Face off: Dell XPS 14z vs. MacBook Air

The challenge

Dell is about to unfold its IFA 2011 showcased XPS 14z laptop aiming at a direct clash against Apple MacBook Air. Its predecessor Dell XPS 15z has been battling against the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro. Launching a 14-inch XPS laptop, Dell obviously looks to locate its laptop in between the 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. In order to make it competitive with the Apple laptops, Dell has mounted Intel’s Core i5 and i7 processors. The American laptop builder has incorporated many more features and capabilities on its new model of the famous XPS lineup of laptops. Here we compare Dell XPS 14z with Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air.

Dell XPS 14z vs MacBook Air

Comparison attributes

CPU

Apple, in July 2011, upgraded its MacBook Air laptops with the Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. After the much-touted processor upgrade, the 11-inch MacBook Air sports 1.6 GHz (i5-2467M) dual-core Intel Core i5 and the 13-inch Air mounts 1.7 GHz (i5-2557M) dual-core Intel Core i5. You can also have a high-end version of the 13-inch with 1.8 GHz (i7-2677M) dual-core Intel Core i7 processor.

In fact, Dell has gone on to upgrade the CPU of its XPS 14z with the latest processors from Intel so as to take on Apple MacBook Airs. The new Dell laptop will have a 2.4GHz Core i5-2430M processor or a 2.8GHz Core i7-2640M dual-core processor, reports say.

Winner: It is not much easy to spot a winner from MacBook Air or Dell XPS 14z under the CPU parameter. Actually, both the laptops have essentially taken the recent upgrades so as to slot in Intel’s high performing processors. However, with the Intel dual core processors that can cloak at 2.4GHz to 2.8GHz, Dell XPS 14z makes some advantage over MacBook Air.

Operating system

Dell is to release its XPS 14z with Windows 7 operating system in China this week. The laptop will arrive in the U.S only in next two months. Analysts doubt that Dell will be then rolling out Windows 8 version of its Dell XPS 14z. Microsoft is set to uncover its Windows 8 this fall. In the meantime, Apple’s MacBook Air has the recent version of the company’s famous Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. Apple has, in fact, debuted its Mac OS Lion on the upgraded versions of MacBook Airs in July this year. Whatever it may be, the battle between MacBook Air and Dell XPS 14z will be something special if the latter gets Windows 8 by the year-end. A potential clash between Mac OS X Lion and Windows 8 will be a bit exciting.

Winner: To find a winner out of Mac OS X Lion and Windows 8 is a huge task, indeed. Apple removed the curtain from its latest Mac OS version at its Developers Conference showing off more than 250 fresh features. As Windows 8 is yet to realize, there is no meaning in finding a winner. But with Dell XPS 14z currently plays on Windows 7, we can doubtlessly count MacBook Air as the winner over the Dell laptop thanks to the feature-rich Mac OS 10.7 Lion.

Peripheral connections

It is certainly one feature that may give a plus point for MacBook Air, which is equipped with Intel’s hugely-celebrated Thunderbolt technology. There is no chance we can see Thunderbolt on Dell XPS 14z. Of course, some reports recently said Microsoft is to introduce Thunderbolt on its Windows computers from early next year. But Dell has not yet cleared whether it will have Thunderbolt on its upcoming MacBook Air rival. In addition, MacBook Air has 2 USB 2.0 ports, one 3.5 mm headphone jack and one SD card slot for memory expansion. In the meantime, Dell XPS 14z is reported to appear with a USB 3.0 port instead of Thunderbolt.

Winner: Without much deliberation, we might go on to state that MacBook Air wins over Dell XPS 14z when it comes peripheral connections. But the judgment is not as easy as we expected to be, because instead of Thunderbolt, Dell XPS 14z is to have USB 3.0, the chief rival of Thunderbolt. So there is less chance to have a dominant winner in this category. However, we can pick up MacBook Air as the winner because it is with the ground-breaking Thunderbolt technology.

The verdict

A comparison between Apple MacBook Air and the upcoming Dell XPS 14z does not make enough sense, however. It is because the devices play on separate operating systems, which have different sets of users. There seems to have less people who will leave either Windows or Mac OS for the other because of the single reason that there is a laptop with advanced tech specs. Yet, the battle is battle. Dell has indeed designed its XPS 14z with an aim to compete with Apple MacBook Air in the laptop market.