It's the day after Memorial Day, and there are a lot of deals still available at Dell. Many of which can save hundreds of dollars on the PC maker's top-rated laptops.

That’s the case with the Dell XPS 13, which is on sale at Dell for $1,059. That's more than $400 off the regular $1,499 price. This Dell XPS 13 has a Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 13.4-inch, FHD+ 1920 x 1200, 120Hz, 500-nit display.

In our Dell XPS 13 9345 (Snapdragon X Elite) review, the laptop won us over with its combination of strong performance, bright display, a 1080p webcam, and an incredible battery life.

Our Laptop Mag battery test found that the Dell XPS 13 lasted an average of 19 hours and 1 minute. That outperformed the MacBook Air, the Zenbook 14, the Spectre x360, and the average premium laptop.

This makes the Dell XPS 13 one of the best Windows laptops for working completely on the go.

Today's best Dell XPS 13 deal

Here at Laptop Mag, our passion is laptops, and if you missed October Prime Day, don't worry we are here to help you get the very best deal on one of our favorite laptops.

Whether you're looking for a high-end gaming laptop, a powerful content creator laptop, an everyday productivity companion, a 2-in-1 convertible, or a wallet-friendly Chromebook, we've collected the absolute best deals available on laptops of all types.

We've leveraged our collective knowledge of laptops to make this list so you can be sure you're getting a quality machine, no matter your budget.

So, let's get into the roundup of the 15 best laptop deals still available after Prime Day, but don't wait too long, as these deals are expected to end soon.

Here are our 17 best October Prime Day picks

Top Chromebook deals

Top ultra-thin laptop deals

Top 2-in-1 laptop deals

Top gaming laptop deals

Top Workstation and creator laptop deals

I've reviewed, tested, and poked around at over 40 laptops this year alone. So, when I was asked to put together my personal list of the best Prime Big Deals Day laptops, I leveraged that experience to give you the best of the best.

Of course, not everyone has a laptop slush fund waiting to be spent this October, so I've included picks at multiple price ranges, from budget Chromebooks to high-end gaming laptops. And even a MacBook or two for your Apple fans.

So, without further ado, these are my top 10 Prime Big Deals Day laptop deals.

Here are my personal top 10 Prime Big Deals Day picks

Top Chromebook deals

Top ultra-thin laptop deals

Top 2-in-1 laptop deals

Top gaming laptop deals

It's a rare opportunity to get almost perfectly identical laptops with different processors, so when we got the Dell XPS 13 (9350) with Intel's new Core Ultra 7 258V "Lunar Lake" processor, we just had to pit it against the XPS 13 (9345) with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite XIE-80-100 chipset. It's the closest to a complete silicon head-to-head we can get with a face-off since the XPS 13 chassis and FHD display are the same across both units.

While this face-off won't end the whole Intel vs. Qualcomm debate, it does offer something close to an apples-to-apples comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of both systems. And that's the kind of granular processor comparison that I live for.

Let's get into it, shall we?

Dell XPS 13 (9350) vs Dell XPS 13 (9345): Price and configurations

The Dell XPS 13 (9350) has one configuration available right now. The base configuration costs $1,399 and features an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor with integrated Intel Arc graphics, an Intel AI Boost NPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, a 13.4-inch non-touch FHD (1920 x 1200) display, and Windows 11 Home. You can also custom-order an XPS 13 (9350) with up to 2TB of SSD storage, a 13.4-inch 3K (2880 x 1800) OLED display, and Windows 11 Pro for a maximum price of $2,059.

Dell will also be offering 32GB configuration models of the XPS 13 (9350) starting on October 15. For $1,599, you can upgrade to an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, 32GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, a 13.4-inch non-touch FHD display, and Windows 11 Home. For $1,899, you can upgrade that version to a 13.4-inch 3K (2,880 x 1,800) Tandem OLED display. Additional storage and memory options with the 32GB models will be available, but pricing is not confirmed.

The Dell XPS 13 (9345) offers four configuration options. The starting configuration costs $1,199 for a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite XIE-80-100 processor with integrated Qualcomm Adreno graphics, a Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, a 13.4-inch non-touch FHD (1920 x 1200) display, and Windows 11 Home. Upgrading to 3 GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD costs $1,499. Upgrading to a 13.4-inch 3K (2880 x 1800) OLED display and Windows 11 Pro costs $1,859. Alternatively, you can order a custom XPS 13 configuration with up to 64GB of RAM, 2TB of SSD storage, a 13.4-inch 3K OLED display, and Windows 11 Pro for a maximum cost of $2,459.

While the Qualcomm XPS 13 (9345) currently has more configuration options, the XPS 13 (9350) with Intel Lunar Lake will soon have more. It is the first laptop to implement a tandem OLED display. However, the Qualcomm version has a lower starting price, so this category feels like a draw.

Winner: Draw

Dell XPS 13 (9350) vs Dell XPS 13 (9345): Design

The chassis on both XPS 13 units is identical. While I'm not the biggest fan of Dell's most recent XPS design with the InfinityEdge bezels, tightly packed keyboard, invisible touchpad, and lack of discrete function-row keys, I will admit the sci-fi touches have a certain charm.

Since the Intel-based XPS 13 (9350) and Qualcomm-powered XPS 13 (9345) have identical designs, this one is a clear draw.

Winner: Draw

Dell XPS 13 (9350) vs Dell XPS 13 (9345): Display

We do have information on the tandem-OLED model of the Intel XPS 13 (9350), while we don't have information on the OLED model of the Qualcomm XPS 13 (9345), so for the sake of determining this category's winner, I will focus on the FHD panel options.

That said, the XPS 13 (9350) tandem OLED covers an astounding 144.6% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and hits a peak brightness of 377 nits with an HDR max brightness of 513 nits on a 10% HDR pattern. That's a pretty impressive display and the option you'd want to opt for if you need a bright, vibrant display panel.

However, even with the FHD displays, the Intel XPS 13 (9350) has an advantage. The Intel XPS 13 covers 69.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut compared to the Qualcomm Snapdragon XPS 13 (9345)'s 66.9% coverage. It's not a huge difference, but it is just a bit more vibrant. The Snapdragon XPS 13 only has the lead on peak brightness, hitting 455 nits compared to the Intel XPS 13's 357 nit maximum.

That said, when it comes to the FHD display models, 69.9% gamut volume coverage isn't that much better than 66.9% gamut volume coverage. Both are washed-out, and while the Snapdragon XPS 13 (9345) has a brighter display, the XPS 13 (9350) with a tandem OLED display panel has a clear advantage on both vibrancy and brightness.

But in an FHD-to-FHD display comparison, there is no real winner. There are just disappointingly bad LCD panels on both sides.

Winner: Draw

Dell XPS 13 (9350) vs Dell XPS 13 (9345): Performance

Both XPS 13s held up well in our hands-on performance testing, tackling daily workloads like 20+ Chrome tabs, running multiple programs simultaneously, and streaming audio. However, they do have a pretty significant difference in performance benchmarks.

On the Geekbench 6 cross-platform CPU benchmark, the Intel XPS 13 (9350) averaged a single-core score of 2,660 and a multicore score of 10,846. The Snapdragon XPS 13 (9345) averaged a single-core score of 2,797 and a multicore score of 14,635. So, in pure CPU performance, the Snapdragon XIE-80-100 had a clear edge over the Core Ultra 7 258V.

On our Handbrake video encoding test, the Intel XPS 13 (9350) took 8 minutes and 17 seconds to compress the 4K version of "Tears of Steel" into a 1080p 30fps format, while the Qualcomm XPS 13 (9345) took just 4:41.

On the Laptop Mag file transfer test, the Intel XPS 13 (9350) took 17.5 seconds to copy a 25GB multi-media file for a transfer rate of 1,534 MBps. The Qualcomm XPS 13 was a bit slower, completing the copy in 20 seconds for a transfer rate of 1,342 MBps.

Intel Lunar Lake does have a multicore performance hit in favor of increased power efficiency, which means the Snapdragon X Elite XPS 13 (9345) has a clear performance advantage here. 

Most users will not notice the difference between a Geekbench 6 multicore score of 10,846 and a Geekbench multicore score of 14,635. However, the gap between the Intel XPS 13's multicore performance and the Qualcomm XPS 13's multicore performance is significant enough to give Qualcomm the win.

Winner: XPS 13 (9345) Qualcomm

Dell XPS 13 (9350) vs Dell XPS 13 (9345): AI Performance

While we have AI Performance benchmarks, AI performance can be challenging to judge. Both laptops feature a dedicated NPU with at least 40 TOPS (trillions of operations per second), but there's a negligible difference between Intel's 48 TOPS AI Boost NPU and Qualcomm's 45 TOPS Hexagon NPU.

Additionally, only a handful of AI workloads target just the NPU, so plenty of on-device AI tasks will still use the CPU and GPU to assist. This is why Intel's "120 TOPS" metric for the Lunar Lake chipset makes sense, as the silicon hits 120 TOPS across the CPU, NPU, and integrated GPU.

On the Geekbench AI CPU Full Precision benchmark, the Intel XPS 13 (9350) performed just a bit better than the Qualcomm model, with a score of 2,292, compared to the XPS 13 (9345)'s 2,069 scores.

On the Geekbench AI NPU Single Precision benchmark, the Intel XPS 13 (9350) performed well above the Snapdragon model, scoring 18,387. The Qualcomm XPS 13 (9345) averaged a score of 2,173.

However, different AI workloads use different precision models: Single Precision, Half-Precision, and Quantized. Intel still has a slight lead over Qualcomm on the Quantized NPU performance, with an average score of 25,562 compared to the Snapdragon X Elite XPS 13's 22,182 score.

While the XPS 13 (9345) with Qualcomm Snapdragon currently has exclusive access to Microsoft's Copilot+ AI suite, the Intel-based XPS 13 (9350) will soon be part of the Copilot+ ecosystem, so that's not a compelling reason to opt for the Snapdragon XPS over the Intel version.

Winner: XPS 13 (9350) Intel

Dell XPS 13 (9350) vs Dell XPS 13 (9345): Gaming and graphics

None of the three XPS 13 laptops we got into the office are gaming machines. They have integrated graphics cards and could handle some light gaming at 1080p and Medium settings, but they won't replace a dedicated gaming machine by any metric.

On the 3DMark Time Spy Direct X 12 gaming benchmark, the Intel XPS 13 (9350) FHD model averaged a 4,016 score while the Qualcomm XPS 13 (9345) FHD averaged a score of just 1,925.

On the Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm graphics benchmark at 1080p resolution and Medium settings, the XPS 13 (9350) FHD model averaged a frame rate of 51fsp, while the XPS 13 (345) averaged just 22fps.

We did test the XPS 13 (9350) on the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark at 1080p and Medium settings and got a frame-rate average of 21fps. We did not run the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-powered XPS 13 on the Tomb Raider benchmark considering its low frame rate on the Civ VI benchmark.

While none of the three XPS laptops can replace a gaming laptop, if you want to do some light, casual gaming on your thin and light ultrabook, the Intel Lunar Lake model XPS 13 (9350) has a clear advantage over the Qualcomm processor.

Winner: XPS 13 (9350) Intel

Dell XPS 13 (9350) vs Dell XPS 13 (9345): Battery life

Both FHD Dell XPS 13 models will last a full work day, if not longer, in general use. So we're going to rely on the benchmarks for this one.

On the Laptop Mag battery test, we set a laptop to just 150-nits of brightness and connect the laptop to a Raspberry Pi server that surfs through 20 simulated static, dynamic, and video web pages until the laptop powers down. The Intel-based XPS 13 (9350) FHD model lasted 18 hours and 34 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test, while the Qualcomm-based XPS 13 (9345) FHD model lasted 19 hours and 1 minute on that same test.

The XPS 13 (9350) tandem OLED model made it for just 8:40 on the Laptop Mag test, as a 3K OLED is always going to eat up a decent amount of battery life.

As the benchmark tests are identical between all three XPS 13 models we tested, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite XPS 13 (9345) is the clear winner. Intel puts up a solid fight with the FHD XPS 13 (9350), but the Qualcomm version offers 25 extra minutes of battery life.

Winner: XPS 13 (9345) Qualcomm

Bottom line

This one is a draw by the numbers, and to be fair, the benefits of Intel vs Qualcomm depend on the individual and what they need.

If you want the best battery life and performance, the XPS 13 (9345) with Snapdragon X Elite has an edge on both metrics.

But if you want the best gaming and AI performance, the XPS 13 (9350) with Intel Core Ultra 200V makes the most sense.

That said, you're getting a solid laptop either way. Personally, my deciding factor would come down to which platform has the application support I need. While Qualcomm has done a lot of work getting most of the standard apps running natively on ARM, there are still programs that require a Windows x86 processor. Gaming is one clear sector where the Intel x86 processor has a clear victory. Not only does the Intel Arc iGPU outperform the Qualcomm Adreno iGPU, but most games and design programs like Adobe InDesign and Premiere Pro require emulation to run on ARM processors. And that will always lead to a major performance hit.

But if you want a laptop for some light Adobe Photoshop work, a browser-based game or two, web surfing, email management, and video calls: either XPS 13 laptop is a solid choice.

Winner: Draw

The Dell XPS 13 is an old favorite here at Laptop Mag. We’ve been fond of many different XPS configurations, sizes, and form factors, but the XPS 13 is a classic. While the new, minimalist design created more of a divide regarding the aesthetics and keyboard, our high expectations for the Dell XPS 13 line remain. So, the new Intel Core Ultra 200V-powered XPS 13 has big shoes to fill in its admittedly small chassis.

The XPS 13 9350 does have its benefits, from solid performance and respectable integrated graphics to impressive battery life and impactful speakers. However, it still has that minimalist, cramped keyboard and only two USB-C ports. 

With the recent Snapdragon X Elite-powered Dell XPS 13 (9345) breaking our record for the longest-lasting laptop, has Intel already made the Snapdragon configuration obsolete? And will the Dell XPS 13 9350 be good enough to rank among our best laptops? Let’s find out.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Specs

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Price and configurations

Currently, only one configuration of XPS 13 (9350) is available with the Intel Core Ultra 200V “Lunar Lake” processors. That model costs just $1,399 and features an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, Intel Arc integrated graphics, 16GB of memory, 512GB of storage space, and a 13.4-inch 120Hz FHD LCD display.

If you want to upgrade to 32GB of RAM like our non-OLED review model, that will cost an additional $200. If you want 32GB of RAM and a 13.4-inch 60Hz 3K tandem OLED display, that will set you back a total of $1,899. These two configurations will be available on October 15, 2024.

A Dell representative tells Laptop Mag that configuration options for increased storage space will be available after the XPS 13's initial launch with Lunar Lake.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Design

Dell has kept the InfinityEdge bezels and flat keyboard deck of the previous few XPS models for the new Intel Core Ultra 200V-powered XPS 13. So that’s either excellent or bitterly disappointing news, depending on how you’ve felt about the last couple of generations of XPS 13 models. For me, the minimalist design of the XPS 13 is elevated by just how light and thin the laptop is, making it feel more futuristic than ever. Coming in Platinum (white) and Graphite (black), the recent XPS design feels more iconic with every iteration. I wish we’d get a third colorway option, but I can’t say I’m disappointed with the two we have.

The XPS 13 (9350) measures 11.62 x 7.84 x 0.6 inches for the LCD model and weighs just 2.6 pounds. It can easily fit in any backpack or laptop bag. The OLED model weighs the same as the non-OLED version but is 0.02 inches thinner.

The Dell XPS 13 (9345), powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor, is identical to our non-OLED XPS 13 model in dimensions and weight. The only differences between these two XPS versions are under the hood.

Compared to one of the other Intel Core Ultra 200V launch systems, the Asus Zenbook S 14 (12.22 x 8.45 x 0.47~0.51 inches, 2.6 pounds), the XPS 13 is just a bit thicker but just as lightweight. Meanwhile, the Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 (12.3 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches, 3.4 pounds) is heavier than the XPS 13, weighing 0.8 pounds more.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Ports

The XPS 13 9350 features just two Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports with DisplayPort 2.1 and power delivery.

So, if you rely on any USB-powered accessories, you’ll probably want to invest in one of the best USB Type-C hubs or best laptop docking stations.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Security

The Dell XPS 13 features an IR webcam suitable for Windows Hello sign-in. The XPS 13 also has a fingerprint reader for added security.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Display

While our lab has tested the OLED and non-OLED versions of the XPS 13, I have only gotten my hands on the non-OLED model so far. I can’t say I was surprised by the FHD display’s poor color, we already experienced it with a similar FHD display panel on the Snapdragon-powered XPS 13 9345 this summer. 

Instead, I was just disappointed when I booted up the trailer for upcoming scifi adventure Mickey 17 to test the XPS 13’s display. The colors were muted and gray, even in the more colorful scenes in the trailer. The red council room didn’t pop as much as it would have on a more colorful display. While the XPS 13 9350’s LCD display panel is serviceable, it’s not a joy to watch.

Our lab testing had similar findings, with the XPS 13 9350 non-OLED display covering just 69.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with a Delta-E accuracy of 0.23. The OLED panel was much more vibrant, covering an astounding 144.6% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with a Delta-E accuracy of 0.28.

The Snapdragon-powered Dell XPS 13 9345 covered a similarly grim 66.9% of the DCI-P3 gamut with an accuracy of 0.21. So the 9350 gets a marginal upgrade, but it’s nothing to celebrate. The Asus Zenbook S 14’s OLED display covered a solid 82% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with an accuracy of 0.21, and the MacBook Pro 14 covered 81.3% of the color gamut with an accuracy of 0.12. So the XPS 13’s tandem OLED panel has much better color than the MacBook Pro 14’s Liquid Retina display or the Asus Zenbook S 14’s OLED panel.

As far as brightness goes, both the XPS 13 9350 OLED and non-OLED models could stand to be brighther. The display panels are bright enough to cut through most glare with the non-OLED display offering an average peak brightness average of 357 nits, while the OLED model was a bit brighter with an average of 377 nits. The Snapdragon X Elite XPS 13 9345 was far brighter, with an average brightness of 455 nits. The Asus Zenbook S 14 (342 nits) had the dimmest display, while the MacBook Pro 14 M3 (558 nits) had the brightest panel.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Keyboard and touchpad

The Dell XPS 13 (9350) keeps the minimalist style of the keyboard, function row, and touchpad from the last few generations of XPS design. While this is a sleek look, it does lose some of the functionality of discrete function row keys and a visible border between the touchpad and the keyboard deck.

Like the other XPS laptops with this keyboard design, the lack of space between keys and lack of click activation makes for a difficult typing experience.

On the 10FastFingers advanced typing test, I managed an average of 95 words per minute (WPM), which is well above the 88 WPM average I maintain on my MacBook Pro 14 keyboard. Because a poor typing experience doesn’t mean a slow one.

The XPS 13 has a borderless touchpad that measures roughly 3.9 x 2.9 inches, smaller than most modern laptops. While there is a subtle difference between the touchpad and the keyboard deck, it can be difficult to determine the edges, especially if you’re used to scrolling by feel. The touchpad haptics are helpful for this, but unfortunately the function row still has no haptics.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Audio

The side-firing Realtek quad-speaker array gets decent volume, which is more than enough to fill a room at 100 percent. However, the speakers sound distorted, as if you’re listening through a tin can, while listening to a heavily distorted track like All That Remains’ classic “Two Weeks” at full volume. Hozier’s summer bop single “Too Sweet” was much clearer, but the bass still has that annoying metallic reverb. 

So if you’re using the XPS 13 for a lot of video or audio streaming, you’ll want one of the best computer speakers instead of the onboard sound system.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Performance

The Dell XPS 13 (9350) has a decently powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, which should handle most computing tasks. The new Intel Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" processors are designed to be highly power-efficient for ultra-portable light and thin laptops. So its multicore performance suffers compared to previous Intel -H suffix laptop processors. But, as my hands-on experience can attest, the Core Ultra 7 258V is still powerful enough for multiple programs, over 20 Chrome browser tabs, games downloading in the background, and some light Photoshopping on top of it.

In our lab benchmarks, we found that the XPS 13 9350 non-OLED model averaged a Geekbench 6 single-core score of 2,660 and a multicore score of 10,846, while the XPS 13 OLED model averaged a single-core score of 2,772 and a multicore score of 11,033. The gap between these two laptops isn't outside the usual Geekbench score deviation and is well within Intel and Dell's expectations. 

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite XIE-80-100-powered XPS 13 9345 had a single-core average competitive with the Intel-powered laptops at 2,797. However, the Qualcomm XPS 13 dramatically outperformed its Intel counterparts in multicore performance with a score of 14,635. The Asus Zenbook S 14 had a slight edge on CPU performance over the XPS 13 9350, with a single-core average of 2,751 and a multicore average of 11,157. The Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 had the highest single-core performance with a score of 3,163 and came in second for multicore performance with a score of 11,968.

On the Handbrake video encoding test, the XPS 13 9350 non-OLED took 8 minutes and 17 seconds to compress the 4K version of “Tears of Steel” to a 1080p 30fps format. The OLED model (8:28) took a bit more time, as did the Zenbook S 14 (8:30). The Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 (5:38) was the second-fastest, and the Qualcomm-powered XPS 13 9345 (4:41) was the quickest at the encoding task.

On the Laptop Mag 25GB file copy test, the XPS 13 9350 non-OLED model took 17.5 seconds to copy over a 25GB multi-media file folder for a transfer rate of 1,534MBps. The OLED model was a bit slower, taking 17.75 seconds to complete the transfer for a rate of 1,513MBps. The Asus Zenbook S 14 took just a bit longer, needing 17.8 seconds to complete the task for a transfer rate of 1,513MBps. The Dell XPS 13 9345 took the longest, requiring 20 seconds to copy the folder, for a transfer rate of 1,342MBps.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): AI Performance and features

The Dell XPS 13 (9350) is not yet part of the Copilot+ PC program, but laptops made with Intel’s Core Ultra 200V series processors will be rolled into Microsoft’s new AI program suite in the next several months. Intel does have its own suite of on-device AI programs, but the Intel AI Playground hasn’t yet been optimized for the new Core Ultra 200 series processors; though those optimizations should arrive now that the laptops have officially launched, so users should be able to dive right in once they get their new Intel laptops.

With an Intel AI Boost NPU that boasts 48 TOPS (trillions of Operations Per Second), we were pretty eager to put the AI capabilities of the XPS 13 9350 to the test in our lab. To gauge AI performance, we ran the XPS 13 through the Geekbench AI CPU and NPU tests to test the capabilities of the laptop’s various AI accelerators. We could not run Geekbench ML on the XPS without breaking the review’s NDA, so unfortunately, we do not have any comparison numbers. 

On the Geekbench AI CPU Full Precision test, the XPS 13 (9350)’s Core Ultra 7 258V processor scored 2,292 points, which outdoes the XPS 13 (9345)’s Snapdragon X Elite XIE-80-100 processor, which scored just 2,069 points. The Asus Zenbook S 14 with the same Intel Core Ultra 7 processor as the XPS 13 (9350) scored about 100 points below with an average of 2,292.

On the Geekbench AI NPU Single Precision test, the XPS 13 (9350) with an Intel AI Boost NPU scored 18,387 points. The Asus Zenbook S 14, with the same Intel AI Boost NPU, scored a bit higher with an average of 18,619. The Dell XPS 13 (9345) with a Qualcomm Hegaxon NPU scored well below both Intel laptops, with an average of just 2,173.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Graphics and gaming

The Dell XPS 13 isn’t a gaming laptop, but Intel has made some claims about gaming performance on the new Intel Core Ultra 200V “Lunar Lake” processors, so naturally, we had to put those to the test. I found the XPS 13 handled gaming at 1080p with Medium settings a bit smoother than the Asus Zenbook S 14. The XPS 13’s integrated Intel Arc GPU struggled a bit with motion smoothing in Genshin Impact’s newer Fontaine and Natlan zones, but it had no trouble at all maintaining a steady framerate with Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, even in the busy endgame hub city of Solution Nine.

We also ran a few gaming benchmarks on the XPS 13. On the 3DMark Fire Strike Direct X 11 gaming benchmark, the XPS 13 9350 non-OLED maintained an average of 8,053, while the OLED model scored a bit higher with an average of 8,519. The Asus Zenbook S 14 came in just a bit behind the XPS models with a score of 7,806, while the XPS 13 9345’s integrated Qualcomm Adreno GPU performed the worst with an average of 5,635.

On the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme cross-platform gaming benchmark, the XPS 13 9350 non-OLED averaged a score of 7,186 and a frame rate of 43.03fps. Again, the OLED model performed better, with an average score of 7,409 and a frame rate of 44.37fps. The Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 performed the best on this gaming test, with a score of 7,861 and a frame rate of 47.1fps. The Asus Zenbook S 14 (7,037, 42.14fps) came in just behind the Intel-based XPS 13s, with the Qualcomm-powered XPS 13 (6,449, 38.6fps) performing the worst.

For a more real-world gaming test, we ran the XPS 13 through the Sid Mieier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm and Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmarks. On the Civ VI benchmark at 1080p and Medium graphics settings, the XPS 13 9350 non-OLED scored an average of 51fps, while the OLED model was a bit faster with an average of 53fps. The Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 tied with the non-OLED XPS 13 with a frame rate average of 51fps, while the Zenbook S 14 trailed just behind with an average of 48fps. The Qualcomm-based XPS 13 performed the worst with a frame rate of just 22fps. 

On the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark at 1080p and Highest graphics presets, the XPS 13 non-OLED model maintained an average of 21fps while the OLED model was just ahead with a 22fps average. The Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 performed the best on this benchmark with a frame rate of 32fps, while the Zenbook S 14 performed the worst with a frame rate of 19fps. The Dell XPS 13 9345 was not tested on this benchmark.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Battery life

When it comes to premium ultra-light laptops, battery life is often one of the biggest deciding factors. And when comparing Intel x86 and ARM laptops, battery life was one of the main selling points of the Apple and Snapdragon platforms. But that may no longer be the case thanks to Intel’s new chip architecture. 

The non-OLED XPS 13 (9350) lasted an astonishing 18 hours and 34 minutes on the Laptop Mag web surfing battery test, which sets a laptop to 150 nits of brightness and scrolls through a series of 20 static and video web pages until the laptop powers down. The OLED model XPS 13 (9350) lasted 8 hours and 40 minutes, which is disappointing but not surprising given that the tandem OLED display panel does require quite a bit more power to run than the FHD LCD panel on the non-OLED model. But that does mean the XPS 13 (9350) non-OLED comes within thirty minutes of the battery life record of 19:01 set by the Dell XPS 13 (9345) with Snapdragon X Elite. And it beats the Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3’s 17:16 battery life by over an hour.

The only other laptop with an OLED display on our comparison list was the Asus Zenbook S 14, which lasted 13:51 on the Laptop Mag battery test. While this is far better than the XPS 13 OLED, there is a difference in the OLED technologies behind both displays. The Zenbook S 14 features a more traditional OLED panel, while the XPS 13 OLED has a tandem OLED panel. So that likely accounts for the large difference in OLED battery life between the two Lunar Lake laptops.

Dell claimed 26 hours of video streaming battery life for the XPS 13 (9350), and 27 hours of video streaming battery life for the XPS 13 (9345), so while our battery test seems to be more intensive, we saw a very similar relationship between the Intel Core Ultra 200V and Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite systems.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Webcam

The Dell XPS 13 has an FHD camera with IR functionality, so the camera feed isn’t the best quality. The webcam feed is naturally on the grainy side at full-screen, and there is some distortion in the color accuracy, but it's far from the worst laptop webcam we’ve seen.

