Dell XPS 14z Review

The Dell XPS 14z is an extremely well built system that will suit an audience who have grown weary of shoddy, sub par plastic laptops. The 14z is certainly a viable, attractive alternative to the Macbook Pro which will look great in a living room, or when used as a ‘jack of all trades' machine, on the move.

The pricing of this system is actually quite competitive, although we would have to opt for the more expensive version, complete with 256GB SSD drive. This large SSD raises the price from £999 to £1,178.99, which in reality is very cost effective.

Dell might be using older SATA 2 based Samsung solid state drives, but £179 for a 256GB drive is still good value for money. If you are willing to live with a little less responsiveness, then the £999 configuration we have tested today packs a reasonable punch.

Intel's Core i7 2640m is a very capable CPU although the dual core design (2 physical + 2 logical) means that it suffers a little when compared against the latest quad core processors. The Nvidia GT520m is certainly no gaming powerhouse, but it delivers smoother frame rates than the onboard Intel HD solution, while only demanding a modest battery drain. As a full time executive oriented machine, the 14z is well balanced, although business users might not like the fact that the battery is inside the machine, making on the move changes impractical. There is a penalty to pay for minimizing the physical footprint.

We like the keyboard and trackpad, although the TN screen is slightly disappointing. I had hoped Dell might have incorporated an IPS model, offering improved viewing angles and a higher quality image. The onboard sound is acceptable, with only a modicum of distortion when tasked hard, although as expected it completely lacks any depth of bass response across the range. This is a common problem for laptops in this sector however.

Connectivity could be better, with only 2 USB ports at the rear of the machine and they are closely spaced meaning that some fatter USB drives may conflict with other devices. The internal optical drive is a welcome addition however and earns the 14z a bonus point.

Overall I have been impressed with this machine, it earns our ‘WORTH BUYING' award, but there is a lot of competition around £1,000. If you want an extremely well built, attractive machine with decent all round capabilities, then this is worth shortlisting. If you demand the highest quality screen however, then we suggest you look elsewhere.

You can specify your own on the Dell site, over here.

Pros:

• Decent price point
• good overall performance.
• capable of light gaming duties.

Cons:

• can get noisy.
• screen is average.
• connectivity isn't the best.

Kitguru says: For £1,000, it offers decent value for money and looks great.

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