Earlier this year, we took a long, hard look at one of Dell's most highly-anticipated multimedia notebooks to date. That was the XPS 15z,
and we thought pretty highly of it in almost every measurable way,
including its delightfully thin dimensions. Fast forward a few months,
and in slides the XPS 14z. According to its branding, this unit is just a
single number different than the XPS 15z, and if you didn't know any
better, you'd just assume that someone took a shrink-ray to the 15z.
Indeed, the 14z really is just a small 15z in some ways, but by the same token, that's something that hasn't really existed outside of HP's Envy 14
and Sony's VAIO SA line. Sub-15" multimedia capable notebooks aren't
exactly easy to come by, and most of them make pretty big sacrifices on
performance somewhere along the way.
The 14z is Dell's "thinnest, fully-featured 14" laptop with an internal
optical drive." That's a lot of qualifications, but one thing is clear:
it's thin, it's compact, and it packs a punch for the size. LG's
Shuriken display is one of the standout features here, enabling a 14"
display to be crammed into a 13" form factor. How so? There's barely a
bezel. The display stretches almost entirely from edge to edge. In other
words, the dimensions here resemble that of similar 13" notebooks, but
you're getting a 14" display. Unfortunately, Dell doesn't do a lot to
really take advantage of it. There's only a single screen resolution
option -- 1366x768 -- which is the same as found on many 12" and 13"
machines. In other words, you aren't actually gaining any screen real
estate with this in terms of pixel density, but it does make it a bit
easier to see fonts and such without squinting. There's still no
question that this machine is serving a niche. If you're in the market
for a gaming-capable notebook, but you'd prefer the form factor more
closely associated with an ultraportable, the XPS 14z is a worthy
option.
Specifications-wise, you'll have options of Core i5 and Core i7 processors, plenty of RAM, NVIDIA Optimus technology (a discrete GPU paired with Intel's integrated GPU for times when battery life is important), a 7200RPM hard drive, optional SSD, an 8-cell battery and a built-in slot load DVD+/- RW drive. Here's a look at the full breakdown.
Specifications-wise, you'll have options of Core i5 and Core i7 processors, plenty of RAM, NVIDIA Optimus technology (a discrete GPU paired with Intel's integrated GPU for times when battery life is important), a 7200RPM hard drive, optional SSD, an 8-cell battery and a built-in slot load DVD+/- RW drive. Here's a look at the full breakdown.
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What's clear is that this machine is no slouch. What's also clear is
that it's not really a bargain. Dell is commanding premium for cramming
this kind of component list into this small of a package, with the base
machine starting at $999. Strangely, the XPS 14z's main competition is
another 14z: the Inspiron 14z. It's definitely not as sleek, but it
offers similar output and specifications with a $600 starting price. Is
it worth the premium for the XPS variant? Find out in our full review in
the pages ahead.
Taking a critical look at the XPS 14z's design and build quality is an
interesting task. On one hand, it's easy to point out that this is one
of the most sleek, beautiful and rigid ultraportables that we've come
across in quite some time. But on the other, there isn't much to say
here that wasn't already said in our review of the larger XPS 15z. But we'll try.
At under an inch think, you'll be hard-pressed to get much thinner
without rolling into Ultrabook territory, and once there, you'll
certainly not find the kind of oomph under the hood that you'll find in
the XPS 14z. The overall shape and design is pretty much spot-on
compared to the 15z. This machine is built on metal chassis with a
backlit, chiclet-style keyboard, an oversized trackpad and an LCD hinge
that's slightly recessed into the back of the body. All told, it's about
as sleek as a PC notebook gets and competes with Apple design quality
and style. The LCD hinge design won't allow the screen to lay completely
flat, but it'll recline far enough to be visible from an upright
viewing angle.
It should also be made clear that yes, this notebook looks a bit like a
couple of other notebooks, namely, the MacBook / MacBook Pro line, and
HP's Envy 14. All three are primarily metallic and minimalistic in their
design cues. None of them have battery bulges. And all three have
trackpads that are actually comfortable to use. But Dell does a decent
job of taking a that design and making it their own. The speaker grills
that flank the left and right sides of the keyboard are both unique and
eye-pleasing, and the backlit keyboard is actually more beautiful we
feel, than Apple's counterpart. Typing on these keys is a total joy;
there's no noticeable keyboard flex, no texture on the curved keys and a
perfect amount of key travel. We had to make no adjustments whatsoever
typing on this keyboard coming from that of a 15" mainstream notebook.
