In terms of build quality, materials, workmanship, ergonomics and display quality, Dell's latest XPS 13 2-in-1 convertible is one of the best laptops I've ever used. It's not just a laptop though - the design allows for the unit to transform seamlessly into a jumbo touchscreen tablet, or it can rest in an inverted-V shape for presentations or media viewing. Performance-wise, it's powered by the Core i7 1065G7, the latest 10nm Ice Lake processor from Intel, delivering quad-core/octo-thread CPU power backed by Iris Plus graphics. This is the strongest integrated graphics Intel has ever delivered, and I set out to put it to the test with a time-honoured stress test. Can it run Crysis? Or more specifically, can it run the entire Crysis Trilogy - at 60fps, no less?
I also wanted to put the Ice Lake CPU architecture through its paces too, separate and distinct from the Iris Plus component. After all, this is the first truly new mainstream Intel processor architecture we've had since the debut of sixth-gen Core, codenamed Skylake, way back in 2015. To do this, I planned to hook up the XPS to a Thunderbolt 3 external GPU. But before we dive more deeply into the performance side of things, Dell's precision engineering deserves some focus.
Yes, it's a convertible, delivering an ultra-thin form factor, something the XPS pulls off beautifully. The screen is effectively without any bezels, lowering the size of the overall footprint, while in terms of thickness, it's around half an inch. At less than three pounds or around 1.3 kilos. There are two key compromises to this form factor. First of all, the ports selection is poor. You get two USB-Cs - one either side. At least they are both enabled for Thunderbolt 3 support, they can both charge the unit and/or run a display. There's a microSD slot too on the XPS, but the reality is that meaningful connectivity is going to require a hub of some description.
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