Review Dell XPS 11-9P33 Convertible

The XPS moniker marks Dell's high-end laptop. Of course, these standards do not just apply to its innards, but also the case. Our test device is no exception, shipping with a true high-end chassis, which is mainly made from aluminum and carbon. Its materials and its design copy many elements from its XPS siblings, among them a 13- and a 15-inch device. The subtle yet timeless and elegant look underlines its premium aspirations. The only slight disadvantage that we found: The silicone-clad palm rest attracts dirt and fingerprints like nothing else.

Thanks to the light and sturdy materials being used, Dell was able to decrease both the weight and the dimensions of the XPS 11 greatly. Just 1.13 kilograms (~2.5 pounds) and up to 15 millimeters (~0.6 inches) in height makes the XPS 11 even slimmer than typical 13-inch ultrabooks (although a slimmer display frame - instead of the 2 centimeters (~0.8 inches) it has now - might have helped greatly in making the device even more compact).

Despite its slim, lightweight construction, the laptop is extremely pressure- and torsion-resistant. This even holds true to a certain degree for the display, which measures just 3 millimeters thick (~0.1 inches). Similar to that of the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S, the display can be rotated by up to 360 degrees - turning the Dell XPS 11 into a tablet by pushing the display down onto the base unit. Naturally, everything in between laptop mode and tablet mode is possible as well, yielding e.g. the tent mode which is supposed to make the touchscreen (which comes with Gorilla Glass) more comfortable to use. Again, we have to nag a little bit, as the hinges do tend to wobble a bit when applying pressure to the touchscreen.

Apart from this, the chassis feels almost perfect. It does of course help that the build quality is great, with basically no uneven clearances or sharp edges being noticeable on our test device.

In contrast to most other tablets and convertibles, the innards of the XPS 11 are not completely sealed off. Loosening 10 Torx (T5) screws as well as one ordinary Phillips-tip screw beneath the tiltable XPS logo (details can be found in the Service Manual) allows the user to take off the large maintenance panel. The battery, the Wi-Fi module, the mSATA SSD and the fan are accessible (some require the removal of a few screws) and user-replaceable. The RAM module, however, has been soldered to the motherboard. No upgrades are possible here.

Warranty

As is almost always the case with Dell, the XPS 11 ships with just a meager amount, 12 months, of warranty, but this does at least include pickup-and-return service and telephone support. For 100, 176 or 328 Euros (~$135, $238 or $444), this manufacturer warranty can be expanded to 2, 3 or 4 years, respectively. However, such upgrades are a lot less expensive with most of Dell's competitors.

One of the true highlights of the XPS 11 is its 11.6-inch WQHD display, which comes with 2560x1440 pixels and thus a superb pixel density of 253 ppi. Even the much-appreciated Retina display of the MacBook Pro 13 (13.3 inches, 2560x1600 pixels) reaches no more than 227 ppi while the direct competitor, the IdeaPad Yoga 11S (11.6 inches, 1366x768 pixels) only yields 135 ppi.

The most crucial question now is whether such an impressive resolution, which has more or less only been known from some high-end ARM tablets, is really necessary in a Windows convertible. Of course, fonts and symbols look sharper than on most every competitor, but even Windows 8.1 still exhibits some scaling issues, especially concerning older legacy software, which do not work well with changed ppi settings, cutting off texts, distorting elements and so on. Still, these (rather rare) issues are not of Dell's doing, and they occur in other high-resolution Windows 8 laptops as well.

The LED backlight of the XPS gets noticeably bright, with up to 385 cd/m², on par or better than its competitors, the Yoga 11S (335 cd/m²) and the Aspire P3 (387 cd/m²). In the lower left corner, only 339 cd/m² are measured, but this dark spot is not noticeable during actual usage. Great: The maximum brightness does not diminish while the laptop is running on battery, at least if the ambient light sensor has been deactivated in the energy-saving settings menu.

Despite its glossy surface, the XPS 11 is rather well suited for outdoor usage, mainly thanks to its strong backlighting which is usually more than capable of overcoming the resulting reflections in most situations - the only exception being direct sunlight, where only a matte display would help (which is rather uncommon for touchscreens).

Similar to an IPS panel, the IGZO display offers rather stable viewing angles. The contrast ratio does decrease a bit (as does color saturation) when looking at the screen from an angle, but the issue is not as noticeable as it would be with a much cheaper TN panel. Viewing angle stability is especially important for tablets and hybrid laptops, as the holding angle tends to change a lot.

The slim, compact chassis of the XPS 11 likely would not be able to handle the heat produced by a standard 15-Watt CPU (such as the Core i5-4200U) which is why Dell has opted for an even more power-efficient Y-series CPU instead, the Core i5-4210Y which comes with a TDP of just 11.5 Watts. Unfortunately, this leads to a rather low clock speed of 1.5 to 1.9 GHz (with maximum Turbo Boost). The feature set, however, remains on par with its non-Y-series siblings, including technologies such as Hyperthreading, AES-NI and AVX(2). As always, additional details can be found in our CPU database.

