 Ti graphics, and a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD.
Although the Dell XPS isn’t popular for being a gaming laptop, the upgraded version which hosts the GTX 1050 Ti instead of the original 1050 along with a new processor can easily run the most demanding games. Therefore, it’s not a bad option if you’d like to game occasionally as well. It’s an all-rounder. Of course, it’s price will also be significantly higher for the fully scaled up version, but it’s worth it given everything else the laptop has to offer, gaming is a side bonus.
However, the only thing that remains to be seen is how Dell incorporates the new i9 processor. The new Coffee Lake H-series Intel processors are slightly thicker and heavier than other processors which may make it hard for the laptop to retain its slimness. However, it shouldn’t make that big of a difference physically, the biggest difference will come in the laptop’s performance.
The base model or lower-end models will get a 56 WHr battery whereas the maxed out version or the higher-end models of the laptop will get a 97 WHr battery. According to Dell, the laptop’s battery life is an astounding 21.5 hours which seems impossible for a machine that has a 4K screen. However, the XPS has performed well in the past, therefore, there’s no reason to doubt Dell now.
The only slight grievance with the laptop is the unchanged webcam placement as it still seems to be placed at the exact same position as the previous models despite criticism. However, it seems that Dell has increased the number of Thunderbolt ports which is always nice.
Pre-orders for the new Dell XPS 15 start in mid-April.