However, if you’ll be using the XPS 13 for a lot of video calls and virtual presentations, I recommend using one of our best webcams instead.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Heat

After streaming a 4K YouTube video for at least fifteen minutes, the XPS 13 (9350) non-OLED model measured 79.3 degrees Fahrenheit on the touchpad, 79.9 degrees between the G and H keys, and 86 degrees on the underside, which was the hottest point on the laptop. The XPS 13 (9350) OLED model ran hotter than its LCD counterpart, measuring 88.3 degrees on the touchpad, 92.7 degrees on the keyboard, and hitting a maximum temperature of 100.4 degrees on the rear center underside of the laptop.

The max temperature on the OLED model is well above the Laptop Mag comfort threshold of 95 degrees, while the non-OLED model is well below that threshold. So, if you plan to keep the XPS 13 on your lap for most use cases, you may want to opt for the non-OLED display panel option.

Dell XPS 13 (9350): Software and warranty

The Dell XPS 13 comes with Windows 11 Home and has standard Windows apps preloaded, such as Microsoft Paint and Office 365. It also has some of Dell’s custom applications preloaded, like the My Dell and Dell Support Assistant applications.

The XPS 13 has a 1-year warranty for hardware and software support with 1-2 business day on-site service after a remote diagnosis. Accidental damage is not covered by the warranty. If you want to see how Dell customer service compares in our annual report, check out our Tech Support Showdown.

Bottom line

To the XPS 13 9350’s credit, it does have quite a lot going for it. The laptop offers solid performance, an impressive 18 hours of battery life, impactful speakers, and respectable graphics for a laptop with an integrated GPU. The OLED display panel option is vivid, while the LCD option has poor color, and both displays could stand to be brighter. With a cramped keyboard and only two USB-C ports, the XPS 13 isn’t perfect.

But if you’re in the market for a quality Dell laptop, here are the factors to consider with the XPS 13 9350. If you need a small, portable laptop with a fantastic display and you don’t care about battery life as much, the tandem OLED display panel is fantastic. If you need a laptop with battery life that can last multiple days, the LCD option gets you almost as much battery life as the Snapdragon X Elite version without that pesky ARM software emulation.

One of the greatest MacBook competitors has been Dell's XPS laptops. They've faced off in the past, and both earned their victories and losses. But what about now? How does Dell's new XPS 13, powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor, fare against the MacBook Air 13?

This is the first time we've seen these two powerhouses use a chipset other than Intel. So what does that mean for these competitors? Will we finally see the MacBook dethroned? Or will the XPS 13 falter against the weight of the tech giant's gaudy campus?

Let's see what a Dell XPS 13 vs. MacBook Air 13 M3 matchup looks like.

Dell XPS 13 vs. MacBook Air 13 M3: Specs compared

Dell XPS 13 vs. MacBook Air 13 M3: Price

This laptop comparison is tricky. We all know that you're paying the "Apple tax" when you go with a MacBook. However, Dell also tries to earn a similar premium lure by charging more for less. But which is the better deal?

For $1,299, the XPS 13 offers a Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 13.4-inch, 1920 x 1200, 120Hz display.

For $1,499, the MacBook Air 13 features an M3 chip, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 13.6-inch, 2560 x 1664, 60Hz display.

The specs are somewhat comparable apart from the display. However, the MacBook Air offers a lower starting price of $1,099, which drops you to 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.

The XPS 13 tops out at $2,499 for a version with 64GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and either a 2560 x 1600, 500-nit display or an OLED, 2880 x 1800, 60Hz, 400-nit display. Meanwhile, the MacBook Air stops at $2,299 with 24GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.

The XPS 13 offers the better deal on RAM, but once these machines get that expensive, they lose their purpose as affordable alternatives to their more premium siblings. This is why I have to side with the MacBook Air 13, as it offers the cheapest option for a premium laptop with a sharp display.

Winner: MacBook Air 13

Dell XPS 13 vs. MacBook Air 13 M3: Design

Now this section is also incredibly complicated. One looks better, but one feels better. The XPS 13 and MacBook Air fight over form versus function.

Both laptops scream "premium." 

But the MacBook looks like... a MacBook. Picture it in your mind, and it's there. 

However, the XPS 13 adopts a daring new aesthetic. I'm talking about Batmobile-levels of style, from its mesmerizing hood to its futuristic deck that's both minimalist and elegant.

The XPS 13 also comes in lighter, weighing 2.6 pounds versus the MacBook Air's 2.7 pounds. A close race. And while the MacBook Air wins on thinness (11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches), the XPS 13 tightens up the frame all around (11.62 x 7.84 x 0.6 inches).

You might think that the XPS 13 has this in the bag. Wrong. The XPS 13 may look nicer, but it's not practical. The deck is too small, and the keyboard is too jam-packed, making for an uncomfortable tying experience. However, the MacBook 13 retains a light and thin form without sacrificing its function.

Winner: MacBook Air 13 

Dell XPS 13 vs. MacBook Air 13 M3: Display

The Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Air 13 M3 feature completely different displays. The former measures 13.4 inches and has a 1920 x 1200 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, while the latter supports a 13.6-inch, 2560 x 1664, 60Hz display.

Right now, the MacBook features the larger and sharper display, but the XPS 13's one advantage is its refresh rate. Let's see how they do on benchmarks.

The XPS 13 covered 66.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and averaged 456 nits of brightness, while the MacBook Air 13 covered 77.8% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and averaged 476 nits of brightness.

The XPS 13 may feature a higher refresh rate than the MacBook Air, but it's worse in every other aspect.

Winner: MacBook Air 13

Dell XPS 13 vs. MacBook Air 13 M3: Performance

This is where dreams are made. The face-off between the Dell XPS 13 vs. MacBook Air 13 is most interesting where the CPU is concerned. 

The new Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 goes head-to-head with Apple's legendary M3 chip.

On the Geekbench 6.3 overall performance test, the Dell XPS 13 hit 14,635, while the MacBook Air hit 12,087. That's not a small difference in performance.

In a more real-world test, the XPS 13 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 4 minutes and 41 seconds on our HandBrake benchmark. The MacBook Air finished in 6 minutes and 32 seconds.

What about storage? The XPS 13's 512GB SSD scored a transfer rate of 3,129/3,782 MBps on the BlackMagic Read/Write test. To my surprise, that beat the MacBook Air's 512GB SSD, which managed a rate of 3,030/3,058 MBps.

Qualcomm jumped back into the laptop industry with a hot few sucker punches. Who knows how Apple will respond, but it better do so before Qualcomm takes its lunch money.

Winner: Dell XPS 13

Dell XPS 13 vs. MacBook Air 13 M3: Battery life

Now, this is where things get even spicier. Since Apple switched to its own chipset, the battery life has been some of the best in the business. 

And we know Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 is gunning for that battery life crown. But when we unplug the Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Air 13 side by side, which dies first?

On the Laptop Mag battery test — which continuously surfs through webpages over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness — the XPS 13 averaged 19 hours and 1 minute (20:51 after we installed the BIOS 1.7.0 update). Where does that leave the MacBook Air? Time of death: Roughly 4 hours earlier (15:13).

To put the XPS 13's battery life into context, the MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max, 2023) was previously our longest-lasting laptop, coming in at 18:05. The XPS 13 didn't just win this battle of batteries; it won the war.

Winner: Dell XPS 13

Overall winner: MacBook Air 13

The MacBook Air 13 is the victor. Despite the Dell XPS 13's impressive show in performance and battery, Qualcomm did the heavy lifting. Dell couldn't seem to carry its own weight regardless of the laptop's light weight.

Apple offers a better display and a cheaper starting price. But its biggest victory is one that isn't necessarily the most impressive—it's comfortable to use. For folks with larger hands, the XPS 13 is going to take time to get used to, if it's usable at all.

After catching a glimpse of the star ratings above, you probably knew how this fight would go down. The XPS 13 is still a great laptop. In addition to its excellent performance and battery life, it offers a bright display and solid webcam. But it is better for folks with smaller hands.

Unless you need the best of the best battery life, the MacBook Air 13 is the obvious choice.

Winner: MacBook Air 13

Are you looking for the ultimate ultraportable laptop to take across the world? Well, the new Dell XPS 13 might be the answer.

For $1,299, this new XPS 13, packed with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor, offers incredible performance and stellar battery life packed into a comically light chassis. Its 13.4-inch display is bright and it supports a respectable webcam.

However, that thin-and-light chassis forces compromises you’ll be sure to notice. The most visible issues are the scant number of ports and a cramped keyboard. And unfortunately, while the display is bright, there’s not a lot of color. Finally, the Qualcomm Adreno graphics significantly fell behind the competition in our testing.

Despite those shortcomings, the CPU innovation and long-lasting battery tip the scales heavily in the XPS 13’s favor. Is it enough to place the XPS 13 among the best laptops and laptops with best battery life? Let’s dive in.

Dell XPS 13 9345: Specs

Dell XPS 13 9345: Price and configurations

I reviewed the base model of the shiny new Dell XPS 13, which is outfitted with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 13.4-inch, 1920 x 1200, 120Hz display.

And if you want to bump up the specs, you can upgrade to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD for $1,599, or 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD for $2,199. Add $300 to any configuration for either a 2560 x 1600, 500-nit display or an OLED, 2880 x 1800, 60Hz, 400-nit display.

Want something even cheaper? Check out our best laptops under $1,000.

Dell XPS 13 9345: Design

I knew the day would come when a laptop so light and thin would come across my desk and I’d finally recognize I’m in the future of tech. The Dell XPS 13 is the next step I was looking for. Staring at its graphite anodized metal lid is like gazing into the ethereal plane. Then there are the curves and angles, which look like the finished product of a marble sculptor.

Like popping the hood of the Batmobile, the interior of the XPS 13 came to life with a pristine glow. The function row is absent, and the keys are flat with the deck as if the board in keyboard was removed entirely. Touchpad? Nothing but a flat deck. And Dell holds to its InfinityEdge display, carving out incredibly thin bezels.

At 2.6 pounds and 11.62 x 7.84 x 0.6 inches, the Dell XPS 13 is one of the lightest laptops I’ve ever tested. It’s even lighter than the MacBook Air 13-inch M3 (2.7 pounds, 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches), Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Q425M (3 pounds, 12.3 x 8.67 x 0.59 inches), HP Spectre x360 14 2024 (3.2 pounds, 12.4 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches).

Dell XPS 13 9345: Ports

Oof. The Dell XPS 13 features only two ports.

There’s one USB Type-C port on either side of the Dell XPS 13.

You’re going to need more. Check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.

Dell XPS 13 9345: Display

I love a shiny display, and the Dell XPS’s 13.4-inch, 1920 x 1200, 120Hz panel certainly succeeds in that. However, it’s not at all colorful.

I watched the Borderlands trailer, and the entire horizon beyond the crew was washed out due to the terrible contrast. Deep orange-colored canyons were reduced to a pale yellow devoid of life. It’s still sharp enough to capture the strands of hair on Cate Blanchett’s head. The high refresh rate provides a nice desktop experience, but since you won’t be playing many games on this machine, you’re not getting a whole lot out of it.

According to our colorimeter, the Dell XPS 13 covered 66.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is practically 20% lower than the average premium laptop (86.8%). It’s also duller than the MacBook Air (77.8%), Zenbook 14 (79.8%), and Spectre x360 (85.8%).

However, at 456 nits, the XPS 13 is plenty bright, hovering around the average premium laptop (467 nits). It’s only slightly dimmer than the MacBook Air (476 nits), but still outpaces the Zenbook 14 (339 nits) and Spectre x360 (366 nits) by a wide margin.

Dell XPS 13 9345: Keyboard and touchpad

I love how it looks, but I don’t like how it feels. The big problem with shrinking the standard laptop is that the keyboard experience gets tighter. Typing on the XPS 13 was difficult. The keys aren’t clicky, but they’re not bad. The challenge comes in the size and compactness of keys.

I typed 76 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is a bit below my usual 81 wpm average. Between the smaller backspace button and the small layout, it’s tough to get used to. 

There’s a subtle distinction between the touchpad and the deck, even though it is flat, but it still feels like I’m dragging my finger across the deck. The haptic feedback is solid. However, I wish the function row also featured haptics. It’s so unsatisfying to feel nothing when you click a button.

Dell XPS 13 9345: Audio

Sharp and hollow, the Dell XPS 13’s side-firing speakers are not something I’d want to listen to all day.

In Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” I noticed sharp highs in the percussion absent of bass to round it out. The vocals were clear and the speakers kept up with Roan’s range. However, the background synths collided with the percussion. The latter took over whereas the former was indistinguishable.

Dell does not ship the XPS 13 with audio software.

Dell XPS 13 9345: Performance

Packed with a shiny new Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor and 16GB of RAM, the Dell XPS 13 had some noticeable lag when I first booted it up. I couldn’t open the search or task bar, which was especially frustrating with the touchpad set to Single-tap. But after that it worked as expected. It went through a couple dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube videos while Spotify played in the background.

On the Geekbench 6.3 overall performance test, the Dell XPS 13 scored 14,635, crushing the average premium laptop (8,927). It overwhelmed the MacBook Air’s M3 (12,087), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H in the Zenbook 14 (12,707) and Spectre x360 (12,358).

The XPS 13 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 4 minutes and 41 seconds on our HandBrake benchmark. That sped past the average premium laptop (7:21), MacBook Air (6:32), Zenbook 14 (6:36), and Spectre x360 (7:30).

Dell’s 512GB SSD produced a transfer rate of 1,342 megabytes per second, which is around the category average (1,416 MBps). Slightly faster than the Zenbook 14(1,236 MBps) and slightly slower than the Spectre x360 (1,363 MBps). Ready for some wild stats? The MacBook Air scored 3,030/3,058 MBps on the BlackMagic Read/Write test, but the XPS 13 scored 3,129/3,782 MBps. 

The XPS 13 is faster than a MacBook in more ways than one.

Dell XPS 13 9345: AI performance and features

The age of Copilot+ PCs is first introduced by chipsets like the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100. The CPU is the marquee reason to consider the Dell XPS 13. It’s the second-highest performing CPU platform in the Snapdragon X Elite series (second only to the X1E-84-100), which launched in mid-June 2024. 

The Snapdragon X Elite chipset is credited with the incredible battery life you’ll read about below. Technically, the Snapdragon X Elite is a collection of chips, which include the Qualcomm Oryon CPU and Qualcomm Hexagon NPU (neural processing unit). Both of which are responsible for balancing its processing speeds and power plans. Qualcomm claims it is much faster than the Intel x86 CPU competition. And faster processes consume less power, which expands battery life.

We’ve put the Dell XPS 13 and others through rigorous testing to judge their AI capabilities (see how we test AI PCs). As we learn more about what these AI PCs can do, our methods will adapt as necessary. But let’s see how the XPS 13 did.

On the Geekbench ML 0.6 AI performance test, the XPS 13 hit an ONNX/CPU score of 2,953. That outmatches the Spectre x360 (2,876) and just misses the Zenbook 14 (2,971). It’s likely that Qualcomm’s CPU isn’t optimized for Geekbench ML 0.6. This doesn’t test the NPU, which is where Qualcomm outshines the competition.

Copilot+ PCs support new software and features. If you haven’t heard, the biggest and most controversial feature is Recall. Imagine your browser history — now imagine that for your PC. Scroll through your history and you can see what you were doing hours ago. This information is intended to be stored locally and shouldn’t touch the cloud. You have the option to adjust the type of information stored. Right now, Recall is limited to Windows Insiders and disabled by default.

Windows Studio Effects and Live Captions are some of our favorite Copilot+ PC features. Of course, there’s AI-art generated programs as well, which drown in its own controversy.

Dell XPS 13 9345: Graphics

While the new Snapdragon X Elite is the star of the show, its Qualcomm Adreno graphics chip is the black sheep. 

On the 3DMark Fire Strike synthetic graphics benchmark, the XPS 13 scored 5,635, which is measly compared with the average premium laptop (9,218). Intel Arc Graphics in the Zenbook 14 and Spectre x360 hit 8,064 and 6,986, respectively.

On the Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark (Medium, 1080p), the XPS 13 averaged 23 frames per second. That doesn't hit the minimum 30 fps for playability, whereas the MacBook Air (41 fps), Zenbook 14 (31 fps), and Spectre x360 (36 fps) met and exceeded that threshold.

While it’s not a gaming laptop, Qualcomm made a few claims about gaming on it, so naturally, I tried gaming on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition... I wanted to cry.

Dell XPS 13 9345: Battery life

The heartiest punch that the XPS 13 comes in with is its battery life.

On the Laptop Mag battery test, the XPS 13 averaged 19 hours and 1 minute (20:51 after we installed BIOS 1.7.0 update). That crushes the MacBook Air (15:13), Zenbook 14 (15:52), Spectre x360 (11:01), and the average premium laptop (11:13).

For additional context, the MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max, 2023) was previously our longest lasting laptop, coming in at 18:05. Dell just dethroned the king.

Dell XPS 13 9345: Webcam

For laptop webcams, the bar isn’t even on the basement floor — it’s in the Mariana Trench. However, the XPS 13’s 1080p webcam manages to break the surface.

In a rare occurrence, the window behind me isn’t completely blown out. There’s a large portion of it that’s still white, but the contrast manages to detail some of the blinds. I can even see my ceiling! It reproduced the green in my shirt alongside the faint patterns that even I have a hard time seeing. There’s some loss of detail when zooming in, but from afar, it captures the strands of hair in my beard. While you can certainly do better with the best webcams, it’s unnecessary.

Dell XPS 13 9345: Heat

Even with a little bit of work, the XPS 13 can get hot in the wrong places.

After streaming a 15-minute video, the XPS 13 came in at 94 degrees Fahrenheit on its underside, which is just below our 95-degree comfort threshold. The center of the keyboard and touchpad hit 96 and 89 degrees, respectively. Sounds good so far. But we found that it’s hottest on the top underside of the laptop, right near the hinge. It reached 120 degrees. I wouldn’t put this in your lap (yes, I understand the irony).

Dell XPS 13 9345: Software and warranty

All the important stuff is in the My Dell app and the Dell SupportAssist. The former lets you adjust the power, display, and audio system settings. The latter offers warranty information, troubleshooting, and PC optimization tools. There’s also Copilot and the other AI features, which we discussed above.

The XPS 13 9345 comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how Dell performed on our Tech Support Showdown ranking.

Bottom line

The Dell XPS 13 is someone’s perfect laptop. I love the design, the battery life, and the performance. But the display and keyboard are tough for me to get over. Sure, my eyes could adjust to the low-color, but my hands won’t get used to cramping up from using that keyboard.

If you’re looking for a light laptop that’s still within that 13-inch range, check out the MacBook Air 13-inch. It’s everything you need except wider and deeper, offering you more space to type.

But overall, if you’re comfortable with a tighter space and a duller display, the Dell XPS 13 provides a long list of positives to consider.

Dell will unleash the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chipset on the upcoming XPS 13. This will be one of Dell's first laptops with the Snapdragon X line of chipsets.

Today, at Microsoft Build in Redmond, WA, Dell announced its first five laptops with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X platform. Multiple manufacturers announced its first Snapdragon X PCs as part of Microsoft Build, which is over six months after the Snapdragon X Elite was first announced in October 2023.

The Dell XPS 13 and Latitude 7455 are configurable with the Snapdragon X Elite or X Plus chipsets. The Inspiron 14 Plus (7441), Inspiron 14, and Latitude 5455 will all come with the Snapdragon X Plus chipset.

As Dell's flagship laptop, the XPS 13 with Snapdragon X Elite is expected to put out high-level performance that should level the playing field against Apple's M3 chips. In fact, based on expectations for the Snapdragon X Elite chipset, the Dell XPS 13 could outpace the Apple MacBook Pro M3.

Dell XPS 13 Snapdragon specs

To determine how the XPS 13 may stack up against the MacBook Pro M3, we need to know the specs to gauge the laptop's performance. Dell offers the XPS 13 with the Snapdragon X Elite or X Plus as a configurable option.

The Snapdragon X Plus XIP-64-100 chipset features 10 computing cores with up to 3.4GHz of computing speed. The Snapdragon X Elite XIE-80-100 chipset houses 12 computing cores that offer up to 3.4GHz of computing speed with a Dual-Core Boost that can ramp performance up to 4.0GHz speeds.

Both chipsets come with the integrated Qualcomm Adreno 740 GPU and Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, which offers up to 45 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of AI performance.

The XPS 13 sports three different display configurations for the 13.4-inch panel. At launch, two of these options will be available. 

The first option is the FHD+ (1,920 x 1,200) InfinityEdge non-touch LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) that features 500 nits of typical brightness, 100% coverage on the sRGB gamut, with Dolby Vision, Eyesafe technology, and an anti-glare coating.

The second option is the QHD+ (2,560 x 1,600) InfinityEdge touch LCD that offers 500 nits of typical brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, with VESA DisplayHDR 400, Dolby Vision, Eyesafe Technology, and anti-reflective, anti-smudge coating.

The third display option will be available only post-launch. This is the one OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) panel Dell is offering on the XPS 13 Snapdragon edition, at least for now. This 13.4-inch panel is a 3K (2,880 x 1,800) InfinityEdge touch OLED display with 400-nits of average brightness, 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut, VESA DisplayHDR TrueBlack 500, Dolby Vision, Eyesafe technology, and an anti-reflective, anti-smudge coating. The OLED panel is rated for 48-60Hz refresh rates.

The XPS 13 is available for pre-order now ahead of the launch which will come later this year. The starting price on the XPS 13 is $1,299.

Performance expectations for the Snapdragon X Elite make it a key competitor for the Apple M3 chipset

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chipsets belong to the ARM family of processors. ARM stands for Advanced RISC Machine, while RISC is an acronym for Reduced Instruction Set Computer. The most popular brand to use ARM architecture is Apple, however, Windows versions of ARM chipsets have been trendy among deeply dedicated computer enthusiasts for the last few years. 

Ultimately, the performance of Windows ARM computers has been underwhelming, while the Apple M1, M2, and M3 CPUs have been setting benchmark records.

ARM technology can provide impressive performance, but we just haven't seen it yet with any publicly available Windows machines. This is what makes the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite such an interesting chip.

While we haven't gotten any of these CPUs into our testing lab yet, Qualcomm has been making claims about the Snapdragon X Elite's performance compared to the Apple M3. Of course, those benchmarks have been set by Qualcomm's custom-made laptops. And this makes the Dell XPS 13 so compelling.

Unlike many of the other laptops announced at Microsoft Build this week, the XPS 13 is Dell's flagship consumer laptop. At one point, the XPS line was positioned as the Windows equivalent to Macs. While that competition vacillated over the years, Apple won the race over the last few generations. The Dell XPS 14 with Intel's Core Ultra platform did put up quality performance against the Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3, but in a direct face-off, the MacBook Pro still came out ahead.

Intel's CPU architecture isn't an ARM chip, the Snapdragon X platform is. This is why the Dell XPS 13 with the Snapdragon X Elite could be a bigger threat against the Apple MacBook Pro M3. A recent leaked Dell memo indicates trouble for Intel compared to the Snapdragon chipsets.

If we take Qualcomm's stated performance metrics for the Snapdragon X Elite and compare them with our benchmarks for the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023), the Snapdragon X Elite does perform very well against the M3. On Geekbench 6, the Snapdragon X Elite reportedly earned a single-core score of 2,574 and a multi-core score of 12,562, while the M3 benchmarked with a single-core average of 3,163 and a multi-core score of 11,968.

Of course, we don't know if those Snapdragon X Elite benchmarks were achieved with the XIE-86-100 version of the chipset or the XIE-80-100 version which will be in the XPS 13. But if a top-end configuration of the XPS 13 with the Snapdragon X Elite XIE-80-100 chipset manages a 28% increase of computing power like the rumors indicate along with a 98% increase in battery life over the previous Intel models, Apple is certainly in trouble.

What about the Apple M4?

Apple is so notoriously close-mouthed that we can't make any predictions about the M4's performance. What we do know about the Apple M4 is rather limited. We think the M4 will launch at the end of 2024, as Apple released the M3 in early November 2023. We know Apple intends to lean into AI with the M4 chipsets, but that's about all we know.

As we don't even have confirmed benchmark numbers for the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite in production laptops, comparing that chip to the M4 which hasn't even been announced yet is the work of imagination.

Of course, if Apple continues its trend in impressive performance gains generation-over-generation with the M4, the Snapdragon could be reduced to just another under-performing Windows ARM chip.

More from Laptop Mag

• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 could get me to ditch my iPhone with this one critical change
• Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus leak could signal cheaper Windows on ARM laptops
• ChromeOS may add 3 cutting-edge features to Chromebook

The 13-inch laptop is a wonder of modern design.

It's often so light you'll barely notice it in your bag while still delivering plenty of performance. Students breeze through campus with these lightweight wonders, while pros tuck them into briefcases for on-the-go productivity (or just conquering emails from the couch). You'll love the convenience and portability they bring, making them the perfect companion for busy, on-the-move individuals.

But just because they're small doesn't mean you should underestimate their bite. These aren't the underpowered thin and light laptops of yesteryear; 13-inch laptops are available to handle almost any workload. They make for the best travel-friendly laptops available, with a sturdy chassis, enchanting display, and long battery life. So ditch the bulk and embrace the possibilities — 13-inch laptops are where extreme portability meets powerhouse.

If you want the thinnest and lightest laptop possible while still offering enough power to handle most tasks easily, a 13-inch laptop is the answer.

If you need a laptop today, these are the best 13-inch laptops based on our extensive testing and reviews.

The Quick List

Best 13-inch laptops in 2024

Best 13-inch overall laptop

Apple's MacBook Air M3 is staggering, asserting itself as one of the best overall laptops. If you need a 13-inch, most people would not go wrong with it, as its excellent performance and miraculously long battery life are impossible to deny.

The MacBook Air M3 towers above the premium laptop's average performance with its Geekbench 6 overall multi-core score of 12,087. Its SSD speeds are also hyper-fast, hitting an average of 3,031 megabytes per second in our file transfer test. Plain and simple, there are very few scenarios in which you can go wrong with the MacBook Air M3.

On the Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over wifi at 150 nits, The MacBook Air M3 lasted 15 hours and 13 minutes. No, you didn't misread that. Its battery life goes above and beyond reason, and it is one of the longest-lasting laptops you can buy today.

It's also impressive that this is a whole hour longer in longevity when compared to the M2 MacBook, meaning there's no better time to invest in the latest model. MacBooks are also famous for their great-feeling keyboards, and if you want a springy and quiet one to keep your fingers happy while typing the day away, look no further.

Otherwise, its 13.6-inch, 2560 x 1664 Liquid Retina display is crisp enough to perform in-depth work. Its 77.8 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut is solid, but what sets it apart is an average brightness of 476 nits. The brightness is enough to handle even the sunniest days, as there's nothing worse than intense glare, making it impossible to see what's happening on-screen.

See our full MacBook Air M3 review.

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Best 13-inch business laptop

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 3 is the perfect business laptop for those who need a quality ultraportable. Its total weight of 2.2 pounds is as light as a feather, and if you need something truly capable with solid performance and a bright display, look no further.

