If you're shopping on the Dell website, if you click "Customize & Buy" on a particular XPS configuration, the battery spec will be shown in the "Also included in this system" list displayed below the various configuration options, so it's easy to tell whether your build includes the 3-cell 56 WHr battery or 6-cell 97 WHr battery.

If you're shopping somewhere else, then your understanding isn't quite correct.  The 4K version does indeed seem to always come with the larger battery, probably because it substantially increases battery consumption compared to FHD -- so take that into consideration, along with the negative impacts on thickness, weight, visibility of the glossy finish vs. the FHD's matte anti-glare surface, etc.  However, the FHD version can go either way on the battery, so be careful.  Not all XPS 15 systems come with an M.2 drive, and the M.2 drive isn't quite a reliable indicator anyway.  Here's how it works.  If the system comes with a 1TB SSHD 2.5" drive installed, then it will definitely have the smaller battery, because the larger battery requires the same space inside the chassis that would be used for a 2.5" drive.  You can't have both at the same time.  However, if the system does NOT have a 1TB 2.5" drive installed, i.e. it has ONLY an M.2 drive, then in some builds it might STILL come with the smaller battery.  I was able to choose a configuration like that just now on the US website -- so again, check the battery spec in the place I mentioned above when you're ordering.  Previous XPS 15 generations could be ordered with both a spinning hard drive and a small M.2 SSD cache acceleration module, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore, and obviously those systems would always have the smaller battery.

In terms of your question about performance difference, a few notes about that too:
- When you say "standard SSD", if you mean 2.5" SSD, the XPS 15 isn't even offered with those, fyi.  The 1TB "Solid State Hybrid Drive" is a 2.5" spinning hard drive with a built-in SSD cache, NOT a full SSD.  All other storage options are M.2 SSDs.
- In terms of M.2 SSDs, those are broken up into M.2 SATA SSDs and M.2 NVMe SSDs.  M.2 SATA SSDs use SATA just like 2.5" SSDs, so they would perform the same as an equivalent 2.5" SSD.  The M.2 slot itself does not make a given SATA-based SSD faster or slower.  However, M.2 NVMe SSDs are a whole other story.  Whereas SATA SSDs are limited to around 550 MB/s sequential read and write speeds, some NVMe SSDs today can exceed 3 GB/s.  All of the M.2 drives offered on the XPS 15 are NVMe, fyi.

@jphughan thanks for taking the time of providing an excellent overview and response to all my questions

I am going to take your various point to see if I can figure out which model I am purchasing :)

I am indeed going to purchase from Dell website ( https://www.dell.com/it-it/shop/ ). The model I've identified is a standard configuration, 15 inch, 512GB 16GB ram FHD i7 (but I see no difference with i9 model - as far the below observations go. And all product pages look the same [aside from which resolution, processor, OS, ram, ssd, gpu])

> Customize & Buy

As a matter of fact I've tried to click on that (I'm on the Italian version of the webiste, but I assume the only difference is the language) and I see << Dimensioni e peso Altezza: 11-17mm (0,45-0,66") | 2. Larghezza: 357 mm (14,06") | 3. Profondità: 235 mm (9,27") | Peso iniziale: 1,8 kg (4 libbre)* con batteria da 56 Wh, unità a stato solido e display non sensibile al tocco; peso iniziale: 2kg (4,5 libbre)* con batteria da 97 Wh, unità a stato solido e display sensibile al tocco>>.

Summarizing  that in English: 1.8Kg with 56W with SSD and no-touch ; 2kg with 97W, SSD and touch.

From this, I would assume I am forced to buy the touch 4K model (I assume there is no such model as touch FHD?). However, If I go Amazon UK the same model (4K, but 13 inch) seems to have a 4-cell (not even 3- or 6-cell) https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R2AZOOKJW4D16U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07G3KBFSJ. So, confusing. Is it because it's the 13 inch model? (As a reminder, I am researching the 15 inch one)  ==> Edit: judging from the official shop, it does seem the case indeed (4-cell for XPS 13. the other specs being the same)

> All of the M.2 drives offered on the XPS 15 are NVMe, fyi

The product page says << Unità a stato solido PCIe M.2 2280 da 512 GB >> , which in English mean SSD PCIe M.2 2280. Based on your statement it should be a NVMe, >= 3Gh/s . Is that correct?

Thanks again. The help is greatly appreciated

Happy to help!  I'll see if I can help a bit further, especially because I just went to the Dell Italy page and I see the problem.

