Review: Dell XPS 12 Windows 8 tablet-cum-Ultrabook
Making a laptop with a screen that spins within its bezel isn’t a new idea. Early in 2011, Dell tried the trick with its Inspiron Duo netbook, but sadly that proved to be a woefully poor device. Now Dell is trying again, this with Ultrabook hardware and Windows 8 as the basic ingredients. It helps that, unlike the Duo, the new …
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Re: Docking Station...
Dunno, maybe someone hit the wrong button.
My laptop has 6 USB 2.0 ports... but sometimes I still want a little hub. Why? Because memory sticks stick out too much, and are easily knocked. The 'nano' receiver is okay, but its predecessor was too big, and had to be removed (and usually mislaid) between home and work.
What I envisaged at the time was a little USB hub within a pouch, that could be tethered to the Kensington lock socket, so my dongles and the like were kept safe and near, yet couldn't damage my USB ports in transit.
Next up: Modify my dummy ExpressCard so that it becomes a safe place to store SD cards. Who needs a 3D printer when you have glue and Duck tape?
(Heck, this laptop has such an abundance of ports and sockets... it must be nearly obsolete!)
about as useful as......
I hear that they are also embedding a touch screen into a slab of chocolate. Apparently it's good for 90 seconds before you're covered in the sticky stuff.
It runs Windows 8 and therefore is crap
Windows 8 is a non starter. If you want a device that is equally capable with or without a keyboard, buy an Asus Transformer.
Re: It runs Windows 8 and therefore is crap
Whilst I cannot stand windows 8 in non-touchscreen mode your comment is just foolish.
An asus transformer connects to a domain just brilliantly doesnt it? It also prints to lots of different printers too. Scanning a document into an asus transformer is childs play. Photoshop runs great on an asus transformer (full fat photoshop that is) Oh wait a minute.
Like most things, it is a tool, use it how you will but android/ios or W8 wont do everything you want.
Re: It runs Windows 8 and therefore is crap
Read what you said back to yourself... now... hang your head in shame... "Equally capable" I suppose this sort of idiocy was inevitable after opening the internet up to every Tom, Dick and Harry..
Typical!
Finally, a PC manufacturer gets a sensible resolution in a device, and promptly (mostly) stuffs up the rest of it...
bargain not.
a grand? Ouch! For that sort of money you could buy a galaxy tab 2 7", an ipad AND an acer i5 laptop.
Re: bargain not.
List price is £1449 for the 13" retina macbook but this Dell (as tested) was £1299 and Amazon UK themselves (not a marketplace vendor) are currently selling the Macbook 13" retina for £1299.
By all means blame Apple for the modern trend of no optical drives and un-removable batteries. But NOT for "compromise" Devices like this. They have the sense to not try and force feed a tablet solution to a desktop market. Apple at least understands the reason for separate devices and OS.
Tablets and laptops. Two good things that go bad together.
Tablet laptop hybrids are the worst of both worlds. The thinness and lightness requirements of a tablet tend to make for a high cost, poorly featured laptop And the folding and spinning screens required to cover the keyboard make for a device that is far too fragile for really heavy, robust laptop use. And of course, the less said about the Metro/Modern interface, the better.
Atom Clovertrail
Why are they not building these hybrids with the Atom Clovertrail SoC ? Come on Dell! Lighter, quieter and more battery time.
Too many pubes
Would it have been too much to ask for you to clean the pubes & grease off before taking the snaps? It's something they do all the time over at Ars; lovingly-taken high def piccies that really show off every grungy chunk that fell from the reviewer's spoinky fingers. Ugh!
First principle of product shots: clean the feckin' thing first!
Re: Too many pubes
quote: "Would it have been too much to ask for you to clean the pubes & grease off before taking the snaps?"
