The Dell XPS 15 7590 Core i5 is quieter, brighter, and almost two times longer-lasting than the XPS 15 7590 Core i9

There's usually more than just a performance difference between the least and most expensive configurations of any given laptop model. The Dell XPS 15 7590 is an extreme case of this concept because of its plethora of configurable options ranging from IPS to OLED, Core i5 to unlocked Core i9, and integrated graphics to discrete Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics. As a result, expect to pay anywhere from just $1000 to almost $3000 for the XPS 15 (buy now at Amazon).

We recently had the chance to check out both the least and most expensive SKUs of the XPS 15 7590 in order to record the differences between them outside of just raw performance. Our results show that the $1000 Core i5 configuration is 40 percent brighter (588 nits vs 421 nits), 80 percent longer-lasting (844 minutes vs. 467 minutes), 40 percent more power efficient under medium loads (62 W vs. 104 W), and an order of magnitude quieter under medium loads (32.4 dB(A) vs. 43.8 dB(A)) when compared to the high-end Core i9 OLED configuration. The gap between these SKUs are so wide that they feel like two completely different laptops in practice.

If you're just looking for an Ultrabook for browsing, word processing, or video streaming, then there's no question that the Core i9 SKU would be overkill. See our dedicated reviews on the XPS 15 7590 Core i5 IPS and XPS 15 7590 Core i9 OLED for more comparisons and details on each.