Dell XPS is good for students? 10 great test results

having a dell XPS as a student is a good laptop choice laptop?

in this article were going to respond to this question by exposing the 10 results test that any student asks about.

students are going to know the:

  • battery life
  • price
  • speed
  • weight
  • thickness
  • storage
  • noise
  • screen
  • warranty
  • gaming battery resistence

we’re not going to expose the company results, but we’re going to list a test made from real experience that helps you to know more about these kinds of laptops.

battery life

the first test that will be going to expose its results is the battery life that dell has. So, for this reason, we’re going to compare dell XPS to its 4 famous competitors who are:

  • MacBook pro
  • surface studio
  • ThinkPad x1 carbon
  • hp dragonfly

before digging into results, the circumstances battery test was made under intensive use which means:

  • reading
  • writing
  • running programs
  • browsing on the internet and watching videos

so this test made and mimicked the normal use of students. We excepted one thing which is gaming. So you will find the gaming battery test results later in the article.

So here are the results that we found in the graph below.

Dell is in the second position after MacBook pro with the advantage of 1 hour. But if we compare dell XPS to other competitors we fin it is the best durable windows laptop among its, competitors. That indicates the good battery resistance that dell XPS has.

But there isn’t something to compare or beat the MacBook. it is the best laptop battery in the world.

The reason is the magic chip M1 that apple released lately, it consumes only 50% of that Intel processors laptops do like dell, hp, or any windows laptop in the market. But regardless of that dell show great battery durability in front of the Apple laptop.

So we can resume and tell that dell XPS has the best battery among windows laptops.

price

if we talk about the price we find XPS in medium-range it is not cheapest and not the expensive laptop for students. as you can see in the table below.

Business laptops

ThinkPad x1 carbon

MacBook pro 13

XPS 13

Microsoft laptop studio

Hp elite dragonfly

price

starting at

$1149

$1299

$1379

$1599

$1779

the prices that are in the table are from the standard version which means the basic or starting configuration. So you can have as a student a wide vision about what is good for you.

In general, we can find that XPS is:

  • cheaper than Microsoft studio laptop by $120
  • cheaper than hp dragonfly by $400
  • expensive than MacBook pro by $80
  • expensive than ThinkPad by $230

So as a student, you have to understand that XPS is more expensive than MacBook pro or ThinkPad. But of course, there are some variations between these laptops that will discover in our article.

speed

we made a test CPU speed, this test was divided into two options,single-core test, and multi-core test.

But to not get into details both tests measure the speed and powerfulness of the process that the laptop has. So this is what we found in the results.

Ram Test

 Macbook pro

XPS 13

Windows laptop studio

ThinkPad x1 carbon

Hp dragonfly

Single core test 

1741 

1503

1407

1456

1450

 Multi-core test

7730

5526

 5406

5193

4904

 total Ram

score

9471

7029

 6813 

6649

6354

dell XPS comes in the second position after MacBook which is pretty good. In others words dell XPS show to a student that is the most powerful windows laptop in this category. It is right that is less powerful than the MacBook pro by 33% but is still more powerful than other expensive windows like the surface studio.

mac is still in the first position and the M1 chip is showing amazing results and at the same time for dell XPS.

So for students, there is no problem running heavier programs with dell XPS it has an excellent and powerful CPU. This is so interesting for computer science students or engineering students who are looking for powerful laptops.

that play an important role for students who are doing 3d design or modelings like architects or mechanical engineers.

weight

Xps is lightweight it doesn’t exceed 1320g so any student can carry it on it-bag without noticing the difference. It is like carrying a new textbook in a backpack. But the most interesting thing that we made in our comparison is taking the weight for laptops charger and comparing between them also.

You could watch the details below.

