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Review: Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 (9301)

by Parm Mann on 16 February 2021, 14:01

Tags: Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaep6w

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Conclusion

...well-engineered hinges coupled with a taller display help the XPS 13 2-in-1 function as a versatile jack-of-all-trades.

The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 is well on its way toward being one of the most complete convertible laptops on the market.

Beautifully built and a pleasure to handle, the lightweight thin-and-light system boasts an 11th Gen Intel Core processor with integrated Iris Xe graphics and a 16:10 FHD+ display that brings the form factor to life.

Fast and responsive everyday performance is assured, battery life is good enough to get through the day with plenty left in reserve, and if you happen to appreciate a convertible, Dell's well-engineered hinges coupled with a taller display help the XPS 13 2-in-1 function as a versatile jack-of-all-trades. There are caveats, mind you. A system as thin as this is naturally susceptible to fan noise and a shortage of I/O, and our biggest gripe is the shallow keyboard, which is nowhere near as satisfying as the rest of the laptop.

Bottom line: the XPS 13 2-in-1 is a fine example of a modern, ultra-portable laptop, and a better keyboard would elevate the system from good to great.

The Good
  
The Bad
Fast, responsive everyday performance
Bright 16:10 FHD+ IPS touchscreen
High-quality convertible form factor
IGP has gaming potential
Good battery life
  
Uncomfortable keyboard
Can get noisy under load
Limited I/O ports



Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 (9301)

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The XPS 13 2-in-1 (9301) is available to purchase from Dell.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.


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Posted by gagaga - Tue 16 Feb 2021 15:41
A couple of comments.

Idle power - 8w seems high, but pretty regular for laptops now. As reference, my old Broadwell Mac mini idles at 1.9w (8GB RAM, 256GB apple SSD + bodged 1TB sata SSD) - odd that this has gone up so much (the screen will only use a watt or two).

The biggie - have they fixed the sleep trackpad bug? In the 7390 and the other recent 15" versions, the trackpad will randomly flip between responsive and dead after the machine sleeps.

Dell have done nothing to fix this - it's a driver/firmware bug as people have had the pad swapped out (same issue) and you can restart the driver manually as a workaround.

If you're interested in this, don't buy until you confirm it's been fixed as it's infuriating.
Posted by edmundhonda - Tue 16 Feb 2021 18:52
gagaga
(the screen will only use a watt or two).

At 200 nits? I'd guess it's a majority of that 8w idle figure.
Posted by aniilv - Tue 16 Feb 2021 22:28
Phones got more RAM, like what is 8GB @ 2021??? :X
Posted by gagaga - Wed 17 Feb 2021 12:15
edmundhonda
At 200 nits? I'd guess it's a majority of that 8w idle figure.

I scratched my head at this - in the past i've seen 1-2w for the screen, so cracked out my work XPS (7390 / i7-1065G7 / clean Win10). 8-8.3w in idle with screen (4K touch) at full brightness, 5.3w when it dims, then 1.7-2.2w with the screen off. I knew there was a penalty with these mega screens, but that's crazy. I'll be sticking to the 1080p screens for my personal devices, really don't need the 4K and can run at 100% scaling too.
Posted by philehidiot - Thu 18 Feb 2021 16:47
gagaga
I'll be sticking to the 1080p screens for my personal devices, really don't need the 4K and can run at 100% scaling too.

I'm on a 27“ 4K panel. I think it was a mistake. The scaling is stupidly high to make anything usable, although thankfully Windaz 10 has finally got over its 4K + HDR pant wetting phase.

I realised how bad it was when I ran two fresh installed Windaz 10 VMs side by side and I couldn't see a thing.

I'd say the optimum resolution for 27” is 1440. And my mobile phone runs 1080 whilst it's capable of 1440 and I can't tell the difference.

From my experience, on a 27“ panel (the optimium size I've been using for ages) is best at 1440 with any extra money saved from not going 4K being spent on better HDR and backlight uniformity.

For below 27” I'd consider 1080 as being adequate. Certainly for a laptop 1080 is fine and there are way more important metrics to consider if a good panel is on your wish list.