Tech – the dell xps 12

With all this talk about phones, tablets, phablets, e-readers and cameras, even former cast members of TOWIE can feel a bit left out. That’s particularly the case with Dell. It has recently come under fire for being a predominately ‘PC’ company in an increasingly portable world. They’re a bit like the Arsenal of the tech world: lots of previous awards, and there was a time when they were the biggest around.

But an inability to budge, move or do anything other than what they’ve been doing has left them sliding down the table. We are not quite talking Hewlett-Pacard (Leeds United) but certainly Dell is not top dog. However, with products like this we could see a renaissance: this is the latest tablet/computer offering in the Ultrabook range and, we’ll admit, we were initially sceptical. The main reason for this suspicion is the potential for things to go wrong with the screen. Another issue was the fact that it needs to be folded back on itself to be used as a tablet. This can lead to problems when eating near the screen – and we don’t like machines influencing my eating habits.

However, leaving presumptuous screens to one side, we would thoroughly recommend this computer to anyone debating about a laptop. It got a mid-high range processor, decent screen size, very good RAM capacity, durable body. There are a few issues. The battery can’t be removed so when it’s gone its gone. There is no Ethernet cable to it is wireless only and in various tropical holiday destinations this is a real pain in the arse. However, if you are of a creative bent then this is right up your street as you can link with monitors for presentations and use some quite high spec software with surprising ease.

The Dell XPS 12 costs £1,049. For more information or to purchase visit dell.com

By Edward Hambro Rabben