Dell XPS 13 9345 Snapdragon X Elite review: Undercutting the Intel Core Ultra 7

[Redaktion]

The push for Windows on ARM is getting bigger with the popular XPS 13 series now jumping on the Snapdragon Elite train. It's asking price of $1300 actually is cheaper than the Intel Core Ultra 7 model, but be prepared for some compromises related to software.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-9345-Snapdragon-X-Elite-review-Undercutting-the-Intel-Core-Ultra-7.869106.0.html

[PHVM_BR]

The author forgot to mention that the 9340 was tested in Optimized mode (MyDell), while the 9345 was tested in Performance mode.

This distorts the comparison between them in several aspects.

[Mr Majestyk]

The screen is utter trash, low colour gamut usually reserved for entry level garbage, but they want over $2K in Australia. Also wifi much weaker than Meteor Lake version, software issues, garbage grade keyboard, no TB ports and this gets 84.5% score. Wouldn't give it more than 70%.

[armfan]

Finally Snapdragon showing ARM teeth.
I wonder how much performance they had to give away on battery to achieve those run times.

[randon]

The screen is utter trash, low colour gamut usually reserved for entry level garbage

There's three screens, at least try reading the review first.

[Dan6]

No physical functional keys is immediate deal breaker for me, a pricy laptop that can be used only for media consumption..

[Gobrel]

CPU-Z is available for ARM.

[indy]

The compatibility issues with regards to software are: Some software doesn't work, crashes.
Some drivers won't install/crashes.
Some Antivirus software doesn't work/crashes.
Some hardware won't install or work properly.

But, yeah, "compatibility."  That sounds like outright inability.

[yuting]

Some software doesn't work, crashes.
Some drivers won't install/crashes.
Some Antivirus software doesn't work/crashes.
Some hardware won't install or work properly.

Love how you've expanded "hardware producers don't make a driver for ARM" into three points just for dramatic effect. Don't buy that hardware.

[Results45]

26.4 hours or 1,575 minutes of "light browsing" on only 55Wh (15% longer on a 5% smaller battery than in the T14s G6) is very notable. Meanwhile the T14s Gen 6 lasts 23 hours followed-up by the M3 Pro Macbook Pro 16 2023 which lasts 20 hours on a 99.6Wh battery.

The next 3 closest laptops are Windows devices:

[86Wh] Lenovo ThinkPad T16 G2 @ 1,130 minutes or just over 19 hours
[78.6Wh] HP Elitebook 1040 G7 @ 1,128 minutes or just over 18.75 hours
[99.9Wh] MSI Prestige 16 B1MG @ 1,100 minutes or just over 18.25 hours

That said, I'm still very hesitant to buy one for myself despite the prospects of seeing runtimes of up to 45 hours on a 99Wh battery as long as the risk of spotty reliably when running the professional photogrammetry and GIS software (Metashape, Reality Capture, ArcGIS Pro, etc.) I use regularly is a factor worth worrying about.

Vastly more optimized translated x86 emulation or many more applications compiled and ported over to ARM64 could be a lot better by next year and even on par with offerings from AMD & Intel by 2027 if the pace is kept up but I think I'll be sticking to x86 until that happens.

AMD integrated graphics in 80-120W APUs on-par with the GTX 1080 and RTX 4060 arriving over the next 2 years seals the deal for me as well :D

[NikoB (name bl)]

Something worth mentioning about this panel is its relatively high minimum brightness level of 49 nits which is something we noticed on our Core i7 model as well. In comparison, the displays on most other laptops would typically reach 15 nits or dimmer when on the minimum brightness setting. The higher brightness floor of the Dell may be more likely to cause eyestrain if viewing in dark environments. This potential issue is not present on the OLED configuration which can reach much dimmer brightness levels.

I seriously doubt that your eyes will thank you for the flickering 60-250Hz AMOLED, even at a lower brightness. As a result, we exchange the "awl" for "soap"...

The weight of the laptop is too much, especially with a power supply for 13.4".

The keyboard is simply inoperative in all respects.

And here we come to the main thing - this is actually a tablet (working with a screen in the near zone for the eyes is always) with some not very large ability to print text and enter data. But if this is a tablet - then where is the touch screen and ppi above 300? They are not there.

It turns out to be some kind of crap, it is not clear for whom. The text quality will definitely be disgusting even on IPS with such a low ppi, especially in Chrome with muddy fonts due to incorrect black and white anti-aliasing.

Too heavy, a bad screen without touch, which is needed here first of all. This is neither a laptop nor a tablet - but a bad mixture of both...

The other aspects simply do not make sense to discuss against the background of such obvious architectural blunders.

[rtings]

26.4 hours or 1,575 minutes of "light browsing" on only 55Wh (15% longer on a 5% smaller battery than in the T14s G6) is very notable. Meanwhile the T14s Gen 6 lasts 23 hours

The fact both laptops with enormously high runtimes have 1920x1200 screens in review doesn't ring a bell about the nature of this power consumption?

[indy]

These laptops are already seeing massive drops in price. Probably not selling as well as they thought. So: no users= not worth it.

If you think OEMs are going to work towards getting compatibility for niche markets en masse... They aren't. They've had windows on arm for 10+ years now and the current state is pretty abyssmal.

[werwtt]

If you think OEMs are going to work towards getting compatibility for niche markets en masse...

Problem is not OEMs, rebuilding for native Windows ARM is in most cases just pressing a button.
Problem is Windows itself, it's so bad now only gamers and technically illiterate use it. First category specifically gets x86 and second just grabs first available laptop they get recommended.

[NikoB (shame NB moders)]

Problem is Windows itself, it's so bad now only gamers and technically illiterate use it. First category specifically gets x86 and second just grabs first available laptop they get recommended.

And that's why the share of desktop Windows is more than 80%? =) And Linux is used only by red-eyed geeks who have nowhere to spend their personal time - it's free and endless for them?