2022 Dell XPS 15 9520 3.5K OLED laptop review: Skip or buy?

Dell kicked off the decade with a bang by introducing the fully refreshed XPS 15 9500 to succeed the older generation XPS 15 7590 series. The model shifted the XPS 15 family from 16:9 to 16:10 alongside a brand new chassis design with Intel 10th gen Comet Lake-H CPUs and the GeForce GTX 1650 Ti GPU. The XPS 15 9510 took it a step further with 11th gen Tiger Lake-H CPUs and optional 3.5K OLED panels. Now, the XPS 15 9520 is yet another incremental update with 12th gen Alder Lake-H CPUs and faster DDR5 RAM.
We recommend checking out our existing review on the XPS 15 9500 as the XPS 15 9520 chassis remains identical. This review page will focus on the performance of the XPS 15 9520 and other differences users can expect when compared to previous models.
Alternatives to the Dell XPS 15 9520 include other high-end 15.6-inch multimedia laptops with discrete graphics like the the Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED, Lenovo Yoga Creator 7 15, HP Spectre x360 15, HP Envy 15, or the MSI Creator 15.
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Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
89.5 % | 05/2022 | Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti i7-12700H, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU | 1.9 kg | 18 mm | 15.60" | 3456x2160 | |
88.4 % | 08/2021 | Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU | 1.9 kg | 18 mm | 15.60" | 3456x2160 | |
85 % | 01/2020 | HP Spectre X360 15-5ZV31AV i7-10510U, GeForce MX250 | 2.1 kg | 19.3 mm | 15.60" | 3840x2160 | |
87.7 % | 05/2022 | Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q R9 5900HX, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU | 1.9 kg | 18 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
82.4 % | 02/2021 | MSI Stealth 15M A11SEK i7-1185G7, GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q | 1.7 kg | 16.15 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
93.2 % | 11/2021 | Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro M1 Pro, M1 Pro 16-Core GPU | 2.2 kg | 16.8 mm | 16.20" | 3456x2234 |
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Case
The XPS 15 9520 chassis is still one of the smallest designs in its size category despite being two years old. The very narrow bezels on all four sides including the chin help to reduce footprint by greater margins than say the Zenbook Pro 15 or Spectre x360 15.
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Size Comparison
SD Card Reader
SD Card Reader | |
average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED (AV Pro V60) | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
MSI Stealth 15M A11SEK (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 microSDXC 32GB) | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
HP Spectre X360 15-5ZV31AV (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 UHS-II) | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
MSI Stealth 15M A11SEK (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 microSDXC 32GB) | |
Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED (AV Pro V60) | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
HP Spectre X360 15-5ZV31AV (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 UHS-II) | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) |
Communication
An Intel AX211 comes standard for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. However, Dell has confirmed with us that the XPS 15 9520 was not designed to support 6 GHz Wi-Fi 6E networks despite the fact that the AX211 chip can. Thus, owners of the XPS 15 9520 will only be able to connect to 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks up to Wi-Fi 6.
Networking | |
iperf3 transmit AX12 | |
Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
MSI Stealth 15M A11SEK | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
iperf3 receive AX12 | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
MSI Stealth 15M A11SEK | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti |
Webcam
Dell has improved the colors of the webcam by separating the IR and RGB sensors when compared to the XPS 15 9510 or 9500. It remains just 1 MP, however, compared to 2 MP on other flagship 15.6-inch laptops like the Razer Blade 15. Thus, while colors may be a bit better, the picture is still muddy.

Maintenance
Accessories and Warranty
The retail box includes the USB-C AC adapter, paperwork, and a USB-C to full-size HDMI and USB-A adapter. The latter is particularly helpful as the system integrates only USB-C ports.
Display — Uncommon 3.5K OLED
Our review unit comes with the same 3.5K OLED touchscreen that was available on last year's XPS 15 9510 meaning that the visual experience hasn't changed year-over-year. A lower-resolution 1920 x 1200 IPS option and higher-resolution 3840 x 2400 IPS option are also available, but all panels are unfortunately limited to a 60 Hz refresh rate. Certain Ultrabooks like the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro or Asus Vivobook Pro 14 are already shipping with faster 90 Hz panels for a noticeably smoother UI experience.
