New Dell Models for Creators

THE REDESIGNED XPS 15 AND NEW XPS 17 ARE A PHOTOGRAPHERS DREAM MACHINE

I am frequently asked for computer recommendations by students who need more power and support for landscape art photography, particularly as their files grow larger and their creative abilities advance. While our desktops often configured to meet our needs our laptops often lack the performance features we need in the

field— until today.

Dell has just revealed two new laptops designed for ‘Creators.’ Both the redesigned XPS 15 and brand new XPS 17 laptops were developed for photographers and video editors and for me, the 17 inch screen variant is on next quarter’s capital expenditure list.

The Dell specs are bold and badged certain models as Creator Editions to demonstrate the handpicked, high performance hardware designed for tackling large file photography and video editing. Each model features optional 4K Ultra HD screens, smaller bezels, and the latest CPUs and GPUs from Intel and NVIDIA. Color gamut is critical for art photographers and top gun video editors and the XPS series supports 100% Adobe RGB and 94% DCI-PC color gamuts.

H2 WOW FACTORS

There are two major Wow Factors that landscape art photographers and video editors will love among many smaller ones. The first is that the XPS 17 has slim bezels on the display, which reduces its size to a standard 15-inch laptop’s dimensions, making it smaller than 48% of the 15-inch laptops on the market. This means you can pack a 17-inch XPS into back packs designed for 15-inch laptops, and for those of us who work in the great outdoors this is a big WOW.  The second ‘wow’ is that the optional 4K Ultra HD+ touch display supports 100% of the Adobe RGB color gamut and both displays are covered with anti-reflective Corning Gorilla Glass 6, which means great color and exceptional screen durability.

CONNECTIONS

XPS models have discontinued all previous ports and now ship with four Thunderbolt 3 ports which can transfer data at up to 40GPS, a power delivery and a DisplayPort, as well as a full-size SD card reader and a 3.5mm headphone and microphone combo jack. Dell also includes a USB-C to USB-A 3.0 and HDMI 2.0 adapter with the laptop. CF card users will want to upgrade their card readers to take advantage of the high-speed connections.

UNDER THE KEYBOARD

This compact 17-inch laptop comes with the newly introduced Intel 10th gen mobile processors and Nvidia graphic cards. According to their website you have many Intel 4, 6 and 8 core processor options and you can choose a 2 TB SSD hard drive and upgrade the total memory to 64GB DDR4.

GRAPHICS POWER

For photographers and video editors who are crunching ever larger files and ever more complex Adobe softeare, Dell provides several powerful graphic card options. In addition to the dedicated Intel UHD Graphics 630, you can choose the 4GB Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti or the RTX 2060 with 6GB memory you can latch onto the more powerful Nvidia units when you upgrade  to an 8-core i7 processor. The vapor chamber cooling design on the XPS 17 will provide sufficient cooling when performing heavy editing tasks, so it will be ready for both CPU and GPU intensive tasks.

HOW MUCH AND WHEN

The XPS 15 is available now and the 17’s shipping date has not been announced but it is scheduled for this summer. Expect to invest between $1,500 and $3,000 depending upon your choice of options.

SUMMARY

There are many viable laptops on the market, but it is great to see a vendor develop a series designed for “Creative.” To learn more these laptops, slide on over to the to the Dell website and take a look for yourself.About the author

Bob Killen

Bob Killen is a nationally recognized Fine Art Photographer, Landscape Photography instructor, and artist. He is the Director of the National Park Photography Expeditions, President of the Mojave National Preserve Artists Foundation, a National Park Service Friends Group, a national speaker on landscape photography and an Adobe Certified Instructor. His thematic work explores Western Americana landscapes with a focus on man’s obsession to abandon structures, places, and things across a shared American landscape. His work is owned by collectors in 20 countries.

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