 I really liked last year's version of the Dell XPS 15 with its great build quality and strong performance in almost every category. But has the 2017 model, the XPS 9560, been able to iterate on that and remain recommended a year later? Well, let's find out, shall we? We're opening up a new merch store! You can check out some of our new gear today at the link in the video description. Physically, the XPS 15 has hardly changed from the previous version. Not that that's the worst thing ever. The thin bezel, infinity edge screen is now bordered by glass instead of plastic, which is a nice touch. And overall, I can't complain about the clean look and solid feel of the XPS. Even if it's slightly thicker than some other professional laptops like Apple's latest MacBook Pro. Booting up the Dell XPS 15, the first thing that really struck me was how darn good the screen is. There are two versions available, 1080p and 4K, and both have excellent viewing angles and brightness. Our model sports a 4K screen capable of greater than the full Adobe RGB color space, and it's frankly amazing to look at. My usual complaints do stand. Windows and third-party applications still scale poorly from time to time, and higher resolution displays do negatively impact battery life. So if you don't have eagle eyes, you may want to consider a 1080p model, but it sure is nice to have the option. Text and icons are crazy sharp, making everything from using Word to reading articles to watching 4K video super easy on the eyes. Another nice touch... haha, touch, huh? Is that it's touch enabled. I regret opting for a non-touch configuration of the XPS 15 when I reviewed it last year, so glad we got that fixed this time around. I.O., for better or for worse, is basically unchanged. You get two USB 3.0 Type As, a Thunderbolt 3 port, which comes with all the wonderful capabilities that it does, including the ability to upgrade the XPS 15 with an external graphics card, in spite of Dell's warnings to the contrary, and to adapt it to run a 4K 60Hz display. You get a full-sized SD card reader and an HDMI 1.4 port, so enough to cover day-to-day needs and the ability to add a dongle if it doesn't. Leading us finally into something different... specs. It starts at $1000, with our config costing a little bit more, with a quad-core Core i7 processor that boosts up to 3.8 GHz in our experience, a fast NVMe SSD, and a GTX 1050 graphics card. General performance of the aforementioned hardware brings us back to things that haven't changed very much. Intel's latest Kaby-like processors are more about power savings, and battery life is pretty good in our standard test, than they are about faster, um, Excel spreadsheet processing. However, gaming is a different story if you're a casual gamer who wants a sexy, high-performance notebook. I mean, 4K ain't happening, but when bumped down to 1080p, which still looks quite sharp despite downscaling, the GTX 1050 handles AAA games pretty darn well. And even in our synthetic tests, temperatures remained acceptable, with the CPU leveling off around 82 and the GPU at 77 degrees. The fans did get a little loud, but they don't have that high-pitched noise that some other laptops do, and I was able to tune it out after a while. Moving on, the keyboard feels actually really solid, with no perceptible flex. The keystrokes have a nice travel and remain quiet, but not mushy sounding, and overall, the XPS 15 is great for typing, and doing up this review on it was a pleasure. The exclusion of a number pad will be a turn-off for some, but I understand the trade-off here. Compared to most 15-inch class notebooks, the thin bezels cut down on the overall X-dimension size of the device a lot, giving Dell only a couple of inches of space on either side. Below, we find the trackpad, which is excellent as well. It's got a surprisingly soft feel that makes navigating windows feel like you're gently touching a lover's leg, you know? It's like, mmm. Upgrades are easy-ish. Twelve screws, and you pop the bottom cover, allowing you to throw another drive into the two-and-a-half-inch bay. At least in the 57-watt-hour model, the one we have has that bay taken up by the massive 97-watt-hour battery, and you can also change out the memory if you're so inclined. We do have some constructive criticism, though. The wireless solution and windows don't seem to get along quite right at this time, although this was easily fixed by disabling some power management settings and a Windows service. And given how impressed we've been by recent Dell audio solutions, the speakers are surprisingly bad. I'm still unsure why they continued with the webcam placement on the bottom of the screen. When I'm on a Skype call, it looks like I'm staring off into space and placing my hand on the home row. Blocks the view of my lovely face. I mean, is it really that important that the Dell logo remains centered? This is a huge problem on an XPS-branded device that straddles the line between enthusiast and business, where being able to engage in conference calls is actually a daily occurrence. But with all those complaints aside, I enjoyed my time with the XPS 15, and I think the excellent screen, aluminum and carbon fiber construction, and great keyboard easily make up for its lame qualities. With our model coming in at two grand, it isn't exactly a budget laptop, but it does pack a mean punch for the money. As laptops trend towards being thinner while sacrificing performance and I.O., the XPS stands out for its focus on pragmatic performance and the inclusion of a proper GPU. Bottom line, though, the XPS 15 is a great option for basic use, professional tasks like video or photo editing, and even light gaming. Do you love anime? Do you want 30 days of free anime? Well, then you're in luck, because Crunchyroll is the site created by anime fans for anime fans. They offer the most current episodes of new shows straight from Japan, like Dragon Ball Super and Twinstar Exorcists, and all the content on their site is professionally subtitled. And if you use our link, which we will have below the video, you get a whole month of free anime, completely ad-free. That's right, you get to try their premium service for a month. 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