Keep in mind that pulse-width modulation is present on all brightness at 238 Hz from 0 percent to 25 percent brightness and 59 Hz from 26 percent to 100 percent brightness. If screen flickering is an issue, then we recommend configuring with IPS instead.
|
Brightness Distribution: 95 %
Center on Battery: 381.4 cd/m²
Contrast: ∞:1 (Black: 0 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 4.34 | 0.55-29.43 Ø5.2
ΔE Greyscale 2 | 0.57-98 Ø5.4
86% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
99.9% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
97.8% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.13
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti Samsung 156XG01, OLED, 3456x2160, 15.60 | Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED SDC414D, OLED, 3456x2160, 15.60 | Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD Sharp LQ156R1, IPS, 3840x2400, 15.60 | HP Spectre X360 15-5ZV31AV AU Optronics AUO30EB, IPS, 3840x2160, 15.60 | Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q Samsung ATNA56YX03-0, OLED, 1920x1080, 15.60 | MSI Stealth 15M A11SEK Chi Mei N156HCE-EN1, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Display | 5% | 3% | -19% | -7% | -23% | |
Display P3 Coverage | 97.8 | 99.9 2% | 89.7 -8% | 68.3 -30% | 79.3 -19% | 62 -37% |
sRGB Coverage | 99.9 | 100 0% | 100 0% | 94.3 -6% | 95.6 -4% | 93.4 -7% |
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 86 | 98.1 14% | 99.8 16% | 68.4 -20% | 87.3 2% | 64.1 -25% |
Response Times | -45% | -2195% | -2468% | -10% | 12582% | |
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 1.9 ? | 3.6 ? -89% | 54 ? -2742% | 56.8 ? -2889% | 2.1 ? -11% | 47.6 ? -2405% |
Response Time Black / White * | 1.9 ? | 2.8 ? -47% | 33.2 ? -1647% | 40.8 ? -2047% | 2.3 ? -21% | 35.2 ? -1753% |
PWM Frequency | 59.52 ? | 59.5 ? 0% | 60.2 1% | 25000 ? 41903% | ||
Screen | 22% | 5% | -11% | 13% | -4% | |
Brightness middle | 381.4 | 362 -5% | 557.9 46% | 284.6 -25% | 342.9 -10% | 279 -27% |
Brightness | 384 | 367 -4% | 541 41% | 285 -26% | 346 -10% | 252 -34% |
Brightness Distribution | 95 | 97 2% | 91 -4% | 85 -11% | 98 3% | 82 -14% |
Black Level * | 0.06 | 0.39 | 0.25 | 0.32 | ||
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 4.34 | 2.1 52% | 4.54 -5% | 3.52 19% | 2.42 44% | 1.72 60% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 9.24 | 4.1 56% | 7.92 14% | 5.56 40% | 4.05 56% | 5.62 39% |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 2 | 1.4 30% | 3.2 -60% | 3.2 -60% | 2.1 -5% | 2.9 -45% |
Gamma | 2.13 103% | 2.18 101% | 1.99 111% | 2.28 96% | 2.21 100% | 2.3 96% |
CCT | 6210 105% | 6608 98% | 6451 101% | 7070 92% | 6364 102% | 6700 97% |
Contrast | 6033 | 1431 | 1138 | 872 | ||
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 2.5 | 3.82 | 3 | 1.39 | ||
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 89.5 | 61.1 | 59 | |||
Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 100 | 93.8 | 93.2 | |||
Total Average (Program / Settings) | -6% /
1% | -729% /
-395% | -833% /
-460% | -1% /
2% | 4185% /
3138% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
---|---|---|
1.9 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 1.1 ms rise | |
↘ 0.8 ms fall | ||
The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 3 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (22.3 ms). | ||
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
1.9 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 1.1 ms rise | |
↘ 0.8 ms fall | ||
The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.25 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 3 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (35.1 ms). |
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
Screen flickering / PWM detected | 59.52 Hz | ≤ 100 % brightness setting | |
The display backlight flickers at 59.52 Hz (Likely utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 100 % and below. There should be no flickering or PWM above this brightness setting. The frequency of 59.52 Hz is very low, so the flickering may cause eyestrain and headaches after extended use. In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 19046 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. |
Performance — Intel 12th Gen Options
Testing Conditions
Our unit was set to Performance mode via Windows and Ultra Performance mode via the My Dell application prior to running any benchmarks below for the highest possible scores. Note that My Dell has effectively replaced the older Dell Power Manager software. We recommend users become familiar with the new application as it is the one-stop shop for Dell updates and performance settings.
