Dell has unveiled a major overhaul of its XPS premium laptops at CES 2024, with new XPS 14 and XPS 16 models taking over from the traditional XPS 15 and XPS 17. The new 2024 laptops also get the same design refresh we first saw in the XPS 13 Plus, with a grille-free keyboard, seamless glass haptic touchpad and capacitive touch function row.
While the XPS 14 and XPS 16 are great laptops that received a Windows Central Best Award in our reviews, not everyone likes the new design. There’s also the matter of price: the XPS 14 starts at $1,699, even without discrete graphics or a high-resolution OLED display.
That’s where the XPS 15 (9530) comes into the picture. It’s the last XPS 15 model Dell made, and it’s still on sale until supplies run out. It remains a great Dell laptop with high-end features and strong performance, and it retains the classic design that some prefer.
Dell currently offers an XPS 15 (9530) with a 13th generation Intel Core i7-13620H processor (CPU), integrated Iris 6-inch FHD+ display at a $300 off. That brings the total up to $999.
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Highlights of the Dell XPS 15 (9530) review
Dell’s XPS 15 (9530) is actually only just over a year old, so it’s not like you’re buying an old piece of hardware that will soon be obsolete. It’s still easily one of the best Windows laptops on the market, even with the release of the next generation of XPS PCs.
It has Intel’s 13th generation Core i7-13620H CPU with 10 cores, 16 threads and a turbo clock of up to 4.9 GHz. Together with 16GB of dual-channel (and expandable) DDR5-4800MHz RAM, this laptop will crush just about anything you throw at it.
A lack of discrete GPU means you probably won’t want to use it for gaming or other graphics-intensive purposes, but the integrated Iris Xe chip will put up a strong fight. You also get a fast 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, which you can upgrade after purchase if you need more storage space.
In our Dell’s sleek design and thin chassis are designed to impress in an understated form of elegance.”
The laptop’s aluminum and carbon fiber chassis weighs just over four kilos and is approximately 18mm thin, both impressive specs for a 15-inch device. The platinum silver exterior is sleek on the outside and is nicely offset by a black finish to the keyboard edge. Ports include dual Thunderbolt 4, USB-C 3.2, 3.5mm audio, and an SD card reader for removable storage.
The touchpad, which is still mechanical rather than haptic on this last-generation model, is huge and provides smooth and accurate pointing. The keyboard even allows you to type for hours, further increasing the laptop’s productivity. The camera may not be particularly impressive at 720p, but quad speakers provide “one of the best laptop audio experiences I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing,” according to Spear.
The 15.6-inch screen has a resolution of 1920 x 1200 (FHD+) for the higher aspect ratio of 16:10, which provides plenty of room for screen splitting during multitasking. It has an anti-reflective finish and reaches brightness up to 500 nits to aid in outdoor work.
And while we tested a model with an OLED screen and discrete GPU, we found the laptop was able to achieve more than 10 hours of runtime in PCMark 10’s Modern Office benchmark. Real-world use bumps that number by at least a few hours down, but the lower resolution FHD+ screen and lack of GPU should help you get through a day on a charge.