Dell XPS 18 Review

This device is made to be a bit more rugged than your average desktop machine – on its back you've got a collection of bumpers and rubbery bits that'll allow this machine to sit as comfortably down flat against the table as it does sitting upright under its own power. It's backside works with two hefty kickstands that are coated with a soft plastic as well – bumps for nothing.

This computer does not come to the user in a box on it's own, mind you. You've also got a metal dock that can be plugged in with the same power cord that can power the computer separately. A multi-pin interface at the bottom of the computer connects to the dock, and the dock allows the computer to be a desktop machine, and it's adjustable in a big way, as well.

While the 18.4-inch monster of a Full HD resolution touchscreen panel can take care of your whole computing experience with Windows 8, you've also got the option of working with this machine's wireless keyboard and mouse as well. They're connected wirelessly from the moment you put the batteries in their bodies, and they're ready to last a long, long time before they need recharging – weeks, at least – good luck running them dry.

The computer itself weighs in at 5 pounds. That's not light, but it's certainly not unreasonable for a panel this large, especially when you consider the power it's working with. Have a peek at the innards of the model we're working with in the chart below, and note that this unit can work with up to a Core i7 processor from the 3rd generation of Intel's Core family – at the moment, that's as far as it'll go, too.

Also of note are Intel's HD GPU doing duty on the inside of this device. You're not going to be doing any massively powerful gaming on this machine – it's not a custom-built amalgamation of graphics power, of course, but everything save the newest generation of games will be rolling out well.

We play-tested the game Hawken to see how this device stood up to some first-person multiplayer mech action online, and it held up to the test – for the most part. We certainly didn't win any rounds for being slickest in battle, but the game was playable, at last.

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What you'll be using this machine for instead is massive presentations and media playback. The Dell XPS 18 works with stereo speakers on both the left and the right, and though – as always – we wish they were forward-facing, they've been more than loud enough to play movies at a comfortable volume in a bedroom-sized space.

This machine does not require a power cord to be plugged in at all times, making it one of the very few mobile computers of this power to be able to do so. While using this machine on a long-term basis without being plugged directly in to the wall isn't going to result in more than a few hours of up-time, especially if you're connected to and streaming video from the web, it's still neat to know you can.