New Dell XPS 15 review: high-end Windows laptop with as good a trackpad as a MacBook and gorgeous, but battery-killing, optional 4K display
Review: Dell XPS 15 Fixes the Worst Thing About Windows Laptops — Dell proves a Windows machine can have a trackpad as good a MacBook
Context & Ripple Effects
Dell has spent 2015 rebuilding the XPS line around two fixes at once: the January XPS 13 refresh added an edge-to-edge display and an improved trackpad, and by December reviewers judged the late-2015 XPS 13 the best Windows laptop on the strength of exactly those improvements. The new XPS 15 extends that playbook upmarket, with WSJ singling out its trackpad as the first on a Windows machine to match a MacBook's — the long-standing excuse for buying Apple hardware.
The catch is a familiar one from this coverage: the [[a:825550|original XPS 13 review flagged the same tension between gorgeous high-res screens and battery life]], and the XPS 15's optional 4K panel revives it at 15 inches.
First-order effects
- Buyers of the XPS 15 face a direct configuration trade-off: the 4K panel delivers the picture quality but drains the battery, so the machine's two headline strengths cannot be had together at full strength.
- Dell gets a credible answer to the MacBook comparison at the premium end of Windows laptops, where the trackpad was previously the automatic loss.
Second-order effects
- Rival Windows OEMs now face pressure to close the trackpad gap too, since 'as good as a MacBook' removes the last input-quality argument for switching camps.
- Panel suppliers gain leverage from demand for sharper screens, forcing Dell and peers to compete on display efficiency rather than just resolution counts.
Third-order effects
- If the XPS 13-to-XPS 15 pattern holds — each revision fixing the prior generation's weakest point while reintroducing the screen-versus-battery tension — premium Windows laptops converge structurally on MacBook-class build and input quality, leaving battery efficiency as the durable differentiator.
- High-resolution panels risk becoming a default spec that costs runtime, pushing the real purchase decision for business buyers toward which OEM can deliver both without compromise.
The trend: Windows PC makers are erasing the per-feature gap with MacBooks one XPS generation at a time, trading display resolution against battery life as the remaining battleground.