SURPRISE OF THE MONTH
The Linux variant won’t be to everyone’s taste, but the XPS 13 continues to be the dominant ultraportable
To our shame, we haven’t paid much attention to Ubuntu Linux these past few years, but the Ubuntu-based Dell XPS 13 we review on p54 has reminded us just what a capable OS this – if you’re happy to tweak how you work.
ESCORE PRICE From £1,041 (£1,249 inc VAT) from dell.co.uk ver since Dell announced the new XPS 13 at CES, I’ve been pestering the company to supply a review unit. But they’ve been rarer than a BMW driver who indicates, which is why I jumped at the chance to review this – the all-new Dell XPS 13 9370, but with Ubuntu installed rather than Windows.
Best design in town
The XPS 13’s design should be tired after three years. But, while it isn’t going to win over MacBook Air fans – despite the arrival of an all-white version – it’s just as brilliant than ever. That’s because the things that make it so fabulous are timeless: the ultra-thin bezels on the left, right and top of the screen still give it the visual edge over rivals. Each generation, Dell shaves that little bit more from the bezel too: they’re now down from 5mm to 4mm, and that makes the screen look even more dazzling.
It helps that this is an excellent panel anyway. It still measures 13.3in, with Dell now focusing on a 1,920 x 1,080 16:9 resolution rather than the 4K screens we’ve seen previously (although these are still available). That’s fine by me: a 4K resolution drains the battery, and occasionally you get thrown into tiny dialog screens where you need fighter-pilotlike accuracy to hit the X in a window’s corner.
The non-touch IPS panel largely glided through our technical tests, with a peak brightness of 471cd/m2, 471cd/m2 , contrast ratio of 1,508:1, black level of 0.3109cd/m2 and a highly respectable 92.4% sRGB gamut coverage. Professional photographers will want to hook up a calibrated monitor, though, because an average Delta E of 2.19 is strong for a laptop screen but not enough to guarantee accuracy.
I’m a fan of the Dell XPS 13’s keyboard. Despite the laptop’s compact dimensions, you never feel like the key size has been sacrificed: everything is easy to hit, with the only compromises being the cramped area around the cursor keys (which also squeeze in PgUp and PgDn). The 1.3mm of key travel also means there’s just enough give in each key that you know they’ve been hit – some keyboards feel like you’re tapping on cardboard – and there’s a minimial amount of clicking to annoy fellow travellers or office dwellers.
Unlike Toshiba with the Tecra X40-E ( see p56), Dell doesn’t include a “nipple” in the middle of the keyboard, so you’re reliant on the touchpad below. That’s fine: it’s smooth and wide, so will work perfectly well with Windows gestures.
“A score of 15,812 in the multicore Geekbench 4 test hammers home just how fast the quad-core Core i7-8550U processor is”
Power on tap
Dell spoiled us by sending in the top-of-the-range XPS 13, sporting a Core i7-8550U processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. That’s a potent combination that I would expect to perform well in our benchmarks, but unfortunately there isn’t a way for us to run our own tests under Ubuntu.
We can, however, test in crossplatform benchmarks such as Geekbench, and a score of 15,812 in the multicore Geekbench 4 test hammers home just how fast this quad-core chip is. Support for Hyper-Threading, bringing the total number of threads to eight, can only help. The XPS 13 scored a slightly less impressive 3,282 in the single-core test, but all told this is a match for desktop PCs from a couple of years ago. While it may not crunch through video-editing tasks at the same rate as the new iMac Pro ( see p50), it will complete the job.
There’s only one area where it will always struggle, and that’s gaming. Intel’s internal graphics are getting better every year, and the Intel UHD 620 graphics typically return 60fps at 1080p (High settings) in Dirt Showdown. I couldn’t persuade the game to run at that resolution under Ubuntu, but
dropping down to 1,280 x 720 returned an average rate of 31fps.
Travel companion
The Dell XPS 13 has always excelled as a travel companion. It weighs a fraction over 1.2kg and, due in no small part to that 4mm bezel, it’s exceptionally compact. It will slip into a rucksack, overnight bag or briefcase with the minimum of fuss.
Even the power supply is tiny: about the size of a travel mouse, our calibrated scales returned a weight of 140g, although this jumps to 245g once you add the British plug and cable. The XPS 13 charges through one of the two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports on the left-hand side, where you’ll also find a handy battery indicator (press the button and up to five white LEDs light up).
