However, it should be noted that the XPS 15 has a 2-MP HD webcam. While it's not Skype HD-certified, a caller during a video chat said that the XPS 15z's 1.3-megapixel webcam was able to render finer details in our face and clothes, and the dual embedded microphones picked up our voice clearly and cleanly. The right side has a slot-loading DVD drive and headphone and mic jacks. On the left side of the XPS 15z are two USB 3.0 ports, one USB/eSATA with PowerShare, HDMI 1.4, Mini DisplayPort, and a 9-in-1 card reader. Everything from Lady Gaga's "Lovegame" to Jay-Z's "Takeover" sounded crisp and clear, but the lack of a subwoofer, as on the XPS 15, was evident. While not the JBL speakers on the original XPS line, the two large speakers on either side of the XPS 15z's keyboard pumped out a good amount of high-quality sound. The XPS 15z's panel also has a higher resolution than the 15-inch MacBook Pro, which sports 1440 x 900 pixels. During the bleak and moody scenes in the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two, we could make out the smallest details, and darker areas showed little, if any, pixelation. At 300 nits, it's brighter than a typical notebook display (usually around 200 nits), and it showed. The two mouse buttons below feel a tad mushy, but are plenty large.Ĭlick to enlargeThe XPS 15z's 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel glossy display was wonderfully crisp and bright. We were able to execute multitouch functions such as pinch-to-zoom, rotate, and scroll with ease. The 3.9 x 2.3-inch touchpad is not only spacious, but friction-free and highly responsive as well. We also like that there's a dedicated eject button for the DVD drive, but wish the Function row had been reversed, so we didn't have to press Fn in order to, say, adjust the volume. We like the fact that the keyboard is backlit, but when the backlighting is turned off, it's hard to read the letters and numbers. When we were typing it just felt too shallow. The rounded keys don't have as much travel as we'd like. However, we wish form followed function more. The XPS 15z's island-style keyboard is one of the more stylish we've seen. However, after we played World of Warcraft for about 10 minutes, the XPS 15 became noticeably hotter: The bottom near the vents reached 104 degrees, and we could also feel the left side of the keyboard heat up, too. The touchpad registered just 82 degrees Fahrenheit, the space between the G and H keys was 89, and the middle of the underside was 85 degrees. After playing a Hulu video for 15 minutes at full screen, the XPS remained fairly cool.
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