Dell XPS 14z review
Specification
http://shahi384.blogspot.in/2012/07/dell-xps-14z.html
It is build from anodized aluminum and magnesium alloy body has a
sophisticated matte finish, the notebook's Elemental Silver chassis is both
durable and stylish and a slightly
larger display and a better keyboard than the macbook Air.
It comes with an Intel Core i7-2640M clocked at 2.8GHz (up
to 3.5GHz in Turbo Boost mode), and a generous 8GB of RAM. Also included was an
Nvidia GeForce GT 520M discrete GPU with 1GB of dedicated frame-buffer memory.
Dell supports Nvidia’s Optimus technology, which allows the integrated Intel HD Graphics to handle
all the mainstream graphics chores, with the GeForce GT 520M kicking in when
better 3D chops are necessary
Though the Nvidia GPU surpasses the
Intel HD Graphics in performance, you’ll still need to dial down the graphics
detail significantly if you want to run games in DirectX 10 or DirectX 11 mode.
The Nvidia GPU does make the XPS 14z quite a nice mobile machine for some games. 48 CUDA cores
with a 64-bit DDR3-1600 memory interface (12.8GB/s) is nothing to write home about,
and DX11 support is almost meaningless on low end hardware. However, NVIDIA
(and AMD) still have better graphics driver support than Intel, so it’s
something to consider.
The display offers fairly accurate
color rendition when showing photographs or video. The horizontal viewing angle
is better than average, but the vertical viewing angle is quite shallow. Video
playback quality is robust, with fairly light motion smearing. DVD playback upscale
to the full panel resolution appears just a touch soft, but lacks the
"mosquito noise" visible in some competing laptop screens. HD content
scaled down also looks very nice indeed.
The XPS 14z has the same native
resolution as most Windows laptops of 1366 x 768 pixels. Among the competitors
13-inch MacBook Pro offers much longer battery life than the XPS 14z and a
firmer keyboard. The HP Envy 14 boasts more robust Beats Audio along with
better gaming performance, but at the expense of endurance. After all, Sony now ships a 13.3-inch unit
with a 1600 X 900-pixel display, and MacBook Airs offer 1440 by 900 pixels.
Dell could have distinguished the XPS 14z's display from the pack by upping the
resolution a bit.
Audio playback quality is thumbs-up.
A pair of large speaker grilles on either side of the keyboard, with a
unique cross-hatched pattern (which is repeated on the bottom surface for
venting). But the Waves Maxx Audio
software processing that fills out the sound also makes vocals in music sound a
little artificial. Without Waves Maxx, volume levels are quite low--and even
with the processing software enabled volume levels never get particularly loud.
The keyboard is excellent. The keys
are sculpted, and feel quite good under the fingers. If you’re not a touch
typist, you'll appreciate the fact that the letters on the keys are in a large,
easy-to-read font, and that the keyboard itself has two backlight levels. The
touchpad is large and fully supports multitouch gestures.
Performance is a cut above average
for this category. At 5 hours, 29 minutes is decent endurance, and about
4 minutes shy of the 5:28 average. The HP Envy 14 (4:57) trailed the Dell, but
the Sony VAIO S (5:27) lasted a little bit longer. The 13-inch MacBook Pro
(8:33) and Gateway ID47 (7:08) lasted considerably longer. The XPS 14z lasts a good hour longer than
the average laptop in its class.
Networking includes Bluetooth 3.0,
plus 802.11n Wi-Fi and gigabit Ethernet. The XPS 14z falls short is ports: It
offers only two rear-mounted USB ports. One of the ports does support USB 3.0
(SuperSpeed), though. Also on the rear are a mini-DisplayPort connector, an
HDMI port, and an ethernet jack (plus, of course, the power plug). A pair of
audio jacks and an SD Card slot grace the left side; the SD Card slot supports
the latest SDXC high-capacity cards. On the right side are the DVD drive and
the battery-life indicator LEDs--but you won't find any additional USB ports
there.
Image was taken at 1280 x
1024p still and video with the 1.3-megapixel webcam in Dell Webcam Central.
Images were clear and bright with a high amount of detail.
Hence Dell XPS 14z is a good to feel
about laptop, weighing just 4 pounds, 7 ounces. With light weight, pretty good
display, and a wonderful keyboard. Every buddy would be happy with this machine
but at some instance of time you would ask of two more USB ports.