Our configuration costs $1,599, and Lenovo built it with an Intel Core i7-1360P processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage space, and a 13.3-inch 2K IPS touchscreen. While it's important to remember that it's using a last-generation processor, its Geekbench 5.5 multi-core performance of 9,268 is good enough to handle a heavy workload.

We were pretty disappointed by its longevity, though. In the Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over wifi at 150 nits, its subpar 8 hours and 28 minutes of battery life is enough to sustain an entire workday. Still, depending on how demanding your workflow is, you might need an outlet nearby. This is also worse than the original's 12 hours of battery life and is significantly below the 9-hour and 45-minute ultraportable average.

The laptop can also get bright enough to survive blinding sunlight, with an average brightness of 483 nits. That's even higher than the MacBook Air M3, which hits 476 nits. However, its color depth leaves much to be desired, coming in at a 70.9 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

We also wish it had more ports, but considering it's a thin and lightweight laptop, it's typical for these products to have a small selection. At the very least, its two Thunderbolt 4 ports will allow for the best laptop docking stations to be attached. You also get an audio jack, so there's that.

See our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 3 review

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Best 13-inch 2-in-1 Laptop

Counting the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i as a 13-inch laptop might be cheating, as it features two 13.3-inch 2,800 x 1,800-pixel displays, but this adds to the diversity of its use cases. How does it work, you ask? Pop the lid open and use it as a standard laptop, but detach its Bluetooth keyboard and get to work when you want to use two screens at once. You can even use an included external mouse and Lenovo Digital Pen.

It is absolutely worth considering its price, though, as you'll be paying $1,999 for this beast. Beyond just its incredible foundation, its 13th Gen Intel Core i7-1355U is solid, with a Geekbench 5.5 score of 7,765. While this is slightly below our 7,767 premium laptop average, it's not drastic enough of a drop for us to avoid recommending the product.

The dual OLED displays are also a glorious sight, covering 136.5 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut on the top display and 136.7 percent on the bottom display. This isn't a surprise, as they're identical panels, and it pulls ahead of competitors like the MacBook Air M3 (77.8 percent) without issue.

It also sports battery life within our recommended range, lasting 9 hours and 18 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over wifi at 150 nits. While that's not quite as impressive as the MacBook Air M3's 15 hours, it's still great for a 2-in-1 laptop.

The brightness could be better, though. It is 335 nits on the top display and 344 nits on the bottom display, which is lower than the 392 nits average for this category.

See our full Lenovo Yoga Book 9i review.

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How to choose the best 13-inch laptop

Do your intensive daily workloads require more RAM than the average Joe? Are you a video editor who needs extra storage? Are you a gamer who wants a powerful GPU? Sorting through the best laptops to fit your lifestyle is a tricky business.

Budget: What you get for your money

You can find decent Windows laptops and high-quality Chromebooks for under $500. However, better mainstream laptops usually cost more than $700 and premium Ultrabooks can run over $1,000. The best gaming laptops can cost $2.000 and up, but you can play the latest titles at decent frame rates on gaming laptops under $1,000.

Design: 2-in-1 or clamshell?

More and more of today's laptops are 2-in-1s with screens that either bend back 360 degrees or detach so you can use them as tablets. If you like the idea of using your laptop in slate mode for drawing, media consumption, or just standing up, a 2-in-1 could be for you. However, you can often get better features or a lower price by going with a traditional clamshell-style laptop.

Battery Life: 9+ hours for portability

Battery life matters unless you plan to use your laptop only on your desk. Even in the home or office, having plenty of juice enables you to work on the couch or at the conference table without being chained to the nearest outlet. We recommend getting a laptop that lasted over 9 hours on the Laptop Mag Battery Test for the best portability. The longest-lasting laptops endure anywhere between 10 and 15 hours.

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How we test the best 13-inch laptops

Over the course of a year, we review over 150 laptops covering every price point and use case. Whether you’re looking for a productivity workhorse, a badass gaming system, or a multimedia machine to kick back and watch a movie or two, we can help you find your ideal match.

In order to make our list, the system needs to score at least 4 out of 5 stars on our reviews and deliver on the things shoppers care about most. In our evaluations, we focus on design and comfort, display quality, the keyboard and touchpad, performance, battery life, and especially value.

Our expert reviewers also use each product to see how it looks, feels, and performs in everyday situations. Because we see so many different notebooks, we can compare each to its direct competitors and give you an idea of how it stacks up to the average laptop in its price band.

When we bring a laptop into our laboratory, our goal is to see how it would work if you brought it into your home or office. While we use a number of industry standard benchmarks such as Geekbench and 3DMark, we focus heavily on real-world tests that we have developed in-house.

To test endurance, the Laptop Mag Battery test surfs the web at 150 nits of brightness until the system runs out of juice. To judge pure processing power, we use a giant spreadsheet macro that matches 65,000 names with their addresses, a video transcoder that converts a 4K video to 1080p, and the Geekbench 5 synthetic test. We measure graphics prowess with both 3DMark Ice Storm / Fire Strike and a series of games including Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Metro: Exodus, Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption just to name a few.

We use a colorimeter to measure screen brightness and color gamut while other instruments help us determine a laptop's key travel and ambient heat. See this page on how we test laptops for more details on our benchmarking procedures.

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Why Trust Laptop Mag

Laptop Mag reviews over one hundred different laptops every year, from paperweight ultralights to everyday workhorses to lumbering gaming notebooks that scorch the frame rates of even the hottest AAA games. We're not just experts in the laptop field, as we go one step further by meticulously testing smartphones, tablets, headphones, PC accessories, software, and even the latest in gaming.

We are 100 percent independent and have decades of experience to help you buy with confidence. In fact, Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing products for three decades and continues to deliver trustworthy reviews you can rely on.

Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it.

One of the world's largest technology publishers, Future Publishing, enforces our editorial trustworthiness. As a company, we have unrivaled experience across every tech sector — and we're the group's specialist for all things mobile tech.

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Finding a Dell XPS 13 with a big price cut during Black Friday 2022 will always pique our interest, as the 13-inch laptop has frequently topped our list of best laptops. Now, you can bag one for under $1,000.

Right now, the Dell XPS 13 is down to $999 at Dell in a limited-stock Black Friday deal.  That's $350 you get to save on a stellar laptop boasting a 12th Gen Intel i7-1250U processor, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a bright 13.4-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) display. Not bad considering it's usually priced at $1,349.

While Laptop Mag's exclusive Dell discount code "LAPTOPMAG5" isn't available on this particular offer, that doesn't mean it isn't one of the best Black Friday laptop deals we've seen, along with this 14-inch MacBook Pro that's dropped to its lowest price ever. If you're on the hunt for even more offers, check out our Black Friday laptop deals live blog. 

One of the best laptops around, the Dell XPS 13 is a premium ultraportable that never fails to impress. What's more, the 13-inch notebook in this deal comes equipped with the latest Intel processor, a 12th Gen Intel i7-1250U CPU, along with 16GB of DDR5 RAM, 512GB SSD, and a bright, 500-nit 13.4-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) display with slim bezels thanks its "InfinityEdge." And you get it all for under $1,000.

In our Dell XPS 13 review, we loved its elegant, lightweight design, and good performance. The Dell XPS 13 earned an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5-stars from us — it's the Editor's Choice laptop. What's more, this model had an 11th Gen Intel i7 processor, meaning you can expect greater performance in this 12th Gen Intel model.

It's hard to find any faults in the XPS 13, although be aware of its limited selection of ports and its battery could be better. However, Dell claims the laptop in this deal can recharge to 80% in less than an hour thanks to ExpressCharge. You can also expect a razor-thin 0.55-inch form factor and a travel-friendly 2.59-pound weight.

This is a limited-time Black Friday "limited-quantity deal," so if you're planning on saving big on this offer, the sooner the better. If you're after even more Black Friday laptop deals, we've got you covered. 

In the past, I’ve praised Dell for mastering the art of the fine tweak. In the past few iterations of XPS 13, the company has focused on refinement –– shaving off a few tenths of an inch here, expanding something else there –– you know the deal. For CES 2022, the company earns my kudos for doing something totally different. The beloved XPS 13 has gone Plus and with its new designation brings a new design that will undoubtedly be polarizing. This will also be Dell’s most powerful flagship with the Plus sporting a 28W Intel 12th Gen processor –– a first for the line. 

I had a chance to get a brief hands on with the new Dell XPS 13 Plus and I’m left with more tantalizing questions than answers. 

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Design

This is by far going to be one of the most polarizing designs we’ve seen coming from the XPS 13. Even more so than the infamous nose cam. And before you get worried, the webcam is right where it’s supposed to be in the top bezel. At first glance, the Plus looks like your typical XPS 13. A minimalist chassis made of anodized aluminum with nothing but a shiny chrome Dell logo in the center of the lid to let you know what it is. It’s sleek and modern as befits a premium laptop. 

The system will be available in two colors: Platinum and Graphite. The former reminds me of the Frost White finish of previous XPS 13. 

Alright, now here’s where things start getting interesting. The name of the game here is streamlining and Dell took a scalpel to the Plus. Open the notebook, and you’ll notice a couple of things right off the bat. First, there’s no Fn key row and second, the touchpad has disappeared. In lieu of the traditional Fn keys, you have a backlit row of capacitive touch keys that can toggle between Fn and media keys. 

Without the Fn row in the, Dell made the Plus’ fans bigger and gave them the extra space. Dell claims that this will deliver up to 55% more airflow, which allows for more powerful components without altering the ultraportable’s dimensions too much. The Plus only weighs 2.7 pounds and cuts a slim profile at 0.6 inches. That’s a bit lighter than the XPS 13 OLED (2.8 pounds) as well as the MacBook Pro 13 (3.5 pounds) and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (2.8 pounds). 

Security

Premium systems need premium features, starting with security. The Plus has ExpressSign-in, which paired with Windows Hello makes for a quick, seamless login. The laptop also features an IR camera for Windows Hello-enabled facial recognition.

Ports

The missing Fn key row and touchpad might be strange, but this disappearing act might be the most polarizing. Dell has sent the headset port to the great beyond leaving only a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports. They even nixed the microSD slot we’ve come to know and love. And yes, it’s all in the name of design and performance, but I can’t help but wonder if Dell’s gone a step too far with this one. 

Display

Dell rarely leaves consumers wanting for options with its system and the same goes for the Plus. The system will offer several display options including some FHD (1920 x 1080) panels and an OLED option. However, pricing and exact specs have yet to be released. I’m not going to lie. I was so gobsmacked by the rest of the design to really zero in on the screen. I’m looking forward to seeing what Dell has to offer this time around. 

What I can say is that the company has retained its four-sided InfinityEdge design which features some of the slimmest bezels available on a laptop. And yes, they’ve managed to make the bezels even smaller. 

Keyboard and touchpad

The XPS 13 Plus has a host of surprises, some more obvious than others. For instance, the laptop has larger keycaps which should hopefully help with comfort and accuracy. I didn’t have a lot of time to play with the keys, but they felt plenty springy. The keyboard sits flush with the palm rest giving off the impression that everything was hewn from one piece of aluminum. 

And now for the elephant in the room. Where in the world is the touchpad? Gone. Well, not so much gone as it’s more invisible. Instead of placing a depression in the center of the palm rest, Dell has gone with a seamless glass design which uses force pad haptics to communicate when you’re performing your traditional touchpad interactions. 

It takes a bit of getting used to and might be too futuristic for some people. 

Specs

Although Dell hasn’t given specifics as of yet, we do know a couple of things. For instance, the flagship will have a 28-watt, 12th Gen Intel processor. And since previous XPS 13s have only had integrated graphics, it’s a safe bet that the same can be said for the Plus. At the very least I’m thinking it’ll be an Iris Xe GPU. And since this is a premium system, I’m guessing that the system will be configured with up to 32GB of RAM and at least 1TB of SSD storage.

Bottom line

This is the beginning of a new era for the Dell XPS 13. With the introduction of the Dell XPS 13 Plus, the company is looking to redefine the meaning of premium. Instead of a slew of bells and whistles, the Plus offers power by way of laser-precision streamlining. The result is a laptop unlike anything we’ve seen from the brand which is great. However, I’m just not sure if all of the changes will go over so well, particularly when it comes to the headset jack and touchpad. But if the performance lives up to Dell’s claims, consumers might be open to such a drastic change. Either way, I can’t wait to review this intriguing new laptop. 

You're at your local supercenter and you have two laptops in front of you: one with an Intel Core i7, and one with an Intel Core i5.

Comparing laptop CPUs can be complicated, so which do you choose? Do you go for the one with the supposed increase in power that their tech expert claims it has? Or do you save a few bucks and get the cheaper one?

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Worry not, we're here to answer all of your questions. And to do that, we called in two seemingly identical Dell XPS 13 laptops (1080p display, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD). The difference being that one is outfitted with an Intel Core i7-8550U, and the other has a Core i5-8250U. Let's see how they stack up.

Intel Core i5 vs. Core i7: Benchmark Results

Clock Speed and Price

While the Intel Core i5-8250U and Core i7-8550U are both quad-core processors with the ability to process eight threads simultaneously, their clock speeds are slightly different. The Core i5's clock speed is set at 1.6-GHz (3.4-GHz with Max Turbo), while the Core i7's is faster at 1.8-GHz (3.6-GHz with Max Turbo). The Core i7 also has a bigger processor cache at 8MB, compared with the Core i5's 6MB. Intel's SmartCache determines how much space there is in the processor to remember particular functions and to carry them out faster than usual.

The numbers seem pretty minuscule, but how much are those numbers going to cost you? Well, the two XPS 13s that we tested currently cost $1,759 (Core i5) and $1,959 (Core i7), creating a $200 price gap. The $200 delta continued when I configured the Acer Aspire 5, but when configuring the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, I saw only a $150 difference.

Overall Performance

To test a laptop's overall performance, we use a synthetic benchmark called Geekbench 4. The XPS 13's Core i5 CPU scored 13,179, narrowly beating the 12,941 ultraportable notebook average. However, the Core i7 didn't make a significant difference with its score of 13,995, which is a 5.8 percent increase from the Core i5.

Video Transcoding

On the HandBrake benchmark, which tests how long it takes a machine to transcode a 6.27GB, 12-minute-and-30-second 4K video to 1080p, the XPS 13's Core i5 CPU took 18 minutes and 28 seconds, which slides past the 20:21 category average. The Core i7, however, did it in 17 minutes and 19 seconds, putting a 1:09 (6.2 percent) gap between them.

Excel Test

To pile on the stress to the CPUs, we put them up against use our Excel test, which requires them to match 65,000 names and addresses. The Core i5 CPU knocked it out in 1 minute and 12 seconds, 16 seconds faster than the 1:28 category average. The Core i7 did it a only few seconds faster, at 1:09, for a mere 4.2 percent difference.

3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited

Although you're not going to be taking on Witcher 3 with the Intel UHD 620 GPU inside these two XPS 13s, there are plenty of AAA titles that these two can handle. But which does it better?

On the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited benchmark, which tests the overall graphics performance, the Core i5's GPU hit 78,801, falling just short of the 78,827 ultraportable notebook average. Meanwhile, the Core i7 nailed an 83,684, effectively making it 5.8 percent better than the Core i5, which is the same exact increase as the general performance.

Battery Life

With great power comes great power consumption, so we decided to test that by having each laptop continuously surf the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. The Core i5 lasted 10 hours and 51 minutes, sailing past the 09:06 ultraportable notebook average. However, the Core i7 stood its ground and survived for 10 hours and 49 minutes, making an unnoticeable 0.3 percent difference to the Core i5.

Which Intel CPU should you get?

Although the Core i7-8550U beat the Core i5-8250U fair and square, it really wasn't by much. At most, the Core i7 is only 6 percent faster in overall performance, which is quite underwhelming when you consider the price difference. A single minute spared during video editing certainly isn't worth $150 to $200.

If you work in a field that requires you to run taxing programs all day, it may be of use to you. However, the money would be better spent on upgraded storage space, a higher-resolution display, or even a discrete GPU for gaming.

When it comes to the best laptops worth your hard-earned money, Dell’s XPS 13 ranks highly for it’s premium construction and powerful specs. But with this price cut, the best just got even better.

Right now, the new XPS 13 Touch with 11th Gen Intel Core i7 is available for just $1,499 — a massive $400 price drop!

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Dell XPS 13 Touch deal

Not convinced yet? Take a look at our Dell XPS 13 review where we gave this laptop a  five-star rating. That doesn’t happen much around here!

To get full marks, a laptop needs to be phenomenal, which the XPS 13 achieves with a gorgeous display, massive performance, and ridiculously long battery life. 

Plus, with Thunderbolt 4 ports, a thickness of just 0.58-inches, and a mere 2.64 pounds, this is a sleek, stylish and capable machine for peak productivity on the go.

Update June 24 at 5:56 p.m. ET: Dell just dropped the Dell XPS 13 down to $699.

This is one of the best anti Prime Day laptop deals we've seen so far! The Dell XPS 13 with 11th Gen Intel CPU just got a massive discount over at Dell — a big shot against Amazon Prime Day.

You all know the score by now. Prime Day is not just an Amazon thing anymore, as loads of retailers jump on the trend and try to outdo the deals. Dell has stepped into the ring with a real haymaker: a $200 saving on the XPS 13!

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Need more reasons to buy one of the ultimate ultrabooks? Just take a glance at our Dell XPS 13 review where we gave this five stars. That doesn’t happen much around here!

For something to get full marks, it needs to be special, which this handily achieves by offering a sleek, attractive chassis, powerful performance and excellent battery life. It’s a great all-in-one portable productivity powerhouse for life on-the-go.

Prime Day ends June 22 so be sure to bookmark our Amazon Prime Day 2021 deals hub for the best Prime Day discounts.

The Dell XPS 13 OLED is what happens when the best laptop meets the latest display technology. Combining the two creates something close to magic —  an ultra-portable device capable of running most tasks while providing a cinema-like viewing experience. Everything we love about the other XPS configurations remains, including the fast performance, striking design and top-rate touchpad. 

But as they say, every action has an opposite reaction. The introduction of a high-res OLED display understandably takes a hit on battery life. It's not as drastic as you might have guessed; the XPS 13 lasts for more than 7.5 hours on a charge. If you can overlook the below-average runtime, then there is only one more hurdle to jump: the limited port selection. 

Despite these shortcomings, the XPS 13 OLED is the best 13-inch laptop for those who want the best screen quality in a compact, premium chassis. 

Dell XPS 13 OLED price and configurations 

Upgrading to an OLED panel from the base FHD+ non-touch option costs an extra $400, matching the cost of the full 4K IPS option. That brings the starting price of the XPS 13 OLED to $1,649 when configured with an Intel Core i7-1185G7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD. 

From there, your only option is to upgrade the storage, which costs $150 to go to 1TB or $450 for a 2TB SSD. There is one other choice — opting for the Frost exterior with Arctic White interior costs an extra $50. 

Our Frost model with a 13.4-inch, 3.5K OLED display, a Core i7-1185G7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD costs $1,699.

Dell XPS 13 OLED design 

Gazing at the XPS 13 is like opening the curtains after a snowfall and marveling at the fresh white blanket of powder on the ground. 

The Frost version Dell sent me flaunts a silver lid and a white deck with a woven-glass fiber palm rest. The only dark element is a thin black bezel around the screen that contrasts against the colorful OLED panel. The light-toned hues, set against chrome trim and a Dell logo on the lid, give the XPS 13 an ultra-modern, sci-fi-like appearance.

This very laptop popularized ultra-thin bezels years ago, and Dell continues to do it better than any other company. By eliminating the chin (the bezel below the screen), Dell created a bonafide four-sided InfinityEdge display. Best of all, the webcam remains above the display where it belongs.

Clever engineering went into making the chassis as compact as possible. The outcome is a 13.4-inch laptop with the footprint of most 11-inch notebooks. At 11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches and 2.8 pounds, the XPS 13 OLED can be easily slipped into a backpack (it even fits in my bag's tablet slot) or a purse; you will barely notice its presence. It is smaller than the Spectre x360 14 (11.8 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches, 3 pounds), the MacBook Pro (12 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches, 3 pounds) and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (12.1 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches, 2.8 pounds). 

The XPS 13 might look petite, but it feels sturdy. The twin-coil hinges are strong, and yet, you can open the lid with one finger without the deck lifting. With a unibody design, the XPS 13 doesn't have any gaps where crumbs could land and the stiff tolerances suggest it could endure years of business travel. It's also practical; you get an IR camera for facial recognition login and a fingerprint sensor built into the keyboard, so you never have to remember those pesky passwords again.

Dell XPS 13 OLED ports 

Ports are limited on the XPS 13's ultra-thin chassis, but you do get a few useful goodies. 

On the right side are a headphone jack and a Thunderbolt 4 port for charging, transferring data, or connecting to monitors.

On the left side, you'll find another Thunderbolt 4 port next to a microSD card slot. I'm glad you get USB Type-C inputs on each side of the laptop, but a USB 3.1 Type-A input is sorely missed. 

As a consolation, Dell packages a USB Type-A-to-USB Type-C dongle in the box. 

Dell XPS 13 OLED display 

Wow! I'm blown away. Choosing the 13.4-inch, 3456 x 2160-pixel (3.5K) OLED touchscreen gets you colors as vibrant as a lush forest after a fresh rainfall. If Windows 10 is the home of PC users, then this display gives every wall a fresh coat of paint. Icons burst with saturated tones, web images come to life, and 4K videos are beyond cinema quality. It helps that the edge-to-edge screen with a 16:10 aspect ratio draws your eyes in, providing an immersive viewing experience.

I usually start testing displays by downloading a movie trailer, but in this case, I couldn't help but watch 4K nature videos on YouTube for longer than my boss would have liked. I'm sure she will give me a break. After all, my eyes were at the mercy of this captivating panel as I stared mouth-agape as vibrant rainbow-colored birds perched atop tropical trees in a Costa Rican rainforest.

I knew the trailer for F9 (the next Fast and Furious installment) would bring the frenetic energy and ludicrous explosions that deserve to be viewed on this panel. This pixel-dense display lets me see every detail in the clip, including small shards of wood whizzing through the air after a car barrel-rolled into a restaurant. The deep Bayside Blue hue looked fantastic on a Nissan Skyline R34 GTR as it zipped by a vividly orange Dodge Challenger. Turning on Movie mode oversaturated the colors to an absurd degree; Vin Diesel looked spray-tan orange while the sienna-toned dirt road appeared radioactive. It's best to keep that mode off for the most accurate colors.

You can even interact with this panel as it supports touch inputs. I had no issues minimizing or closing windows by tapping on the small icon in the top-right corners, and as much as I hate on-screen keyboards, the responsive pixels let me type a website into the address bar with a few quick taps on the glass.

The OLED panel is capable of covering 83.1% of the DCI-P3 color gamut at the default setting, making it more vivid than those on the Surface Laptop 4 (77%), MacBook Pro (78.3%) and the category average (86%). Amazingly, the Spectre x360 14's 3K2K OLED panel covers 140%. So you can compare, the 4K display option on the XPS 13 covers 76.9%. 

With 361 nits of maximum brightness and an infinite contrast ratio, the XPS 13's OLED panel can be easily viewed outside on a bright day. This is true, despite rivals like the MacBook Pro (435 nits) and the average premium laptop (392 nits), having brighter panels. The XPS 13 outshone the Surface Laptop 4 (349 nits) and the Spectre x360 14 OLED (339 nits).

Dell XPS 13 OLED keyboard and touchpad 

An improvement upon previous XPS keyboards, the keys on the latest XPS 13 are fairly comfortable to type on. 

The keys aren't as clicky as those on rival laptops, like the Spectre x360 or MacBook Air, but they don't feel stiff, either. There is decent travel, enough to prevent me from bottoming out, and the keys are all a proper size despite fitting onto a miniature deck. I also like the two-stage backlighting, which looks great against the all-white canvas. 

Those with large paws may find the minimal spacing cramped while they're frantically typing a last-minute report, but it won't be a problem for most people. I typed at 117 words per minute with 95% accuracy, which outpaced my usual 109-wpm average with the same error rate.

Gliding my index finger across the 4.4 x 2.5-inch touchpad felt like I was caressing the finest Mulberry silk. Soft, smooth, and ultra-responsive, the surface instantly reacted to my erratic swipes and Windows 10 gestures, like pinch-to-zoom and three-finger swipes to switch between windows. 

Dell XPS 13 OLED audio 

I'm surprised by how loud the XPS 13's speakers get, booming enough to easily fill my relatively large living room. Their location on the bottom sides of the laptop, however, isn't ideal. It means songs can sound muffled when you're listening to music with the laptop resting on soft material like workout joggers.

Placing the XPS 13 on my desk improved the clarity when I listened to Still Woozy's "Goodie Bag." The percussion and vocals in the song were crisp although the low-end was lacking. These speakers are passable, but a good pair of noise-canceling headphones will get you a big sonic upgrade. 

Dell XPS 13 OLED performance 

Equipped with an Intel Core i7-1185G7 CPU with 16GB of RAM, the XPS 13 is small but mighty. It moved quickly through my usual workload, which consisted of 20 or so Microsoft Edge tabs playing multiple 1080p YouTube videos. YouTube Music played in the background and no fewer than four Google Docs were opened concurrently. Best of all, the fans never kicked on during my testing and the bottom panel stayed at a comfortable temperature.

With a score of 5,345 on the Geekbench 5 overall performance test, the XPS 13 OLED skated by the Surface Laptop 4 (4,829, Core i7-1185G7), the Spectre x360 14 (5,004, Core i7-1165G7) and the category average (4,178). The MacBook Pro, with its mighty M1 chip, dominated its PC peers with a score of 5,882. 

The XPS 13 didn't have as much fun on our video transcoding test, needing 18 minutes and 33 seconds to convert a 4K video to 1080p. The Spectre x360 14 (17:02) and Surface Laptop 4 (17:01) crossed the finish line before the Dell while the MacBook Pro (7:44) embarrassed the field.

Transferring files will happen in a snap on the XPS 13 thanks to its speedy 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, which duplicated a 25GB multimedia file at a rate of 814.4 megabytes per second. It trounced the category average (604.5 MBps), and topped the Surface Laptop 4 (562.7 MBps) and Spectre x360 14 (764 MBps).

Dell XPS 13 OLED graphics 

We find the Intel Iris Xe graphics used in the XPS 13 to be adequate for playing older games or some newer ones at lower graphics settings. You can edit photos or video and stream 4K content without any sluggishness, but don't expect to run demanding simulations or play recent games at high graphics settings.  

On the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark (Medium, 1080p), the XPS 13 hit 15 fps, falling short of the 20-fps premium laptop average, the Spectre x360 14 (20 fps, Iris Xe), the MacBook Pro (29 fps, M1) and the Surface Laptop 4 (30 fps, Iris Xe).

On the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark, the XPS 13 notched 3,756, which couldn't keep up with the Surface Laptop 4 (5,089, 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD) or the Spectre x360 14 (4,229, 512GB NVMe PCIe SSD). The category average sits at 4,488. 

If you're a gamer wanting to play Halo Infinite when it finally arrives, consider buying a gaming laptop or eGPU. 

Dell XPS 13 OLED battery life 

So the high-res OLED panel looks fantastic, but what does it do to battery life? All I can say is: bullet dodged. No, it won't last a full workday on one charge, but the XPS 13 OLED did a respectable job on our Laptop Mag Battery Test, all things considered.