An Intel HD Graphics 4200 GPU has been integrated directly into the CPU. Although it is technically the same as the HD Graphics 4400 used in the 15-Watt models (GT2 extension, 20 execution units), the clock speed is noticeably lower again at 200 to 850 MHz, yielding a somewhat reduced performance.

Dell is a bit tight in terms of RAM: The XPS 12 cannot be had with more than 4 GB, but at least the DDR3L-RS-1600 RAM module (soldered to the mainboard) works very efficiently due to its decreased voltage and its dual-channel mode. The 256 GB SSD being employed in our test device should be more than enough for most users. For 80 Euros (~$108) less, the XPS 12 can be had with 128 GB instead.

Although the Core i5-4210Y CPU sports rather lowly CPU clock speeds, it is incapable of reaching its full Turbo Boost speed. Single threading benchmarks such as those of Cinebench R11.5 are handled with a rather stable value of 1.8 to 1.9 GHz, but multithreading leads to a reduction to 1.6 GHz and then quickly to 1.4 GHz (in extreme cases, such as with Prime95 running even at 1.3 GHz), less than the base clock speed of 1.5 GHz.

This is unlikely to be an issue of the XPS 11 as most other Haswell-Y-based laptops exhibit similar issues. It might actually be possible that this throttling happens on purpose in order to increase battery life and reduce heat emissions, as Intel claims an SDP of just 6 Watts (the typical power consumption) for the Core i5-4210Y, just half the TDP of 11.5 Watts.

In the end, performance is noticeably worse than that of 15-Watt variants, with e.g. the popular Core i5-4200U being faster by 40 to 50 percent, depending on the application.

Due to the slim chassis, the XPS 11 employs a compact mSATA SSD instead of a 2.5-inch drive. The merits of the Samsung SSD PM841 are already well-known from competitors such as the Sony Vaio Tap 11: High sequential data transfer rates (the 128 GB variant may be a bit slower) as well as great 4K results turn the PM841 into a highly capable SSD. In addition, recent Samsung SSDs have a reputation of being extremely reliable.

Due to the weak 3D performance, the XPS 11 is not a great gaming rig. Even when everything is set to minimum, with a resolution of 1024x768, more than 30 fps - a value crucial for a smooth gaming experience – are barely ever reached in modern games, the only exceptions being Anno 2070 and Diablo 3, which are at least somewhat playable (although not pretty). A typical ultrabook with an HD 4400 GPU yields approximately twice the graphics performance.

Luckily, the silent operation does not lead to hot surfaces. We measure between 28 and 32 degrees Celsius (82.4 and 89.6 Fahrenheit) locally, and up to slightly more than 40 degrees (104 Fahrenheit) in a small area right above the keyboard. This should hardly be an issue for most users. The XPS 11 can easily be used on the lap (or as a tablet in one's hands) even for prolonged stretches of time.

As we have already written, the CPU tends to exhibit severe throttling, even before reaching its designated TDP, and even though its temperatures of around 65 degrees (149 Fahrenheit) are not yet critical. In our stress test, the CPU clock speed decreases to 600 MHz, with a GPU clock speed of a slightly less disappointing 400 MHz. At the same time, the power consumption of the chip levels off at around 7.5 Watts, 4 Watts less than the official TDP. Interestingly, the correct value of 11.5 Watts seems to have been implemented in the BIOS according to Intel's XTU tool.

Dell's XPS 11-9P33 proves to be an astonishingly versatile convertible, expertly combining the advantages of a laptop with a tablet. The basic idea of its hinge (360 degrees) is not new, though, as other competitors such as Lenovo have been offering similar convertibles for quite some time now. Still, the XPS comes with premium materials and superb build quality, well worthy of its status as one of Dell's flagship devices.

The innards are well chosen, too. Such a sharp and bright display with such great viewing angles can barely be found anywhere else. Photos and movies profit a lot from the extra pixels, while games may not be quite as well suited - the HD-4200 GPU is simply not powerful enough. Apart from this, there is no reason to complain about the performance of the XPS, offering enough reserves for all typical office and web usage scenarios. Thanks to the power-efficient CPU, the rather smallish 40-Wh battery is already large enough to yield decent battery life, maybe even enough for an entire day in the office.

Unfortunately, some major drawbacks do exist, especially concerning the backlit touch keyboard. While it is certainly innovative, the lack of physical feedback will have negative ramifications in terms of typing speed and error rates, especially for inexperienced typists. The XPS 11 might have been a little bit heavier and thicker had it used a traditional keyboard - the customers will decide whether Dell has made the right call here. The same holds true when it comes to the rather high price point of slightly more than 1000 Euros (~$1353), which only gets worse when shipping fees and a warranty extension beyond the usual meager 12 months Dell offers are taken into account. Both the Lenovo Yoga 11S and the Acer Aspire P3-171 may be a suitable (and noticeably cheaper) alternative.