Dell XPS 13 (9380) 2019 Review: So Close To Perfection
Dell XPS 13 (9380): PCMark And 3DMark Benchmarks
UL's (formerly Futuremark) collection of benchmarks have been the go-to system tests since the late ‘90s. We ran Dell's XPS 13 through PCMark 10, which is designed to gauge a system's performance in everyday use scenarios with GPU acceleration-enabled, while 3DMark tests its gaming chops.
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What we like about PCMark 10 is that it tests a system's all-around performance with actual applications. In this case, the XPS 13 posted the fastest overall PCMark 10 score, and also the highest Productivity and Digital Content Creation scores. It only yielded the top spot in Essentials, and not by much.
The combination of a Core i7-8565U processor, 16GB of RAM, and a peppy 1TB PCIe SSD propels the XPS 13 into the upper echelon of productivity laptops. It doesn't come at the expense of bulk, either—the XPS 13 is one of the thinnest and lightest machines around.
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Realistically, no one is going to shop for an XPS 13 for the sole intent of playing games, nor should they—this is a work machine with integrated graphics, after all. That said, there is enough oomph in Intel's UHD Graphics 620 to blow off a little steam after turning in those spreadsheets and TPS reports.
This is represented in 3DMark, where the XPS 13 scored right where we would expect it to in both Cloud Gate and Sky Diver. If you want to fire up an eSports game and play at lower settings, you can muster that on this laptop. It's also worth checking Intel's Gameplay site where it lets you look up recommended settings for different games, specific to your processor.
As it pertains to the Core i7-8565U, Intel lists quite a few games with recommended settings. For example, Intel claims you can play NBA2K19 at 1280x720 with the settings on low. That's *ahem* fair game, just don't expect to play a title like Far Cry 5.