With dark mode turned on, the XPS 13 lasted for 7 hours and 59 minutes while browsing the web with the brightness set to 150 nits. Turn Windows 10 Light mode back on and that number drops to 7:48. Why the discrepancy? Because with OLED panels, each individual pixel turns off (no light emitted) to create perfect black levels. Stopping the flow of electric current to a group of pixels saves some energy. 

About eight hours of battery life is short of what we expect from a modern ultra-thin laptop (10 hours is the new benchmark), but it's a good result considering the 3.5K resolution and OLED technology. It's longer than the runtime of its closest competitor, the Spectre x360 14, which could only muster 7 hours and 14 minutes with a 3K2K OLED panel. Of course, the MacBook Pro (16:32) and Surface Laptop 4 (10:46) will stay powered for much longer, but that's comparing very different fruit. 

It's also worth mentioning that the 1080p XPS 13 stayed powered for 11 hours and 7 minutes on a charge while the 4K XPS 13 powered down after 7 hours and 32 minutes — almost half an hour before the 3.5K OLED model. 

Dell XPS 13 OLED webcam 

It’s not the best, but it’s not the worst, either. The 0.1-inch 720 webcam on the XPS 13 produces better picture quality than I expected given the size constraints. It did a good job of capturing the heathered maroon color on my T-shirt, and the opaque brown hue on the upper half of my glasses.

There was some visual noise despite the good lighting conditions in my office, so consider buying an external webcam for important meetings with the boss or those long-overdo family e-reunions. 

Dell XPS 13 OLED heat 

We ran a 15-minute, 1080p video and measured certain areas of the laptop to test the XPS 13's cooling. It did a decent job. The touchpad reached 79 degrees Fahrenheit while the middle of the keyboard hit 88 degrees, both of which are well below our 95-degree comfort threshold. The metal undercarriage, however, reached 102 degrees. 

Dell XPS 13 OLED software and warranty 

I would prefer a single app instead of the seven or so Dell-branded apps taking up space in my Start Menu, but at least the pre-installed software is useful. The self-explanatory Dell Update is a must-keep app where you'll get the latest BIOS updates and drivers. With another on-the-nose name, Dell Power Manager shows your battery health and lets you change thermal settings. 

Dell CinemaColor is especially important on this OLED panel as it lets you shift the color balance based on what you're viewing. Movie mode saturates colors, Night saves your eyes, and Sports ensures animations flow smoothly. I also want to highlight Dell Cinema Guide. It's a beautiful app where you can find TV shows and movies, and quickly see which streaming apps they're available on. 

There are a few unneeded apps, like McAfee Personal Security, but the amount of pre-installed software is inoffensive excluding all the standard Windows 10 Home apps. 

The XPS 13 comes with a one-year warranty. See how Dell fared on our Tech support showdown and Best and worst brands special reports. 

Bottom line 

The latest XPS 13 model debuts a gorgeous OLED panel that provides rich picture quality for when you're streaming movies at home or editing videos for work. Is it worth the tradeoff to battery life? If you need a high-res display, then yes. The 3.5K OLED display outlasted the 4K IPS config in our battery test and is capable of producing a wider range of colors. And since it costs the same ($1,649 to start), there is no reason to buy the non-OLED 4K model (unless you really need those few extra pixels). 

The trickier decision is between the FHD+ display or the 3.5K OLED option. The standard XPS 13 lasted for more than 11 hours on a charge, or about three hours longer than this model, and it goes for $400 less. It's a tough choice — and having this magnificent panel glowing in front of my eyes is almost unfair — but I'd still recommend the FHD+ model to most people. If you use your laptop for content editing or to exclusively stream movies or shows, then the 3.5K OLED upgrade may be worth the compromises. For everything else, the standard 1920 x 1200-pixel panel will do just fine. 

But don't count out other ultraportable options. HP's Spectre x360 14 is a better choice than the XPS 13 OLED if you need a 2-in-1 laptop that you can use in tablet mode with a stylus. And while the Surface Laptop 4 doesn't have any standout features, its 13.5-inch display is also gorgeous and the keyboard is the best in this class of laptops.

Overall, the XPS 13 OLED brings an excellent display upgrade to what was already our favorite laptop, and it does so without too many sacrifices. 

You will find the Dell XPS 13 regularly on sale, but it’s never the latest version. Usually, previous generations are deeply discounted to make some warehouse space. So, consider us surprised when we saw this belter of a special offer on the latest and greatest.

Right now, you can get £319 off the latest Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 with 11th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU — taking the price down to just £1,199!

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Dell XPS 13 deal

Take a look at our Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 review and you will see why we recommend this deal so highly. From the premium, ultrathin design and super-long battery life, to its vivid display and serious tune-up of its internals, this is a fantastic convertible for work and play.

In terms of design, the XPS 13 is CNC cut from two blocks of aluminium and bonded with Corning Gorilla Glass 6 for extra durability. The materials used, along with the small details added such as its diamond-cut edges, make for a design that looks and feels unashamedly premium. You know you’ve got something special in your hands when holding it.

The next big thing you'll notice is the XPS 13's beautiful display up top. Expect FHD+ resolution and a peak brightness of 471 nits (according to our testing), which pairs with the loud and surprisingly bassy stereo speakers on the sides.

Finally, the stuff you can’t see. Things are kept moving at a speedy pace with the beasty Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor with integrated Iris Xe graphics. Multitasking is handled by 8GB LPDDR4x RAM and all your files load quickly on the 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD.

Plus, with two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a Micro SD card slot, and headset jack, it has all the I/O you need to get stuff done. Seriously, it’s the complete package.

As spring arrives in Britain and we all realise the sun was not just a figment of our imaginations, retailers are rolling out some impressive sales. That includes Amazon’s big March bonanza and a huge list of savings over at Dell.

But arguably the best Dell deal is this £337 saving on its latest and greatest XPS 13 — taking the price of this Editor’s Choice laptop down to £1,031.14.

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Dell XPS 13 deal

Need proof of how good it is? Read our Dell XPS 13 review, in which we gave it a full 5-star rating.

We are huge fans of its sleek and attractive CNC-machined aluminium frame, which springs to life thanks to the near bezel-free 13.4-inch InfinityEdge display at an FHD+ (1920 x 1200-pixel) resolution.

Handling some of the more processor-intensive workloads out there requires some serious silicon, which this configuration delivers with a cutting-edge 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 CPU and integrated Iris Xe graphics.

Multitasking is a cinch with 8GB DDR4 RAM and you can stuff this full of high-capacity files that load quickly on the 512GB NVMe SSD.

Plus, it doesn’t skimp on the essential I/O to get stuff done with two USB Type-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot. 

If you’re looking for something on the cheaper end, Dell’s Spring Sale has a lot of great savings including the new Inspiron 15 3000 for just £269, or even the G5 15 gaming laptop at a mere £773.

Kicking off the week, we have a pretty special deal from Currys PC World that chops over £500 off an Intel Core i7-armed Dell XPS 13.

Right now, you can pick one up for just £890.10 using the code LAPTOPS10 at checkout — this is a great deal if you’ve started looking for a new portable powerhouse for working on-the-go as we ease our way out of lockdown.

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Check out our Dell XPS 13 review and you will see just how much of a big deal this price cut is. When it comes to small-yet-powerful Windows machines, this is one of the best, as it packs peak performance and a gorgeous display into a sleek chassis with excellent battery life.

For productivity purposes and some casual gaming, you’ll find a zippy Intel Core i7-10510U CPU with integrated UHD graphics. Multitasking is capably handled with 8GB DDR4 RAM and no matter how big your projects are, the 512GB SSD can store it.

And the best bits are how mobile this is at just 15.8mm thin and a weight of just 2.7lbs, but the battery isn’t sacrificed because of it, as you’ll still be able to squeeze 15 hours out of this.

So, if you’re on the lookout for a new mobile workhorse that won’t let you down, this is one of the best deals available right now.

Across the pond, the US is enjoying a truckload of deals right now in the Presidents’ Day sales. Feeling jealous? Don’t worry, I’ve got you UK folks covered with an absolute belter of a deal that is so good, Dell tried to hide it from you.

Right now over at Dell, if you use a code meant for student customers (don’t worry, you can use it if you’re not a student), you can pick up a Dell XPS 13 with 10th Gen Intel Core i5 for just £773.52. That is a whopping £325 off the price.

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Check out our Dell XPS 13 review and you will see just how much we love this ultrabook for its pure performance packed into a stylishly svelte chassis. 

The dimensions are tiny — 302mm x 199mm and just 15.8mm at its thickest point with a mere starting weight of 1.23kg. That makes the power and longevity pure bonkers. As you’ll open it up to find a gorgeous 1080p InfinityEdge display (marketing speak for bezel-less), for a compact and immersive build. 

Powering things are a 10th Gen Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD and a generously long 19-hour battery life. If you’ve been looking for a powerful laptop with great battery life and enough under the hood to get things done, this is the one for you. And with a code meant for Unidays users that you can use too, it’s even better!

Winning our coveted Editor’s Choice award, the Dell XPS 13 is one of our favourite laptops — combining an attractive chassis, beautiful screen, peak performance and excellent battery life in one amazing package. But now, for a limited time, you can save over $600 on this portable powerhouse.

Right now, thanks to a $609 price cut, you can grab an XPS 13 with Intel Core i7 CPU for $1,149.99, which is down from $1,758.99.

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From design to specs, as you can see in our Dell XPS 13 review, we’re massive fans of this laptop. That goes double for this fully-loaded version.

Starting up top, the 13.4-inch UHD+ (3804 x 2400-pixel) display is vivid and has a virtually bezel-less InfinityEdge design, paired with capacitive touch and a 360-degree hinge for ultimate versatility.

Powering things is a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU with integrated Iris Plus graphics, alongside 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM for strong multitasking and a 256GB PCIe SSD.

All-in-all, this is an attractively affordable package for anyone looking for something that can capably handle even some of the most processor-intensive tasks without breaking a sweat. Shopping around? Check out our best laptop deals hub. 

We are big fans of Dell's XPS 13, which brings peak performance and excellent battery life together into an attractive chassis. But do you know what makes one even better? Cutting the price by more than $300.

That's exactly what Dell has done for a limited time. You can, for a limited time, grab an XPS 13 with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU for just $729.99.

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When it comes to premium notebooks with the endurance to last throughout your day-to-day and the power to get even the more intense tasks done, the XPS 13 is hard to beat for its portability and performance.

The package starts with a gorgeous 1080p InfinityEdge IPS panel, on which the bezels just melt away with an 80.7% screen-to-body ratio, and the pictures pop with 100% sRGB color coverage and a 1500:1 contrast ratio.

Powering this machine is a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10510U CPU with integrated UHD graphics and 8GB DDR4 RAM to keep things running smoothly under multitasking pressure. Plus, the 256GB M.2 SSD provides a generous amount of room that loads quickly.

And of course, the 52 WHr battery (which lasted over 12 hours in our testing) is guaranteed to keep you going all day when you're away from a power outlet. I know that can't really be put to the test at the moment, but when things get back to normal, you'll be thankful for that beastly battery life.

So, if you're in the market for a laptop that is as portable as it is powerful, nothing really comes close to providing as much bang for your buck as this XPS 13 deal. But if you want to take a look around, we also list many more offers on our best cheap laptop deals hub.

“Pfft! The Asus VivoBook Flip 14 isn’t even in the same league as the Dell XPS 13!” many would say. This statement isn’t completely wrong. After all, the VivoBook Flip 14 costs $1,050 less than the XPS 13. The VivoBook Flip 14 caters to the mid-range market while the XPS 13 attracts swanky ultraportable fans who don’t mind spending nearly $2,000 on a highly praised laptop.

But these two laptops aren’t as unmatched as you may think.

• Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13: Battle of the slim-bezel beasts
• Asus VivoBook Flip 14 review

We’re throwing the VivoBook Flip 14 and the XPS 13 into the Laptop Mag face-off ring with a fiendish smirk to showcase that a higher price tag doesn’t always translate into better performance. Most would place their bets on the XPS 13 as the best laptop of the two. In most respects (e.g. battery life, display and design), the Dell ultraportable does outshine the VivoBook Flip 14. But when it comes to performance, including file-transfer rates and video transcoding speed, the winning laptop will surprise you.

In one corner, we have the $700 VivoBook Flip 14 equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processor (the same CPU in the $650 Acer Swift 3 that outperformed the $1,800 13-inch MacBook Pro). It also has integrated AMD Radeon graphics, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 14-inch, 1080p touch display. 

In the other corner, we have the $1,750 XPS 13 with an Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU, integrated Intel Iris Plus graphics, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 13.4-inch, 1920 x 1200 touch display.

In this cheeky face-off, we’ll be trimming out the fat and focusing on performance.

Asus VivoBook Flip 14 vs. Dell XPS 13 overall performance 

Armed with an AMD Ryzen 7 4700U CPU and 8GB of RAM, the VivoBook Flip 14 demonstrated its multitasking muscle as we bombarded the convertible with 35 RAM-hungry Google Chrome tabs; the 2-in-1 Asus laptop didn’t even break a sweat. “Lagging? Stuttering? I don’t even know what that is!” the VivoBook Flip 14 said with its puffed out chest.

The same could be said for the XPS 13, which sports an Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU and 16GB of RAM. Like a Herculean juggler, the fan-favorite Dell ultraportable ran an episode of Netflix’s Tiger King show stutter-free while handling a deluge of 25 Chrome tabs. “Who’s the performance champ now, Flip?” the XPS 13 said, taunting its Asus opponent. The VivoBook Flip 14 didn’t reply — it simply smirked because it knew it was about to pull one of the biggest upsets in Laptop Mag’s face-off history.

When the VivoBook Flip 14 and the XPS 13 battled each other in the Geekbench 5 overall performance challenge, something unexpected happened. The VivoBook Flip 14 achieved a jaw-dropping score of 5,268, whizzing past the XPS 13 that could only muster a score of 4,648. We thought the Asus 2-in-1 was all talk, but could it actually have enough brawn to knock out the XPS 13? Let’s put these two performance beasts through a few more rounds and find out.

Winner: Asus VivoBook Flip 14

Asus VivoBook Flip 14 vs. Dell XPS 13 transcoding video 

In this round, the Asus and Dell laptops sparred to see which productivity machine can transcode a 4K video into 1080p the fastest using the HandBrake Video Editing Test. We timed both laptops and the VivoBook Flip 14 shouted “done!” at 10 minutes and 17 seconds.

Unfortunately for the XPS 13, the timer kept ticking. Taunting the XPS 13, the Asus convertible began humming the Final Jeopardy countdown song. As the timer reached 15 minutes and 40 seconds, the Dell ultraportable finally completed the task.

“If you need some speedy video transcoding, I’m your guy!” the VivoBook Flip 14 said. “If you want to wait an eternity to convert your 4K video into 1080p, get yourself the XPS 13!” The Dell ultraportable reminded the VivoBook Flip 14 that there are still a few more rounds left in this wrestling match and this face off isn’t over yet.

Winner: Asus VivoBook Flip 14

Asus VivoBook Flip 14 vs. Dell XPS 13 file-transfer speed 

“Show me what you’ve got!” the VivoBook Flip 14 shouted at the XPS 13. It’s time for the File Transfer Test — a benchmark that allows us to see which laptop outputs the speediest time while transferring a 25GB folder of mixed-media files from one hard drive to another.

On your marks, get set, go!

As the VivoBook Flip 14 and XPS 13 scrambled to transfer their files, the VivoBook Flip 14 began to outpace its Dell rival in the race. The Asus convertible’s 512GB SSD zoomed to the finish line in 55 seconds. The XPS 13, equipped with the same storage as its Asus’ rival, needed an extra 45 seconds to complete the File Transfer Test, clocking in at one minute and 45 seconds. The VivoBook Flip 14 accomplished the task at a rate of 433 megabytes per second; the XPS 13’s file-transfer rate was 255.7 MBps.

“Ha!” the VivoBook Flip 14 teased. “I’m unstoppable!” The XPS 13 began to panic at this point, but it knew that it had two more chances to save itself from an embarrassing five-nil defeat.

Winner: Asus VivoBook Flip 14

Asus VivoBook Flip 14 vs. Dell XPS 13 Photoshop benchmark 

The PugetBench Photoshop test measures how well laptops can handle a barrage of simple image-manipulation tasks. Although the XPS 13 is feeling dispirited due to its round-after-round losses, the Dell ultraportable mustered enough strength to tackle the VivoBook Flip 14 in this final task.

The XPS 13 completed the Photoshop test in 9 minutes and 55 seconds and achieved a score of 657. The VivoBook Flip 14, on the other hand, took 11 minutes and 26 seconds to complete the same task and achieved a score of 552. The XPS 13 stuck its tongue out at the VivoBook Flip 14 and said, “And that’s why my 16GB of RAM is better than your measly 8GB of memory!”

The VivoBook Flip 14 shot an intimidating glare at the XPS 13 and said, “I gave you this win because I pitied you. In the next round, I’m coming for blood.”

Winner: Dell XPS 13

Asus VivoBook Flip 14 vs. Dell XPS 13 graphics and gaming

Equipped with integrated AMD Radeon graphics, the VivoBook Flip 14 scored 2,870 on the 3DMark Fire Strike synthetic graphics benchmark. Sporting Intel Iris Plus graphics, the XPS 13 unfortunately could not outperform its Asus rival with a score of 2,837.

Neither the VivoBook Flip 14 nor the XPS 13 are gaming PCs, but if you’re interested in some light gaming, this round will also test how well these two laptops can handle graphics-intensive entertainment. The Asus convertible played Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm at 30 frames per second. The beaten and defeated XPS 13 could only run the game at 19 frames per second, which is below our 30-fps playability rate.

Channeling Killmonger in Black Panther, the VivoBook Flip 14 pointed at the crushed and conquered XPS 13 and shouted, “Is this your king?!” The VivoBook Flip 14 now sits on the throne as the best performer compared to the XPS 13.

Winner: Asus VivoBook Flip 14

Overall winner: Asus VivoBook Flip 14 

The $700 VivoBook Flip 14 kicked the $1,750 Dell XPS 13’s butt when it comes to performance and graphics, thanks to its AMD Ryzen 4000-series CPU and integrated Radeon GPU.

However, it’s important to note the XPS 13 has the upper hand over the VivoBook Flip 14 in other ways. When it comes to battery life, for example, the XPS 13 lasted 12 hours and 39 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test while the VivoBook Flip 14 could only muster 7 hours and 57 minutes. Secondly, the VivoBook Flip 14 is as dim as a candlelit dinner with 262 nits of brightness. The XPS 13, on the other hand, has a 416-nit screen. Speaking of the display, the XPS 13’s panel is virtually bezel-free on all four sides while the VivoBook Flip 14 sports a large chin. Lastly, the XPS 13 is slimmer and lighter at 0.6 inches of thinness and 2.8 pounds. The VivoBook Flip 14 is 3.3 pounds and 0.7 inches thin.

The Asus VivoBook Flip 14 is a value victor, offering outstanding performance at just $700. But if you’re a stickler for bright displays, long-lasting battery life and thin-and-light designs, the $1,750 Dell XPS 13 is worth the splurge.

Dell is set to release new XPS 13 and XPS 13 2-in-1 models with Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake CPUs and Iris Xe Graphics. The laptops were first spotted in Intel's 11th Gen Tiger Lake CPU announcement video to the press. 

After the event, a Dell rep reached out to confirm the launch of these new XPS laptops. Dell will reveal the full details of the new models at a later date, so we don't have any pricing, availability or specs to share right now.

We were, however, sent a few teaser images of the XPS 13 (see below). 

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• Dell XPS 13 (2020) review

What can we glean from the images? Well...not much. The upcoming XPS 13 looks similar if not identical to the most recent release. The edges are diamond-cut, giving them a reflective finish and Dell is sticking with the Arctic White deck, which we suspect will retain its predecessor's stain-proof glass-fiber weave.

The brief glances we got of the XPS 13 during the Intel CPU event showed a bezel-less display and a keyboard that expands across the deck. 

This isn't the first time we've seen this upcoming XPS 13. Leaker WalkingCat (who is currently suspended on Twitter) posted a product video showing an XPS 13 in action. As Notebookcheck reports, you can see clearly see the black carbon-fiber weave on the deck, the slim bezels around the screen and the silver metal trim around the edges. 

We can't say for sure but it looks like the XPS 13 will retain the same design as the previous model, which wouldn't be surprising considering the early 2020 release was overhauled with thinner bottom bezels, a larger touchpad and a wider keyboard. 

We're hoping to see similar improvements to the XPS 13 2-in-1, which Dell has chosen to keep under wraps. We'll update you in the coming weeks as we learn more about the successors of some of our favorite ultra-portable laptops. 

Is the Asus ZenBook 13 wacky enough to challenge the reigning champion of 13-inch ultraportables — the Dell XPS 13?

Heck yes! 

With its super-slim bezels, stunning royal-blue chassis and ultra-compact design, the Asus ZenBook 13 cockily asks, “Pfft, what does the Dell XPS 13 have that I don’t?” Well, with this fierce face-off, we’re about to find out.

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In one corner, we have the XPS 13 scoffing at its underdog competitor. The Dell powerhouse shows off its vivid InfinityEdge display, several Thunderbolt 3 ports and long-lasting battery life. It pompously struts around the ring with a fan-favorite crown and a championship belt for its industry-leading performance.

In the other corner, we’ve got the Asus ZenBook 13 hoping to pull off the greatest upset in laptop wrestling history. With a touchpad that doubles as a mini display, a futuristic chassis with military-grade durability, and Amazon Alexa capabilities, the ZenBook 13 is certain it can take down its Dell rival in this intense ultraportable face-off. 

Without further ado, in my best Michael Buffer voice, “let’s get ready to rumble!”

Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13 price and configuration 

In this round, the ZenBook 13 and the XPS 13 go head-to-head on pricing so that we can ascertain which laptop offers the best bang for your buck.

The starting price of the ZenBook 13 is $949 and it comes with an Intel Core i7-8565U CPU, Intel UHD graphics, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 1080p display. For an additional $60, you can upgrade your processor to an Intel Core i7-10510U CPU. Our $1,149 review unit adds an Nvidia GeForce MX250 GPU.

The starting price of the XPS 13 is slightly more expensive at $999. 

It’s equipped with an Intel Core i3-1005G1 CPU, Intel UHD graphics, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 1920 x 1200 non-touch display. We reviewed the $1,749 model, which sports an Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU, an Intel Iris Plus GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 1920 x 12000 touch display. If you’ve got money to blow, a tricked out XPS 13 could set you back $2,309 with a Core i7 CPU, a 2TB SSD and an ultra-high-resolution display.

While the XPS 13 provides more configuration options, the ZenBook 13 is easier on your pockets.

Winner: Asus ZenBook 13

Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13 design 

If you’re going to spend over $1,000 for a laptop, you’ll want a device that stops admirers dead in their tracks due to its show-stopping beauty. Both the ZenBook 13 and the XPS 13 score high in the looks department, but which one is the most eye catching?

Our Editor Phil Tracy and Editor-in-Chief Sherri L. Smith were both taken aback when they spotted the ZenBook 13’s striking, royal-blue chassis in a radiant picture.

”Damn, that’s pretty!” Smith said. “Damn, that blue is nice!” Tracy exclaimed. In a sea of grays and blacks, the rich-blue ZenBook 13 stands out with its sci-fi-esque, gold Asus logo. Concentric circles, reminiscent of grooves on a vinyl record, decorate the lid.

Open the lid, and you’ll find more of that rich-blue goodness on the keyboard deck. Adjacent to the function keys, an edge-to-edge gold strip runs across the keyboard deck — on it, you’ll find the words “Asus ZenBook.”

The ZenBook 13’s ultraslim bezels are 0.1 inches at the sides, 0.2 inches at the bottom and 0.2  to 0.3 inches at the top to accommodate the camera. The display has an impressive 95% screen-to-body ratio.

The XPS 13 is another stunner, but it’s more of a subtle beauty.

Its frost-white chassis evokes calming thoughts of a cool, wintry landscape. The glossy Dell logo adds the right touch of sparkle to the slim ultrabook. When you open the laptop, you’ll be wowed by the XPS 13’s Arctic-white keyboard deck that features woven glass fiber.

If a display was an infinity pool, it’d be the XPS 13’s bezel-less panel. Dell shrunk its current-gen model’s bezels to 0.15 inches at the sides, 0.18 inches at the bottom and 0.2 inches at the top.

The ZenBook 13 and the XPS 13 both weigh 2.8 pounds, but the Dell ultraportable (0.6 inches thick) is slightly thinner than its Asus counterpart (0.7 inches).

Winner: Asus ZenBook 13

Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13 security 

In this round, we pose the following question: Which laptop in the ring can best protect you from malicious infiltrators?

The ZenBook 13 and the XPS 13 both have infrared (IR) cameras that support Windows Hello facial recognition to unlock your laptop, but the XPS 13 has a fingerprint scanner, which its Asus rival does not have. 

Winner: Dell XPS 13

Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13 ports 

The ZenBook 13’s stock of ports is impressive with a variety of connection options, including an HDMI port, two USB Type-A ports, one USB Type-C port, a microSD slot and a headset jack.

The XPS 13, on the other hand, is a little too snobby to support legacy ports like HDMI and USB Type-A. The Dell fan favorite has two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a microSD slot and a headset jack.

Winner: Asus ZenBook 13 

Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13 display 

The Asus ZenBook 13 and Dell XPS 13 both have ultraslim bezels, but how do they differ when it comes to their displays?

The ZenBook’s 13.3-inch, 1080p screen is a decent display, but it’s nothing to write home about. 

It’s too dim for my tastes at just 254 nits of brightness, which is more lackluster than the 368-nit brightness score of the average premium laptop. The Dell ultraportable’s 13.4-inch, 1920 x 1200 touch display, on the other hand, is radiant with 417 nits of brightness. 

The XPS 13’s display is also more vivid than its Asus competitor — the laptop reproduced 115% of the sRGB color gamut. 

The ZenBook 13's display only covered 100% of the sRGB color gamut, which can’t compete with the 120% color-coverage score of the premium laptop average.

Winner: Dell XPS 13

Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13 audio 

With its Harman/Kardon speakers, the audio quality that emanated from the ZenBook 13 was surprisingly impressive. This could be, in part, due to the ErgoLift hinge Asus added to the ZenBook 13. This mechanism lifts the back of the keyboard into a more comfortable typing angle. This also prevents the ZenBook 13’s bottom-firing speakers from being stifled by a sound-clogging surface.

The XPS 13 also has bottom-firing speakers, but the difference between the Dell ultraportable and its Asus rival is that it can deliver louder, room-filling audio. The ZenBook 13 isn’t quiet, but it isn’t as loud as its Dell counterpart.

Winner: Dell XPS 13 

Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13 keyboard and touchpad 

The Asus ZenBook 13 has a snappy, comfortable keyboard with satisfying tactile feedback, plus 1.4mm of key travel. My only complaint with the ZenBook 13 is its petite right Shift key — when you’re used to the Shift key having a standard size, typing on its minimized version may require a longer adjustment period than usual.

The Dell XPS 13’s edge-to-edge keyboard, on the other hand, doesn’t downsize any of its keys. However, it has 1mm of key travel, so the feedback isn’t as springy as the ZenBook 13.

