Dell XPS 12 review

Recent months have seen all manner of hybrid devices make their debut, but none are quite like the Dell XPS 12. Dell’s split-personality hybrid is a laptop capable of transforming from a sliver-thin Ultrabook into a 12.5in tablet with a mere prod of a finger.

Open the lid, push firmly upon the display’s upper half and, with a soft click, the magnets and latches disengage, allowing the panel to pirouette through 180 degrees. Snap the lid shut, and the XPS 12 assumes its tablet guise; swing the base around, and, just like the Lenovo Yoga 13, the Dell’s hinged base doubles as an adjustable stand.

While you might expect such a design to feel flimsy, the XPS 12 exceeds expectations. The base not only looks great, but it feels taut and flex-free, and the combination of a metal frame and carbon-fibre construction does a great job of keeping the display and bezel feeling more solid than you might expect. It’s only once you compare it to Lenovo’s Yoga 13 that the XPS 12’s flip-twist design begins to feel fragile.

The display is one of the best we’ve seen on any Dell laptop. With a Full HD resolution on a Gorilla Glass-covered 12.5in panel, everything is pin-sharp. We had to increase Windows’ DPI setting to avoid painfully tiny text, but the image quality is gorgeous. With a contrast ratio of 681:1 and a gleaming maximum brightness of 395cd/m2, the XPS 12 is only a tad behind the best laptops money can buy.

In laptop mode, the XPS 12 is excellent. More accident-prone purchasers will appreciate the spill-resistant keyboard, the backlit keys illuminate when the lights go down, and the slightly concave keys partner with a firm, crisp feel to make the XPS 12 a typist’s delight.

The glass touchpad is equally luxurious, with a silky finish that makes for a lovely feel under the finger. It’s almost flush with the wristrest, so invoking Windows 8’s edge-swipe gestures is easy and reliable. We had to do some fettling in the control panel to get the sensitivity just right, though, and experienced the odd hitch with two-fingered zooming and scrolling, with gestures occasionally not recognised.

As with most devices of its ilk, as a tablet, the XPS 12 isn’t entirely convincing. At 1.51kg, it’s very heavy, and only a few grams lighter than Lenovo’s larger Yoga 13. Dell’s clearly worked hard to minimise the issues, though. Two ridges across the base provide reassuring hand-holds and make it much easier to manage the Dell’s weight in tablet mode. We wouldn’t want to walk around using it like this for long, but for casual use at a desk or on a lap it works surprisingly well.

The novel design isn’t without its issues. Reaching out to adjust the display angle often saw us un-latching the display by accident, and absentmindedly picking it up by its corner gave us mild heart palpitations as our fingers poked the display out of place. We’re not entirely convinced that the tiny, delicate-looking hinges will last a lifetime of abuse, either.

We’ve no such qualms with the specification. Our review model came with a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, which can be dropped to a Core i5 with 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD if the price of £1,279 inc VAT is too much.

As you’d expect from a Core i7 CPU and lightning-quick Samsung PM830 SSD, performance is spritely. The Dell achieved 0.65 in our benchmarks, and with a good-sized 47Wh battery sealed inside, it has the stamina to match. It lasted 7hrs 1min in our light-use battery test, which is only a few minutes behind the longest-lasting hybrid we’ve seen so far, namely the Sony VAIO Duo 11.

The Dell XPS 12 gets plenty right – it’s pretty, powerful and the Full HD display is excellent. However, despite all the hallmarks of an excellent Ultrabook, and tablet functions that work well, we can’t help fretting about the lifespan of those dainty little display hinges. There’s no doubt that it’s up there with the finest Windows 8 hybrids money can buy, but if we had to make the choice, we’d put it just a whisker behind the tougher-feeling Lenovo Yoga 13.

Related Posts

How to Screenshot on a Dell PC or Laptop Samsung Galaxy S7 Review: A Great Phone in its Day, but Don’t Buy One Pluto TV Review—Is It Worth It? ExpressVPN Review – Unbiased and Tested In-House “Your Payment Requires Additional Review” in Zelle – What Does it Mean? CyberGhost Review Private Internet Access Review How to Use GIPHY in Slack How to Delete All of Your Instagram Photos