Pros

  • Surprisingly good keyboard
  • Excellent look, feel, and build quality

Cons

  • touchy trackpad
  • mediocre display

At A Glance

If the display was higher resolution and offered better off-axis viewing angles, this would be our favorite Ultrabook.

Manufacturer’s Description

Movies, Games and 3D Videos Come to Life 3D your way. You only see movies in 3D. You prefer your games to jump out at you. You have a brand new, state-of-the-art 3DTV. Now you can take the media you already enjoy, the way you like it best - lifelike, immersive, eye-popping and interactive - and enjoy it in your home or everywhere you go. Connect to the World Video conferencing is now even easier with Dell and Skype. The new XPS 17 is one of the first laptops to be certified by Skype and offers preinstalled Skype software standard on every XPS 17.

The Specs

Pricing
Part Number DNDOCQ13
UPC Code 884116082255
Processor
Processor type Intel Core i5
Processor speed 1600.0 MHz
Cache size 3.0 KB
Processor count 2
Memory
Memory size 4000.0 MB
Memory type DDR3
Memory speed 1333.0 MHz
Display
Display size 13.3 inches
Display type Glossy LCD with LED Backlight
Resolution 1366 x 768 pixels
Storage
Drives included 1.0
Drive size 256.0 GB
Drive type Solid-State Drive
Battery
Vendor Rated Battery life 8.5 hours
Ports and Connections
Available Interfaces Bluetooth
Wireless connection 802.11 n
Video Interfaces Mini DisplayPort
Green
Energy Star compliant 1.0
Dimensions
Width 12.4 inches
Depth 8.1 inches
Height 0.71 inches
Weight 3.0 pounds
Weight with Accessories 3.6 pounds
Sound
Speakers Stereo
Included Software
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Other Features
Devices
  • Backlit Keyboard
  • Built-In Microphone
  • Built-In Webcam
Input devices
  • Keyboard (backlit)
  • Touchpad

Performance

Overall Performance
Worldbench Score 136.0
Worldbench Version 7
Battery
Battery Life 6:26   (hh:mm)
Start Up
Start Up 16.9   seconds (lower is better)
Office Productivity
PCMark 7 Productivity Suite 3069.0   score (higher is better)
Web Browsing
Web Performance 9.0   Frames per second (higher is better)
Storage Performance
File Compression 714.6   seconds (lower is better)
Hard Drive File Operations 95.0   seconds (lower is better)
Content Creation
Image Editing 271.2   seconds (lower is better)
Video Encoding 243.0   seconds (lower is better)
Audio Encoding 185.0   seconds (lower is better)
Power Usage
WorldBench Green Score 94.0
Working power usage 2.1   Watt hours
Idle power usage 8.4   Watts
Gaming
Gaming Score 88.0
Crysis 2, High Quality, 1366x768 10.5   Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, High Quality, 800x600 20.2   Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, Low Quality, 1366x768 12.8   Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, Low Quality, 800x600 25.1   Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, High Quality, 1366x768 15.1   Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, High Quality, 800x600 21.1   Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, Low Quality, 1366x768 30.9   Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, Low Quality, 800x600 42.3   Frames per second (higher is better)