The ZenBook 13 has an edge over the XPS 13 with its ScreenPad, which is a touchpad that doubles as a mini display. There are many use cases for the ScreenPad. You could be a student who watches an online lecture on the touchpad screen while pulling up Microsoft Word to type notes on the main display. Or, you can access Spotify on the ScreenPad while surfing the web on your larger screen. Asus’ touchpad display is a productivity-boosting feature  —  it fulfills every multitasker’s dream of engaging with several apps simultaneously. 

You can also switch off the display and the ScreenPad will flawlessly operate as a traditional touchpad with support for Windows 10 gestures, including pinch-to-zoom and two-finger scrolling.

The XPS 13’s traditional glass touchpad isn’t as riveting as the ZenBook 13’s innovative ScreenPad, but it still operates as smooth as silk. It is 17% larger than its predecessor, which provides users with more real estate to navigate the web. Like the ZenBook 13, using Windows 10 gestures on the XPS 13 is seamless.

 Winner: Asus ZenBook 13 

Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13 performance 

There’s a reason why the Dell XPS 13 is a champ in the ring — it’s a performance beast that is known for knocking out other high-end 13-inch laptops with impressive benchmark scores. Can the ZenBook 13 outdo the XPS 13 on our performance tests?

The Asus ZenBook 13 is outfitted with an Intel Core i7-10510U processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD while the Dell XPS 13 is equipped with an Intel Core i7-1065G7, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Both systems handled a deluge of over 25 Google Chrome tabs like two multitasking Hulks without stuttering or lagging.

On the Geekbench 5.1 overall performance test, the XPS 13 (4,852) crushed the ZenBook 13 (3,489). The ZenBook couldn’t even outpace the average premium laptop score of 4,076. 

Unfortunately, the XPS 13 isn’t done with humiliating the wounded ZenBook 13.

On the HandBrake benchmark, the ZenBook 13 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 21 minutes and 34 seconds, which is slower than category average (18:47). The Dell ultraportable, on the other hand, speedily completed the test in just 15 minutes and 40 seconds.

Delivering a final, knock-out punch on our PugetBench Photoshop test (which loops through 21 different Photoshop tasks in three cycles), the XPS 13 conquered the ZenBook 13 with a score of 657, defeating its rival’s measly score of 503. The ZenBook 13 couldn’t even beat the average premium laptop score of 599. Yikes!

Winner: Dell XPS 13

Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13 graphics 

 The XPS 13 wiped the floor with the ZenBook 13 in the last round, but the weakened Asus ultraportable was able to muster enough strength to lay a good smack across its Dell rival’s face when it comes to graphics performance.

The Asus ZenBook 13 serves up a discrete Nvidia GeForce MX250 GPU with 2GB of VRAM. The Dell XPS 13, on the other hand, sports an integrated Intel Iris Plus GPU.

The Asus ultraportable achieved 23 frames per second on the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm gaming benchmark. This is two frames higher than the average premium laptop. The XPS 13 suffered a huge blow to its ego as it could only hit 19 fps.

Winner: Asus ZenBook 13 

Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13 battery life 

The Asus ZenBook 13 and the Dell XPS 13 both delivered battery life scores that are longer than our preferred 8-hour runtime, but which one has greater longevity?

The Asus ZenBook 13 lasted 9 hours and 8 minutes on our Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. The ZenBook 13 conked out quicker than the average premium laptop (9:21). Unfortunately for Asus, the Dell XPS 13 has better endurance with an incredible runtime of 12 hours and 39 minutes. 

Keep in mind that the Asus ZenBook 13 has a second display, which could play a part in its shorter battery life.

Winner: Dell XPS 13 

Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13 webcam 

Laptop cameras are typically inferior, which is why we often recommend external webcams. But if video conferencing is important to you and you'd like to know which competitors’ camera is the best of the worst, here are two webcam selfies we took with the Asus ZenBook 13 and the Dell XPS 13.

With the Asus ZenBook 13’s HD camera, the best way I can describe the image quality of my selfie is ghastly. There is some visual noise, my curls lack definition and my skin complexion is ghoulish.

The XPS 13’s camera isn’t much better. Avram Piltch, Editor-in-Chief of our sister site Tom’s Hardware, posed for the XPS 13’s 720p webcam. Like the Asus ZenBook 13, it did not impress. Piltch’s ginger beard and eyebrows — an attractive, sandy-reddish color in person —  is lackluster in the photo. However, I can’t help but notice that the XPS 13 produced a slighter sharper image than its Asus competitor. 

Winner: Dell XPS 13 

Overall winner: The Dell XPS 13 

The Dell XPS 13 is the clear winner here for its beastly performance, dazzling display and impressive battery life. But this doesn’t mean you should completely dismiss the Asus ZenBook 13. You should reflect on your own lifestyle to choose the best laptop for you. If you’re a photo editor, for example, I’d recommend the Dell XPS 13 for its bright, vivid display and impressive performance benchmarks. If you’re an on-the-go busy bee and you often whip out your laptop while you’re outdoors, you may want to steer clear of the Asus ZenBook 13’s dim display.

However, if you’re a multitasking master who loves the idea of juggling several apps, the Asus ZenBook 13 might be a better choice for you due to its ScreenPad feature. Having two displays is useful for simultaneously comparing, consuming and cross-referencing content.

The Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight for the laptop world is set, and I promise this won't be a letdown. We recently published our reviews for the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (8th Gen) and XPS 13 (2020), two of the best laptops on the market. The two notebooks trade blow for blow in most areas with both having sleek designs, fast performance, great display options and long battery life. But there are some important differences between the ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the XPS 13 that should factor into your buying decision. 

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is first and foremost a business laptop. As such, it has some extra features you won't find on the XPS 13. On the other hand, without those features the XPS 13 can focus on portability. It also has some advantages over the ThinkPad X1 Carbon comes to battery life and performance thanks to the specific chips it uses. 

• Best business laptops 
• Which ThinkPad is right for you?
• XPS 13 vs XPS 15 vs XPS 17: Which Dell XPS is right for you?

You can't go wrong with either laptop but if you need to choose between these two title champions, then read to find out which one to get.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon vs. Dell XPS 13: Specs 

Value and configurations 

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is an expensive laptop, even when it's not configured with the pricey vPro CPUs. The base model starts at $1,553 and comes with a 1080p display, an Intel Core i5-10210U CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.

Our cheaper review unit has a 1080p display, an Intel Core i5-10310U (vPro) CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a few optional upgrades (IR camera, Windows 10 Pro), costs $1,745.

The 4K model with a Core i7-10610U (vPro) CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD goes for $2,322. It's one of the most expensive options, only cheaper than the 1TB config, which costs an extra $268.

The $1,149 base model Dell XPS 13 has an Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, an Intel UHD Graphics GPU and a 1920 x 1200 non-touch display.

We reviewed the $1,749 model, which features an Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD, Intel Iris Plus graphics and a 1920 x 1200 touch display.

The laptop can also be configured with a 1TB SSD ($150), 2TB SSD ($350) and a 3840 x 2400 touch display ($300). A tricked-out XPS 13 costs $2,309 and gets you the Core i7 processor, a 2TB SSD, Windows 10 Pro and a UHD display.

 Winner: XPS 13 

Design

Choosing a winner in this round is futile. Not only because aesthetics are subjective but because the XPS 13 and ThinkPad X1 Carbon are modern notebooks with common design elements. And they're both portable, but for different reasons. 

The XPS 13, with its now completely bezel-free design, is incredibly compact with a footprint of 11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches. The X1 Carbon also has relatively slim bezels but only on three sides. As such, it measures 12.7 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches. What makes the X1 Carbon arguably more comfortable to carry around is its lightweight materials. Weighing in at 2.4 pounds, the 14-inch X1 Carbon weighs less than the 13-inch XPS 13 (2.8 pounds). 

These are two attractive laptops whose signature designs contrast in many ways. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon has an understated design with stealthy matte-black finishes and an optional carbon fiber weave pattern on the lid. Red accents on the pointing stick and left-and-right click buttons add a touch of color to the ink surfaces. 

The XPS 13 is the most glamorous of the two notebooks, particularly the white version, which flaunts a Frost White lid and carbon-fiber weaved Alpine White deck. The aluminum lid gives the XPS a certain premium look and feel while the polished edges provide some visual bling. 

While both of these laptops have excellent build quality, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon gets points for being tested to 12 military-grade durability tests, meaning it can survive harsh environments. The XPS 13 and ThinkPad X1 Carbon both have a fingerprint sensor and an IR camera for Windows Hello login.

Winner: Draw

Ports

We're going from nail-biter to blowout; the X1 Carbon has a better port selection of these laptops, and it's not even close.

While the XPS 13 has only two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a microSD card slot and a headphone jack, the X1 Carbon offers a buffet of inputs. 

On the right side of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon are a USB 3.1 Type-A port and a lock slot. On the left side, you'll find two Thunderbolt 3 inputs, an Ethernet extension port, an HDMI 1.4, a headphone jack and a second USB 3.1 port. 

This would have been a clean sweep if Lenovo hadn't removed the SD Card slot from the X1 Carbon last year. Now photographers and videographers need to use a USB-to-SD card dongle to upload images.

 Winner: ThinkPad X1 Carbon 

Display

You can't go wrong choosing among the various display options on the XPS 13 or ThinkPad X1 Carbon. We reviewed the 1080p XPS 13 and both 1080p and 4K versions of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Across these screens, we saw sharp details, vivid colors and impressive brightness. 

We didn't test the 4K screen on the XPS 13, so I can't comment on how it compares with the others. Of those we did test, the 4K screen on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon delivered the best viewing experience. Next was the XPS 13 with a 1080p screen, which was brighter and a bit more colorful than the 1080p matte display on the lower-end X1 Carbon.

According to our colorimeter, the 4K and 1080p displays available for the ThinkPad X1 Carbon cover 135% and 101% of the sRGB color gamut. The 1080p panel on our XPS 13 falls in the middle of those results, with 115% coverage.

We saw similar results in our brightness test. The 1080p X1 Carbon hit 364 nits of brightness whereas the XPS 13 reached 417 nits. The 4K panel on the X1 Carbon outshone both laptops, at 498 nits. Since we can't compare 4K-to-4K we're going to give Dell the win in this round for having the better 1080p option.

Winner: XPS 13

Keyboard and touchpad

The XPS 13 has a decent keyboard, but it doesn't compare with the class-leading one on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. 

The Carbon's backlit keys offer deeper travel than those on the XPS 13 and they deliver a really satisfying tactile click. There is a meatiness to them that is missing on the XPS 13's keys. On a positive note for Dell fans, the XPS 13 has 9% larger keycaps that are well-spaced and comfortable to type on. 

At 4.4 x 2.6 inches, the touchpad on the XPS 13 is actually a tad larger than the one on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (3.9 x 2.2 inches). Both glass surfaces are responsive and didn't have any problems executing Windows 10 gestures. 

A bonus for some people is the TrackPoint pointing stick centered on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. An alternative to the touchpad, the little rubber nub lets you control your cursor without taking your hands on the keyboard. 

Winner: ThinkPad X1 Carbon 

Performance

If we're considering pricing, the XPS 13 with an Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU and 16GB of RAM is a direct competitor to the X1 Carbon with an Intel Core i5-10310U vPro with 8GB of RAM, not the even pricier Core i7 vPro, 16GB of RAM model we also tested. I'll include scores from all three laptops, but keep that in mind as you go through this section.

On the Geekbench 5 overall performance test, the XPS 13 scored a 4,648 whereas the X1 Carbon with a Core i5-10310U notched only a 3,597 and the Core i7-10610U landed at 3,935. The category average is 4,026. 

Those scores translated directly in our Handbrake video-editing test, in which the XPS 13 (Core i7) needed only 15 minutes and 10 seconds to convert a 4K video to 1080p. It smoked both Core i5 ThinkPad X1 Carbon (19:51) and the Core i7 (18:29), which nearly matched the premium laptop average (18:25). 

The X1 Carbon gained some ground on our hard drive test. The 256GB PCIe SSD in our cheaper model duplicated 5GB of multimedia files in 6 seconds for a transfer rate of 783 megabytes per second, and the 512GB SSD config did it in 5 seconds for a rate of 997.9 MBps. It took the XPS 13 8.3 seconds to complete the task, which comes out to a rate of 613.1 MBps. 

But the pendulum swings back in Dell's favor when you look at graphics performance. The X1 Carbon has Comet Lake chips so it relies on integrated Intel UHD graphics, which are weaker than the Iris Plus graphics in the XPS 13's Ice Lake CPUs. 

This became apparent when we tried playing Dirt 3 on these ultraslim laptops. We had no problems drifting around tight turns at 59 fps on the XPS 13. In comparison, the Core i5 and Core i7 ThinkPad X1 Carbon ran the racing game at only 30 fps and 33 fps, respectively. 

Winner: XPS 13 

Battery life

The XPS 13 lasts longer on a charge than the ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the difference is pretty significant. The Dell lasted for 12 hours and 39 minutes on our battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits. 

With a respectable runtime of 10 hours and 45 minutes, the 1080p X1 Carbon will power down a few hours before the XPS 13. The 4K version lasts for 7 hours and 23 minutes, which is OK given the UHD panel.

Winner: Dell XPS 13 

Overall winner: Dell XPS 13

Dell wins this championship matchup in a photo finish. In the end, the difference came down to pricing; as a business notebook, the X1 Carbon demands a hefty premium and costs a few hundred dollars more than the XPS 13 across the board. If money isn't an issue, then deciding between these two gets tricky. 

The XPS 13 has better performance and longer battery life, but buying the Dell means you'll forgo the world-class ThinkPad keyboard and generous port selection on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. I want to reiterate: you can't go wrong with either notebook. They both have striking, ultraportable design and excellent display options, among a wide range of features they both deliver.

If I had to choose between them, I'd buy the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, despite what the above numbers say. I could use the extra screen real estate and the laptop feels considerably lighter than the XPS 13, even though the weight difference between these isn't massive. I also value USB Type-A ports more than most people. Having said that, the XPS 13 might be a better choice if you need a compact machine with extended endurance, or if the lofty price of the ThinkPad turns you off.

Disclaimer: This article was written to celebrate some of the greatest laptops released between 2010 and 2020. If you want to know what's the best pick right now, check out our fully up-to-date guide to the best laptops based on Laptop Mag's own reviews.

The original article follows below.

Where did the time go? It seems like only a minute ago we were ringing in 2010, and now we’re at the cusp of saying goodbye to 2019 and hello to the roaring 2020s. But before you start whipping out the flapper dresses, jazz, and Gin Rickeys, let’s take a moment to reflect on the laptops that defined the decade.

From the beautifully balanced Dell XPS 13, to the consistently reliable Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, to the delightfully slim Asus Zenbook UX331UN, here are the 9 best laptops of the decade...plus one tablet.

Best overall: Dell XPS 13

Anodized aluminum, glass weave, and nearly zero bezels. Those are the ingredients of a decade-defining laptop. Since 2015, the Dell XPS 13, as well as the XPS 13 2-in-1 and XPS 15, have sat at the top of many a tech publication’s best list, essentially beating a certain Cupertino juggernaut at its own game. This is the story of how Dell created its own lane and changed how everyone (including Apple) made laptops as a result. 

It all started at CES 2015, when Dell unveiled the latest model of the XPS 13, the flagship notebook in the company’s premium line. At first glance, the laptop looked like previous entries until you opened it up. And then you saw those bezels, or lack thereof. Teaming with Sharp, the XPS team had all but eliminated those unsightly thick bezels, replacing them with the first InfinityEdge display. The smaller bezels allowed Dell to significantly shrink the XPS 13’s profile, capturing the title of the world’s smallest 13-inch. It was all a part of an aggressive plan put in place by Donnie Oilphant, senior director of product marketing for XPS.

The original rollout plan for InfinityEdge was to take place over 10 years and three phases, the first of which would have significantly reduced the side bezels, leaving the top and bottom bezels intact. Instead, the team jumped to phase two. That gave us the three-sided InfinityEdge but also introduced the bottom bezel-mounted nosecam. But the company restored the camera to its rightful place two years later, creating the world’s smallest webcam.

Since then, the XPS team has continued to innovate the formula, shaving off a millimeter here and developing a new cooling system there. After learning women customers wanted another color scheme, the company created its proprietary glass fiber weave to open up more color palettes, including the lovely rose gold variant. And as we close out this decade, Dell and the XPS team is looking forward with the motto of “chasing perfect.”

“[E]verybody knows perfect doesn't exist. But if you don't chase perfect, you’re obviously never going to get there,” says Oliphant. “And so we strive every day...the area that we have probably the most opportunity to improve on and to continue to make huge strides is going to be in in the customer experience all the things, services, you know, ecosystems, all the things that we wrapped around that beautiful piece of jewelry.”

It’s a lofty goal, one that Dell doggedly pursues as it looks towards the future of the brand. But if it can’t achieve perfect, balance is the next best thing as Dell has consistently balanced value, quality, performance and endurance in one stellar product.

“That's the ethos of what we do it is all about trying to drive the most balanced definition of each product within each category that we participate in. And that's what we think gives us the best platform within those categories,” Oliphant stated. — Sherri L. Smith

Best 2-in-1: Microsoft Surface Pro 6

The Surface Pro 6 fixed the one thing holding Microsoft back from offering a device that fulfills its vision of a more mobile Windows 10 experience. The original Surface Pro introduced us to a new type of detachable Windows 10 device, but it had some serious shortcomings. 

Battery life was an issue for several years running and damaged the detachable’s promise of portability. It wasn't until the Surface Pro 6 that we started feeling comfortable using it away from an outlet. 

"Performance, including battery life, is the result of hardware and software coming together to deliver the best experience for our customers, "Timothy Golik, senior director of product management at Microsoft told Laptop Mag. "In addition to the choice of physical components like custom batteries and low-power components, we work closely with our silicon partners and software teams across Microsoft to optimize how the software interacts with the hardware. 

Golik continued, "Paying attention to these small details - measured down to the milliwatt level - is how we deliver the best balance of power, portability and battery life."

With longer battery life, the Surface Pro 6 could finally take advantage of its flexible, ultraportable chassis and excellent keyboard and stylus accessories. Just as importantly, that extended endurance didn't compromise on the Surface Pro 6's bright and colorful 12.3-inch display and speedy performance. 

A new stealthy matte-black color scheme added even more appeal to an already complete package, "With the all-new matte black color we saw an opportunity to offer a new option that adheres to the professional aspect of the product line while providing timeless style and performance. Surface pioneered and continues to lead the detachable laptop market," Golik said. 

The Surface Pro 6 remains the best detachable 2-in-1, even after the release of the Surface Pro 7. — Phillip Tracy

Best business laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

Consistently crowned the best business laptop you can buy, Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon series proves that you don't need to rewrite the formula to stay relevant. 

Year-over-year refinements to this slim business notebook came together in 2017 when Lenovo released a 6th Gen model that would become a member of a rare breed of 5-star rated products. This near-perfect laptop retained the featherweight, yet durable carbon fiber chassis of its predecessors while packing faster performance, a stunning Dolby Vision HDR display and tons of security features for business professionals. 

Contrary to popular belief, the 6th Gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon wasn't only made for enterprise users. The few tweaks Lenovo made to this specific model were crafted to appeal to a wider audience. 

"When we launched this product, a lot of the inspiration was take the core components of the ThinkPad DNA, the quality, the maniacal focus on the best keyboard in the industry, the portability and the weight, ports and features, then dial-up more of the consumer-focused attributes," Tom Butler, executive director of worldwide commercial portfolio and product management at Lenovo, told Laptop Mag.  

Those changes include blacking out the ThinkPad logo and opting for a slightly different color variant. The X1 logo was also added to the front of the laptop in what Butler calls its "M3 badge if you're a car guy." 

This was a new direction for us in terms of looking closely at the aesthetic and the experience you have as a consumer as well as a business user. So we continue to drive that. If you look at this year's X1 lines, we went even further; We introduced the first CNC aluminum Yoga chassis, we introduced a carbon-fiber woven cover and added4G support. 

As much as we love the 7th Gen successor, the 6th Gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon was the first time a business laptop offered the complete package for enterprise and everyday consumers alike. — Phillip Tracy

Best gaming laptop: Razer Blade 14

Back in 2012, Razer did something revolutionary. The company, at the time known primarily for gaming peripherals, had just debuted its first gaming laptop, the Razer Blade. Thumbing its nose at the conventions of the time, Razer’s first notebook was only 0.88-inches thick when at the time a slimmest you could expect a gaming laptop to be was 1.5 inches. It was a vision in onyx CNC aluminum that left an indelible mark on the mobile PC gaming space. 

“Gaming is deeply ingrained in the culture at Razer and, the staff here really lives by the kind of for gamers by gamers lifestyle, and we continue to keep that as a focus,” said Travis Furst, senior product marketing manager at Razer. “And when you bring a super very passionate competitive group of gamers together, they're going to come up with great things for gaming.” 

Razer truly changed the game in 2014 with the Razer Blade 14. Using two years of critiques from tech reviewers and fans, Razer delivered a winning formula. It maintained the sleek looks we’d come to identify with the brand, including the emerald green three-headed snake emblem and added a lovely 3200 x 1800 touchscreen and powerful specs (for the time). In our review of the system, I said the system was  “a near-perfect merging of power and portability, delivering the sleek, sexy chassis I've come to know and love, with enough oomph to knock competitors on their arses.”

Granted, the 2014 Blade had its issues, namely heat and battery life, but the company has continued to refine the formula. So much so, that its retired the 14-inch Blade in favor of a 15-inch stunner and integrating its mesmerizing Chroma lighting into the mix. Razer acquired world-renowned audio company, THX to improve its speaker game. The company’s even launched an ultraportable and reinvested in its 17-inch gaming laptop, drawing apt comparisons between Apple and its line of iconic laptops. 

Stephane Blanchard, Director of Industrial Design, credits the company’s success to Razer’s dedicated team of engineers. “[T]hey put a credible amount of effort into helping ensure that we're not only covering the components, but also allowing us to drive maximum performance in a small chassis.”

Both companies have changed their respective industry by daring to be different. Neither has sacrificed quality, dealing only in premium products and components. However, where Apple has seemingly gotten stuck in a rut, Razer continues to innovate with its keyboards, cooling systems and displays. And they’ve even started playing with color, going for bold pinks and whites instead of playing it safe with gold variations. 

The Razer Blade 14 is a game-changing system because it forced laptop manufacturers to finally get their heads and the game and give gamers what they want: portable gaming with little to no sacrifices. But the biggest takeaway from Razer is that its products aren’t made in a vacuum, the company relies heavily on customer feedback. 

“We read the reviews, we read the forums,” said Furst. “We have direct channels where users can provide feedback to us and we really take that to heart. And, you know, bring that into our systems.” — Sherri L. Smith

Best tablet: Apple iPad

Tablets had a rough decade, unless you're talking about the iPad. While Microsoft managed to find success with the Surface Pro, Apple made the iPad work for a decade without a proprietary keyboard — yes, the regular iPad just got a Smart Cover keyboard this year.

And to those who say the iPad isn't a device for real work, or it's just for consuming content? The iPad's success is a sign of the wide range of things people need computers for. I know podcasters who edit shows on iPads, and on the other end of the spectrum, Avi Greengart, consumer analyst at Techsponential, agrees. 

"When we think of computing, there are a range of experiences,” said Greengart. “You're not necessarily doing full on video editing on an iPad, anymore than you're doing giant spreadsheets on an iPad." 

Think about those awkward moments when you see someone taking photos in public with a tablet. Sure, you might scrunch your face at the awkward sight, but the iPad's larger screen (compared to your phone) makes it a better device for everything from email to streaming movies and browsing the web. When my dad hands my mom their iPad, to show her a cute dog photo, it's easier for her to see that pupper on a 9.7-inch screen than on a 5 or 6-inch phone. — Henry T. Casey

Best ultrabook: Asus Zenbook UX331UN 

The Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UN is still the world’s thinnest 13.3-inch laptop with discrete graphics. And for a price ($999 at the time) significantly lower than the MacBook Air, the ZenBook 13 is a jaw dropper. It measures an unbelievably thin 12.2 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches and superlight 2.7 pounds, which blew us away.

“Until late 2017, engineering constraints in ultrathin laptop designs have resulted in compromised graphics performance, by dictating the use of integrated graphics with shared video memory,” an Asus representative said. 

“Our engineer worked really hard on the placement [of the Nvidia GeForce MX150] to ensure we didn’t compromise on any feature or components. That is, with special designed and placed thermal system and fans as well as special placement of antenna and panel components, and tailor-shaped batteries, our team managed to house all [of the latest specs at the time] into one single 13.3 inch chassis.”

In our review, we were not only impressed by its footprint, but also its mesmerizing navy aluminum chassis with concentric circles surrounding the Asus logo. On top of its beautiful design and solid performance, the ZenBook 13 boasted over 9 hours of battery life, completing a full circle of hallmarks to make it as the best ultrabook of the decade.  — Rami Tabari

Best chromebook: Asus Chromebook Flip C302

The Asus Chromebook Flip C302 was an amalgamation of all of the right things at the time, from being one of the first Chrome OS devices to support Android apps from the Google Play Store to utilizing a 2-in-1 design that takes advantage of those very same apps.

“Before 2017, [the] Chromebook was mainly considered as either a budget laptop for K-12 student or a second device [used] for only internet surfing. That is, most of the OEM designed their Chromebook line-up with small core CPU (Celeron/Pentium), and with plastic chassis design,” an Asus representative said. 

“ASUS discovered another potential of Chromebook. Considering Google is bringing Chromebook Flip C302 was designed with durable metallic construction with 360° flappable display, full-size backlit keyboard, an extra-large touchpad; and moreover [an] Intel Core level processor and USB Type-C port.”

That switch from plastic to aluminum made the Chromebook Flip look and feel like a premium laptop. And thanks to Asus’ addition of an Intel Core processor, the Chromebook Flip C302 and speedy performance topped off with solid battery life and a bright 1080p display. Asus’ premium Chromebook package came in just under $500, which is why it’s our best Chromebook of the decade. — Rami Tabari

Best innovation: Lenovo Yoga 13

Up until 2012, there had been a lot of experimentation around tablet PCs (remember those?) and convertibles, but nothing really clicked with consumers. There were rotating displays, detachables and other form factors, but going from a PC to tablet mode and back again on all of these designs felt like work.

Enter the Lenovo Yoga 13, which was the first 2-in-1 laptop that made it super simple to switch modes. With its 360-degree display, you could easily flip from notebook to tablet mode but also engage tent mode or stand mode with very little effort. 

We called this convertible an “able contortionist” in our Yoga 13 review for a reason.

“This converting form factor of being able to fold back on itself was so simple and natural for users to experience. People didn’t want to deal with multiple pieces and parts,” said Matt Bereda, vice president of global marketing at Lenovo.

To execute this innovative design, Lenovo developed a double-hinge mechanism to offer seamless mode switching but also rock-solid stability so that the display didn’t wobble or fall back when users touched the screen. 

On the software front, the Yoga 13 was smart enough to disable the keyboard when you switched into tablet mode or stand mode.

Once consumers got their hands on this 2-in-1 laptop, they really liked it, and sales exceeded Lenovo’s expectations right out of the gate.

The reception was much stronger than we expected,” said Bereda. “Gen 1 and Gen 2 sales really exploded for us, and it really propelled Lenovo to the forefront of the convertible category.”