The trackpad deserves a section of its own. At 2" x 4", it's huge in
comparison to trackpads found on most 15" machines, let alone 13" and
14" machines. The segmented left / right click buttons posses a good
amount of travel, with a soft, recessed "thud" after each key
press. Those brittle, hard, impossible-to-love keys on Asus machines?
These are the polar opposites. Better still, the trackpad surface area
is multi-gesture capable, so two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom is
enabled by default. We will say, however, that using these to more
easily move about documents and Web pages didn't quite live up to
Apple's MacBook implementation. We've still yet to find a PC trackpad
that matches or beats Apple's line of trackpads, but this one comes
close.
LG's Shuriken display definitely brings the bezel one step closer to
complete obsolescence, but it's not quite good enough. There's still too
much excess space below and above the top and bottom rows of pixels.
We'd also be remiss of our duties if we didn't point out that the
battery is non-removable. It's an 8-cell whopper, yes, but unlike the
XPS 15z, you can't buy a spare here. This is becoming the norm in mobile
computing; we aren't entirely sure we're onboard with the trend, but
the general response is that the sealed battery can be made larger and
provide longer life. So, if that's the case here, we'll let it slide.
What we can't let slide, however, are the completely obnoxious trio of
palm rest stickers. Dell clearly spent a great deal of effort polishing
this machine, but when you open the lid, you're rudely greeted by a
Windows 7 sticker, a Core i5 plaque (yes, it's large enough to deserve
that label) and an Energy Star sticker.
Let's think about this for a minute. It's a Dell. Of course it's running
Windows. Do we really need a sticker to remind us of that? So, there's a
Core i5 within. I'm guessing you would've known that given that you
ordered it from Dell with such a CPU within. Again, why remind the user?
And seriously, Energy Star? Is this some sort of sick joke? Why don't
we throw in an RoHS certification sticker and a participation prize from
third-grade gym class while we're at it? We're being harsh on the
stickers, but it's for good reason. No PC company will ever rival Apple
completely until they muster the courage to tell Microsoft, Intel and
Energy Star (among other entities) that they aren't going to mar an
otherwise solid chassis with hurl-worthy stickers. Perhaps that's a bit
overboard. You certainly can remove the stickers and clean things up
for yourself but one of these days the maybe our gripe won't fall on
deaf ears.
Beyond that, we also think Dell took things a step too far with the
chrome accents. You'll find slightly gaudy chrome trim adorning the
trackpad and borders. The matte metal is beautiful; no need to chintz
things up with strips of chrome. We will say, however, that we greatly
appreciate the thought that went into port arrangement. Far too few
notebooks place ports on the rear, but for anyone using a notebook as a
desktop replacement, they know that having 'em there makes it easier to
hide the cables, as they run from the rear and presumably behind the
desk that you're working on.
Dell throws in a slot-loading DVD writer (nice touch), while the left
side sports an SD card slot, headphone jack, 3.5mm audio input port, and
a heat exhaust vent. The rest of the ports? Those are around back.
There's an Ethernet jack, HDMI port, mini-DisplayPort, two USB ports
(one USB 2.0; one USB 3.0), an AC input port and a Kensington lock slot.
Overall, the XPS 14z's frame is rigid and well-polished, and the
4.36lbs. honestly felt much lighter carrying it around.
We certainly have a few reservations about its software load and the
overall user experience, but overall, Dell really hit it out of the park
here with the XPS 14z. Basic tasks like opening apps, creating new
folders, rearranging files, etc., all were handled with nary a hint of
lag. We never felt as is the XPS 14z was struggling to catch up with our
moves. Multitasking was a breeze, and both the trackpad and keyboard
kept up with our every command.
Predictably, the panel was overly glossy, making it less-than-enjoyable
to use in direct sunlight. Viewing angles were also a bit
disappointing. When looking straight-on, images were crisp and clean,
but even a slight off-axis view in any direction began to wash images
out. We were also let down with the lackluster 1366x768 resolution; if
you're going to stretch 14" of diagonal panel in there, at least bump
the resolution to 1600x900.
Dell also includes their Stage UI with the system -- a move that's becoming all the more popular on ultra-portable Dell machines. We really aren't that fond of it; we'd prefer far less intrusive shortcuts to our favorite programs right on the desktop, but at least it's easy to disable.
We also found it somewhat odd that not a single USB port was located on
either side of the machine. That means basic chores like connecting a
USB flash drive for a ten-second transfer requires you to flip your
machine around, plug it in, transfer the file, flip your machine around
again, and unplug the drive. A single (or two) USB ports on the side
would've been majorly useful, though we appreciate the majority of them
being in the rear.
