Editorial: Dell XPS 13 9370 - not bad, but where's the beef?

[Redaktion]

Dell has presented its latest cash cow, the completely redesigned and rebuilt XPS 13, during CES. Contrary to common practice the latest XPS 13 is brand-new on the outside yet remains completely unmodified on the inside (CPU/GPU). One might wonder: how exactly is the new XPS 13 better than its predecessor? We took a closer look only to discover: it really isn't.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Editorial-Dell-XPS-13-9370-not-bad-but-where-s-the-beef.278722.0.html

[Arty]

Thank you for a great article! I totally agree with all of the points.

[Raevin]

On the contrary, this year LG and Samsung's line of laptops look truly promising.

[CampGareth]

I disagree with one point made here, you said that if you want to charge the laptop and use an external display simultaneously you'd have one port remaining. In reality you'd use the fact that USB-C can fulfill a bunch of functions simultaneously, so your display can charge your laptop and provide USB A ports for your legacy mouse and keyboard.

For instance with my current XPS 13 I use the USB-C with TB3 port almost exclusively. If I want to charge the laptop, I use that port. If I want to use it at a desk with an external monitor, keyboard, mouse and webcam I use a Dell thunderbolt dock. That means there's one cable going to the laptop which charges it, then lots of cables going from the dock to peripherals.

[john jen]

If you need touch, you need 4k. If i get 4k, my battery dies too fast. Whats worse the battery is reduced from 60 to 52. Cant do 2 in 1. Competitors can.

Premiuim price, a lot of flaws. No thanks.
Notebook 9, Gram, Spectre etc does offer better deals.

Pass

[Noblestone]

Keep up the good work.

"Its better because the manufacturer says it is" does not cut it here.

I trust and rely on you guys to make your own mind up before I part with my hard earned cash.

[VariantC]

I am glad to see this editorial. It covers most of the same feelings I had when seeing the new XPS 13. The shortcomings of the new XPS 13 have become even more obvious over the course of CES. LG, Samsung, Lenovo, and even HP all showed options I find more interesting than what Dell is bringing to the table.

[A.P.]

"In reality you'd use the fact that USB-C can fulfill a bunch of functions simultaneously, so your display can charge your laptop and provide USB A ports for your legacy mouse and keyboard."

Well, USB-C mouses, keyboards, flash drives and displays (especially, charging displays) are still exotic. And they are very expensive. You also forgot that there are also other ports such as HDMI, Ethernet and VGA which were also abandoned in favor of a slimmer chassis. Just look at how common USB-C to VGA adapters are. Using docks on a daily basis is fine but the original point was that, maybe, it is not worth it. Do not get me wrong: USB-C + USB 3.1 + Thunderbolt 3 is a very nice piece of technology. We are going to see more and more of it in laptops with it but I doubt that it will replace USB-A ports anywhere except laptop sector.

[Liad Sagi]

you guys are the BEST! so true!

[Truth]

Because of you Notebookcheck I have made big mistake. I purchased the Dell XPS 13 as you where commending it because of it's great maintenance and quality build. However by heart I like the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 as it have the greatest screen with 4096 level of pressure recognition and the brightest screen among all ultrabooks of 413 nits. Dell XPS 13 is awfull machine power cable inserting in laptop charging jack with a big effort. It starts to overheat even when working with Word application. Ergonomics is terrible. Recently you where publishing a lot of news that Surface line have a terrible quality and a lot of consumers not happy with it because of bad servicibility. And you where also publishing news that it could broke fast and it have bad repair mark. However these are fake statements I read many forum threads regarding Surface line and all owners happy of their machines. You guys are just setting double standards. In your reviews you say that it is good convertible and literally it is best in class but in news you write news about beware and warning potential buyers from Microsoft Surface. Seems to me you are receiving funds from laptop manufacturers to post news they want to see and to form twisted view of consumers. It is your fault that I purchased the Dell Xps 13 and now I can not to resell it as nobody interested in it. I initially liked the Surface but you posted fake newa regarding their unreliability. I read your site since 2011, but now I would never read it and will say to all my friends stop reading you!

[Xiang]

One important point though is that the new XPS 13 has 4-lane Thunderbolt, meaning it would support external GPUs much better than the previous generations.

[ndl]

I can confirm the coil whine is still there in the new XPS 13 9370. Unfortunately in my case it's quite loud an annoying.