Inspired by the Yoga 13’s success, Lenovo continued to innovate through the decade, debuting an elegant watchband hinge on the Yoga 3 Pro in 2014, a radically different dual-display convertible in the Yoga Book in 2016 and a single-barrel soundbar hinge on the Yoga C930 in 2018.

At the same time, Lenovo has expanded the Yoga lineup to include everything from tablets with built-in stands to all-in-one PCs with tilting displays and wireless charging docks. There are even Yoga laptops that don’t flip around, which would seem to contradict the Yoga branding.

But to Lenovo, Yoga is now about creating devices that conform to your needs and not just hardware gymnastics. The Yoga S940, for example, has AI that can do everything form optimize battery life based on how you use the system to blur out the background when making video calls.

“Yoga at one point was just a convertible, and we’ve really stretched it to stand for devices that adapt to you across a lot of different experiences,” said Bereda.

While Lenovo won’t provide a timeline, don’t be surprised when the company stretches the Yoga brand even further to foldable-screen PCs in the coming years. — Mark Spoonauer

Best gaming innovation: Alienware Area-51m

The king of gaming laptops, aka the Alienware Area-51m, sprung into life just at the end of the decade and was the mark of a whole new design language for Alienware as well as a mark for a whole new level of gaming performance that we haven’t really seen. It was the first in a long time that a gaming laptop was able to be fully upgradable, from the CPU and GPU to the RAM and storage.

“The only way we survive is if we continue to innovate; being the leaders of the gaming industry requires us to make sure that we’re always leading,” Alienware global product marketing manager Eddy Goyanes said. “Dell’s advanced engineering team had to come up with a whole mechanical means to get [GPU upgradability] [...] because MXM isn’t getting very much support anymore [...] so they called [what the engineering team created] the Dell graphics former factor (DGFF), [which is] an upgradable socket that no one else has.”

The Alienware Area-51m’s Legend ID brought the Alienware out of its edgy teenage years and into its elegant adult years. Once again, Alienware has the best looking gaming laptops of all time. Combo that with an insanely powerful desktop-level CPU and an upgradable GPU, the Area-51m lands itself as the most innovative gaming laptop of the decade. — Rami Tabari

Best design: HP Spectre x360

HP's latest Spectre x360 13 is the best convertible laptop around but that device wouldn't exist today if not for the success of the original Spectre x360. 

Convertible laptops weren't new at the time, but the first Spectre x360 helped put HP on the map next to the likes of Lenovo's Yoga laptops. The Spectre x360's gorgeous ultraslim aluminum stood out from the competition in the same way as HP's stunning Spectre 13. But what made the convertible model such a compelling device is that it proved beauty didn't need to interfere with usability. 

"We started with these principles. Number one was: let's have a design that is the world's best laptop but could also be a 360 without being compromised, and we looked at key features like battery life," Mike Nash, chief technologist and VP of customer experience and portfolio strategy for personal systems at HP, told Laptop Mag. 

HP struck that sweet spot with the Spectre x360, which was portable enough to travel with yet offered all-day battery life. 

"There was a lot of pressure to get the device to less than 3 pounds," Nash said. "The problem was, if it's less than 3 pounds, it wouldn't have had that battery life. I struggled with 'Do we go a little over 3 pounds in order to have the battery life or do we go over 3 pounds and they complain about the weight?' So we handed laptops to people...Customers couldn't tell between 3 pounds and 3.26 pounds. Laptops have become much lighter, but at that time, that tradeoff was super important." — Phillip Tracy

Despite being a part of Dell's premium line of laptops, XPS notebooks go on sale pretty often.

However, this week's XPS sale stands out from previous discounts we've seen. First, it's across the entire XPS 13 9370 series, including the base model, which has previously been excluded from Dell sales.

Buy on Dell

In addition, you can use coupon code "50OFF699" to lower Dell's current sale prices. The result: some of the best XPS prices we've seen so far this year.

If you're looking for the lowest price possible and don't need too much horsepower, the base XPS 13 is selling for $849.99 ($119 off) via coupon "50OFF699". It's the most affordable XPS 13 9370 we've ever seen. It packs a 2.2GHz Core i3-8130U processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD.

Mainstream users should opt for the step-up model, which includes a 1.6GHz Core i5-8250U quad-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD for $1,149.99 ($119 off). This config won our Editors' Choice award and it's one of the best laptops on the market. Keep in mind, however, that this model was $1,069.99 back in July, so although it's on sale, we've seen it for slightly less before. (It likely won't hit that price again till the holidays).

Dell's XPS sale has no expiration date, but it's bound to end sooner than later.

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The Dell XPS 13 has long been our favorite overall laptop, but it can also get quite pricey.

Fortunately, Dell's stunningly slim ultraportable will now be more attainable than ever, thanks to a new Intel Core i3 configuration that starts at just $899.

The latest XPS 13 packs the same tried-and-true design as previous models, with edges that are as slim as 0.3 inches, a feathery starting weight of 2.7 pounds, and black, white and gold color schemes that are attractively unassuming. The new low-end model packs an Intel Core i3-8130U processor, 4GB of RAM, Intel UHD Graphics 620, a 128GB SSD and a 13.3-inch, 1080p Infinity Edge display. 

If convertibles are more your thing, Dell is also refreshing its XPS 13 2-in-1 with Intel's new Amber Lake CPUs, which promise better performance and battery life. The $999 laptop's starting specs include an 8th-gen Intel Core i5-8200Y CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD and a 13.3-inch, 1080p touch display.

The Dell XPS 13 with Core i3 is available now, while the Amber Lake XPS 13 2-in-1 hits on Sept. 11. We look forward to putting the latest versions of these top performers through their paces once they roll through our labs. 

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Memorial Day may be a distant memory, but Dell's XPS sale lives on for another 24 hours.

Today, the PC manufacturer is adding its just-released XPS 15 9570 to the mix, which makes it the first time this laptop receives a dollar-off discount. 

Buy on Dell

Shoppers can take 10 percent off Dell's premium laptops via coupon code "XPSMEM10". After coupon, the base XPS 15 9570 starts at $899.99 ($100 off), which is traditionally the sale price of the base XPS 13. The base XPS 15 packs a 15.6-inch 1080p IPS LCD, 2.3GHz Core i5-8300H quad-core processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB HDD.

If you need more power, you can get the XPS 15 w/ GTX 1050 for $1,259.99 after coupon ($140 off). This model houses a 2.2GHz Core i7-8750H six-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, and a 4GB GTX 1050Ti graphics card. If it's a hybrid that you seek, all configurations of the XPS 15 2-in-1 are also on sale with prices starting at $1,169.99 after coupon ($130 off).

For smaller budgets, you can also use the coupon on the previous-gen XPS 13 9360 from $836.99 ($163 off) or the new XPS 13 9370 from $1,079.99 ($120 off).

Buy on Dell

Dell's XPS coupon expires May 30 at 11:59pm CT.

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The MacBook and the Dell XPS 13 are two of the most attractive ultraportable laptops you can buy, and they both command a premium. Apple's 12-incher starts at $1,299, while the XPS 13 9370 starts at $999.

But there are a lot more differences here than there are similarities. And the MacBook is definitely starting to show its age. Based on our in-depth reviews, here's how the MacBook and and the 2018 edition of the XPS 13 stack up.

Design

It's hard to beat the look of Dell's InfinityEdge Display. It goes from edge to edge with nearly zero bezels, delivering a truly immersive aesthetic. The only trade-off is that the webcam is placed below the screen.

The biggest advantage Apple has in this category is portability. At 2.03 pounds, the MacBook is significantly lighter than the XPS 13's 2.68 pounds. If you opt for a touch screen, the Dell's weight increases only slightly to 2.68 pounds.

Both machines are remarkably thin, with the MacBook being the more svelte at its thinnest point (0.14 inches), and the XPS 13 being thinner at its thickest point (0.46 inches).

Apple also offers more color options than Dell does, with four hues available: Rose Gold, Space Gray, Gold and Silver. The overall aluminum unibody aesthetic, though, is getting a bit tired.

The Dell comes in just two colors -- Platinum Silver with Black on the inside and Rose Gold and Alpine White. The Alpine White on the inside is particularly striking, and is made of woven crystalline silica fiber. If you opt for black on the inside, you'll be treated to an even more comfortable soft-touch carbon-fiber material, though it's not as much of a head-turner.

Winner: XPS 13

Ports

Talk about minimalist. The MacBook has only a single USB-C port, which is used for charging and plugging in peripherals. That means you can't plug more than one device into this laptop unless you spring for a dongle or dock. There's also a headphone jack.

The XPS 13 comes with two Thunderbolt 3 ports, which means you can easily power two displays at the same time. The MacBook doesn't support this technology. Plus, Thunderbolt allows the Dell to connect to a growing number of graphics amplifiers, so you can boost your gaming performance.

In addition, the XPS 13 sports a USB-C port, a microSD card slot, a headphone jack and a lock slot.

Winner: XPS 13

Display

The XPS 13 comes in two flavors: a full-HD (1920 x 1080) display without touch, and a 4K display (3840 x 2160) with touch. Both panels are stunning, though the 4K screen is more colorful and brighter.

Based on our tests, the 1080p screen offers 372 nits of brightness and covers 117 percent of the color gamut. The touch-screen version of the Dell hit 415 nits of brightness and 130 percent of the color gamut.

Compare those numbers to the MacBook, whose 12-inch panel registered a lower 340 nits but a solid color-gamut score of 117 percent, the same as the non-touch XPS 13.

Winner: XPS 13

Keyboard and Touchpad

The second-generation Butterfly mechanism on the MacBook is definitely an acquired taste. The key travel is only 0.5 mm, compared with 1.2 mm on the XPS 13. I've actually found that I can be faster on the MacBook's layout, but there's no arguing that the XPS 13's keyboard is more comfortable.

If you opt for the black, carbon-fiber model, the soft-touch deck on the XPS 13 adds to the comfort level. But even the crystalline silica deck on the white version of the Dell feels more comfy than the hard metal on the MacBook.

We found the touchpads on both the MacBook and the XPS 13 to be accurate. But the one on the MacBook is roomier at 4.4 x 2.7 inches, compared with 4.1 x 2.4 inches on the Dell.

Winner: XPS 13

Performance

This comparison is definitely not apples to apples. That's because we reviewed a MacBook with a low-power, 7th-generation Core m3 processor, and the XPS 13 we tested packed a high-octane, 8th-gen Core i5. The MacBook is available with a speedier Core i5 CPU, though it's still an older 7th-gen chip.

On Geekbench 4, which measures overall performance, the MacBook notched a score of 6,853. The XPS 13 nearly doubled that with a mark of 13,254.

It was no contest on the gaming front, too, as the MacBook mustered only 24 frames per second (fps) on the Dirt 3 racing title. The XPS 13 lapped Apple with 56.7 fps.

At least the SSD is speedy in the MacBook, as it turned in a data-copy rate of 467 megabytes per second, compared with 339.2 MBps in the MacBook.

Winner: XPS 13

Battery Life

The MacBook's endurance is in between that of the standard 1080p XPS 13 and the 4K model. On the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi, the MacBook lasted 9 hours and 29 minutes. The 1080p, non-touch version of the Dell XPS 13 lasted a whopping 12 hours and 37 minutes on the same test.

However, the 4K touch-screen model of the XPS 13 lasted only 8:53.

Winner: XPS 13

Value

The MacBook starts at a steep $1,299, which is a lot to pay for a laptop with a low-power Core m3 processor. You also get 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for that price. The $1,599 model steps that up to a Core i5 chip and a 512GB SSD.

Dell's XPS 13 starts at $999 for a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and just a 128GB SSD. The better value is the $1,199 model, which includes the same CPU but 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.

If you want a Core i7 CPU, you're looking at $1,399, and a model with a 4K touch screen starts at a rich $2,099. However, that also includes 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.

Overall Winner

Sleeker, faster, longer-lasting. More ports. The XPS 13 beats the MacBook in every single category, giving Dell a dominating victory in this face-off.

If you really hate Windows, the MacBook is definitely worth a look, and it's also lighter. But overall, this contest shows that Apple really needs to up its game for the 2018 MacBook.

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In most cases, when a company releases a new version of a laptop, the prior model quickly disappears from the marketplace and nobody misses it. However, with the XPS 13, Dell will continue to sell model 9360, which came out in 2017, alongside the new, 9370 unit that launched in January.

If you're in the market for a laptop, there are good reasons you might want to go with the older model, but there are also many advantages to the new one. For example, the XPS 13 9360 has full-size, USB Type-A ports, while the 9370 has only Thunderbolt/Type-C connectors — but those ports can work with an eGPU.

To help you decide which one is right for you, we've compared the Dell XPS 13 9360 to the Dell XPS 13 9370 in seven categories.

Design

While the XPS 13 9360 has the same, tried-and-true silver-and-black aesthetic that Dell has used for several years, the 9370 model goes in a new direction. The XPS 13 9370 is available in a stunning rose-gold-and-white color scheme with an attractive woven glass-fiber deck. It also comes in the same silver-and-black aesthetic as its predecessor, sporting a luxurious soft-touch carbon-fiber deck.

No matter which color scheme you choose, the XPS 13 9370 is 4.7 percent lighter (2.65 pounds versus 2.78 pounds) and 23.3 percent thinner (0.46 inches versus 0.6 inches) than its predecessor. However, the 9360 is still one of the thinnest and lightest 13-inch laptops you can buy.

Winner: Dell XPS 13 9370. It's thinner and lighter, and comes in an attractive new color scheme.

Performance

Both models are available with the same Intel Core i7-8550U CPU and up to 16GB of RAM. However, the XPS 13 9370 uses a new dual-fan, dual-heat-pipe cooling system that allows it to have better sustained performance.

When most laptops, including the 9360, perform a heavy workload, their CPUs throttle down to a lower clock speed to avoid overheating. Because of the enhanced thermal system, the 9370 doesn't have to throttle as much. When we ran our Handbrake video compression test, which transcodes a 4K video to 1080p, on both models with the same Core i7 CPU, the XPS 13 9370 finished in just 16 minutes, while the 9360 took 19:35, or 22 percent longer.

If you're configuring your laptop with a Core i5 CPU, the 9360 is only available with an Intel 7th Generation Core i5-7200U CPU while the 9370 comes with an 8th Gen, Core i5-8250U. If performance matters at all, you want an 8th Gen Core processor, because it has four cores instead of two and allows for much better multitasking.

Winner: Dell XPS 13 9370 has better performance, even with the same Core i7 CPU.

Battery Life

In making the XPS thinner, Dell used a lower-capacity battery, going from a 60-watt-hour unit on the 9360 to a 52-watt-hour unit on the 9370. When we ran the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi, we definitely noticed the difference. The XPS 13 9360 with a 1080p nontouch screen lasted 16 hours and 5 minutes, while the XPS 13 9370 with the same kind of screen lasted 3 and a half hours less. However, 12 hours and 37 minutes of endurance is nothing to sneeze at.

The Dell XPS 13 9370 with a 4K touch display endured for a reasonable time of 8 hours and 53 minutes. We did not run our battery test on the XPS 13 9360 that doesn't have a 4K screen option, so we can't compare this panel across generations.

Winner: Dell XPS 13 9360 offers significantly longer battery life.

Ports

By slimming down the XPS to just 0.14 inches, Dell lost the space it needed to include full-size, USB Type-A ports on the XPS 13 9370. On this new model, you get two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a USB Type-C connector and a microSD card slot. The system comes with a USB Type-C-to-Type-A connector in the box, and you're going to need it if you want to connect most peripherals.

By contrast, the XPS 13 9360 has two USB Type-A ports, a Thunderbolt 3 port and a full-size SD card slot. So, if someone hands you a thumb drive or you need to attach a mouse, you can leave the dongles at home.

The XPS 13 9370 does have one port advantage over its predecessor: Its Thunderbolt 3 ports are compatible with eGPUs. The 9360's aren't fast enough to work properly with graphics docks. So, if you were thinking of turning your XPS 13 into a gaming rig, you'll need the 9370.

Winner: Dell XPS 13 9360. It has a better port selection, unless you plan to use an eGPU.

Display

Perhaps the biggest improvement on the XPS 13 9370 is its upgraded display technology. First, the InfinityEdge bezel, which was already paper-thin, is now 23 percent thinner than on the 9360, making the whole viewing experience more exciting.

Second, Dell uses a technology it calls "CinemaColor" to improve the color saturation and offer deeper blacks. So, even though both 1080p panels had similar brightness and color gamut scores of 368/372 nits and 112 percent / 117 percent sRGB, the 9370's screen just seemed to pop a bit more.

More importantly, the XPS 13 9370 comes with an optional 4K display that's a thing of beauty. Whether we were watching movie trailers or just staring at the desktop wallpaper, the 3840 x 2160 touch screen was extremely sharp, vibrant and bright, reproducing 130 percent of the sRGB gamut and registering an impressive 415 nits on our light meter (292 nits is average).

The XPS 13 9360's top screen option can do only 3200 x 1800 pixels, which is not a resolution that anyone uses for professional movies or TV shows.

Winner: Dell XPS 13 9370. It has better color and higher resolution.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Both XPS 13 models have the same keyboard, which offers a solid typing experience, despite having a shallow 1.2 millimeters of travel (1.5 to 2 mm is preferable).

Both touchpads provide accurate navigation, great gesture support and just the right amount of feedback.

There's no difference between generations, but there is a slight difference between color schemes. The soft-touch, carbon-fiber palm rest on the black-and-silver color scheme is a little more comfortable on the wrists than the hard material on the white-and-rose-gold model.

Winner: Draw.

Value

Dell.com always has a lot of sales and coupons, so the prices are subject to frequent change. However, as of this writing, the XPS 13 9360 costs a lot less than a 9370 with similar specs.

Buy on Dell.com

The XPS 13 9360 starts at $799 with a Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 1080p screen, but we wouldn't recommend that most people buy the laptop with such low-end components. For $999 (currently $849 on sale), you can get a 9360 model with a Core i5-7200U CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. The $999 entry-level XPS 13 9370 has a Core i5-8250U and a 128GB SSD, but just 4GB of RAM.

To get an XPS 13 9370 with a Core i7-8550U CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 1080p nontouch screen costs $1,449, and you can add an extra $50 to get it in the white-and-gold color scheme. The XPS 9360 with the same specs costs $1,299 (currently on sale for $1,124).

Buy on Dell.com

If you want to step up to a high-res screen, you'll have to spend $2,049 to get the XPS 13 9370 with a 4K panel, a Core i7-8550U CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. An XPS 13 9360 with the same CPU, RAM and storage but a 3200 x 1800 display costs $1,799 (currently on sale for $1,619).

Winner: Dell XPS 13 9360. It gives you more for the money.

Bottom Line

If you're keeping score, you'll notice that the two laptops are in a dead heat, with each taking three rounds and tying in another. If you want to save money, get the longest possible battery life and have all the ports you need, the older, XPS 13 9360 is your best choice.

However, if you can afford to pay the premium and deal with dongles, the XPS 13 9370's attractive design, eye-popping screen and stronger performance make it an ideal choice.

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Laptop Mag's favorite laptop overall, the Dell XPS 13 packs the strong performance of an Intel 8th Gen Core CPU and speedy PCIe SSD into an attractive, light-weight package with over 16 hours of battery life.

Because the XPS 13 has only integrated Intel UHD graphics, you might think that it can't play demanding games. However, with some small tweaks, you can actually run many of today's top titles and get decent frame rates.

Our Test Config

To see how well the XPS 13 can play games, we performed all the steps below on a 2017 model with a Core i7-8550U CPU, a 1080p non-touch screen, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB PCIe SSD. The steps below should boost performance on any XPS 13, but you'll get faster speeds from the latest hardware.

Settings Changes That Help in Every Game

While each game is a little different, making the following changes to your XPS 13 will help across the board.

1. Download all Windows updates: Go to Settings->Update & Security to make sure you have the latest and that Windows isn't wasting cycles downloading as you game.
2. Kill all background tasks.
3. Cap the FPS: If the XPS 13 gets too warm, it may throttle performance, resulting in an unstable game. If you deliberately the limit the frames-per-second to 60 fps on lighter games and 30 fps on more-demanding titles, you can avoid overtaxing the laptop.
4. Lower the Screen Resolution: The XPS 13's display is either 1080p or 3200 x 1800, but it may not be able to push all those pixels in high-end games. Dropping the game down to 720p or even lower can help, provided that the game supports it.

Below, we show how to get the best performance in several popular games when playing on the Dell XPS 13. Let’s start with some of the lighter games that you can expect to play on the XPS 13 without much trouble.

Games We Played

• Counter Strike Global Offensive
• Rocket League
• Overwatch
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Doom (2016)
• Destiny 2
• Crysis 3
• Fallout 4
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
• PlayerUnknown's Battleground
• Games We Tested, But Won't Play

Counter Strike Global Offensive

Originally released in 2012, the multiplayer shooter continues to have a strong player base and is one of the most important games in e-sports scene.

Setting a limit to the FPS is as simple as enabling the dev console in the game options, assigning a button to the console in the keyboard options, opening it in game and typing fps_max 60.

On the lowest settings and a resolution of 1080, the Intel UHD was able to keep up with the 60 FPS target with no obvious drops. Counter Strike Global Offensive's lowest settings are not particularly bad looking, so you will get an acceptable graphical experience for a game released on 2012.

Rocket League

Originally released in 2015, this football-meets-rocket cars classic is still very actively played by a large number of both casual and competitive players. Rocket League allows you to limit the framerate on the graphic settings screen using a convenient slider.

Using a resolution of 720 and a mixture of performance and quality settings the game maintained a strong 60 fps during test matches, while looking reasonably well. The lack of antialiasing is very notable but not detrimental to the gaming experience.

Overwatch

Originally released in 2016, this multiplayer shooter remains one of the most popular games around. Similar to Rocket League, this game places the FPS limiter right on the settings screen, where you can set it to (almost) any number.

Using the lowest settings -- an external resolution of 720p and an automatic internal resolution of 50% -- we saw a typical frame rate of 60 fps, with it dropping down to a still-playable 40 fps under intense pressure.

It's not possible for the XPS 13 to play Overwatch at 1080p, but even on lowest resolutions the game is perfectly legible and playable. The low internal resolution will make pixelation on lines more pronounced but otherwise the game is still visually pleasant.

It is worth nothing that Overwatch is known for its GPU optimization on low end computers, only asking for a modest Intel HD 4400 in its minimum requirements, but it is still impressive to see that the XPS 13 is able to maintain a high level of performance on such a modern, popular title.

Grand Theft Auto V

The PC release of GTA V, from 2015, still boasts one of the most dynamic, largest open worlds in gaming. Its benchmarking tool remains a valid way of testing the gaming capabilities of a laptop, especially on a laptop with an integrated GPU.

Apart from lowering all the ingame settings, dropping the external resolution to 720p and internal resolution to 75%, this game needs a few more settings to tweaks to offer a truly good experience.

GTA V stores its settings in a file called settings.xml located on the documents folder, Rockstar Games, GTA V. One line in particular, ShadowQuality can be set to 0 in order to disable all in game shadows for a significant boost in performance.

With this change, the GTA V was able to maintain close to 60 fps on most sections of its benchmark, only dropping to around 30 to 40 fps during the very intense chase scene at the end. It is worth noting that the benchmark (and some parts of the game) use a lot of RAM and some of these performance issues at the end might be blamed on the game running out of memory. Upgrading your XPS 13 to 16GB of RAM may help.

GTA V has two main vsync modes, one that locks the screen’s refresh rate (60 in our case), and one that locks to half the refresh rate (30). On the XPS 13 we tested (8th Gen Core i7), a normal refresh rate limited to 60 fps is good for most situations, but you might need to use a half refresh rate mode for older models.

Doom (2016)

The 2016 reboot of Doom was released to rave reviews and many people started using it as an example of the graphic level you can achieve when fully utilizing the resources of a proper gaming computer. It is not the kind of game you would expect to run on Intel UHD graphics but in the case of XPS 13, Doom becomes an interesting example due to its use of Vulkan.

In a nutshell, Vulkan is a render API (like DirectX 11 or OpenGL) which is used by a game to render graphics without having to rewrite the entire game for each specific GPU. Vulkan was introduced as the successor to the widely used OpenGL and it allows developers to reduce overhead and work much closer to the GPU for increased performance.

Doom was one of the first large game releases to incorporate Vulkan (via an update to the game in July 2016). Vulkan compatibility on Nvidia and AMD GPUs goes back all the way to devices released on 2012, but in the case of Intel HD Vulkan is only compatible with integrated GPUs newer than Skylake.

The Intel UHD in the XPS 13 falls into this category, so Vulkan can be enabled on the game's settings screen .

With Vulkan, the lowest settings, external resolution of 720 and the internal resolution to 50% the game maintains something between 40 and 60 fps while roaming around most levels.

In the case of combat, a bit of extra help might be needed to make the game playable. While the game is running you can open the dev console using the button in the upper left corner of your keyboard, under ESC (usually tilda “~”). Once in the console, you can type r_shadowAtlasWidth 32 to disable most of the game’s dynamic shadows for a quick performance boost.

Sadly, there does not seem to be any current way of making this permanent, but you can apply this command quickly when needed by using TAB to autocomplete to the nearest variable every time a new letter is typed.

After removing shadows, I was able to jump into some of the most frenetic battles in the game without ever dropping under 39 FPS, and averages were closer to 45 FPS. Not bad for once of the most intense shooters out there!

Doom has an option for adaptive vertical sync. Adaptive will limit the game to 60 or 30 fps dynamically depending on the game's performance, or will automatically disable vsync when performance is somewhere in the middle to avoid stuttering.

It is generally recommended that you enable Adaptive vsync.

Destiny 2

I have previously written about some of the steps you can take to get started on Destiny 2 on a laptop with Intel UHD graphics, but some of the quick measures you can take are:

1. Configure the battle.net launcher so it closes as soon as you open the game.
2. Disable local shadows by going to USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Bungie\DestinyPC\prefs\cvars.xml and set local_light_shadows to 0.
3. Limit FPS to 30 using the Vsync option on the game.
4. Reduce internal resolution in the game's configuration screen.

These changes proved effective on the XPS 13, although I was forced to drop the internal resolution all the way down to 25% in order to maintain a playable frame rate of 30 fps.

Long distance visibility was affected by the low resolution, but the design of the game allows combat to still be possible.

Crysis 3

Crysis games have a historic reputation for requiring a powerful computer to play and Crysis 3, from 2013, is still regularly used a benchmark on modern systems.

Even after dropping all the settings to the lowest and resolution to 1366x768 there are still a lot of things that can be reduced to make this feat possible. Most game variables are located in a file in the installation directory of the game called autoexec.cfg.

Here is the configuration file I used for this test.