First, just to clarify, the XPS 15 9570 generation has two battery options: 3-cell 56 WHr, and 6-cell 97 WHr.  The WHr rating is a more precise indication of true capacity than number of cells.  So even if the system configuration you select doesn't specify both cell count and WHr rating, as you long as you can see one or the other, you'll know which battery you're getting.

I just went to the Dell Italy site, and I'm looking at this page that shows available XPS 15 configurations in the Home store.  Toward the bottom of the configuration summary table, I see a row called "Batteria principale", with some system configurations showing "A 6 celle integrata da 97 Wh" and others showing "A 3 celle integrata da 56 Wh".  There are 10 available system configurations on that page -- only 4 are shown at a time, but you can click the "Avanti" button in the top-right corner of the table to see more.  Out of those 10 configurations, I can see 3 that come with the regular FHD display and the larger battery.  However, I also see that AFTER you select one of those configurations, the personalization page does not display the battery information anymore!  On the Dell US site, the area where you see "Anche incluso in questo sistema" includes battery information, but for some reason that is not shown on the Italy site.  I don't know why.  But hopefully being able to see the battery information before you click on a configuration to personalize it will help you.

You're correct, there is no FHD touch.  There is an FHD non-touch display that has an anti-glare matte coating, and then a 4K touch display that has a glossy coating.

Yes, a PCIe SSD and NVMe SSD are the same thing.  In terms of whether you will actually get 3 GB/s performance, that is not technically guaranteed.  Some recent NVMe SSDs offer that type of performance, but not ALL of them do, so it will depend on what Dell installs.  But any NVMe SSD will be significantly faster than the 1TB hybrid drive or even a SATA SSD.

Lastly, there is indeed a separate XPS 13 model with a 13" display and a smaller battery, but the other specs are NOT the same.  They are very different systems.  The XPS 13 uses lower performance Intel U Series CPUs, whereas the XPS 15 uses the higher performance H Series CPUs.  The XPS 13 is not available with an NVIDIA GPU, which is an option on the XPS 15.  Those differences are partly why the XPS 13 is able to use a smaller battery and often still achieve longer battery life.  Also, the XPS 13 has a very different port selection compared to the XPS 15.

Hopefully this information helps you find the configuration you want!

thanks again for the answer and sorry for the delayed follow up.

I can't really see "batteria principale" in the summary page (I just see they show 2 different battery types based on the laptop's weight). Am I looking at the wrong place? (I just went to the link you suggested)

Going to the "products for work" (which are basically the same, except they don't include VAT - https://www.dell.com/it-it/work/shop/notebook-dell/notebook-xps-15/spd/xps-15-9570-laptop/bnx97003 FHD & https://www.dell.com/it-it/work/shop/notebook-dell/notebook-xps-15/spd/xps-15-9570-laptop/bnx97005 UHD) I can't indeed see any information on the battery

I do indeed see "primary battery" in the US store ( https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/cty/pdp/spd/xps-15-9570-laptop/smx15w10p1c1608 )

Can I ultimately assume that https://www.dell.com/it-it/work/shop/notebook-dell/notebook-xps-15/spd/xps-15-9570-laptop/bnx97003 [Italian shop] and https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/cty/pdp/spd/xps-15-9570-laptop/smx15w10p1c1608 [US shop] come with the same battery (97w) , being that they have the very same specs (and same price assuming 1 eur = 1 usd - and excluding EU VAT)?

Had the same question and found a (satisfying) answer ;)

Select the laptops, put them in your basket and on the checkout page you can check the laptop specs again with the actual battery size for each model.

Hi,

Looking for some information about the battery in the Dell XPS 15, I found this thread. I have another question: If I get an XPS 15 with the small 3 cell battery, can I simply pop in an extra 2.5" SSHD? Is the XPS 15 provided with the connector for the SATA drive, out of the box?

Thanks.

Roy

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@Foolsgolds wrote:

Hi,

Looking for some information about the battery in the Dell XPS 15, I found this thread. I have another question: If I get an XPS 15 with the small 3 cell battery, can I simply pop in an extra 2.5" SSHD? Is the XPS 15 provided with the connector for the SATA drive, out of the box?

Thanks.

Roy

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Unless things have changed for the 9570 compared to previous XPS 15 generations, no that would not be possible.  You would have to buy an HDD bracket and a SATA ribbon cable.  Both can be obtained through Dell Spare Parts, though.