Dell XPS 15
Shares rank 37 of 63 laptops by recommenders
Owners say it handles everyday work well and some get long battery life. The most common caveats are trackpad failures, overheating, and battery swelling.
Owners say it handles everyday work well and some get long battery life. The most common caveats are trackpad failures, overheating, and battery swelling.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 12
- approval share
- 45%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 3.5 years
Median of the 7 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good for everyday tasks
“it's great as a computer for that floor of the house”
Comment from 25 Dec 2025 in “I'm returning my Framework 16” “which is perfectly usable”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “Better to Skip a Year for Hardware Upgrades?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Trackpad stopped working or stuck
“the battery got pregnant and made the trackpad stop working”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “Dell Admits It Made a Mistake When It Abandoned XPS” “it had a lot of issues over just ~3-4 years: issues with power connector, audio stopping working, touchpad issues”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “XPS 16 Creator Edition Laptop” “my top of the line XPS 15 had to be repaired twice due to a "stuck" trackpad issue”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “Dell Admits It Made a Mistake When It Abandoned XPS” Runs hot, poor thermals
“runs hot when I really use it, but it is otherwise fine”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “XPS 16 Creator Edition Laptop” “had a lot of issues: coil whine, bad camera placement, terrible thermals”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces MacBook Neo” Batteries swelling or failing
“I had two XPS 15's that had swelling batteries”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Dell's CES 2026 chat was the most pleasingly un-AI briefing I've had in 5 years” “it often comes out of my bag with no battery”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business” Build quality and reliability vary
“it had a lot of issues over just ~3-4 years: issues with power connector, audio stopping working, touchpad issues”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “XPS 16 Creator Edition Laptop” “I've had some issues with it resetting for no apparent reason over its life.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?” “I think it's a manufacturing defect and Dell just never admitted to it”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?” - Comment from 25 Dec 2025 in “I'm returning my Framework 16”
Other laptops people recommend
The four most recommended other laptops, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple MacBook Pro | 928 | 688 | 57% | 13 | 5 yrs248 owners | — |
| Apple MacBook Neo | 707 | 355 | 66% | 9 | 1 mo8 owners | — |
| MacBook Air | 633 | 209 | 75% | 12 | 5 yrs130 owners | Approved |
| Apple MacBook | 499 | 348 | 59% | 12 | 9 yrs77 owners | — |
| Dell XPS 15This page | 10 | 12 | 45% | 6 | 3.5 yrs7 owners | — |
What people said
21 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it had a lot of issues over just ~3-4 years: issues with power connector, audio stopping working, touchpad issues”
“runs hot when I really use it, but it is otherwise fine”
“it's even better than my previous Dell XPS 15”
“It’s not without its issues either.”
“You can buy a used, faster XPS 15 OLED 4K for literally $1000 less.”
“I regularly get 7-8 hours out of a charge whilst doing a mixture of tasks”
“had a lot of issues: coil whine, bad camera placement, terrible thermals”
“Dell XPS 17 was pretty good, but now they have weird keyboard.”
“which is perfectly usable”
“the XPS 15 at the time was a variant of it”
“my top of the line XPS 15 had to be repaired twice due to a "stuck" trackpad issue”
“the battery got pregnant and made the trackpad stop working”
“I had two XPS 15's that had swelling batteries”
“Complete garbage now, and at MBP price point too!”
“Dell build quality and longevity vary wildly.”
“it's great as a computer for that floor of the house”
“it often comes out of my bag with no battery”
“I think it's a manufacturing defect and Dell just never admitted to it”
“I think we have the exactly same problem with the Dell laptop”
“I've had some issues with it resetting for no apparent reason over its life.”
“tossed the wheezing XPS 15 aside”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.