; AUTOGENERATED CONFIGURATION BELOW HERE

; Explosion Blur
g_radialBlur = 0
; Color Grading
r_ColorGrading = 0
; Depth of Field
r_DepthOfField = 0
; Volumetric Water Shadows
r_FogShadowsWater = 0
; Real-time Global Illumination
e_GI = 0
; Particle Collisions
e_ParticlesObjectCollisions = 0
; Sharpening
r_Sharpening = 0.00
; Texture Pool Size (MB)
r_TexturesStreamPoolSize = 192
; Shadow Casting Light Scale
e_ShadowsResScale = 0.1
; LOD distance ratio
e_LodRatio = 0
; View distance ratio (Vegetation)
e_ViewDistRatioVegetation = 21
; Chromatic Aberration
r_ChromaticAberration = 0.0
; Bloom amount
r_HDRBloomRatio = 0.000
; Ambient Occlusion Method
r_ssao = 0
r_ssdo = 0
; Sun Shadow Map Size
e_ShadowsMaxTexRes = 8
e_ShadowsPoolSize = 8
e_ViewDistRatioVegetation = 19
e_ViewDistRatioDetail = 19
e_ViewDistRatio = 19
r_MotionBlur 0
r_sunshafts 0

This file will lower everything to the absolute minimum, reduce the render distance of shadows and details, and (when present) reduce the framerate of grass animations to lower its performance impact. Game models will have a lot less detail and a visibly smaller polygon count.

The good news is that the game was able to maintain between 30 and 40 fps in my short test, only dropping under 30 during intense scenes that contained explosions.

You can also add the sys_MaxFps = 60 (or another number) variable to the configuration file in order to limit the FPS of the game to any number you want.

Fallout 4

Released in late 2015, the latest entry in the Fallout series features a large open world with hundreds of location to visits and cities packed with characters.

Even after lowering all the launcher settings to the lowest some extra help will be needed to maintain acceptable performance. You will find the main configuration file for Fallout 4 in your Documents folder, My Games, Fallout 4, Fallout4Prefs.ini. If the file is not there make sure to at least launch game once.

Before changing the file, make note of a variable called sD3DDevice and remember its value. In our case this is "Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620", but if you have a different version of the XPS the value might be different. If the value in the file does not exactly match your GPU the game will reset the configuration file to its default.

With that said, here is the configuration file I used:

[Display]
flocalShadowMapHalveEveryXUnit=750.0000
focusShadowMapDoubleEveryXUnit=450.0000
fShadowBiasScale=1.0000
fDirShadowDistance=10.0000
fShadowDistance=3000.0000
uiOrthoShadowFilter=1
uiShadowFilter=1
iShadowMapResolution=0
uPipboyTargetHeight=700
uPipboyTargetWidth=876
iVolumetricLightingQuality=0
bVolumetricLightingEnable=1
bSAOEnable=1
iDirShadowSplits=2
bVolumetricLightingForceCasters=0
iTiledLightingMinLights=40
bComputeShaderDeferredTiledLighting=1
iMaxFocusShadowsDialogue=4
iMaxFocusShadows=1
bForceIgnoreSmoothness=1
fBlendSplitDirShadow=0.0000
bSinglePassDirShadow=1
bEnableWetnessMaterials=0
fTessFactorMaxDistanceScale=50.0000
sAntiAliasing=
fLeafAnimDampenDistEnd=2600.0000
fLeafAnimDampenDistStart=1600.0000
fMeshLODFadePercentDefault=1.2000
fMeshLODFadeBoundDefault=256.0000
fMeshLODFadeScalar=1.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeTreeDistance=2.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeTreeDistance=1844.0000
fInteriorMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=1300.0000
fInteriorMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=1600.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=1600.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=4000.0000
iMaxAnisotropy=0
iPresentInterval=1
bTopMostWindow=0
bMaximizeWindow=0
bBorderless=1
bFull Screen=1
iSize H=540
iSize W=960
bAllowShadowcasterNPCLights=0
iScreenShotIndex=0
fMaxFocusShadowMapDistance=450.0000
bPrecipitationOcclusion=1
iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=0
iMaxDecalsPerFrame=0
sD3DDevice="Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620"
iTexMipMapSkip=2
bEnableRainOcclusion=0
iAdapter=0

[Imagespace]
bDoDepthOfField=1
bScreenSpaceBokeh=0
bMBEnable=0
bLensFlare=0
[Pipboy]
fPipboyEffectColorB=0.0900
fPipboyEffectColorG=1.0000
fPipboyEffectColorR=0.0800

[VATS]
fModMenuEffectHighlightPAColorB=0.4100
fModMenuEffectHighlightPAColorG=0.8200
fModMenuEffectHighlightPAColorR=1.0000
fModMenuEffectPAColorB=0.4100
fModMenuEffectPAColorG=0.8200
fModMenuEffectPAColorR=1.0000
fModMenuEffectHighlightColorB=0.0824
fModMenuEffectHighlightColorG=1.0000
fModMenuEffectHighlightColorR=0.0706
fModMenuEffectColorB=0.4200
fModMenuEffectColorG=0.9900
fModMenuEffectColorR=0.4900

[MAIN]
fSkyCellRefFadeDistance=50000.0000
bCrosshairEnabled=1
fHUDOpacity=1.0000
bSaveOnPause=1
bSaveOnTravel=1
bSaveOnWait=1
bSaveOnRest=1

[LightingShader]
bScreenSpaceSubsurfaceScattering=0
bScreenSpaceReflections=0

[General]
bGamepadEnable=1
bPipboyCompanionEnabled=0
iStoryManagerLoggingEvent=-1
bEnableStoryManagerLogging=0 uGridsToLoad=5

[Interface]
bDialogueSubtitles=0
bGeneralSubtitles=0
iHUDColorB=21
iHUDColorG=255
iHUDColorR=18
bDialogueCameraEnable=1
bShowCompass=1
uHUDActiveEffectWidget=2

[Controls]
fMouseHeadingSensitivity=0.0300
fGamepadHeadingSensitivity=0.6667
bAlwaysRunByDefault=1
bInvertYValues=0
bGamePadRumble=1

[GamePlay]
iDifficulty=2
bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=1
bShowQuestMarkers=1

[Particles]
iMaxDesired=200
[SaveGame]
fAutosaveEveryXMins=10.0000
[AudioMenu]
fAudioMasterVolume=1.0000
fVal7=1.0000
uID7=0
fVal6=1.0000
uID6=0
fVal5=1.0000
uID5=0
fVal4=0.6500
uID4=138006
fVal3=0.6500
uID3=1007612
fVal2=1.0000
uID2=94881
fVal1=0.6500
uID1=466532
fVal0=0.6500
uID0=554685

[Water]
bUseWaterDisplacements=1
bUseWaterRefractions=1
bUseWaterReflections=1
bUseWaterDepth=1

[TerrainManager]
fTreeLoadDistance=12500.0000
fBlockMaximumDistance=100000.0000
fBlockLevel2Distance=75000.0000
fBlockLevel1Distance=25000.0000
fBlockLevel0Distance=15000.0000
fSplitDistanceMult=0.5000
bShowLODInEditor=0

[Grass]
fGrassStartFadeDistance=0.0000
fGrassMaxStartFadeDistance=0.0000
fGrassMinStartFadeDistance=0.0000

[Decals]
uMaxDecals=0
bDecals=0
bSkinnedDecals=0
uMaxSkinDecals=0
uMaxSkinDecalsPerActor=0

[LOD]
fLODFadeOutMultSkyCell=1.0000
fLODFadeOutMultObjects=1.0000
fLODFadeOutMultItems=1.0000
fLODFadeOutMultActors=3.0000

[NVHBAO]
bEnable=0
fBackgroundAOViewDepth=750.0000
bBackgroundAOEnable=1
fDepthThresholdSharpness=100.0000
fDepthThresholdMaxViewDepth=500.0000
bDepthThresholdEnable=0
iDepthClampModeEnum=0
fCoarseAO=1.0000
fDetailAO=0.6500
fBlurSharpnessProfileBackgroundViewDepth=1.0000
fBlurSharpnessProfileForegroundViewDepth=0.0000
fBlurSharpnessProfileForegroundSharpnessScale=4.0000
bBlurSharpnessProfileEnable=0
fBlurSharpness=16.0000
iBlurRadiusEnum=1
bBlurEnable=1
fPowerExponent=2.5000
fBias=0.1000
fRadius=0.6500

[NVFlex]
bNVFlexEnable=0
iQuality=0
iMaxNeighbors2=64
iMaxNeighbors1=48
iMaxNeighbors0=32
iMaxParticles2=32768
iMaxParticles1=16000
iMaxParticles0=6000
fKillRadius2=4000.0000
fKillRadius1=3000.0000
fKillRadius0=2000.0000
bNVFlexInstanceDebris=1
bNVFlexDrawDebris=1

[BlurShaderHDR]
bDoHighDynamicRange=0

[BlurShader]
bUseBlurShader=0

[Launcher]
uLastAspectRatio=1
[Bethesda.net]
uPersistentUuidData3=1743441601
uPersistentUuidData2=3089942883
uPersistentUuidData1=1343507567
uPersistentUuidData0=2542409591

This file will tweak the draw distance of most of the world's objects to make sure they are only rendered when very close to the player. It will also disable shadows, some lighting effects and particles and reduce resolution to 960x540.

In order for custom resolutions to work on this game, they need to be added to the GPU's control panel. This can be accessed by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop and selecting "Intel Graphics Settings".

Go the display section, and then custom resolutions. Here you will be able to add 960x540 at 60 Hz as a resolution.

With this done the game will be able to launch, performing at close to 30 fps on crowded areas.

The impact of dropping the internal resolution of the game is less obvious on the XPS 13's small screen than it would be on a larger laptop or a desktop. While the low draw distance of some of the game objects can take some time to get used to, enemies are still visible with enough distance to fight effectively.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

The 2016 re-release of the highly successful fantasy open world game uses the same Engine as Fallout 4, so a lot of the changes can easily be reused.

For Skyrim SE the configuration file is located in the Documents Folder, My Games, Skyrim Special Edition, SkyrimPrefs.ini.

Here is a copy of the configuration file I used:

[Display]
fShadowDistance=10.0000
iNumFocusShadow=1
fInteriorShadowDistance=10.0000
ffocusShadowMapDoubleEveryXUnit=450.0000
iShadowMapResolution=64
fDynamicDOFBlurMultiplier=0.8000
fProjectedUVNormalDetailTilingScale=0.8000
fProjectedUVDiffuseNormalTilingScale=0.2000
bEnableProjecteUVDiffuseNormals=0
bUseTAA=0
bIndEnable=0
bSAO_CS_Enable=0
bToggleSparkles=0
bSAOEnable=0
bScreenSpaceReflectionEnabled=0
bIBLFEnable=0
bUse64bitsHDRRenderTarget=0
iSaveGameScreenShotHeighWSt=192
iSaveGameScreenShotWidthWS=320
iSaveGameScreenShotHeight=192
iSaveGameScreenShotWidth=256
iShadowMaskQuarter=4
bVolumetricLightingEnable=0
iVolumetricLightingQuality=0
bEnableImprovedSnow=0
fLightLODStartFade=1500.0000
bFXAAEnabled=0
fLeafAnimDampenDistEnd=1600.0000
fLeafAnimDampenDistStart=1600.0000
fTreesMidLODSwitchDist=0.0000
fMeshLODFadePercentDefault=1.2000
fMeshLODFadeBoundDefault=1.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeTreeDistance=1048.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeTreeDistance=1844.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=600.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=1000.0000
fGamma=1.0000
bBorderless=0
bFull Screen=1
iSize H=720
iSize W=1280
iScreenShotIndex=0
bTreesReceiveShadows=0
bUsePrecipitationOcclusion=0
bDrawLandShadows=0
iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=25
iMaxDecalsPerFrame=100
iAdapter=0
iNumSplits=2
uBookRatio=2
bForceCreateTarget=0
iReflectionResolutionDivider=2
iVSyncPresentInterval=1

[Imagespace]
bDoDepthOfField=1
bLensFlare=0

[General]
fLightingOutputColourClampPostSpec=1.0000
fLightingOutputColourClampPostEnv=1.0000
fLightingOutputColourClampPostLit=1.0000
iStoryManagerLoggingEvent=-1
bEnableStoryManagerLogging=0
uLargeRefLODGridSize=5

[MAIN]
fSkyCellRefFadeDistance=1000.0000
bGamepadEnable=1
bCrosshairEnabled=1
fHUDOpacity=1.0000
bSaveOnPause=0
bSaveOnTravel=1
bSaveOnWait=1
bSaveOnRest=1

[Interface]
fMouseCursorSpeed=1.0000
bDialogueSubtitles=0
bGeneralSubtitles=0
bShowCompass=1

[GamePlay]
bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=1
bShowQuestMarkers=1
iDifficulty=2

[Controls]
fMouseHeadingSensitivity=0.0125
fGamepadHeadingSensitivity=0.6667
bAlwaysRunByDefault=1
bInvertYValues=0
bGamePadRumble=1
bUseKinect=0

[Particles]
iMaxDesired=20

[SaveGame]
fAutosaveEveryXMins=15.0000

[AudioMenu]
fAudioMasterVolume=1.0000
fVal7=1.0000
uID7=0
fVal6=1.0000
uID6=0
fVal5=1.0000
uID5=0
fVal4=1.0000
uID4=0
fVal3=0.5000
uID3=466532
fVal2=0.8000
uID2=554685
fVal1=0.8000
uID1=1007612
fVal0=1.0000
uID0=94881

[Clouds]
fCloudLevel2Distance=144.0000
fCloudLevel1Distance=168.0000
fCloudLevel0Distance=184.0000
fCloudNearFadeDistance=100.0000

[Water]
bUseWaterDisplacements=0
bUseWaterRefractions=0
bUseWaterReflections=0
bUseWaterDepth=0

[TerrainManager]
fTreeLoadDistance=500.0000
fBlockMaximumDistance=1000.0000
fBlockLevel1Distance=100.0000
fBlockLevel0Distance=100.0000
fSplitDistanceMult=0.5000
bShowLODInEditor=1

[NavMesh]
fObstacleAlpha=0.5000
fCoverSideHighAlpha=0.8000
fCoverSideLowAlpha=0.6500
fEdgeFullAlpha=1.0000
fEdgeHighAlpha=0.7500
fEdgeLowAlpha=0.5000
fTriangleFullAlpha=0.7000
fTriangleHighAlpha=0.3500
fTriangleLowAlpha=0.2000
fLedgeBoxHalfHeight=25.0000
fEdgeDistFromVert=10.0000
fEdgeThickness=10.0000
fPointSize=2.5000

[Trees]
bRenderSkinnedTrees=0
uiMaxSkinnedTreesToRender=40

[Grass]
fGrassStartFadeDistance=0.0000
fGrassMaxStartFadeDistance=0.0000
fGrassMinStartFadeDistance=0.0000

[Decals]
bSkinnedDecals=0
bDecals=0
uMaxSkinDecals=0
uMaxDecals=0
iMaxDecalsPerFrame=0
iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=0

[LOD]
fLODFadeOutMultSkyCell=1.0000
fLODFadeOutMultObjects=1.0000
fLODFadeOutMultItems=1.0000
fLODFadeOutMultActors=2.0000

[Launcher]
sD3DDevice="Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620"
uLastAspectRatio=1

[Bethesda.net]
uPersistentUuidData3=1439206873
uPersistentUuidData2=2926617060
uPersistentUuidData1=61819062
uPersistentUuidData0=314777538

Once again, you need to make sure the sD3DDevice line is set to the appropriate GPU in your XPS.

Since Skyrim SE is significantly lighter than Fallout 4, the resolution is set to 720 and the game manages to pull as high as 50 fps on the larger towns. Once again, it can take a bit of effort to get used to the low draw distance, but the game is still very navigable and usable.

PlayerUnknown's Battleground

Otherwise known as PUBG, PlayerUnknown's Battleground took the gaming world by storm this year and has quickly become the biggest multiplayer games in the world.

The game received its full 1.0 release on the 20th of December along with an optimization patch that increased the game's performance.

However, to have any chance to play this game on this laptop we need to drop all the settings to the lowest and then tweak the internal resolution a fair bit.

The configuration file for PUBG is located on your User folder, AppData, Local, TslGame, Save Config, WindowsNoEditor, GameUserSettings.ini. If you do not see the AppData folder you might need to enable hidden folders in Windows.

Two variables here control the Internal Resolution, sg.ResolutionQuality and ScreenScale. Both must be set to the same value.

During my test, I dropped the internal resolution to 30 and was surprised to discover that the game could maintain between 25 and 30 fps on open areas and often close to 40 fps on closed spaces.

Unlike Destiny, PUBG is not designed with any super low resolutions in consideration so this will make it difficult to fight other human players over long distances.

Fighting players up close is still possible and quite effective.

Games that did not run on the XPS 13

Sadly, not every game is efficient or tweakable enough to be played on this laptop. Here is where we mention some of the experiments that did not work out.

• Star Wars Battlefront 2: As explained in its dedicated article, this game tends to be playable as long as you have a dedicated GPU. The current version of the game maxes out the CPU on integrated graphics to the point of unplayability.
• Assassin's Creed Origins: The latest entry in the Assassin's Creed series has some hefty minimum requirements. Even while forcing the internal resolution to its lowest, its performance on the XPS 13 is not acceptable.
• Wolfenstein 2: the New Colossus: the newest entry in the Wolfenstein series currently holds the honor of having the highest GPU requirements I have seen on a game on the lowest settings. On the XPS 13, the game is not even able to start, exiting with an error.

Bottom line

The XPS 13 is a powerful and small computer for the day to day user, and its integrated Intel UHD is actually able to provide a fair amount of gaming value. You might want to do some small adjustments in order to increase the fps of some of the heavier titles to acceptable levels, but afterward you are left with a lot of potential for a great gaming experience.

Laptop Guide

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• 10 Features You Can Skip to Save Money

Dell's XPS series of laptops offers an industry-leading combination of lightweight, gorgeous screens, strong battery life and plenty of performance. At present, the company makes three major models of XPS laptop: the XPS 13, XPS 15 and XPS 13 2-in-1. If you love Dell's design language and really want a convertible, you can go with the XPS 13 2-in-1, which is great looking but offers sub-par performance and endurance. But unless you are dead-set on using your laptop as a tablet, you have to choose between the Dell XPS 13 and XPS 15.

The differences between the XPS 13 and 15 go far beyond their screen and body sizes. To help you decide, we've compared the two laptops, based on seven different criteria.

Design

Sporting a silver or gold lid and a soft-touch, carbon fiber body, both laptops have the same exact design language. Owing to its smaller, 13.3-inch screen, the XPS 13 is significantly lighter, tipping the scales at 2.8 pounds.

By comparison, the XPS 15 weighs a full 4.6 pounds, which is pretty light for a 15-inch laptop, but not exactly ultraportable. Both laptops are about the same thickness, with the XPS 13 measuring 0.6 inches at its thickest point while the XPS 15 is just 0.66 inches thick.

Winner: Tie. The XPS 13 is lighter, but if you want the larger screen, you have to accept a heavier laptop.

Display

Both laptops are available with several different display options. The base model XPS 13 has a 1080p, non-touch screen, but more expensive configs come with either a 1080p touchscreen or a 3200 x 1800 touchscreen. The XPS 15 also comes standard with both 1080p non-touch screen and a full 4K (3840 x 2160) touch display. We haven't tested the 1080p touch panel on the XPS 13 or the 1080p non-touch panel on the XPS 15, but we have tried the other options.

In our tests, the XPS 15 with 4K display was amazingly colorful, reproducing an impressive 188 percent of the sRGB color gamut. The Dell XPS 13's 3200 x 1800 display, which we tested on a 7th-Gen Core model, managed 105.7 percent of the gamut while the 1080p screen, which we tried on an 8th-Gen Core config, got a strong 112 percent. 

When it comes to brightness, the XPS 13's 1080p screen rules the roost, hitting 368 nits of brightness while the 3200 x 1800 panel clocked in at 305 nits. The XPS 15's 4K screen scored a much lower, 282 nits, but that's still more than enough luminosity for strong viewing angles and a great experience overall.

Winner: The XPS 15's 4K screen is much more colorful and sharper than either of its little brother's panel options. Video editors will appreciate being able to work on 4K  videos in their native resolution.

Performance

The XPS 13 is available with an Intel 8th-Gen Core i7-8550U processor that has four cores and uses up to 15 watts of power. Its larger sibling uses up to an Intel Core i7-7700HQ, which uses 45 watts. The XPS 15 is also available with an optional Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU while the XPS 13 only comes with integrated Intel graphics.

Despite having a CPU that uses a third of the power, the XPS 13 came out ever-so-slightly ahead on some performance tests. On Geekbench 4, a synthetic test that measures overall performance, the XPS 13 with Core i7-8550U scored 14,158 versus 13,911 on the XPS 15 with Core i7-7700HQ CPU scored 13,911. The XPS 13 took just 3 minutes and 9 seconds to match 20,000 names with their addresses in OpenOffice Calc while its sibling was a little slower, completing the same task in 3 minutes and 23 seconds.

However, when it comes to graphics-intensive workloads, the XPS 15 and its GTX 1050 card dominate. The XPS 15 scored a really strong 134,459 on 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, a synthetic graphics test while the XPS 13 managed only 81,837. The XPS 15 played Rise of the Tomb Raider, a fairly demanding game, at a smooth 41 fps while we wouldn't even attempt it on the XPS 13. Creative professionals will be able to use the XPS 15's graphics might for better video editing, 3D design and animation.

Winner: Dell XPS 15's strong graphics performance puts it over the top. 

Battery Life

The XPS 13 is one of the longest-lasting laptops on the market while the XPS 15 offers good, but not great endurance for its size. The non-touch Dell XPS 13 with 8th Gen Core i7-8550U CPU lasted a full 16 hours and 5 minutes on the Laptop Battery Test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi while a model with a 7th-Gen Core i7-7500U CPU and a 3200 x 1800 screen conked out after 9 hours and 11 minutes. The XPS 15 with 4K display and Core i7-7700HQ CPU endured for 8 hours and 23 minutes, which is still an hour and a half longer than the typical 15-inch laptop.

Winner: Dell XPS 13 provides epic battery life.

Value

The XPS 13 is unquestionably less expensive than its 15-inch sibling. The base model costs $799, but it has a low-end, Core i3 processor and just 4GB of RAM, specs that belong in a sub-$500 laptop. To get the XPS 13 with good specs -- a Core i7-8550U CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD -- costs $1,199, though that configuration has occasionally been on sale for under $1,000. To get the XPS 13 with its 3200 x 1800 touch screen, the Core i7 CPU and 16GB of RAM, you'll pay a hefty $1,549.

The base model XPS 15 costs $949, but as with the low-end XPS 13, this is a Core i3-powered model that no one should buy. You can step up to a Core i5-7300HQ CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and the important GTX 1050 graphics card for $1,199. You can step up to the 4K display for an extra $400 ($1,599) or spend $1,899 to get a model that's decked out with a Core i7-7700HQ CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. 

Winner: Dell XPS 13 is a little cheaper at each configuration, but the XPS 15 offers higher-end specs.

Bottom Line

With each laptop winning two rounds and tying in another, there's no clear winner. Which Dell XPS you buy should really depend on your needs. General consumers and productivity workers should get the XPS 13, because of its lighter weight, longer battery life and lower price. Anyone who needs to do professional graphics work should look no further than the XPS 15, because of its superior screen and discrete graphics card.

Credit: Laptop Mag

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Laptops with Intel's 8th Generation "Kaby Lake Refresh" processors are just staring to hit the market and the early returns are impressive. In our tests, the new Dell XPS 13 with an 8th-Gen Core i7-8550U CPU was often 60 percent faster than an identically-configured XPS 13 with the 7th-Gen Core i7-7500U CPU. Even better, we saw a battery life increase by about an hour.

Announced in August, Intel's 8th-Gen Core Series chips double the number of CPU cores from two to four on mainstream laptops like the XPS 13, while also increasing the maximum turbo clock speed these processors can achieve. Both 7th and 8th-Gen Core processors support Intel's Hyper-Threading feature, which effectively gives you two independent threads for each available Core, so with the new chips, the number of threads goes from four to eight. The company claims that users will see a performance bump of as much as 40 percent going from 2016's Kaby Lake to 2017's Kaby Lake Refresh, but our results were even more promising.

Test Results

When we ran Geekbench 4, a synthetic test which measures overall performance, the XPS 13 with 8th-Gen Core scored an impressive mark of 14,158, a 62-percent improvement over the 7th-Gen model (8,735). The laptops both had 1920 x 1080 nontouch screens, 8GB of RAM and 256GB PCIe SSDs so the processor was the only difference. 

A good Geekbench score is one thing, but great real-world performance is what really matters. To see how the 8th-Gen Core-powered XPS 13 handles video editing, I used Handbrake, a popular video transcoding app, to convert a 12-minute, 4K movie into 1080p resolution. The 7th-Generation-powered XPS completed this task in 31 minutes and 36 seconds while the new, XPS 13 and its Core i7-8550U processor powered through in just 19 minutes and 35 seconds, which is a 62-percent performance gain.

You don't need to work with videos in order to benefit from having an 8th-Gen Core processor. When I ran a spreadsheet macro in Excel 2016 that matches 65,000 names with their email addresses, the old XPS 13 finished in 2 minutes and 30 seconds while the new one finished 120 percent faster with a time of 1:08. 

Excel tasks work so much better on the new 8th-Gen Core-powered XPS 13, because Microsoft's spreadsheet program uses all eight available CPU threads. When we ran our spreadsheet macro test, using OpenOffice Calc, a spreadsheet application that can only use a single thread, the new XPS 13 finished in 3 minutes and 9 seconds which is 20 seconds quicker than the old model. That's an improvement of 10 percent, which is a noticeable difference, if not an impressive one.

Buy on Dell

Battery Life

Considering that the new CPU has more cores and runs at higher turbo speeds, you might expect it to offer worse endurance. However, the opposite is true. 

When we ran Laptop Battery Test 2.0, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the 8th-Gen Core-powered XPS 13 lasted for 14 hours and 52 minutes while the old model tapped out after 13 hours and 58 minutes. That's a 54-minute or 6.1 percent improvement from one generation to the next. 

MORE: Longest Battery Life Laptops

The Bottom Line

Even though 8th-Gen Core processors are the future, Dell continues selling some configurations of the XPS 13 with the 7th-Gen Core processor inside.  At publication time, Dell was selling the XPS 13 with a Core i7-8550U CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 1080p screen and a 256GB SSD for $1,249 while one with similar specs and a 7th Gen Core i5-7200U processor went for $1,099. 

With a huge gulf in performance and battery life between 7th and 8th Gen Core, it's clear that you should try to get a laptop with Kaby Lake Refresh, whether you're purchasing an XPS 13 or something else.

Laptop Guide

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• Laptop Buying Guide: 8 Essential Tips
• The Best & Worst Laptop Brands
• Laptop Tech Support Showdown: Undercover Report
• Should I Buy a Chromebook? Buying Guide and Advice
• Laptops with the Longest Battery Life
• Chromebooks vs. Windows 10 Laptops: What Should You Buy?
• Why You Shouldn't Buy a Touch-Screen Laptop
• Out of the Box Tips: Set Up Your New Laptop Like a Pro
• The Best Time to Buy a Laptop
• Chromebook vs. Tablet: Which Should You Buy?
• Laptop Buying Tips for Students
• 10 Key Features to Look for in Your Laptop
• How to Buy a 2-in-1 Laptop Hybrid
• USB Type-C FAQ: Everything You Need to Know
• How to Get Rid of Your Old Laptop
• Laptop Warranties: What They Cover
• Which CPU is Right For You?
• Which Laptop Features Are Worth the Money?
• Gaming Laptop Buying Guide: Find the Right Rig
• 10 Reasons Why Consumers Should Buy Business Laptops
• Which MacBook is Right for You?
• 5 Things to Look For in Your Next Laptop Keyboard
• How to Configure Your Laptop: Specs That Matter
• Which Graphics Card Do You Need?
• The Perfect Laptop? Here’s What It Should Have
• Why 78 Percent of Laptop Screens Suck
• A Guide to Computer Ports and Adapters
• 13 Ways to Make a Slow Laptop Faster
• How to Tell If You Can Upgrade Your Laptop
• Laptop Locks Guide: Do You Need One?
• 10 Features You Can Skip to Save Money

As Intel's 8th-generation processor blazes its way through Dell's laptop lineup, the PC manufacturer has found itself offering more and more opportunities to save money on its previous-gen notebooks.