During our normal use and testing, we rarely had a moment where at least
one of the internal fans weren't roaring. When we really began to tax
the machine, it sounded as if it were about to lift off. Perhaps not
surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of heat building up on the bottom of
the machine, nor on the palm rests, but it required an awful lot of
noise and blown air for that to be true. Make no mistake; this is a
noisy machine, and there's just no getting around it.
Unfortunately, Dell also chose to allow an absolutely obscene amount of
"bloatware" to be installed here. It's not that we don't appreciate
trial security software, online backup solutions or 2GB of free cloud
storage, but seriously -- can you not throw it at our face all at once
upon initial boot? We really can't think of too many more offensive ways
to hamstring a new machine.
Rather than booting up quickly into Windows, it felt as if the XPS 14z
was loading unwanted background applications for a solid minute upon
first boot, and from there, we were assaulted with pesky pop-ups nagging
us about this application and that application for many minutes. It's
just unacceptable. Throw the free crap that no one truly wants onto a
USB thumb drive or a DVD in the box. Don't install it on a computer that
someone just paid $1000+ for.
Again, the overall user experience is buttery smooth, but getting to
that point took wading through way too much unwanted software. We can
only imagine how much zippier this machine would've been if it weren't
saddled down with gobs of crapware from the factory.
| Preliminary Testing with SiSoft SANDRA 2011 |
| Synthetic Benchmarks |
We started off our testing with SiSoftware's SANDRA 2011, the System ANalyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant. We ran four of the built-in subsystem tests (CPU Arithmetic, Memory Bandwidth, Physical Disks). All of the scores reported below were taken with the processor running at its default clock speeds of 2.4GHz with 8GB of DDR3 RAM running in dual-channel mode.
 Processor Arithmetic |
 Multi-Media |
 Memory Bandwidth |
 Physical Disk Benchmark |
SiSoft
Sandra didn't reveal anything surprising; the XPS 14z posted strong
scores in all categories, though obviously the lack of an SSD holds the
system back in the Physical Disks benchmark. An SSD would be a very worthy upgrade for the machine in fact.
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Maxon's
Cinebench R11.5 benchmark is based on Maxon's Cinema 4D software used
for 3D content creation chores and tests both the CPU and GPU in
separate benchmark runs. On the CPU side, Cinebench renders a
photorealistic 3D scene by tapping into up to 64 processing threads
(CPU) to process more than 300,000 total polygons, while the GPU
benchmark measures graphics performance by manipulating nearly 1 million
polygons and huge amounts of textures.
We
continued testing and fired up Futuremark's system performance
benchmark, PCMark Vantage. This synthetic benchmark suite simulates a
range of real-world scenarios and workloads, stressing various subsystem
in the process. Everything you'd want to do with your PC --
watching HD movies, music compression, image editing, gaming, and so
forth -- is represented here, and most of the tests are multi-threaded,
making this a good indicator of all-around performance.
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Given
that this isn't a true, qualified gaming notebook per se, it's nice to
see it hitting super close to HP's EliteBook 8560p and sibling XPS 15z, which is yet another half
business-half pleasure machine. It also surpasses a few other Core i5
machines in this class, while looking loads better than all of them. The
full Vantage score is below.
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The Futuremark 3DMark06 CPU benchmark consists of tests that use the CPU
to render 3D scenes, rather than the GPU. It runs several threads
simultaneously and is designed to utilize multiple processor cores.
The second-generation of Core i processors are strong performers, as
shown here. The Core i5 hung tight with rivals during the CPU
testing, and the other 3DMark 06 aspects...well, it didn't do too poorly
on those, either. The full score is below.
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 Futuremark 3DMark11 |
The latest version of Futuremark's synthetic 3D gaming benchmark, 3DMark11, is specifically bound to Windows Vista and 7-based systems because it uses the advanced visual technologies that are only available with DirectX 11, which isn't available on previous versions of Windows. 3DMark11 isn't simply a port of 3DMark Vantage to DirectX 11, though. With this latest version of the benchmark, Futuremark has incorporated four new graphics tests, a physics tests, and a new combined test. We tested the graphics cards here with 3DMark11's Extreme preset option, which uses a resolution of 1920x1080 with 4x anti-aliasing and 16x anisotropic filtering. |
3DMark 11 is still a new benchmark, and
we're still building up our database of machines that we've ran through
this test. These four were set on the "Performance" setting, just to
give you a vague idea of comparisons. The full score is below.