Weight

ThinkPad x1 carbon

xps 13

Hp dragonfly 

Macbook pro 13inch

Microsoft studio surface

Device weight 

1209g

1320g

1133g

1400g

1742g

Charger weight 

226g

136g

345g

450g

226g

Total 

1435g

1456g

1478g

1850g

1968g

dell XPS is lighter than MacBook pro by 80 grams but the most interesting difference is the XPS charger weighs 3 times less than the MacBook charger. So in general as a student carrying dell XPS and its charger means reducing 400 grams of weight from your back.

the MacBook charger is the havier charger that we can see in the collection. So for students who have walking days to school or college having or choosing dell XPS will be the wise choice for portability.

thickness

if we take and compare the thickness we find that dell XPS is a thin laptop it is only 14mm which means extremely thin. you could see other laptops’ thicknesses in the table below.

xps 13

ThinkPad x1 carbon

Macbook pro 13inch

Hp dragon life

Microsoft studio surface

Thickness

14,7mm

15,24mm

15,49mm

16mm

17,78g

14,7mm is so thin is 2 times less than a notebook or 3 times less than a textbook. So as a student you will put in your back a device that is thinner than most and textbooks you use for studies.

it is an ideal tool to put in messenger bags that some students love to use. In addition, students don’t have to worry about the weight like heavy gaming laptops that students suffer from today.

storage

for storage, dell XPS has standard storage which comes with 256 GB SSD, so is not enough for students. But most laptops generations that we compare have the same storage. So students, only have two choices for this problem.

  • buying an external hard drive
  • upgrading and spending an additional $200 for 512GB SSD version

noise

we made a test noise for dell XPS and its competitors and here is what we found in the table below.

 Mackbook pro

XPS 13

Windows laptop studio

ThinkPad x1 carbon

Hp dragonfly

Noise 

26 dB

35 dB

37 dB

40 db

45 dB

as we can see dell XPS is so quiet it not louder like hp, so for students who get embarrassed by fan noise while doing assignments, the problem will disappear with Dell XPS.

But MacBook remains the silent or quiet laptop that students can have. To clarify we’re talking about MacBook laptops that have apple M1 chips or processors, not Intel ones. The intel MacBook processor gets hotter so fans run louder.

35 dB for a laptop is so quiet while the gaming laptops exceed 60 dB or the oldest version. But students have to understand that this number can decrease if a student plays games or run heavier programs.

But there is another laptop that is so quiet and doesn’t make any sound you could discover more about in this video.

screen

dell XPS is a great laptop for students who loves a 2 in 1 device. In other words, it is a touch screen and can be foldable and picked or used as a tablet. This option isn’t to find it in apple laptops like MacBook.

so it will be great to pick dell XPS to a college and use it for both sides:

  • a laptop that runs programs, create and edit documents
  • tablet to take notes, highlight document or even draw

warranty

dell XPS has a 1-year guarantee like most laptops which is pretty good. But there is one competitor laptop that has 3 years of warranty you could discover more about.

Gaming battery resistance

we made a going test battery where we tested dell XPS and other laptops and here is what we found:

Business laptops

ThinkPad x1 carbon

XPS 13

Microsoft laptop studio

MacBook pro 13

Hp elite dragonfly

Battery life

4h 10min

2h 50min

1h 59min

5h 1min

4h 05min

dell showed great battery test results, but when it comes to gaming the battery drains fast and lasts only 50% of that what MacBook laptops do.

So for students who love gaming, dell XPS is not a great option to use compared to Thinkpad, hp, or MacBook pro.

Conclusion

dell is a great laptop for students it has many advantages compared to other windows laptops. It is right that isn’t powerful like MacBook but for windows lovers, dell XPS has the best:

  • battery durability
  • is portable lighter and thinner
  • fast and powerful
  • quite

But for students who are looking to use dell XPS for gaming, it will be not a good option, there are others options like hp or Thinkpad for windows fan users.

yassin.ajanif

Yassin ajanif is a physics graduate and electromechanical engineer width more than 5 years in the field. My goal and my team are to share our experience to help you succeed in your career as a stem major. we talk about all tips, problems, and struggle STEM students face in their career and how to overcome them.