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Dell XPS 12 Ultrabook: Two Computers in One Case

The first time the Dell XPS 12 showed in Berlin, at the IFA. At the chamber event, which was held right at the Dell booth, the device was shown to the world, allowed to take a picture, and then hid under a glass cube. One of the reasons for the "seclusion", apparently, was the final version of Windows 8, installed on the XPS 12. After all, at the beginning of September 2012 it still seemed not to exist. Then I managed to twist (literally and figuratively) the new product for about fifteen minutes, and after two months it became a kind of showcase for the new Microsoft operating system. Indeed, on what else was it to show, how cleverly do two entities at once combine in Windows 8 - computer and tablet?

XPS 12 was shown at presentations and exhibitions, filmed for advertising - in general, there are few mobile computers that flashed so many times in the media. From the end of October, it could be bought in the States, but, as usual, the ultrabook traveled to Russia on the slats. And now, finally, there was an opportunity to properly test it in work and, by a good tradition, look inside.

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The fact that the XPS 12 is the brainchild of Dell can be understood right away without even looking at the logo. The combination of silver and gray in the design is typical for all mobile computers of the company, and even if pranks appear in some of the models, such as multi-colored connectors, the family resemblance remains obvious. Of course, an ultrabook, and even a transformer, cannot be very much like traditional laptops, but still - look at the photo. Can this model be confused with fellows of Korean or Chinese origin?

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In the case of the XPS 12, the developers had a much more difficult task than to ensure continuity in design. Usually, the top cover becomes an important element of stiffness of the whole structure. In a situation where the screen rotates 180 degrees, everything changes. It was necessary not only to give the proper strength to the ultrabook, but also to take care of the durability of the turning mechanism - so that the rotating part does not “walk” from the breeze and that during operation the contact between the “system unit” and the screen is not broken. After all, how many years the classic cable connecting the graphics adapter and the matrix, so all the same, developers sometimes miss with the choice of a fairly durable option. And here, not only does everything rotate, so also the contacts are subject to constant environmental exposure. A similar technical solution first appeared in Dell Inspiron Duo laptops a couple of years ago, but they were significantly more cumbersome. Meanwhile, even a tenth millimeter step means a significant complication of design work. In the XPS 12, by eye, the lid has become thinner by two millimeters by two, and this can already be considered an invention of the mechanism anew.

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I have not yet had the opportunity to test the reliability of the structure in the field for, say, six months. But a careful study of the turning mechanism on the outside and inside left a purely positive impression. To begin with, if you don’t know about the possibility to rotate the matrix by 180 degrees, you can not even guess about it, everything looks so monolithic. The frame is made of hardened aluminum, the rotating part is made of carbon-plastic that is very pleasant to the eye and touch.

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Carbon fiber even from the inside looks "wicker." Seals inside are glued to hold the loops in the desired position and greater rigidity

Its surface is really unusual - it reminds at the same time a wicker basket and a chessboard (the base of the laptop is also made of it, so if you put an ultrabook on bare knees, you will not wrinkle from the metallic cold). Fixation is ensured by a system of magnets and latches. The first ones help the rotating part exactly fit into place, and the last ones securely fix it in the desired position.

Iron part

The lid itself folds back quite tightly, the trick with raising one finger, which some owners of Apple laptops love to do, does not work. Under the hood we are met by an extremely comfortable keyboard. I praised it still in the XPS 13 ultrabook , and in the new model it remained exactly the same. In place and diode key illumination, allowing comfortable work in the twilight, and even in the night. I, of course, have been typing blindly for many years, but when typing special characters or changing the alphabet, it is sometimes necessary to look at the keyboard. In ultrabooks, backlighting is relatively rare due to limitations in the thickness of the case and the struggle for longer battery life. In this case, we have a choice between time and comfort (the backlight, of course, can be weakened or completely turned off by the key combination).

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The screen diagonal is 12.5 inches, which at FullHD (1920x1080) resolution means an extremely clear picture. The screen surface is glossy, but we don’t touch the matrix itself - between the finger and the cover there is a cover of Gorilla Glass, like in good tablets and smartphones. I understand that, having heard about the gloss, someone has already squandered the screen and wrote a comment, like “a laptop with gloss insults my mind,” but it would be interesting to see how to manage a dynamic game with a finger moving on a matte surface. Well, how to wash it then. It is believed that as touch screens become commonplace, checkmate on computer screens will only appear when typing irritated letters and reading forums like Antiwoman.

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To compensate for this we must mass distribution of matrices such as IPS, one of which just settled in the Dell XPS 12. The viewing angles are vertically and horizontally luxurious, even if you stick a special protective film from prying eyes. The color rendition is not worse than on my Philips home monitor with a matrix of the same type. If you are not too lazy to calibrate, you can quite professionally handle photos. And it’s not necessary to talk about all possible uses for personal needs - you will be very satisfied. By the way, IPS is found in ultrabooks more and more often, and it seems that after a while TN will remain the lot of absolutely budget models. Would rather!

