great review. it's actually because of your review that I bought my 2013 xps 15 9530 edition. it's been two years, and it is still an amazing laptop. I got mine for $800 on eBay buying a factory refurbished model (with confirmed dell warranty). awesome understated product
We're waiting the 1080p model review of the Dell Xps 15, I prefer mat screen it's so relaxing for the eye and has more natural type toned colors (not so saturated) thanks for this great review.
These are buyer guides not reviews!(I mean that in a good way) You're reviews have lead me to making some great purchases! One of which was the HP Spectre x360. I love this laptop and may not have bought it if I hadn't seen your review. I watch them just because I can learn so much more from them than from a standard reviews.
Thank you Lisa for the heads-up on the lack of 4k support on external monitors. I had not considered that. I run an XPS-13 driving a Dell-branded 4k display at 60hz. It had not remotely occurred to me that the newer, XPS-15 would be less capable.
Been watching a number of your videos lately as i explored the surface pro 4, and have been looking at other options. I just really appreciate the objective detail you put in. it's well done.
Dell XPS 15 9550 still kickin in 2024 since purchase in 2015! How has it almost been a decade? This thing 100% has rivaled any Macbook Pro's I've owned over the years. Sad that Dell recently hasn't been great with the line-up as of recent.
Great to hear. I just bought the top end 9550 used on eBay for my step mom as a solid internet/light database machine for her for $350. I'm very excited for her to get it and see how she likes it!
Great review as always. You consistently manage to provide a comprehensive overview while at the same time delivering a straight down the middle assessment of all those features and parameters that rely on subjective and personal preferences. The technical specifications and the non-technical aspects provide the listener with a very good perspective. Appreciative in Plano.
Thanks Lisa, good as always!. ordered mine last week: i7, 8GB, 256pcie, FHD, 56w batt with the extra 18000mAh battery for $90. Look forward to your 1080p review too.
+Dolty Pley Because it does not have enough space for a separate number keypad. Even though this is a 15" laptop the body size is smaller than all the other 15" laptops.
Lisa, I hope you do a smack down between this XPS and the Apple MacBook Pro 15" with comparable setup. I realize Apple has not done a refresh yet on there 15" MacBook Pro though
+Steven Kornreich Yeah, the XPS 15 will slaughter the 15" Retina MacBook Pro on hardware until Apple refreshes the Mac. It wouldn't even be much of a smackdown right now-- no contest.
+Connor Mackenzie they only added force touch. i'm assuming this generation is the last generation before a redesign. i'm betting Apple is going to push for USB type Cs only on the next model, so they can make the laptop look super thin. ofc they'll sell a bunch of adapters for everything, at least until the standard gets wholly adopted.
Very detailed review. I been waiting for your review of this machine and the day finally came. Thanks. This surely will be my next laptop. Though am a business man who travels a lot and currently use the Latitude E7250 with 1080p display, it wouldn't hurt if I go for this and at my spare time play some game. And the 4k infinity display is future proof upgrade.
I just bought mine yesterday as a xmas gift for myself. I cannot wait for it to arrive. I wish the shipping delays weren't so extensive. Either way very happy to own this.
Great job! Really looking forward to your review of the Dell Precision 5510. It will be a moot point, because I ordered it today, but you do such a great job with these that I'll listen as soon as I see it's available.
I love this new 9550 model of the XPS. I got the 4K touchscreen and the 1 TB SSD hard drive. It is amazingly quiet. The palm rest is smoother than the previous model. I am not an Apple girl, and I've always had good luck with Dell. I have a feeling this 9550 will serve me very well. Thank you, Lisa, for your review, and for the heads up on the Intel driver update.
What an amazing laptop! I just got one and I would recommend it to anyone! The 4k UHD infinity edge screen was the main selling point for me and it sure does have the wow factor! I am not a gamer, I will be using mine for graphic design and animation but If you are intending to use your laptop purely for gaming, then maybe you might consider some of the other gamer laptops on the market. This XPS would still be a great choice though, plus the build quality by Dell is bang on. I want to clear up a couple of things I heard in previous reviews when I was trying to choose a laptop. The XPS keyboard in my opinion is really nice to use. Yes it has short key travel but that's really not a problem. I personally was expecting the keyboard to be really small being the size of a 14" laptop, with the keys being really close together but they're not. The keyboard is a joy to use and the back-lit keyboard looks stunning! Along side the carbon fibre palm rest, the aluminium shell, the 4K infinity edge screen and the tapered 11-17mm thickness of the laptop. This laptop is sleek and stylish, which in my opinion, you don't find in gamer laptops. I have also not had any driver problems and everything seems to be working as it should. I think when the XPS was first released there were a couple of issues but as far as I am aware, Dell has rectified these problems.
