The new Dell XPS 13 is one of the best, most well designed laptops I’ve ever used, and with its gorgeous screen, weirdly small form factor and attention to detail, it’s a pleasure to use. Here’s what really jumped out in my evaluation…
I’ve owned a number of Dell computers over the years, including an early Dell XPS 15 computer, a fairly hefty laptop that clearly took a lot of its design cues from the popular MacBook series from Apple. Indeed, from a design perspective, Apple’s had the upper hand on laptops for at least the last decade and even with the Adamo series that Dell experimented with a few years ago, it proved darn difficult to convince PC buyers that it was worth paying more for sleek lines and thoughtful design.
There are other PC laptop manufacturers, of course, but Dell has always been the industry leader in development, design and sales with its bewildering array of different Windows systems, ranging from the ultra-cheap to the most powerful gaming machines for customers who are willing to pay whatever it takes to get the very best of everything.
Finally with the Dell XPS 13 the company has taken the lead in laptop design. The most striking feature is the gorgeous “infinity display” with its amazingly tiny 5.2mm bezel around the edge of the glass, but there’s a lot more that marks the XPS 13 as a truly new type of laptop for the PC industry.
Let’s stick with the screen for a minute though, because by creating a laptop with such a tiny bezel they’ve basically managed to squeeze a 13-inch laptop into an 11-inch form factor. Consider just how much smaller the XPS 13 is when compared to my MacBook Pro, a computer with a screen only 2-inches larger diagonally (as shown on right).
The screen has a wide-angle view and a resolution of 3200 x 1800 pixels with a capacitive touch screen that doesn’t dim the eye-popping color in any way. Dell calls the display a Quad HD+ system and with its 5.7 million pixels, it’s over 4 million more pixels than the 13-inch MacBook Air with HD+. If you’re counting.
The display system is driven by an Intel 5500 graphics system, with a stunning 1000:1 contrast ratio at 400-nits. (don’t worry, I didn’t know what “nits” were until I started reading up on the specs either. Turns out they’re a measure of brightness and more is better).
Notice the tiny bezel on the photo, above, and the comparison of the unit to the pint glass of café latté to its left. This is the XPS 13 in my native environment, a coffee shop. And it works great with its 10+ hour battery life.
Note: there’s much debate in the industry about exactly what the battery life of the XPS 13 is in the field. Dell says that it’s up to 15 hours, but most people see about 30% less. Still, 10 hours? That’s a keeper.
One of the drawbacks of a lot of ultraslim laptops is that ports and plugs seem to be discarded to save weight and simplify the board and chassis design. Here’s what’s included in the XPS 13:
As you can see, it’s a power adapter plug, a mini display port plug, USB 3.0 with PowerShare, headset jack and battery gauge button and indicator. The right side of the unit is a bit less exciting, but important nonetheless:
Here you can see the SD Card reader slot, another USB 3.0 plug with PowerShare and a lock slot.
Keep in mind that all of this is in an aluminum Windows 8.1 laptop that’s 2.8 pounds and measures a max of 0.6 x 11.98 x 7.88 inches. It’s so small and light that it’s more like carrying a paper notebook than dragging along a brick. In fact, it’s the smallest 13-inch laptop you can buy anywhere, from any company. Nice.
There are a number of different processors you can choose for the XPS 13 too, ranging from an Intel 5th Generation i3-5010U with 3M cache running at 2.1GHz up to a screamin’ Intel i7-5600U with 4M cache running at 3.2GHz. In my experience with an i5-5200U unit with 8GB of RAM the performance was more than sufficient to keep up with anything I did, whether it was streaming video full screen off Netflix, launching various apps or indexing a Word document.
What most impressed me with the XPS 13 is the incredible attention to detail. For example, flip the unit over and there’s a metal flap on the bottom with “XPS” etched on it. Flip it up and you have all the ugly service tag and serial number info:
Even more impressive, the power adapter for the Dell XPS 13 is the sleekest, smallest, sexiest one I’ve ever seen from any manufacturer, making the clunky Apple ones look like they’re a few generations behind the curve. Check it out:
Look at the size of the power plug prongs for scale. And realize that it has a recessed power plug. Very, very nice particularly if you’re used to carrying around a brick to keep your PC laptop running when its battery gives up the ghost.
Which leads us to the big question: How much?
As with every laptop, there are a range of configurations and a ton of accessories you can purchase, including an adapter to use HDMI, VGA, Ethernet and USB 2.0 through the USB 3.0 plug and really nice custom sleeves and even a backpack designed just for this unit and its peripherals. The base configuration without the touch screen is $799, though you can configure it with the very best of everything and be facing a $1299 bill.
But for that price tag you’ll be buying the best designed and most enjoyable and aesthetic laptop on the market. Even when the Dell XPS 13 is compared to MacBook systems from Apple.
As for me, I’m still getting the hang of a sleek, light Windows laptop with a touch screen and it makes me cranky that all my other laptops — I’m looking at you, Apple! — don’t have a similar design…
Disclaimer: Dell sent us an XPS 13 for the purposes of this review. I’m also a member of the Dell’s Inside Circle program. Now you know.
Amazing – I’ve bought XPS yesterday, but didn’t realize that there is hidden service-tag! 🙂
I just bought the XPS 13 from the Microsoft Store. The Adapter I got was 45w but did NOT have the flip-out plug and isn’t that tiny. I spoke with Dell and they claim they don’t even have that as an after-market. They have a 65w one that weighs .75lbs. You are the second reviewer to mention this plug. Why didn’t I get it?
That’s very strange, Mark. Hmm… I got mine through a Dell PR project so perhaps this particular slim power adapter never shipped to customers? That’s a real drag!
Dave, thanks for the review. I want a lightweight laptop to take on a bicycle tour, so the weight of the power adaptor is important as well as the laptop itself.
How much does the adaptor weigh?
Thanks
Chris, the power adapter is crazy small and light, the smallest I’ve ever seen for any laptop device. You can easily pop it into your pocket if need be.