The strength of Octave’s CM II is its industrial-strength copying features. These include integrity testing, simulating data onto a disc before copying and comparing two discs after they are copied to ensure consistency. There are other utilities that let you scan a disc for content, such as counting the number of tracks on an audio CD. The ability to partition the mammoth 160 GB hard drive is a useful and important function as you are likely to load and copy the contents of various CDs and you may want to refer to them in the future. As with any hardware that allows you to load and store data on a persistent storage disc, it is important to provide a certain degree of security via password protection, the CM II does not fail in this regard. The managed account utility also allows you to give different users access to the data, by an administration utility of profiles and passwords. However you are not able to audit usage via user logs of copied or deleted data. If there is a way to do this then you most certainly would not be able to view the logs on the low resolution LCD screen. It is an interface you would more likely see on an old HP Laser printer rather than the graphic intensive configuration panels on the latest Xerox machines.

The Octave CM II and its different varieties with more or less bays (1-11 drives in addition to the Master drive) would be good for an up and coming artist wanting to distribute batches of their work or for distributing promotional documents or software. Enhancing the user interface is a must if the CM II wants to be part be part of the 21st century. Burning labels on the face of the discs would also remove the need for another device. These features are a necessity in justifying the redundantly large size of the case, as it is deeper than most tower PC cases. I was also quite disappointed at the lack of a user manual. Like most tech geeks, I prefer to figure out gadgets myself through an intuitive design but I would at least expect a copy of the manual available on Octave’s product website. The frustrations of a technophile do not alter the fact that the CM II performs its core competencies extremely well and effectively and this reliability factor will give it a strong argument for its industrial use as well.

The best part of the laptop is the screen. While the screen measures in at 13.3 inches diagonally, the laptop is almost 1 inch shorter than a MacBook Air 13 inch in height when closed, even narrower by just under half an inch. Dell is able to do this by using a much thinner border surrounding the screen. With a lightweight feel of almost 3 lbs., this allows the Dell XPS 13 to be extremely convenient and mobile.

We were quite disappointed with the size of the mouse pad. We have seen laptops have a large mouse pad section for a number of years now and unfortunately the XPS 13’s mouse pad measures at a below average 4 inches diagonally. In comparison, the MacBook Air’s is 5 inches. It turned out to be quite uncomfortable after a number of hours using a small area. Similar to most laptops on the market now, you can click the whole mouse pad rather than clicking at the bottom. Dell made the click less towards the top, so you will feel uncomfortable clicking anywhere near the top section of the mouse pad.

With a small footprint, the Dell XPS 13 does not include a few features. The subpar battery cannot be removed. This may be an issue as our unit did not last long in comparison to other laptops. Also, a few features missing include no CD/DVD Drive, HDMI port, or SD card slot. For some people the lack of these features may be a deal breaker. On the left side, the laptop includes the charging port, a USB slot, and a headphone jack. On the right side it has a mini Display-Port, a USB slot, and a battery meter. Overall, 2 USB slots may not be enough, especially if you are using an external mouse leaving you with one other USB slot.

After spending some time with the Dell XPS 13 we had a very positive outlook. The Dell XPS 13 is a strong competitor on the market if you are looking for a lightweight, durable, and portable laptop that can be used anywhere. We strive for perfection, and although the Dell XPS 13 is not there yet, it’s certainly the closest Ultrabook in our eyes.