

I thought the audio of the XPS 27 was absolutely top-notch. Designed by the award-winning audio engineer Jack Joseph Puig, there are 10 speakers total—6 external speakers, as well as 4 more additional speakers hidden in the device. The system has four front drivers, two front tweeters, two down-firing full-range speakers, and two passive radiators. It’s quite the auditory experience. As far as input goes, I was also impressed by the far-field microphone array—it worked well with Cortana from across the room, like an Amazon Echo or Dot. The camera placement on the bottom of the display, frankly, left a lot to be desired, but I did appreciate the Windows Hello capability. I really enjoy this feature for easy logins.
The keyboard was overall pretty solid. With a full numeric keypad, it was much longer than others I had previously used; an appropriate size for my hands. The keys were smooth and punchy. The mouse had a visually intriguing, curved design, and worked well for all the tasks I used it for. Both the keyboard and the mouse were wireless and lightweight, which is very nice when you’re trying to clear space on your desk for other functions. I will say that I felt as though the keyboard didn’t quite live up to the “premium” feel of the rest of the device. I’d like to see Dell explore using metal versus plastic components—I think that might help. In addition, the keyboard and mouse both use AAA batteries, while most others on the market use some sort of rechargeable solution.
As for ports, the XPS boasts a pretty impressive selection of modern and legacy IO: a USB 3.0 port, SD card reader, and audio jack (all on the side), and a ThunderBolt 3 port over a USB-C, a 10/100/1000 Ethernet port, audio out, HDMI out, DisplayPort, and 4 USB 3.0 ports (all on the back of the device).
Room for improvement
As I say with all my reviews, there is always room for improvement as there are no perfect products. It is as important to recognize that there are trade-offs in any product’s design. While the things I liked about the XPS greatly outnumbered the things I didn’t, there are a few areas I would suggest improvement on. First off, the camera I mentioned earlier—the camera is placed on the bottom of the display. As a result, the photos and videos it takes are not flattering at all, because of the upward angle of the camera. I tried tilting the screen to fix the issue, but there was no away around it. In addition to that, the 720P webcam looks grainy. For a premium device, I expect a premium 1080P camera—especially for the price tag on the XPS.
The XPS 27 falls victim to the perennial problem of certain AIOs—poor port accessibility in the name of beauty. Only one of the four USB ports is located on the side; the rest are nearly impossible to access on the back of the device. I recommend putting the unit face-down on a pad or towel to plug items into it, but beware, it's heavy. It would be really nice to have at least two USB ports on the side, seeing as I often charge my phone and use a flash drive simultaneously. I also wish there was an HDMI-in port somewhere on the device—it would be nice to be able to have a guest hook up their laptop to the XPS’s killer display.
Lastly, while I appreciated the size of the keyboard, I thought some of the key selection was odd: three keys to do a screen capture the screen, but no way to increase/decrease brightness? Seems like a bit of an oversight to me and likely done to leverage a keyboard already in service.
Wrapping up
When all is said and done, I did enjoy this device and can recommend this AIO. The 4K touch display is remarkable, the Core i7 performance is solid, and the audio was great. Overall the keyboard and mouse worked well, even if I would prefer metal to plastic, and rechargeable batteries to AAA. Overall, the XPS offers a great combination of power, speed, and sound—if you love music, photos, and video streaming, and you can afford this price tag, this is the device for you.