The Dell XPS laptops offer some of the best Windows computers on the market, with a thin and lightweight design. The 13-inch model is a long-standing WIRED favorite (8/10, Wired Recommends), but the new 15 inch gets the same upgrade as its smaller sibling: an OLED display.
The Dell XPS 15 is one of the most popular 15-inch laptops thanks to its 3.5K OLED touchscreen. The latest Intel processors make it powerful and have a great trackpad. The battery life is the only problem.
XPS with OLED
Dell Photograph
The 2021 XPS 15 has the same 11th-generation Intel chip as the previous model. The new OLED screen is the big news. This is an optional feature. To get OLED, you will need to choose the Intel i7 chip with more power. The screen on the base model i5 is unchanged. This is a 1920x1200-pixel FHD+ display.
You can choose from the 4K UHD or 3.5K OLED screens if you select the i7-, i9-based XPS 15. It all depends on which screen you choose. The 4K screen has a higher resolution. The 4K model also has a slightly longer battery life. However, I am comparing the OLED model last year to this year's 4K model.
OLEDs are more expensive. The cheapest model is $2,100. The OLED was the 11th-generation Intel Core i7 with Nvidia RTX3050 Ti laptop GPU, 16 gigabytes RAM and a 512GB SSD. This configuration is available for purchase at $2,200. You can make it as high as $4,600 by choosing the i9 Chip. This will give you 64 gigabytes RAM and 8 terabytes SSD space. There are other options available.
The base mode with the Intel i5 chip works well for basic computing tasks, but I recommend the OLED screen with the faster chip and OLED screen if you have the budget. The screen is brilliant and the bezels are so thin that it has an immersive experience unlike any other 15-inch laptops. This machine makes editing photos and videos a joy. I even found myself taking photos to be processed in Darktable on my XPS 15.
Also, glossy OLED screens perform better in bright sunlight than FHD screens. This 400-nit screen was fine even in direct sunlight. Direct sunlight has one problem: the high-gloss finish picks up fingerprints very quickly. It won't matter if you keep it clean and free from sunlight and glare.