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Let's start parsing! The back cover of the ultrabook is made of carbon fiber already familiar to us. The only metal element - a plate with the logo. But she is not here for beauty

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Under it lies various technical and service information. Indeed, it is much more beautiful than writing directly on the case.

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The cover is removed. The layout inside the case is quite classic.

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Practicality, as usual at Dell, put at the forefront. Although the cooling system mount looks pretty impressive

There are four versions of the Dell XPS 12. I got the youngest for my experiments - with an Intel Core i5-3427U (nominal frequency of 1.8 GHz, with a load of up to 2.8 GHz), a 128 GB SSD and 4 GB of RAM. In the version one step older, the amount of RAM doubles - up to 8 GB. Given the gluttony of the current web services, a very useful upgrade. One more step forward - we get in addition SSD with a capacity of 256 GB. It is also extremely useful, because at 128 GB it is not easy to stay in comfort today. Finally, the most “clever” version combines all the above-mentioned supplements with a Core i7-3537U processor (nominal frequency 2 GHz, with a load of up to 3.1 GHz). Personally, I would take the penultimate option for my needs, because it’s not very realistic to rest against the limits of the capabilities of the third generation Core i5, and the surcharge for the G7 will be about 5 thousand rubles. But we will talk more about prices in the final of this post.

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Dell XPS 12 motherboard. Front view ...

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... and behind

The graphics core in all versions is the same - Intel HD Graphics 4000. There are no special reasons to worry: World of Tanks at the minimum settings gives 38-40 frames per second. In principle, such performance is quite enough, but according to rumors, in the fourth generation Core, known under the code name Haswell, it will also be significantly accelerated. And then the reason to worry about the integrated graphics will not remain at all. Honestly, I never thought that I would write something like that once, but the graphics cores in Intel and AMD processors are already so good that discrete GPUs are really needed only in laptops with extreme screen resolution (read - MacBook Pro with Retina) and monoblocks, like Dell XPS One 27 (the screen diagonal is clear from the title, and its resolution is 2560x1440).

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SSD in XPS 12 can be changed independently, but the memory is soldered on the board, and if you suspect that 4 GB is not enough, take care of this when buying

I was somewhat surprised that on the sides of the XPS 12 there was no place for the card reader. There are two USB 3.0 ports, a Display Port too, the headphone output is a sacred thing (by the way, the Realtek ALC3260 audio chip is not bad by itself in terms of computer standards, and it’s also decently divorced. So you can even connect high-quality headphones — no disappointment).

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A rare case when the sound part is rendered on a separate fee. Built-in speakers, however, the stars are not enough from the sky, but you can connect some decent external solution

In this case, it is strange to complain about the lack of space in this case, because the hardware volume control is located on the left and the battery charge indicator is on the right. It is difficult to say how important they are. Perhaps the ability to turn down / turn up the volume at any time is really useful. But the level of charge has long been accustomed to check using Windows, the benefit of the ultrabook operating system comes to life instantly. Opened, looked, closed. Therefore, a card reader would be better. But, on the other hand, when I used the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s with the same ... feature, once I just put an external reader in my backpack and did not feel any discomfort.

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On the left - hardware battery level indicator

We will not worry about the Ethernet port (more precisely, its absence). As the wireless connection speeds up and prettier, this favorite interface by many (including me) is slowly becoming a thing of the past. I kept it in the present by purchasing the USB-to-Ethernet adapter, which I have been using with the third ultrabook in a row. And for those less interested in past citizens, the Dell XPS 12 has a 300-megabit and 2-band Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 WiFi adapter, which also supports Bluetooth 4.0.

In work

If you forget about the rotating screen for a moment, the Dell XPS 12 is just a good representative of the second generation of ultrabooks. We already know a lot about them, and in general, we do not expect any surprises. But even against the background of his fellows, the hero of the review differs by the very quiet work. I made the autopsy before the beginning of the acquaintance, and therefore I knew for sure that there was a propeller inside. But during operation, it is not audible at all. An hour, two, three - and he is silent. Having applied the ultrabook to the ear directly to the ventilation grille, I discovered that the propeller still rotates, but at some obscenely low revs. The sound is such as if a very old and experienced mouse sneaks to the hole on a poorly planed wooden floor: ideally quiet, but sometimes it still touches the burr with its foot. With World of Tanks, we still managed to get the cooler to spin, but did it really make a noise! My Acer Aspire S5 is so noisy when I open the Facebook page. Maybe Dell engineers invented some kind of super efficient cooling system? No, it is quite ordinary. So what is the secret of quiet work?

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Cooler assembly. Good old Sunon, long time no see!

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The turbine blades do not hit a particular form. It turns out, the secret of silence is still in very low revs.