When I was looking into buying mine, I briefly looked into the 2 in 1 laptops like the Surface Book and Zenbook etc but found they are really expensive if you want similar specs to the XPS, but the good thing is they are portable. What about getting a Wacom pen tablet separately? Wacoms pen tablets are definaitely at the top of their game. The money it would cost to buy a Surface Book with similar specs to the Dell, you could buy the Dell AND a Wacom tablet. It all depends on your personal requirements really, you might need to weigh up what you need most from your laptop, whether its portability or high specs. Hope this helps! :)
The Artful Rogers Thanks for the reply and advice. I've only used Dell Workstations until now and will be keeping the previous generation (upgrades). I will be sure to look into those Wacom Tablets. A pen, Scrivener, light photo coloring, is all I need from a portable machine... The Pen would be the only deal breaker, since I have other machines for other stuff and a 15" MacBook Pro Retina which serves all my other needs. I never gamed, nor will ever game on a laptop/notebook. Again, thanks for your suggestions and all your help... Those tablets look like they will be ideal for the job I need them to do. Cheers.
Lisa you're the best! Thank you for all of your wonderful and in-depth reviews. Everyone I know at my grad school who's in to electronics watches your vids. :) Amazing dedication and work!
This is such a lovely notebook to use, fast and the screen is a thing of beauty. My only complaint is the battery life , I manage maybe 2-3 hours just on the web/email/youtube.
For folks concerned about security, these awesome little machines (contrary to what a Dell salesperson told me) actually do have a TPM factory installed (1.2). If you're using Bitlocker, though, keep a hold of that recovery key because flashing the BIOS will apparently reset it and Bitlocker will need the recovery key to continue.
This is my favorite laptop for 2015, puts a 15.6" display on a 14" laptop, you also get QuadCore 40W Skylake CPU, 16GB DDR4, 1TB SSD and best of all is the Nvidia GeForce 960M. With Nvidia GeForce 960M you can play most games at High or Ultra settings at 1080p and get more than 30fps.
My XPS 15 2015 is bigger and heavier, but I'll take it any day over this new, gorgeous model. No DisplayPort is a big problem, and so is the single USB 3 port. Mine has 4 USB ports and I use them all more often than I thought I would. The inclusion of a USB C 3.1 is commendable, but we'll probably have to wait a year or two for it to be widespread.For those neither needing DisplayPort nor lots of USB 3 ports, this XPS 15 is probably one of the best 15 inch laptop on the market, and if the quality equals that of my model, it is outstanding.I have the 3200x1800 display, the '4K' of its time. It too cost about 500 $, which is a super pricey option. There is no denying the screen is absolutely stunning. But I would advise people considering this new XPS 15 to really think if they really want the 4K option.If you spend most of your time on the go, then please do your eyes a favor and purchase the 4K version.If you work quite often on your own desk though, I would advise purchasing the Full HD version, and purchasing a nice 27" 4K display with those 500 $. Btw,even if Windows 10 display scaling still isn't perfect, and applications aren't always updated to take into account high dpi screen, it works quite well with simple scaling, such as 4K/Full HD or 1600x900 / 3200x1800.
Love your reviews. I love watching full in-depth tech reviews, which yours always are...Thank you :) Can you do a Dell XPS 15 9550 vs. ASUS Zenbook UX501, please? I recently got the Zenbook. I think reviews should stick with comparisons between direct competition, which the UX501 is with XPS 15 (and not the Surface Book, etc.)
A current bug affecting the XPS 15 is the processor clocking down when unplugged and not returning to normal operation when plugged back in. There are 3 workarounds but one should not have to reboot, etc to return to normal operation. Dell is aware of the bug and "claims" a fix is in the works. I own this laptop and verified the bug. This should have been caught before being released to the public. It also suffered plenty of lockups several times a day. After updating drivers and Windows 10, the lockups have been reduced to an average of once a day.
I currently have the 2014 model (top spec). It has been an ok workhorse, but there have been various issues. This newer model seems to iron those out. It seems a bit more refined. Good job Dell.
Great review Lisa! So the scaling at 200% is still as sharp as the recommended 250%? I did not even try that. I agree looking a a white web page at night blows my eyeballs! I have to have it on 25% at night even plugged in.
