Dell XPS 13: the unboxing

13 years ago

Two days ago, the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook finally went on sale. Two days ago then, I bought one; no, no, no, not for me, you understand, but for Donna, to replace her old one. It’s the fully-kitted out one: Intel Core i7-2637M, 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD.

I thought I’d quickly photograph the unboxing like they do on all the tech sites. It came in the usual “slap a shipping sticker on it” box:

Inside that was the real box, just like a box of upmarket chocolates:

Inside that was the plastic-film-wrapped ultrabook itself:

Underneath that was the power supply (note to self, must buy another for Donna to keep at work), a manual nicely wrapped in a black card envelope, and the usual recovery CDs:

The XPS 13 is wonderfully light, and a lovely wide screen (720p). And will you look at that! No stupid friggin’ stickers on the palm rests:

First impressions, briefly. Light. Ruddy quiet. Fast (5.5 on the Windows index due to graphics; processor is 6.9, disk 7.9). Lovely carbon fiber base. Awful McAfee software that got removed immediately (can’t order it without, dammit; has to be the crappiest virus checker). Usual Dell Stage desktop (which will also be removed). Awesome wake from sleep time (a couple of seconds). Good touchpad.

Other thoughts. Had to buy an external DVD drive as well (Donna uses the DVD regularly in her job, but not so much that I should have bought a standard laptop). It comes with a T-Mobile hotspot as well: finally, internet access on the go for her. As I mentioned above, it uses a different style power adapter plug than all the other (current) Dell laptops we have, so I’ve ordered her another. Dunno about the battery life in “real life usage” yet: we’ll see when Donna’s used it a while. Over the weekend, I shall be installing Office and the couple of other apps she uses, and then transferring her data files and documents.

I can’t believe how quiet, light, and fast this is. Maybe I shall give her my 15z and I’ll keep this.