The 45 W TGP GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU has not changed from the previous XPS 15 9510. There is expectedly no MUX switch or adaptive sync since the XPS 15 is not designed for gaming.
Processor
The boost in CPU performance from the XPS 15 9510 to the 9520 is more significant than the boost in CPU performance from the XPS 9500 to the 9510. Jumping from the Core i7-11800H in the XPS 15 9510 to the Core i7-12700H in our 9520 will grant a 35 to 40 percent increase in multi-thread performance and a 15 to 20 percent increase in single-thread performance. The jump is enough to propel the 12th gen Intel CPU slightly ahead of the popular Ryzen 7 5800H that has infamously outperformed most 11th gen Intel Core-H series CPUs in multi-thread workloads.
CPU performance could have been better in spite of the aforementioned year-over-year increase. When compared to the 20+ other laptops we've tested thus far with the same Core i7-12700H CPU, the one in our XPS 15 9520 is slower than the average by about 5 to 15 percent. Running CineBench R15 xT in a loop shows that the CPU in the Dell isn't able to maintain high Turbo Boost clock rates for as long as most other laptops with the same processor. Models like the Asus TUF Gaming F15 FX507ZM can run the same CPU up to 36 percent faster than on our Dell.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.4: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
* ... smaller is better
AIDA64: FP32 Ray-Trace | FPU Julia | CPU SHA3 | CPU Queen | FPU SinJulia | FPU Mandel | CPU AES | CPU ZLib | FP64 Ray-Trace | CPU PhotoWorxx
Performance Rating | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED -9! |
AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (2585 - 17957, n=61) | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti |
AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (12439 - 90760, n=61) | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti |
AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (833 - 4242, n=61) | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti |
AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (57923 - 103202, n=61) | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD |
AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (3249 - 9939, n=61) | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti |
AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (7135 - 44760, n=61) | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti |
AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (31839 - 144360, n=61) | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD |
AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (305 - 1171, n=61) | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED |
AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (1437 - 9692, n=61) | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD |
AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (12863 - 52207, n=61) | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q |
System Performance
CrossMark: Overall | Productivity | Creativity | Responsiveness
CrossMark / Overall | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU (1654 - 1872, n=5) | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q |
CrossMark / Productivity | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU (1595 - 1792, n=5) | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q |
CrossMark / Creativity | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU (1699 - 1993, n=5) | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q |
CrossMark / Responsiveness | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU (1383 - 1768, n=5) | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q |
PCMark 10 Score | 7075 points | |
Help |
AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (25615 - 80511, n=61) | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD |
AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (25586 - 79442, n=61) | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD |
AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (23679 - 88660, n=61) | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD |
AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q | |
Average Intel Core i7-12700H (76.2 - 133.9, n=61) | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED |
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latency
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i7 4K UHD | |
Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
Dell XPS 15 9520 RTX 3050 Ti | |
MSI Stealth 15M A11SEK | |
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED UM535Q |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices — Supports Up To Two PCIe4 NVMe SSDs
Our test unit ships with a PCIe4 x4 Western Digital SN810 NVMe SSD as opposed to the PCIe3 x4 solutions on older models. Transfer rates are significantly faster as a result at up to ~6700 MB/s or over twice that of most PCIe3 drives. The SN810 in our unit would have no issues maintaining its maximum transfer rate for extended periods when stressed under DiskSpd to suggest excellent heat dissipation.
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance — GeForce RTX 3050 Ti For A Second Year In A Row
The XPS 15 9520 comes with faster RAM than on the XPS 15 9510 (DDR5-4800 vs. DDR4-3200) which should lead to slightly faster graphics performance. Unfortunately, Dell has downclocked the GPU clock rate from 1530 MHz on the XPS 15 9510 to 1035 MHz on the 9520 and so any potential performance gains from the faster RAM have been cancelled out. GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 3DMark results between the XPS 15 9510 and 9520 are nearly identical as a result.
Graphics performance remains around 20 to 30 percent faster than the GTX 1650 Ti on the older XPS 15 9500.
3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU | |
Corsair One i300 | |
MSI Vector GP66 12UGS |