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 Metro 2033 |
Metro
2033 is your basic post-apocalyptic first person shooter game with a
few rather unconventional twists. Unlike most FPS titles, there is no
health meter to measure your level of ailment, but rather you’re left to
deal with life, or lack there-of more akin to the real world with blood
spatter on your visor and your heart rate and respiration level as
indicators. The game is loosely based on a novel by Russian Author
Dmitry Glukhovsky. Metro 2003 boasts some of the best 3D visuals on the
PC platform currently including a DX11 rendering mode that makes use of
advanced depth of field effects and character model tessellation for
increased realism. We tested the game engine using the Metro 2033
benchmark tool.
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Let's not beat around the bush: Metro 2033 is an intense game. And we
aren't just talking about gameplay. It's a title that seriously taxes a
machine, and it requires serious hardware to run this title well. The
CPU on the XPS 14z was probably ready for the task, but its lower-end NVIDIA Geforce GT
520M isn't exactly powerhouse. This is one of the compromises Dell had to make to keep heat and cost down.
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 FarCry 2 |
Like
the original, FarCry 2 is one of the more visually impressive games to
be released on the PC to date. Courtesy of the Dunia game engine
developed by Ubisoft, FarCry 2's game-play is enhanced by advanced
environment physics, destructible terrain, high resolution textures,
complex shaders, realistic dynamic lighting, and motion-captured
animations. We benchmarked the test systems in this article with the
FarCry 2 benchmark tool using one of the built-in demo runs recorded in
the "Ranch" map. |
Unlike Metro 2033, the somewhat dated Far Cry 2 benchmark isn't as
hard on systems, and we were able to squeeze out a few more
frames-per-second here. Things were plenty playable at even higher resolutions. In
other words, Far Cry 2 is about as new a game as the XPS 14z can handle
at high-res.
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BatteryEater Pro tends to measure worst case scenarios, in that it
doesn't really take into consideration power saving features, instead
loading up the system until it dies out. It runs a spinning graphic
constantly until the battery dies. We keep our test machines with Wi-Fi
on, and screen brightness hovering at 50% for the life of the test.
A 58WHr, 8-cell battery is pretty impressive for a machine of this
stature. There's no battery bulge, either. The XPS 14z managed to last
just over two hours in our rigorous battery rundown test, which loops a
graphic in BatteryEaterPro with screen brightness at 50% and Wi-Fi on.
It handily beat the XPS 15z's battery, and while it's certainly not
netbook-level longevity, it's pretty solid for a taxed Core i5 and
discrete GPU. Just browsing the web or firing off emails should net you
a lot longer uptime as well.
Performance Summary:
Performance-wise, tghe Dell XPS 14z is a stereotypical mixed bag.
Regardless of benchmarks, the Core i5 + 8GB of RAM combo enabled us to
whisk about daily desktop tasks with ease, and we were continually in
awe of just how well this machine handled the rigors of Windows
multitasking. Even with upwards of ten applications open at once,
switching between them was seamless and quick. Bootup was also quick
once we deleted the absurd amount of bloatware that Dell shoves on this
machine, and wake-from-sleep happened in a matter of seconds. The
7200RPM Western Digital hard drive performed admirably, though more
demanding gaming titles definitely took their time loading. As for the
benches? Having a discrete GPU, even if it was "only" NVIDIA's GT520M,
helped tremendously. The Optimus setup enabled our GPU to power through
graphically intense tasks, while being able to switch that off during
calmer sessions improved our battery life. It's no barn-burner, but for
the target market of this machine, it's more than satisfactory.
On the plus side, both the trackpad and keyboard were world-class. Both were responsive; the keyboard had an ideal amount of travel (backlit too) and the touchpad supported multi-gestures rather well. The Dell XPS 14z is one of the more enjoyable machines to use overall. It's brisk, it's lightweight, it's compact and it's beautiful. It's hard to find all of that in a single notebook these days. Its display could have stood at least the option for a higher resolution panel, but at least we're making progress by trimming that bezel in a major way.
The biggest problem with the XPS 14z, outside of the horrific bloatware load that it ships with, is another 14z in Dell's line: the Inspiron 14z. While that machine is certainly not as sexy, it can be customized with similar specifications for less money -- oftentimes much less. The Inspiron 14z starts at just $600; the XPS 14z starts at $1000. That's a major price gap, and while the 14z performed well, the excess fan noise, awkward port layout and non-high res display make the price premium somewhat tough to justify.
Dell's XPS 14z is a solid little machine, and it'll certainly serve its customers well, but it's just a little too pricey with some of its shortcomings. Gamers will want more than a lowly GT520M, and bargain hunters will demand a lower price from a 14" machine. In a way, the XPS 14z stuck between a rock and a hard place, though it's well-built, a pleasure to use and very easy on the eyes.
source:www.hothardware.com
