Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 review: Intel's Kaby Lake-G, with integrated AMD graphics, makes for a slim, light, and powerful laptop, but fan noise is frequent and loud
Context & Ripple Effects
Dell's 2-in-1 XPS line has been climbing in capability since the fanless XPS 13 2-in-1 launched at $1K in early 2017, though Ars Technica's own review found it pricier than comparable HP Spectre x360 configurations. The XPS 15 2-in-1 is the next rung on that ladder, and its hook is silicon rather than design: Intel's Kaby Lake-G pairs an Intel CPU with integrated AMD graphics on one package — a rare bit of cross-company engineering.
The catch in Samuel Axon's verdict is thermal: the slim chassis delivers the power, but the fans run frequently and loudly. That tension has defined this product family before and will again.
First-order effects
- Buyers wanting discrete-class graphics in a convertible now have a Dell option that doesn't require a gaming-style chassis, giving Dell a halo SKU above the $1K XPS 13 2-in-1.
- The frequent, loud fan noise undercuts the portability pitch — reviewers' most likely sticking point for a machine whose rivals compete on quiet, thin designs.
Second-order effects
- HP's Spectre x360 line, already the value benchmark against Dell's smaller 2-in-1s, faces a Dell flagship whose differentiator is raw graphics muscle rather than price or refinement.
- If noise pushes buyers away, Dell's own catalog absorbs them: the Kaby Lake-refreshed Inspiron 15 7000 and Alienware machines offer the performance without the thin-chassis compromise.
Third-order effects
- Thermals keep being the binding constraint on this line — the same chassis-vs-cooling tradeoff reappears in the 2020 XPS 13 2-in-1's inadequate cooling system — suggesting thin convertibles can't sustain high-power parts without acoustic penalties.
- Dell's eventual answer was to stop squeezing: the 2021 refresh moved the XPS 15 to Intel's 11th-gen H-series CPUs with Nvidia RTX 30-series GPUs in a larger body, effectively conceding that the slim-plus-discrete-graphics formula needs more room than a 2-in-1 allows.
The trend: Premium thin-and-light laptops keep hitting a thermal wall that forces vendors like Dell to choose between svelte convertibles and larger machines with discrete graphics — with Kaby Lake-G's integrated AMD GPU an ambitious attempt to dodge the tradeoff that acoustics ultimately exposed.