Dell XPS 14z review

Juice box
Dell XPS 14z	Avg watts/hour
Off (60%)	0.42
Sleep (10%)	0.87
Idle (25%)	6.95
Load (05%)	45.22
Raw kWh number	38
Annual energy cost	$4.31

The Dell XPS 14z has powerful components, which may negatively affect battery life, but at the same time, it also uses Nvidia's Optimus system to keep the GPU turned off when not needed, and Intel's current-gen Core i-series CPU are very efficient on their own. In our video playback battery drain test, the XPS 14z ran for 4 hours and 33 minutes, which is a score we'd classify as merely OK. That's 1 hour longer than the XPS 15z, but Apple's MacBook Air ran for more than 2 additional hours, and Lenovo's U300s ran for an extra 40 minutes. With judicious use, the XPS 14z should get you through most of a workday, but our battery life expectations have risen greatly in 2011, and scores that used to impress us no longer do so.

Dell includes a one-year mail-in service warranty with the XPS 14z, and though the warranty upgrade options were not live on Dell's Web site at the time this review was written, based on previous XPS laptops, coverage should be expandable up to four years for an extra $290, or four years with accidental damage protection for $410. Dell's Web site offers 24-7 toll-free phone service and Web support, including documentation and software drivers that are easy to find.

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System configurations:

Dell XPS 14z
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2640M; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 520M / 1GB (Dedicated) Intel GMA HD; 750GB Western Digital 7,200rpm

Dell XPS 15z
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-2620M; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 525M / 64MB (Shared) Intel HD 3000; 750GB Seagate 7,200rpm

Toshiba Portege R835-P56X
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated)/1,696MB (Total) Intel GMA HD; 640GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

Lenovo IdeaPad U300s
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-2677M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Shared) Intel HD 3000; 256GB JMicron 616 SSD

Acer Aspire S3-951-6646
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 128MB (Shared) Intel HD 3000; 320GB Hitachi 5,400rpm + 20GB SSD

Apple MacBook Air 13.3-inch - Summer 2011
OS X 10.7 Lion; 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-2557M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 384MB (Shared) Intel HD 3000; 128GB Apple SSD