The Dell XPS 15 is usually the PC compared to MacBook Pro 15” and for good reason — it’s attractive, small and light, full-featured, and powerful. Yeah, it’s cheaper and faster, which is good, but a few downsides might leave some users wanting. On the other hand, Apple’s missteps adding the superfluous Touch Bar and downgrading a great keyboard makes the Surface Book 2 perhaps a greater competitor to the Dell XPS.

The higher end Dell XPS 15 is due for an upgrade when 8th generation Intel 6-core chips are available, but bigger CPU and chipset changes are coming later, so a radical redesign is unlikely at this point. Numerous hardware and OS bugs plagued PCs with Windows 10, so quality testing is important — not that OS issues like sleep dimming, headphone plugs, and battery auto-brightness can be improved to the user friendly level of ease as on a Macintosh. Things like Dell keyboard backlight and antiglare screen coating could be improved without hardware redesign though.

The XPS 15 undoubtedly renders faster than a comparably equipped MacBook Pro. For me, it was 150-400% faster in Premiere, probably because of Nvidia CUDA on the XPS and certain bum effects in OpenCL on the Mac. But of course, ease of use is important while you’re actually there using the machine, which is why Apple makes their laptop lids open easily, why they optimize startup and waking-from-sleep time, use industry-leading fast SSDs, and provide consistently good audio and video experiences out of the box, all backed up by the peace of mind provided by quality control and great customer service.

Below are brief observations comparing the Dell and Apple approaches in features and performance, followed by a good video on time-consuming issues with a certain Dell XPS 15 machine, as well as videos reviews by leading reviewers for additional background in case you missed them.



Display

– Dell’s 4k “infinity” screen is quite lovely, with DCI P3 (like the Mac) and 100% AdobeRGB software settings, though some reviewers (see Lisa Gade) were at one point concerned about a hot white-point and careful recommended hardware calibration.

– The Mac screen height is better for After Effects and NLEs like Premiere, allowing users to see more layers or tracks.



Performance

– The Dell SSD is no slouch, but Apple SSDs seem about twice as fast, which is not surprising since they lead the industry. There’s a difference in app startup speeds, noticed especially in launching a render to Adobe Media Encoder from Premiere Pro.

– Dell has the advantage of better GPUs using CUDA, which does make a difference in hardware acceleration of some effects In Premiere Pro. Both Apple and Dell could leverage new Intel Core with AMD Vega hardware in upcoming models. And Adobe could enable Intel Quick Sync if they were interested in improving render speed on Windows and Mac machines! See Max Yuryev for a 2017 Mac NLE render comparison.

– Apple RAM limit is 16 GB; Dell XPS 15 RAM is user-upgradeable to 32 GB.



Design

– Dell’s design is mature, compact, lightweight, and sturdy though not as beautiful Apple. Razor copied Apple’s in machine design and offers better GPUs, but their screens are not as good as Apple or Dell.

– Opening the laptop is hard on Dell XPS, as if you’re prying open an oyster. Apple and Razor save users time and annoyance in just this respect.



Other Features

– Dell XPS computers can have touch and pen features, not just a superfluous Touch Bar. Even longtime Mac users reach across the keyboard to touch the dead screen after a time with mobile devices.

– Keyboards and trackpads had been big Apple strengths, but Apple’s change to shallow clickety-clack keys was a misstep that Dell should avoid, and emulate HP’s Spectre x360 15 instead.

– The backlight not as good as Apple or Razor laptops, which illuminate each character rather than key. Dell also has a very short backlight sleep cycle with no user controls. It’s annoying to have a click a key or spacebar to turn it back on.

– Dell’s trackpad can be hypersensitive, so its easy to mistakenly move Windows and Premiere interface elements out of place.

– Dell speakers could be improved, even if external speakers or headphones are needed normally.

– Dell’s inside surface carbon fiber is a fingerprint and grease magnet that needs constant cleaning, though a white glass version like the XPS 13 would solve that.

– Eliminating too many useful IO ports would be disappointing, though Dell’s handy dongle adapter in the box might take the sting out of it.



Battery

– Apple is a bit better, due in part to the 4K screen on Dell.



Warranty

– Apple customer service is superior to anything the PC world offers and can extends to 3 years, while Apple stores are convenient. Dell (and other PC manufacturers) quality assurance was terrible for new Windows OS releases, but the driver situation has stabilized. It’s a faster life outside of Apple’s walled garden.



Price

– Dell’s prices decrease as the machine ages so that a top machine with a 512GB SSD is now $1,750 (at Dell), while a comparable Apple is $2600 (not Apple). That’s life inside Apple’s pretty walled garden.



Check out XPS 15 (9560): 11 Problems You Should Know About! by Friday Thirst. I did not have any of these problem on my loaner unit.




Lisa Gade of MobileTechReview offers several excellent reviews and comparisons with the MacBook Pro; here’s an example:




In addition to their great review and video, Notebookcheck posted What we’d like to see in the 2018 XPS 15 9570 by Vaidyanathan Subramaniam.


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