Since the point of the photo (according to the photo tagline) was to highlight the fingerprint-magnet qualities of the matt finish around the keyboard, I can only agree with you on the pube part. The grease was apparently deliberate x.x
Re: Too many pubes
Fairy nuff. Didn't actually read the tagline but tbh most kit these days is a grease magnet, specially ultrabooks. I have to keep a cloth in the bag and use it pretty much every day. Which makes me a bit OCD I suppose... I jumped on the pic mainly because of the unsightly hair, which I *hope* is an eyebrow hair or eye lash!
Ermagerd that is UGLY
This is another computer that would be left behind by any self-respecting thief.
Arguments over the Transformer aside.....
I do think the Transformer form factor is the way forward for tablet/notebook hybrids. Whether the technology is up to putting everything but the keyboard and ports into something the size of the Dell's screen is another matter.
tiles
So on the windows 8 TIFKAM start screen vetically do you get...
3 tiles like you can see on the Dell video
4 tiles as shown on your photos
or 5 tiles as you would expect on a 1080p screen
I'm tempted by this device but I don't really want or need the tablet part. If Dell made this device for a bit less money just as a laptop and with a matte screen I'd take it, but paying for the "flipping screen" (this is what you'll call it in 2 years time when the connection wears out) which I can only see myself using for the first week seems stupid.
Re: tiles
To answer my own question I went to Techradar who have some pictures they took themselves. 2 things are immediately obvious
1. it's 5 tiles vertically as would be expected for a 1080p screen
2. That screen is very, very glossy
the vertical tiles thing is a dead give away that images have been stuck on afterwards.
No SD slot
Thats more of an annoyance for me than lack of ethernet... If imagine for others who own cameras too...
Re: No SD slot
There are USB adapters - it's not really a big deal. Or get a Macbook Air 13" as that has one.
remember the pcmcia ethernet cards
all those PCMCIA ethernet cards had dongles for connection but there was a couple that had popout connectors. You had to be careful not to snap it off but it shouldn't be beyond the skill of the manufacturers to bring the concept up to date. I guess they feel that there isn't enough demand for it.
Not fussed about lack of ethernet. FTR my IdeaPad Yoga came with a free Wifi bridge thingie....designed for plumbing into archaic hotels that only provide wired internet. Works fine.
Let's say I'm trying to roll these out in a work environment. How do I image lots of them at once? Can it PXE over WiFi or a USB adapter?
New Ethernet port needed
The comments about lack of Ethernet are valid, but the problem is the ancient RJ45 connector standard; its too big and too fragile (the plug side anyway).
RJ connectors weren't designed to be plugged and unplugged daily; they were intended for fixed telephone apparatus (how often did you move your desk telephone in the 1960s?)
A new Ethernet connector with smaller form factor and greater resilience is needed; ideally using an "any way round" connector like Apple's "lightning" port (as this greatly reduces the chances of damage during insertion).
seriously...
..some people sat around a table and agreed the world needs this utter shite?
70+ negative comments, 0 positive comments, no-one claiming to have actually used it.
I initially dismissed this, thinking the frame would be way too flimsy. I was quite, quite wrong.
Having played around with it myself for a few hours, I really like it.
It's not too heavy to hold in your lap and watch movies and it's easy to browse the 'net with chrome/FF for an hour or two. (if you need to browse the net on a touchscreen for MORE than 2hours, re-examine your life...)
Although I can't say if the latch'd stand up to 1k+ rotations, the few hours I used it for was completely fine, and the frame was exactly 1.27 bajillion times more sturdy than I expected it to be.
Lots of people here say it's ugly. Again, I disagree, I think the carbonbibre+aluminium look is gorgeous.
The HD 4000 graphics can run FarCry3 @ 1024*768 at all-low settings, which means it'll handle KSP + Borderlands perfectly fine and that's all the gaming I do outside of LAN parties.
And to all the whingers about the ethernet / display dongles... for crying out loud, it's an ultraportable. What do you fucking want?! If you want to be able to plug it in all the time, you ARE going to be carrying around a case for it, and then it already begins to lose the ultraportability.
If it wasn't for the fact that I'm in the market for a gaming laptop + NAS to replace my ageing rig I use for LAN parties, I'd snaffle this up quick smart.
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