Thanks for the review. I really want the FHD non-touchscreen version with i7 and bigger battery. HOWEVER, this model is not available in Europe. in fact, our customization options are very limited compares to the US. That's why I created a petition to show Dell that there is a demand for more options here in Europe. If you feel the same, consider signing it here: www.change.org/p/dell-dell-xps-give-us-more-customization-options-in-europe
I'm almost glad this XPS has those limitations - no DP or at least hdmi 2 port, OK rather than good keyboard, and that the dock station isn't yet available. Stops me jumping for this quite so easily. I'd appreciate reviews of the recent skylake workstations at some point - the new Dell Precisions (5000 & 7000 15inch) and the new HP zbooks. This XPS could be the cheap alternative that does 90% of the job.
+D Mentia From what i gathered in her video review, you can do it yourself later. The problem seems like the RAM required is just coming to market and is hard to get (and probably pricy) right now.
I've watched this review a few times. I have been going back and forth between the XPS 15 and the newest MSI GS60 (1080P) Skylake. This is mainly because I will be leaving consoles at home going off to school. But I do want something to game on. Is it possible that these two or even the 4K GS60 would be in a future smackdown. Thanks for the great reviews, this is my go to review channel.
Thank you, Lisa! Awesome review as always. Helped me make up my mind about my purchase. Will wait for the Surface Book smackdown, but feel like the screen size and GPU make XPS 15 the one I'll go for ^__^
Thats very vivid review....Seems very compelling buy..But what you suggest ASUS UX501 or DELL XPS 15..Arguably DELL has skylake but ASUS is 1500$...So whats your take..Please suggest me...!!!! I am an IT guy so color accuracy is not the deciding criteria though...Rest sinks downs to what you suggest!!!!! Thank You..
Hi Lisa, in your review you mentioned that the F1,F2, etc function keys default to the Dell laptop shortcuts, like screen brightness, volume, etc. To use the F1,F2, etc buttons however you need to use the Fn key to make those work. Some games I play actually use those keys for actions. Is there a toggle or override option to allow the default to change to the F1,F2 keys?
Lisa, your review is very informative and professional as always. I was waiting for BF and CM laptops, but your review convinced me to buy this laptop. Do you know if these will ever go on sale? I've noticed that Dell XPS lineups do not usually go on sale! Thus, if I have a particular configuration that I want (i7, 84Whr, non-touch FHD), should I wait for a discount in the future or buy now? I have a netbook, which is light years behind the current generation of laptops, but I can wait for a couple of months if there is going to be a significant discount. Thank you very much in advance!
There is a little mistake, not all the SSD configurations mount the 84 Whr battery. I want to buy the 1399$ model that mount the 256Gb SSD but is coming only with the 56 Whr battery, so there is a huge empty space instead of the HDD. It's crazy that to have the bigger battery I have to spend 1699$, I don't need 16Gb of ram neither 512Gb SSD.
+Alessio Battaglioli I have bought the same model as you mentioned. I am planning on adding another hdd for now and maybe in the future, upgrade the 56 Whr battery to the 84 Whr when it's available to purchase.
Thanks Lisa. Considering the colors are really extreme on this model, for professional photography, what would you rate as the best windows laptop for photoediting then. Many thanks for your videos. I would rate you as one of the best reviewers I've ever come across on the net with the way you rate, offer specs and experience. ;)
+shameer aboobacker Again, if all you're going to be doing is accounting, you should not be looking at this laptop. This is for people who are looking to do heavy lifting like AutoCAD, tons of programming and gaming etc. The cheaper inspiron series should be more than enough. (And they have numpads) Though I do agree with you that they should have included the num pad.
+shameer aboobacker Just an idea, but if you really use a number pad a lot, you can get an wireless or usb external numberpad for under $20. www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=number+pad
Nice review. Are you running Windows 10? I was not a fan of 8 and appreciate the traditional layout for my laptops. Performance wise, seems like the updated Yoga 900 and the XPS do very well. Does it seem faster than Spectre? Thanks again.
I must admit i really like your review videos. Meanwhile, i miss a good review of the XPS 13 Developer Edition (watched the XPS 13 review), the Ubuntu version. But I am guessing you are sticking to windows/mac? Well, just throwing it out there, I'd really enjoy a review of the Ubuntu configured Dev edition.
Hi Lisa, I love your reviews. You are the best laptop reviewer. Are you going to review the Samsung ativ book pro with skylake processor and 4k display?
