Dell has accidentally published near-final specifications of its upcoming XPS 15 notebook due to be released early next year. The Dell XPS 15 computers are designed for performance-demanding users seeking near bezel-less laptops with above-average performance at a moderate price with a plenty of upgrade options. The new XPS 15 9560 will receive Intel’s Kaby Lake processor, NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1050-series graphics as well as some other optional upgrades not available on current-gen, but will retain the internal architecture and external design.

According to the listing (now removed from the website) Dell’s upcoming XPS 15 9560 notebook will use either a dual-core Intel Core i3-7100HQ, a quad-core Core i5-7300HQ or a quad-core Core i7-7700HQ CPU. The aforementioned chips are not yet formally announced, but it is known that they are based on the Kaby Lake microarchitecture and will thus offer improved performance compared to predecessors due to higher frequencies, Speed Shift v2 technology and other refinements. For those who opt for iGPU rather than a discrete model it is important to note that the Kaby Lake CPUs also has an improved video encoding/decoding engine.

The next key enhancement of the XPS 15 9560 over the current-generation XPS 9550 will be NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1050 GPU with up to 4 GB of GDDR5 memory. NVIDIA has yet has to announce a mobile version of the GeForce GTX 1050, but it is highly likely that the product is based on the GP107 GPU featuring the Pascal architecture and up to 768 stream processors, similar to the desktop version. The new graphics chip should offer a decent performance upgrade when compared to the GeForce GTX 960M used in the current-gen XPS 15. Meanwhile for those planning to play demanding games it makes sense to look at the GeForce GTX 1060 or 1070, which means the Alienware 15.

Since the new Dell XPS 15 9560 will retain the chassis of its predecessor, it will support similar InfinityEdge 15.6” display panels: an IPS FHD (1920×1080) or an IGZO UHD (3840×2160) with 100% AdobeRGB color gamut and touch support. Physical dimensions of the unit also remain intact with the predecessor: it weighs around 1.8 kilograms and is up to 17 mm thick.

For storage, the new Dell XPS 15 will use either Seagate’s SSHDs or PCIe SSDs with up to 1 TB capacity. Meanwhile, due to improvements of Kaby Lake’s memory controller, the new laptops should be compatible with DDR4-2400 memory, offering an additional performance boost over DDR4-2133 used today.

As for connectivity, the XPS 9550 uses Rivet Networks' Killer 1535 802.11 2×2 Wi-Fi + BT 4.1 controller, has one Thunderbolt 3/USB 3.1 Type-C port, two USB 2.0 headers, an HDMI output, a 720p webcam and an SD card reader, which essentially means that there is nothing for the XPS 9560 to upgrade here (at least, not without a major redesign of the whole PC). However, since the XPS machines are often used like workstations, Dell decided to add a fingerprint reader with Windows Hello support as an option.

Since Dell has already taken down the XPS 9560 product page (technically, it is there, but without any data), so prices and exact final configurations / availability dates remain under wraps. Still, being a close partner of Intel and NVIDIA, Dell is typically among one of the first to release PCs based on the new CPUs/GPUs. Therefore we expect the new systems to arrive shortly after CES in the usual XPS 15 price range that starts at $999 and ends at ~$2500 for high-end models.

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Sources: PCMag, WindowsCentral.

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  • perseid - Saturday, December 24, 2016 - link

    I have both a USB3 and USBC to ethernet adapters, bought them from Amazon Basics and work perfectly, and arenot bulky at all, easy to travel with. I also use a mouse and external wireless keyboard. I do this both with the 9550 and windows tablets that I've used, nothing replaces the comfort of a desktop experience with mobile devices.
  • Spunjji - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link

    They took out all the other ports, though, so I wouldn't call their approach "doing it right".
  • ddriver - Friday, December 23, 2016 - link

    Yeah because the lack of wired network for an ultra portable device is such a hindrance LOL. But let's be honest, you'd never buy it even if it had an ethernet port.

    "I don't like wasting other ports or having cables stick out of my laptop" - thus you want an ethernet port to have an ethernet cable sticking out.

    Nice try LOL, now move along.
  • vladx - Friday, December 23, 2016 - link

    Lol stfu everyone knows you're the biggest troll around here.
  • ddriver - Friday, December 23, 2016 - link

    The difference is I never get caught with my pants down, making illogical, pointless or contradictory statements. It is only clueless trolls that could consider me a troll, but that has only got to do with their own issues. Pretty much the default and only response an idiot has to being proven to be an idiot - "You are an idiot!". Like that ever worked LOL.
  • lazarpandar - Saturday, December 24, 2016 - link

    You're the biggest troll in this thread tho, vladx
  • ajp_anton - Saturday, December 24, 2016 - link

    At some point, when USB-C chargers become more wirely used, I hope the charger blocks start to include extra USB ports (to charge phones while being connected to the computer) as well as ethernet, which then connect to the laptop via USB 3.1 while charging.
  • Michael Bay - Monday, December 26, 2016 - link

    Charger as a dock station of sot could be nice, but it would also go against the trend of chargers getting smaller and that unification thing already happening on phones.
  • Flying Aardvark - Friday, December 30, 2016 - link

    Your reason for passing is definitely different from mine. I'm passing because it has a lot of useless ports. I want all USB-C that support DisplayPort/HDMI/TB3/USB3.1 with no adapters, just straight through cables like the new MBPs support. Rather than ports I won't use like HDMI, I'd rather have 4+ USB-C that support most protocols.
  • Magichands8 - Friday, December 23, 2016 - link

    I have absolutely no interest in this as they haven't done anything to improve the key travel. The fact that this matches the same dimensions of the prior model tells me they don't even know what the problem is.

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