It is, in fact, simple. The current Core begin to reset the frequency only when warming up to 105 degrees Celsius. Accordingly, anything lower is considered a working temperature. The processors themselves are “cold”, and therefore it is almost impossible to rally them to 105 degrees. And if so - why upset the user's ears? Let him enjoy the silence. The reverse side of such care is a bit more heating of the body. When working at a table, this is not noticeable, but if you like to lie on the sofa with a laptop on your stomach, then there is a chance to experience some discomfort when performing particularly difficult tasks (for the third time, we mention World of Tanks). The hottest place is the middle of the case in its upper part, where the processor is located. Heating is not such that the native belly is affected, but in the summer it may not be very comfortable. Therefore, users who like to lie down, it is better to purchase a special stand for a laptop, the benefit of which is sold a lot. Or compromise and put the XPS 12 on your knees. Then the heating center is likely to remain in the gap between the legs.

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Master Levchenko praised the design of the radiator. According to him, the edges are arranged so that the dust in them will practically not be packed

The battery life of the ultrabook, as usual, strongly depends on the usage model. Unfortunately, the current web services load the system very significantly, and therefore even in normal working mode (email client, instant messenger, several windows in the browser, text editor) the load is about the same as, for example, when watching videos in FullHD. If you do not open Facebook and Twitter, you can safely count on 5 and a half hours of work, and even six. If you open it ... I vouch for four hours, and then how it will go. In any case, it will not be possible to squeeze more than five hours even when the backlight is twisted to the minimum comfortable level.

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47 Wh-not the largest amount of battery among ultrabooks, but far from being the smallest

And now is the time to remember that the ultrabook is not simple, but with a touchscreen swivel screen. When I first met many of my acquaintances, it seemed that he could replace the tablet and laptop at once. That is, in the trip you can take not two devices, as now, but only one.

Is it really? Yes and no.

As we know, the Windows 8 operating system, under which our hero works, has two modes of operation - sharpened for finger control and classic. So, perhaps, it is difficult to find another mobile computer, just as ideally serving both of the G8 incarnations. You need to write something on Twitter, read the mail or play - you fold the ultrabook with the screen out and rush. Need to work - you return the screen to its usual position, and then everything is the same as with a regular laptop.

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The motherboard connects to the rotating part of the cable, in turn, going through the hollow frame

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Already on the way to the matrix, this whole cunning system turns into a regular train

Another question is that I would not dare to call the XPS 12 directly a completely equivalent replacement for a tablet computer.

It's not even about the operating system. Windows 8 is slowly overgrown with applications, it is prettier, and in the “tablet” mode it is already quite suitable for daily use. The thing is hardware limitations.

First, the XPS 12 weighs one and a half kilograms. For carrying and everyday use, this is a little bit, but when hoisted on the stomach or chest (the standard model of using the tablet) it becomes somehow rather heavy.

Secondly, the screen diagonal is too big to be placed right before your eyes. As practice shows, 7-8 inches become optimal in tablet mode, and all that is more is not very comfortable (mass migration of people from a large iPad to mini confirms this indirectly).

Thirdly, the battery life is also not quite ... tablet. Yet 4-5 hours is not enough by today's standards. Only, you know, in the morning I read the mail, wrote a couple of cute nonsense on Twitter, and already a third of the charge, as not happened. But there is still a working day ahead, and it is not known when you will be near the outlet.

Probably, for those to whom the classic tablet hypostasis is rarely needed and in small volumes, XPS 12 is quite suitable. But hardcore users still have to get some long-playing trivia.

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The "Start" button is made very thoroughly.

At the same time, the ability to rotate the screen will greatly delight people who spend a lot of time on the road. Many of us have a habit of watching a movie in an airplane, and on a classic laptop it’s not very convenient to do it, especially if the neighbor in front of him relaxed in his chair, leaning back. XPS 12 in this case, you can turn into a large tablet and quietly continue to view.

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Also, when the screen is rotated 180 degrees, it is convenient to show small teams of various kinds of presentations and graphics. Here we also come to the aid of large viewing angles.

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One of the fastest ways to hide a picture on the screen from prying eyes, without turning off the computer, just turn the screen to the wall

Total

All innovations are good if they do not impair the implementation of existing functions. So, for example, I really like smartphones, but it is still difficult to get used to the fact that a mobile phone needs to be charged once a day, and sometimes more often.

Del XPS 12 is a good example of a device that harmoniously combines both modern and classic. If you forget about the rotating screen, this is a good compact ultrabook with just a wonderful screen and decent battery life. And if you remember - you can come up with several additional usage models in which classic laptops no longer fit.

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However, it is usually necessary to pay a generous fee for introducing innovations. How are things going in this case? The base model of the Dell XPS 12 (the one that I had) in stores in Moscow costs from 47,000 rubles. Approximately the same amount is asked for ultrabooks and other manufacturers with similar characteristics, only there is no pivoting screen. Dell XPS 12 Asus Taichi FullHD-, . , .
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XPS 12 8 SSD 256 52 , , , . , Core i7 57 .

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(www.tech-town.ru) Dell

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/177009/


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