There’s a USB-C 3.1 port on the right-hand side, plus a microSD slot and a 3.5mm jack, but notice that I don’t mention traditional USB ports. That can be a pain, which Dell acknowledges by bundling a USB-C to Type-A USB adapter. I suggest bunging this in your bag for use on the road, and seriously considering investing in a proper docking station for use in the home or office. Dell suggests its Thunderbolt Dock, but that’s a juicy £275.
The final travel consideration is, of course, battery life. Dell claims up to 19hrs 46mins if using Word or Excel, but our video-rundown tests - with the screen brightness reduced to 170cd/m2 - returned a more likely figure of 6hrs 31mins. Again, I’d like to test a Windows version of this laptop to see how it performed with better power-management options.
Ubuntu
Which brings me to Ubuntu. Now, I’m not an Ubuntu aficionado. I played around with the OS when it started to gain popularity a few years ago, but ultimately my addiction to Windows kept me loyal. Dell supplies the 16.04 LTS version, which means it lacks the latest features but promises to be both stable and well-supported: indeed, Dell explicitly promises five years of support and updates.
Ubuntu never tries to be Windows. From the moment you boot up the laptop for the first time and see the strip of icons against an unfamiliar purple background sitting on the left of the screen, you know you’re in unfamiliar territory. It hammers this home by asking you to supply a keychain the first time the desktop loads, which essentially means an admin password.
It’s installing software that causes the most bumps. While some is available direct from the Ubuntu Store, you’ll often need to get your fingers dirty by installing software using Terminal. Anyone with muscle memory from the days of DOS should be quite happy, especially if they’re used to programming in Python – summoning software using the sudo command is brilliantly simple – but buy this laptop for someone brought up on iOS and Windows and you’ll be inundated with calls.
What’s nice about Ubuntu is that you know you aren’t going to be nagged to pay extra for software. LibreOffice comes pre-supplied, there are no messages to say that your 90-day subscription to a big-name antivirus software is going to expire, and when you visit the Ubuntu Software the pre-selected highlights tend to be open-source, free or both.
I found myself working in Google Chrome by default, and admit that I started to question whether Windows is quite so necessary as I assumed. My biggest problem with the OS is sunk cost: I know how Windows works, can tame it to my will, while Ubuntu (and Linux as a whole) is an unfamiliar beast where I feel like a guest rather than homeowner.
And that’s how I’d summarise my Ubuntu experience. A welcome break from the Windows lock-in, but I have Stockholm syndrome. Even though you can save £50 by choosing Ubuntu rather than Windows 10, I’d stick with the safe and familiar if spending this much on a laptop.
Buying decision
I’ve been waiting three years for rival manufacturers to catch up with the Dell XPS 13 design, and there have been plenty of sleek ultraportables in that time. But, barring the placement of the webcam below the screen rather than above it, the mix of ultra-slim bezels and practical design keeps it ahead. That’s despite designs such as the Huawei MateBook X Pro ( see p57) undoubtedly winning for style. It helps that Dell is a familiar and proven laptop brand: while Dell has its critics, and the XPS 13 has suffered from BIOS glitches in the past, you know exactly what you’re going to get. Dell also executes the staples brilliantly: the keyboard, touchpad and screen are a joy to use day to day. The XPS 13 isn’t cheap, starting at £1,249 inc VAT for the base version with a Core i5-8250U, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, but that’s a competitive price for a 13.3in ultraportable. The specification I tested – Core i7-8550U, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD – costs £1,549 with Windows and £1,499 with Ubuntu. And it’s always worth haggling with Dell and looking for offers: when I initiated a chat with a sales assistant to find a link for my Ubuntu-running XPS 13 ( pcpro.link/284linux), he uttered the tempting line, “if you are ready to order I will be happy to help you with best deal possible”.
Much to the salesperson’s chagrin, I’m still happy with my Microsoft Surface Book 2. But if you’re looking for an ultraportable that can double as a main PC, you should place the XPS 13 right at the top of your list. SPECIFICATIONS Quad-core 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8550U processor Intel UHD Graphics 620 1,920 x 1,080 IPS display 512GB PCIe SSD 16GB 2,133MHz LPDDR3 RAM 2x2 MIMO 802.11ac Wi-Fi Bluetooth 4.1 2 x Thunderbolt 3 USB-C 3.1 microSDXC slot Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 343 x 251 x 23mm (WDH) 1.2kg 1yr on-site warranty