The Dell XPS 15 laptop for 2012 wears L521X model name.
The XPS 15 L521X 0.91-inch thin aluminum notebook with a 15.6-inch screen competes against the HP Envy 6, MacBook Pro 15, and other thin and stylish laptops. It comes with the 3rd Generation Intel Core processors. The offered Ivy Bridge CPUs include the dual-core i5-3210M and quad-core i7-3612QM, with Passmark scores of 3,654 and 7,927 points, respectively. Graphics is displayed on a 15.6″ 1080p 350-nit display with edge-to-edge Gorilla glass, with help of Nvidia’s GT 630M or 640M dedicated video cards. The notebook has up to 1TB of traditional HDD storage and up to 16GB of RAM. The specs reveal that the laptop is offered with additional miniCard SSD with 32 – 128GB capacity for faster system boot ups and resumes, as well as a built-in DVD burner or Blu-ray combo drive. The battery used in the 2012 XPS 15 is a nine-cell 65WHr unit instead of a usual six-cell one, and the notebook also has optionally built-in Trusted Platform Module.
Regarding design, the Dell XPS 15 L521X is mostly covered with silver machined aluminum. It’s curiosity that silicon is used for the base of the notebook in order to provide a cooler operation. The soft-touch paint-topped palm rests are made of magnesium and the keyboard has black chiclet keys with backlight. The keyboard is spill-resistant, which is a plus and not so common on entertainment notebooks, and it’s accompanied by a glass touchpad with no physical click buttons.
Since it’s multimedia oriented, one would expect the L521X to have a premium sound system, but it comes with 2 x 2W stereo speakers only, with no subwoofer. However, Waves MaxxAudio 4 technology is there to enhance the sound.
The prices start at $1,300.
Dell XPS 15 L521X Specifications
- Display: 15.6-inch 1080p, 350-nit brightness, Truelife (glossy)
- Processor: 3rd Generation Intel Core i5-3210M (dual-core, 2.5-3.1GHz, 3MB cache) or i7-3612QM (quad-core, 2.1-3.1GHz, 6MB cache)
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GT 630M with 1GB GDDR5 VRAM or GT 640M with 2GB GDDR5 VRAM
- Memory: Up to 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory
- Storage: Up to 1TB hard drive at 5,400rpm or up to 750GB at 7,200rpm, miniCard SSD 32-128GB
- Optical Drive: DVD writer or Blu-ray Combo drive, slot-load
- Webcam: 1.3MP, dual array digital microphones
- Audio: Stereo speakers 2W x 2, Waves MaxxAudio 4
- Network: 802.11a/g/n wireless, Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth 4.0, Intel Wireless Display
- Input: Backlit chiclet-style spill-resistant keyboard; glass multi-touch trackpad
- Ports and Slots: 3 x USB 3.0, HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, 3-in-1 media card reader,
- Battery: 9-cell 65WHr Li-Polymer battery
- Dimensions: 0.91″ x 14.6″ x 9.8″
- Weight: Starting at 5.8 pounds
- OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
- Warranty: 1-year
The whole Dell XPS laptop line is oriented toward entertainment and multimedia use. The current generation of 15.6″ XPS notebooks include the standard-sized L502x and the XPS 15z with a 0.97″ thin profile.
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How about the 2012 version of xps 17. hmmm
I aggree, just bought this one to replace my xps 17m. Let me tell you my old xps 17m lived up to the xps name(xtreme performance system) this one dose not deserve the name! Right now you have to choose between 2 bios for the xps 15, A04, which gives you good gpu performance but poor cpu performance, or A06, which gives you good cpu performance but poor gpu performance. You CAN NOT run both CPU/GPU at their hardware specs. Also Dell told me I could get 6 hrs or so batt performance, well with the new bios your lucky to maybe get 4 hrs! Yea its a solid built machine and a good display but to many draw backs, dont even get me started on the Wi-Fi issues…