Dell XPS 13 9305 Core i5 Full HD laptop in review: Less display, better colors

[Redaktion]

Equipped with a comparable configuration, the 9305 is 300 Euros (~$362) cheaper than the popular 9310. In return, it has a 16:9 screen that displays colors very well and an additional USB-C port. Is the XPS 9305 the low-budget entry into the XPS world?

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-9305-Core-i5-Full-HD-laptop-in-review-Less-display-better-colors.539372.0.html

[HeavingWithLushLice]

Very confused by the DPC latency reported here. The review suggests it's "very well suited" for real time audio and video, but the latencymon shows the exact opposite, in fact some of the worst DPC latency around. Any clarification?

[puremind]

Actually higher resolution is debatable considering the subpixel arrangement. There is a loss of resolution because of this, I think reviews should display the effective instead of marketing claim resolution, since as you point out, that resolution is not felt at all.

[Henk Poley]

Did you typo the DPC latency in the statistics ?

Since the screenshot says 12278 microseconds, e.g. 12.3 **milli**seconds.

But the statistics reads as 12.3 microseconds (1000x off). And actually quite bad.

[Att]

The two TB4 ports on the left also do have the DisplayPort out.

[sinjin]

defintiely typo in the dpc latency

[Leigh]

Dont buy this peice of shizer.  Broken software out of the box.  Absolute waste of money.  Dell should be ashamed

[lio]

"Leu

Dont buy this peice of shizer.  Broken software out of the box.  Absolute waste of money.  Dell should be ashamed

What are you talking about? I don't see any problem with the software

[DaveMay]

Checked out this review because it won the dpc list.
Good job there were images, this thing has 12ms of latency, that's horrendous. Please fix and put this in its rightful place in the list.

[DPC Expert]

This site is awful when it comes to everything DPC, and considering that's the main attraction here I feel vindicated in being harsh about this. This entire website is objectively misinformation when it comes to DPC, but I'll explain why so people can learn:

1) The testing methodology is terrible here. Every single LatencyMon test MUST be ran for exactly the same amount of time or you CANNOT rightfully compare one computer to another. This is basic troubleshooting and benchmarking 101 information, eliminate the variables. In other words, every test should be 5 minutes, not a minute more or less.

2) This site sorts the tables according to the highest SPIKE in DPC, which is not at all indicative of overall performance. Yes, spikes matter, but what matters far MORE is the AVERAGE DPC latency which is on a different tab in LatencyMon than what the owner's constantly post screenshots of. That is how the tables should be sorted, and this information is more critical than the spikes.

3) Another huge testing methodology flaw is there is way, way, way too much crap running on these computers, evident in the task manager. Handles over 100,000 ROFL, good grief. ALL tests must be performed on a CLEAN install of Windows, without ANY drivers installed. That's how you get a baseline for the HARDWARE. Or you could ONLY install the required drivers (no optional drivers or other bloat) and then record that data.

4) ALL tests must be done on exactly the same build of Windows. You also must not have an active internet connection because the background processes in Windows will use this and interfere with the benchmarking. This is again, basic benchmarking 101 information. You also do not test DPC latency by opening up a browser, playing videos, etcetera, because that has way too many variables. Idling at the desktop with or without drivers is really all you need, don't overcomplicate it because once you start running other software like a browser you then add a ton of variables, such as coding that might not play nice with very specific hardware or drivers, etcetera. That's why we just record data while idle at the desktop. In addition, always perform a reboot before benchmarking, then wait 5 minutes before starting to record so the bulk of the background activity can die down.

There's more I can get into, but clearly there is more wrong on this site regarding DPC than there is correct. All of these DPC tests are completely invalid and cannot be used at all to compare one laptop to another. It's completely inaccurate, I cannot stress just how bad the tests here are. I've made this comment on both the lowest and highest DPC laptops to help get this information seen so the viewers know that the most important aspect of this site isn't valid, and hopefully the owners will not knee-jerk at me, and instead take this constructive criticism to heart and fix their site.

[RobertJasiek]

DPC [...] the most important aspect of this site.

Thank you for your input! However, I just do not understand this phrase. Why do you think DPC is the most important of all aspects?

[Damian]

Confused. I see the CPU specs in screenshot show 28w max tdp but Dell lists it as 15w. I can't find anywhere in tech specs that list 28w except for this screenshot in this review. I'm sure I'm not understanding something here, please explain.