Thinner, More Powerful, Literally Cooler, XPS 15 Systems

Mother Nature may have played an April Fool’s joke on the northern U.S. by covering them in snow two weeks after spring officially began, but the new products blooming here at Dell today are all for real.

The new assortment of systems we launched highlight our commitment to creating devices that prioritize performance and smart design, and they build on our partner Intel’s new 8th Gen Intel Core processor.

Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 with Intel’s new 8th Gen Intel Core processor shown in four different convertible positions

“Dell did not waste any time utilizing the new CPUs, as it has gone and revamped several of its product lines,” noted Hot Hardware.

Yes, our engineers worked to extract maximum performance from Intel’s new, top-of-the-line processors. And, if you really want to dig into the many different aspects of Intel’s processor strategy announced today, AnandTech has an in-depth post.

But there are other design innovations now available that go beyond processing power. In a try-it-before-you-can-buy-it moment at CES 2018, we shared that the new XPS 15 2-in-1 would have a maglev keyboard design.

“The keyboard mechanism is similar to the Maglev trains at various airports,” Deccan Chronicle noted at that time. “The keys are held together physically but they ‘float’ magnetically.”

Development Manager Kevin Turchin explains it a bit more in this new video:

Power efficient, designed with smarter materials, sustainably packaged and recycle-friendly, the XPS 15 2-in-1 is also one of our most environmentally sensitive products. It includes our Ocean Plastics Packaging — plastic trash that’s been recovered from waterways and remade into useful materials.

The innovative maglev keyboard design mimics the feel and travel of a standard keyboard in a thinner design. While going thinner, the XPS 15 2-in-1 designers also found a way to lower the temperature of the system to enable greater performance using GORE™ Thermal Insulation.

Perhaps these new ways of approaching the design are why it was also recently called our version of a concept car by Digital Trends’ Luke Larsen.

“For Dell, it isn’t just a 2-in-1 version of the XPS 15 — it’s a way of experimenting with future technology without having to sacrifice the familiarity of its premium laptop line,” Larsen said.

Larsen also noted that from the outside, you might not be able to tell the XPS 15 2-in-1 from the non-convertible XPS 15. The new Coffee Lake version of that smallest 15.6” performance laptop (and the only InfinityEdge display in a 15”) will be available for pre-order later this month.

“Despite being more compact, Dell says it can hit up to 21.5 hours of battery life. That will naturally depend on your components and what you’re doing. Still, even if it’s a few hours shy of that mark with normal use, it still be a lot of time away from a charging cable,” said Cnet.

Gordon Mah Ung, executive editor at PCWorld was impressed with the number of cores we’ve been able to squeeze into the XPS 15 because it means faster video encoding and faster photo editing.

“Know why the MacBook Pro 15 is so thin? It’s because of all the times Dell’s powerhouse XPS 15 has stomped on it,” he joked. “Yes, that’s a cheap shot, but it’s been mostly true—and Apple’s beatdown will only get worse as the newest XPS 15 (model 9570) ups the ante to a 6-core, 12-thread Core i7-8750H.”

Dell XPS 15 laptop

About the Author: Laura Pevehouse

Laura Pevehouse was profiled as one of five “social media mavens” in the March 2009 issue of Austin Woman Magazine and named an AdWeek’s TweetFreak Five to Follow. She has been part of the Dell organization for more than 15 years in various corporate communications, employee communications, public relations, community affairs, marketing, branding, social media and online communication roles. From 2014-2018, Laura was Chief Blogger/Editor-in-Chief for Direct2DellEMC and Direct2Dell, Dell’s official corporate blog that she help launch in 2007. She is now a member of the Dell Technologies Chairman Communications team. Earlier in her Dell career she focused on Global Commercial Channels and US Small and Medium Business public relations as part of the Global Communications team. Prior to that, she was responsible for global strategy in social media and community management, as well as marcom landing pages, as a member of Dell’s Global SMB Marketing, Brand and Creative team. When she was part of Dell’s Global Online group, Laura provided internal consulting that integrated online and social media opportunities with a focus on Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. She managed the home page of Dell.com, one of the top 500 global web sites in Alexa traffic rank, and first brought web feeds and podcasts to the ecommerce site. In her spare time she led Dell into the metaverse with the creation of Dell Island in the virtual world Second Life. Laura has earned the designation of Accredited Business Communicator from the International Association of Business Communicators, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Louisiana State University. Before joining Dell Financial Services in 2000, she worked at the Texas Workforce Commission and PepsiCo Food Systems Worldwide.