During its latest sale, Dell takes 10 percent off its XPS 13 and XPS 15 laptops. While most of those machines are based on Intel's 7th-gen processor, at least two models in the XPS 13 family feature Intel's new 8th-gen chips. 

Buy on Dell

In terms of pricing, after coupon, the base XPS 13 laptop starts at $719.99 ($80 off). This model features a 13.3-inch 1080p LCD,  2.4GHz Core i3-7100U processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD. We wouldn't recommend this configuration for power users, but if you want an XPS at the cheapest possible price, this is your best bet.

If you desire a larger screen, the base XPS 15 laptop starts at $899.99 ($100 off) after coupon. This machine is configured with a 15.6-inch 1080p LCD, 3-GHz Core i3-7100H processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive with 32GB SSD.

However, for the biggest value, we recommend the XPS 13 with 8th-gen processor, which after coupon starts at $1,124.99 ($175 off). The main highlight of this system is its quad-core 1.8GHz 8th-gen Intel processor. Paired with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, it lets the system breeze through any tasks you throw its way.

The laptop also won our Editors' Choice award, for once again offering a near-perfect mix of performance, style, and endurance. 

• Best Laptop Deals of Today
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The Dell XPS 13 may be our favorite overall laptop, but Microsoft's Surface Laptop is coming into town like a gunslinger looking to take over as the new sheriff. While we're excited to put the Surface Laptop through the paces of our comprehensive review, it's not too early to look at how it stacks up (on paper) against the XPS 13 notebooks we know and love.

Of course, since many versions of each exist, we're not making just one comparison. Instead, we'll see how the $999 models of the notebooks compare, as well as a face-off between one of our favorite configurations of the Surface Laptop ($1,299) and a $1,257 touchscreen version of the XPS 13.

MORE: Laptops with the Longest Battery Life

Surface Laptop vs XPS 13 (Non-Touch)

Design

Simply put, these are sexy beasts. The XPS 13's soft-touch deck and machined aluminum lid combine for a sleek look, but the Surface Laptop wowed us on sight with its aluminum lid and stylish Alacantra-fabric keyboard deck that looks super comfy and just as elegant. 

In terms of size and weight, it's a push, as the Surface Laptop (0.6 inches thick, 2.8 pounds) and the XPS 13 (0.6 inches thick, 2.7 pounds) are practically indistinguishable on that front. 

At this price point, the Dell does offer something the Surface can't: your choice of color. While the $949 XPS 13 comes in silver, you can move it up to $999 (the same price as the Surface Laptop) to get it in a classy Rose Gold.

Display

The XPS 13's screen set the bar for others, and the Surface Laptop has a good shot at clearing that standard. While the XPS 13 sports a 13.3-inch, nearly-bezel-free Infinity display measuring 1920 x 1080 pixels, the Surface Laptop's 13.5-inch panel is both of higher resolution (pixels) and it can support touch input as well as Microsoft's Surface Pen stylus. 

We look forward to seeing if the Surface Laptop's screen can match the XPS 13 in terms of brightness (302 nits) and color (93.6 percent of the sRGB spectrum).

Ports

The Microsoft's Surface Laptop packs a traditional USB 3.0 port, a headphone jack, and a Mini DisplayPort, which is a solid set for today's needs.  Meanwhile, the XPS 13 is laughing at that set, which seems paltry when compared to its dual USB 3.0 ports, Thunderbolt 3 port, SD memory card reader, headphone jack and security lock slot.

So while the Surface Laptop may offer enough flexibility for many, the XPS 13's port selection is at the top of the class for ultraportables.

Specs and Configuration Options

What can you get for just under a grand? The $949 XPS 13 packs a 7th Gen Kaby Lake Core i5-7200 CPU, a 128GB SSD hard drive and 8GB of RAM, with the option for gold at $999. The Surface Laptop's $999 model comes just shy of this offer, with a 7th Gen Core i5 CPU, a 128GB SSD and only 4GB of RAM (half that of the XPS 13).

Also, the Surface Laptop doesn't come in any of its cooler colors at this price, only Platinum silver. And if you want to make any adjustments to that notebook, your least-expensive option is the $300 bump up to the 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD option. Dell, on the other hand, allows for selective customization including doubling your storage (256GB for $100 more) and a QHD (3,200 x 1,800 pixels) display ($350).

Battery Life

The XPS 13 set a strong standard for battery life, lasting 13 hours and 49 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test (browsing the internet at 100 nits). Microsoft is claiming it can do better, rating the Surface Laptop for up to 14.5 hours of battery life, though it's only for video playback. If the Surface Laptop can post a similar time on our battery test, we'll be impressed.

Outlook

The non-touch XPS 13 may not be the new contender in town, but on paper, it appears to be holding its ground just fine against the Surface Laptop. But what if you want more?

$1,299 Surface Laptop vs Touch-Screen XPS 13

Design

Those with larger budgets will see a Surface Laptop that turns more heads, as well as a XPS 13 with a touch-friendly screen. At $1,256 the XPS 13 offers the same soft-touch deck and machined aluminum lid as its non-touch sibling, but the $1,299 Surface Laptop's starting to look better, gaining options for its aluminum lid and luxe Alacantra-fabric keyboard deck to come in gold, burgundy and blue, and not just silver.

Putting a touchscreen into the Dell laptop moves the XPS 13's weight up to 2.9 pounds, making it slightly heavier than the 2.8-pound Surface Laptop. Both measure 0.6 inches thick.

Display

The touchscreen XPS 13 isn't just more interactive, it's also of a much higher resolution, bumping up to a QHD+ 3,200 x 1,800-pixel resolution, though the Surface Laptop still looks like a contender. Meanwhile, the Surface Laptop's 13.5-inch panel is still a sharp resolution (2,256 x 1,504 pixels).

We'll know more about the Surface Laptop's screen once we find out if it can match the 2-in-1 XPS 13 for brightness (305 nits) and color (105.7 percent of the sRGB spectrum). 

Ports

Paying more won't get you more ports. At this price, the Surface Laptop's still got the same USB 3.0 port, headphone jack, and Mini DisplayPort that we like but still won't compare to the XPS 13's two USB 3.0 ports, Thunderbolt 3 port, SD memory reader, headphone jack and security lock slot.

Specs 

Since you're paying more, how much more do you get? The $1,256 XPS 13 and $1,299 Surface Laptop are quite similar, both featuring 7th Gen Kaby Lake Core i5 CPUs, 256GB of SSD storage and 8GB of RAM.

Battery Life

A bigger price doesn't always mean longer battery life, and such is the case with the XPS 13, as the QHD model we tested only lasted 9 hours and 11 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test (browsing the internet at 100 nits), though that model also featured a Core i7 CPU, not the i5 processor in the configuration we're looking at today.  

We'll let you know if the Surface Laptop can meet Microsoft's promise of 14.5 hours of battery life in our forthcoming review.

Outlook

If a touchscreen matters to you, you might be better off with the Surface Laptop. The XPS 13 may offer higher-resolution and keeps its crown as king of ports, but at this price, the Surface Laptop catches up on specs, looks and (potentially) battery life.

Dell XPS 13 User Guide

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• Dell XPS 13 User Guide
• How to Upgrade Your Dell XPS 13's SSD
• How to Increase Battery Life on the Dell XPS 13
• How to Fix Dell XPS 13 Display Driver Problems
• How to Turn the Dell XPS 13's 'Nosecam' Into a Webcam
• Best Accessories for Your Dell XPS 13

Thanks to its slim bezels and strong performance and battery life, the XPS 13 is our best overall laptop. So it's not a surprise that there's a lot of interest around this system -- and also a lot of questions. The community team from Tom's Guide, our sister site, recently held a special Q&A and Laptop Giveaway with  Dell.  We received over 500 questions in our raffle and on the forums, far exceeding many of our past Q&As. 

While there were many fantastic questions submitted to the Q&A, there were definitely a few standouts. Here are some of best question and answers from our Q&A with Donnie Oliphant, Director of the XPS Group at Dell. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Don’t worry if you missed the live Q&A with Dell. Make sure to the check the Tom’s Guide forums for all of the latest community updates and discussions.

Improving the XPS Product Line

KerryT: If you could improve ONE THING about your laptops, what would it be?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: If you nailed me down and made me pick one thing, I would probably point to what our customer research has pointed to as the number one buying criteria (behind brand and price) for the last two decades – battery life.  Even at 22+ hours of (benchmarked) battery life in our latest XPS 13 with FHD, it always seems like we don’t have an AC outlet in front of us when we run out.

Moclyop: I tend to find the keyboards on your laptops a little on the mushy side, especially on the Latitude lines. What are your thoughts on your laptop keyboards?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: Over the last couple of decades, we’ve seen laptop keyboard “key stroke” or “key travel” go from full (typewriter-like) 3.5mm down to 0.5mm on some of the more aggressive designs in the industry. Our Latitude keyboards are award-winning and praised broadly throughout the industry and amongst our user base. We use longer-travel “ISO-compliant” keyboards in most Latitude products (typically 2.5mm travel), but this has a direct correlation to how aggressive we can be on the system’s overall thickness. XPS has landed at the edge of what we believe to be mainstream, user-friendly travel at 1.3mm. 

We have done extensive usability studies on this topic over the last 25 years and have achieved what we believe is the best optimization of user feel/comfort and typing accuracy at 1.3mm. We recently tried to move to 1.2mm travel on a product, but the usability testing didn’t meet expectations, so we reverted to 1.3mm. How we support and attach the keyboard in the system also contributes to the “mushiness” you refer to. We strive to over-engineer our products in key customer interface areas (like the keyboard) to ensure a great experience over the life of the product – whether that’s a year or five years, we want the experience to be best-in-class.

MaggNorway: I see from different sites on the net, that is seems Quality Control isn't always perfect with your XPS laptops. Is this something you are working actively to improve?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: Quality is paramount and is always a focus for XPS and all of Dell. We have made pronounced advancements each year on the level of quality we deliver to our customers. The fact of life (and manufacturing) is that perfection is not possible. The thing we have to focus on is that when things don’t go as planned, we have a robust service and support experience that satisfies our customers.  Things will inevitably go wrong. When they do, how we solve those problems, interact with our customers, and offer support is critical.

Shavonne: Are there any plans to offer the Dell XPS 13 in finishes other than Silver and Rose Gold? How about adding a limited edition featured color, with a pattern design?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: Great feedback. Stay tuned.

OhmNominal: Engineering-wise, is the nosecam really necessary? As someone with a copious number of selfie-taking friends, as I understand it the flattering angle would be a down-facing angle.

DONNIE OLIPHANT: Tradeoffs had to be made in order to implement the InfinityEdge Display. With the new XPS 13 2-in-1 you can use tent mode and have the camera at the top.

More: Tom's Guide Dell XPS 13 MegaThread

Dell vs The Competition

Parigod: What makes the Dell XPS 13 unique when compared to competitor's products?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: The XPS 13 is unique on many fronts. Everything starts with the InfinityEdge Display.  With 5mm borders surrounding the top, left and right of the display, the XPS 13 is the smallest laptop on the planet. Other key areas of differentiation are the materials we choose and how we implement them. We use machined aluminum, carbon fiber and Corning’s gorilla glass to provide a strong and beautiful structure which delivers amazing craftsmanship. We employ battery technology that when combined with our display technology and architecture implementation delivers class-leading battery life (up to 22 hours of benchmarked run time on the latest model). We do all of this and still deliver an entry price point of $799. 

Eag1e: How does the Dell XPS 13 Laptop compare to the new Apple MacBook in terms of pricing, features, and performance?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: XPS laptops offer better performance than Macs with touch, newer processors, a better display, more available RAM, and a longer battery life in a smaller and lighter package in addition to a lighter hit on your wallet.

Ian: Do these laptops have discrete graphics cards?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: Our XPS 13 and XPS 13 2-in-1 have integrated graphics while our XPS 15 offers an option for NVIDIA’s latest GTX1050 graphics with a 4GB GDDR5 frame buffer.

Lisa: Is this a good laptop to purchase for a college student?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: Yes. XPS laptops are thin and beautifully crafted and provide the most uncompromised experiences for work and play. XPS laptops have all of the performance you need, packed into smaller, thinner and more innovative designs. With more than 22 hours of battery life on FHD (up to 13 hours on QHD+), and the smallest 13 inch notebook on the planet, it’s the ideal notebook for college students on the go. The XPS 13 is a perfect companion for the college student that is writing term papers, surfing the web or streaming movies.

Debra: What makes Dell XPS products the best laptops in the market?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: XPS products are designed to be the best on the planet. We bring together the most elegant designs and premium experiences to enhance your work and personal success. This combination ultimately results in beautifully crafted products without compromise. Every material is selected to enhance performance and every design decision made is made with purpose. XPS laptops are precision-crafted from premium materials like machined aluminum, carbon fiber and hardened Corning® Gorilla® Glass NBT™ for incredible durability and a superior experience. While XPS laptops are thin and beautifully crafted, they also provide the most uncompromised experiences for work and play. XPS laptops have all of the performance you need, packed into smaller, thinner and more innovative designs.

Kat: How does the Dell XPS product line compare with other consumer options?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: Our XPS 13 has won 300+ awards, more awards than any device in the company’s history. They are considered the best Windows devices on the market. The latest XPS devices boast a number of ‘firsts’ and ‘bests’ in their respective product groups – spanning form factor breakthroughs, display prowess, battery life and more – keeping with the XPS tradition of design to deliver the best computing experience on the planet. XPS laptops offer better performance than Macs with touch, newer processors, a better displays, more available RAM, and a longer battery life in a smaller and lighter package.

Ben: Do these models come with a stylus?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: The XPS 13 2-in-1 comes with a stylus but the other XPS products do not.

Jason: Does the Dell XPS 13 have USB 3.1 port? What are the other connectivity features for the Dell XPS 13?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: We offer the following connectivity options on the Dell XPS 13 Laptop: USB 3.0 (2) - 1 w/PowerShare, SD card reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC), headset jack (1), Noble lock slot (1), Thunderbolt™ 3 (1), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps), VGA, HDMI, and Ethernet.

Ryzen, Linux, Rugged Laptops and the Dell Design Process

Hellfire13: AMD just released the Ryzen CPU for desktops. Do you plan on offering Ryzen mobile chips in your Dell XPS laptops?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: We are always considering all possibilities when it comes to technologies, commodities and features that enable better experiences for our customers. We did announce earlier this week that we will be offering Ryzen processors in select desktops and AIOs later this year.

David: Are you going to have models that use the new AMD Ryzen CPU's?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: Dell will be offering Ryzen high-performance desktop processors in select desktops and AIOs later this year but I can’t comment on specific product details.

MaggNorway:  Will you continue to focus on making great Linux laptops, and offer Linux development editions of the XPS 13 and XPS 15?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: We are committed to the development community and while I can’t comment on future products, I do think an XPS 15 running Linux would be a lovely product for developers who need the ultimate in portable performance.

LutfiJ: Is the Dell XPS design team interested in introducing a series within the XPS range that is, well, more rugged? Also, what is the Dell XPS Design process?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: We have an entire portfolio of fully ruggedized products that is absolutely amazing. We would never claim the XPS portfolio of laptops as ruggedized, but I can assure you that they can take a pretty good licking and keep on ticking. We test all of our laptops against the same robust specifications that we govern our commercial laptop lineup to (Latitude, Precision, etc).

As for the design process, A typical “ground-up” development effort for a new design language and new “mechanicals / chassis” is roughly 18-24 months.  The actual timeline for the development of the product (once the concept is fully designed) is roughly a year.  What we term “mid-life kickers” - where we are simply updating the architecture and other minor things like battery density - usually take about 9 months, depending on the level of changes.

Matt: Who designed the Dell XPS Laptop and what's next for the future of Dell Laptops?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: We did. All of our XPS laptops are designed by an amazing group of engineers we call “System Architects” and our in-house Industrial Designers.  We then collaborate with our strategic ODM partners to develop and manufacture them.  What’s next for the future of Dell Laptops is to continue to focus on our customer’s needs and desired experiences and to continue to deliver the best solutions we can.

The Perfect Form Factor and Dell XPS Use Cases

Below0: Would you rather have 5 tiny computers, or one luggage sized computer?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: I would rather have one “right-sized” computer. Try the XPS 13 if you’re highly mobile, but need mainstream performance and connectivity, or our XPS 13 2-in-1 if mobility is the most important factor for your purchase decision. If it’s performance that you crave, try on our amazing XPS 15.  We think your laptop should fit you perfectly. Tell us what you’re trying to do and we’ll find one that’s right for you.

Snorlax316: What’s your favorite type of monitor?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: I’ve moved to our new Dell UltraSharp 34 Curved Monitor (U3417W) with its ultrawide curved display and absolutely love it. It’s like having dual displays without having two separate monitors. I can have a full-size Outlook window open next to a full-size powerpoint or browser window for easy transitions between applications and it looks bad-ass.

mhg_car_ said: If you had to choose one celebrity to represent the Dell XPS Product line, who would it be and why? What is the primary purpose of the Dell XPS Product line?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: If you can call him a celebrity, I would say Elon Musk since he’s (and we are) always reaching for the stars.

The great thing about our products are that we specifically tailor each of them for a specific type of user. In almost all cases, they can be used for general use or productivity (light and heavy depending on which platform you need). Our smaller, more portable laptops are very capable primary computing devices that can tackle day-to-day usage (mail, office apps, browsing, video, etc.) without breaking a sweat, but as you move up to our larger laptop, the user can take on much more daunting activities (content creation, gaming, and development).  We really believe that one size does not fit all, so depending on what you need out of your laptop, we should be able to find a good fit for you across our portfolio.

Justin: Would this be powerful enough for music production?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: Depending on exactly what level of music production you’re referring to, any of our products can be used to drive varying levels of production, but assuming you’re a Hollywood type of guy or gal (or aspiring), I implore you to investigate our newly-introduced XPS 27 AIO. It was developed in conjunction with our Precision Workstation team and we enlisted 11-time Grammy award winning producer, Jack Joseph Puig on the audio solution. It is amazing!  

Dan the Old Man: I'm a designer and small business guy, in the past I've had XPS computers that catered to that. Looking at the specs of the XPS 13 I'm not sure the Adobe CC suite would run on it very well. Do you have any recommendations for designers and the XPS product line?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: The XPS 15 is designed for Adobe's products. It offers an i7 CPU, 32GB of RAM and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 with 4GB frame buffer. The XPS 13 has its place as well. It doesn't have a dedicated GPU so it’s not your best option for large Premiere projects but it's good to have on a small photography site for initial image importing and corrections.

HughGee27: Is the Dell XPS 13 proficient at 4K video editing?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: XPS 13 isn’t designed for 4K video editing. We recommend the XPS 15.

LutfiJ: Are there any plans for an USB 3.1 eGPU dock for the Dell XPS series?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: We already have two!  With the introduction of USB “type C”, we can support a single point of connectivity docking solution that passes data out and power in.  Our entry level dock is USB compatible and our ultimate docking solution employs a Thunderbolt 3 interface (also through USB-C).  The docks are compatible with all Latitude 7000 series as well.

After764: Over the next five years, what are the major challenges to offering VR-Ready Dell XPS Systems?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: Dell offers VR-ready XPS desktops today and you can expect to see more VR-ready XPS systems in the future as the technology advances and becomes more accessible.

More: Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 Review

Pricing and Part Sourcing for the Dell XPS Product Line

Velo3100: Why does the Dell XPS 13 Laptop cost so much? The reason I ask is that high end ultrabooks are always so expensive, and despite their premium price, they often have very few features. Do you plan on offering the any XPS laptops with the Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: Those are both great questions. I think the really cool thing about today’s ultra-portable systems are that we can do so much more with them than we were just a handful of years ago.  The advances in performance and efficiency from Intel’s architectures has been incredible and there’s more to come.  One of the best parts of my job is defining products that are as uncompromised as possible. 

We always strive to deliver world class product in whatever product category we participate in.  This means the commodities we choose, the materials we employ (and how we implement them) as well as the maniacal pursuit of leadership form-factors and customer experiences command a high cost which translates to the higher prices.  The good news is that XPS is a part of Dell and Dell is always trying to deliver a great value for the customer.  With a $799 entry price point, we are very aggressively priced for the level of quality we provide.  The entry configuration shares the same chassis and commodities of our higher-priced configurations. 

Nismith: In the US Dell offers the XPS 13 Touch Laptop with a Full HD 1080p display, 8GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Do you offer this model in the UK? Will I be able to upgrade the SSD myself? How about the RAM?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: That’s a great choice! I personally carry the FHD model myself for the added battery life and I chose a non-touch variant which also saves two tenths of a pound in carry weight. The 1920 x 1080 resolution is perfect for the 13-inch form factor.

The XPS 13 is a revolutionary product that required extensive integration.  The memory is not upgradeable, but the SSD is.  My team just checked our UK offerings and there is a new XPS 13 i5 / 8GB RAM / 256GB SSD config for £1,149.

David: I know it is difficult to have a laptop 100% American made. What percent of the Dell XPS Laptop product is made or assembled in the USA? Where do you source your parts from?

We source our parts from all over the globe and being an American-based company, we are always looking at ways to contribute to and improve our local economy.  We also want to improve and contribute to the economies where our products are designed, built, sold, supported and serviced. With more than 145K global employees, Dell Technologies direct reach into 180 countries (more than 90% of the world), and our supply chain operates in more than 40 countries worldwide.  While the majority of our components and manufacturing resides outside of the US, we do manufacture a large portion of our portfolio in North America (Mexico) and are proud to base our worldwide headquarters out of Round Rock, Texas.

Samfor3: What processors are available in the XPS 13?

DONNIE OLIPHANT: We offer a range of 7th Generation Intel Core mobile CPUs for our XPS 13 Laptop, including the Core i3-7100U, Core i5-7200U, and Core i7-7500U processors.

Dell XPS 13 User Guide

• Previous Tip
• Next Tip

• Dell XPS 13 User Guide
• How to Upgrade Your Dell XPS 13's SSD
• How to Increase Battery Life on the Dell XPS 13
• How to Fix Dell XPS 13 Display Driver Problems
• How to Turn the Dell XPS 13's 'Nosecam' Into a Webcam
• Best Accessories for Your Dell XPS 13

One of the best laptops on the market, the Dell XPS 13 comes standard with a speedy SSD inside. However, if you bought the laptop with a 128 or 256GB drive and want more storage space, you can perform your own upgrade, using a third-party SSD. All you need is a few minutes of time, along with the correct upgrade SSD, a couple of small screw drivers, an external backup drive and a USB flash drive. 

Getting the Right SSD and Tools to Install It

To determine, what kind of SSD you need, first check to see whether your XPS 13 has an Intel 5th gen (aka Broadwell) or 6th Gen (aka Skylake) processor. If your CPU's model number begins with a 5 (ex: Core i5-5200U), you have Broadwell but if it begins with a 6 (ex: Core i5-6200U), you have Skylake. 

Both models require an M.2 Type 2280 SSD on a chip, rather than a traditional 2.5-inch drive.  Though both the early and late 2015 laptops can take M.2 SSDs with a standard SATA interface, the newer Skylake models can accept blazing-fast PCIe SSDs as well. A standard SATA M.2 SSD such as the Samsung 850 EVO costs as little as $85 for a 250GB model and just over $150 for a 500GB capacity. A speedy PCIe M.2 drive like the Samsung 950 Pro costs $100 to $200 more but is triple the speed.

To open up the XPS 13's chassis you'll need two different screw drivers: a small pentalobe we could find and a tiny Phillips Head #000. You'll also need a 4GB USB Flash Drive to serve as a rescue disk and an external hard drive to back up your software and files.

Boot Disk and Rescue Media

You don't want to take your old SSD out without being able to put your Windows operating system, applications and files on the new drive. In order to transfer your data, you need to create a backup file on an external hard drive. Any USB hard drive -- or even a large capacity Flash drive -- should do the job. In these steps, we'll show you how to make a backup and rescue media before you get down and dirty with the hardware. We'll be using free software called Macrium Reflect. Here's how:

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect. You can find it here.

2. Open Macrium Reflect from the Start menu.

3. Click Yes when prompted to create Rescue Media. This is what will allow you to recover your data later on.

4. Click Next in the Rescue Media Wizard.

5. Click Next if your drivers are all up to date. If they aren't, you may need to update them.

6. Plug in a USB Drive and select USB Device. Choose your USB device as the location for the ISO image and click Finish.

7. Click OK when the process is complete. You'll want to try booting from it to make sure it works.

8. Click "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" in the left pane.

9. Choose your backup drive and click Next. We're using a Seagate external hard drive.

10. Click Next.

11. Click Finish.

12. Name your backup and click OK.

The backup will run. This may take a few minutes, so go get a snack or something.

13. Click OK when the process is complete. You can exit Macrium Reflect.

Boot From The Rescue Media

Now that you have your backup and rescue media on your USB drive and external hard drive, you want to make sure your XPS 13 will boot to the rescue media after you put in your new SSD. Here's how:

1. Go to Settings > Update & security

2. Under Recovery, click Restart now. It's under Advanced startup.

3. Click "Use a device" in the "Choose an option" menu.

4. Click Advanced options.

5. Click "UEFI Firmware Settings."

6. Click Restart.

7. Click General > Boot Sequence and move your USB drive to the top of the list after you're taken to the BIOS.

Now, next time you boot the laptop with the rescue drive attached, it will load up the Macrium Reflect software.

Switch Out the SSDs

Time to get your hands dirty. Now that your XPS 13 is prepared to boot from your rescue media so that you can restore your backup, it's time to open up your laptop, take out your SSD and put in a new one. You'll need two screwdrivers -- we used the smallest pentalobe we could find and a Phillips Head #000. Don't forget to use a cup or bowl to store your loose screws so you don't lose them.

1. Place the XPS 13 face down on a table or desk.

2. Remove the eight screws along the outside of the base, which hold the bottom of the computer to the deck. You'll need a pentalobe driver for this.

3. Flip up the magnetic XPS badge and remove the screw underneath. We used a Phillips Head #000 for this.

4. Pry off the base. It's on tight, so this will take patience. We managed to get the base off with a plastic scribe, but if you don't have that, you can try a guitar pick or be really careful with a flathead screwdriver.

5. Remove the screw holding in the SSD. You'll want to use the Phillips head again.

6. Carefully lift the existing SSD out of its setting.

7. Place the new SSD into the setting. Make sure the contacts are completely aligned.

8. Replace the screw that holds in the SSD.

9. Put the case back on and replace the screws.

Restoring Your Backup

With the new SSD is your laptop, it's time to restore your backup so you can get back to using your laptop.

1. Plug in your USB drive with the rescue media and external hard drive with the backup .

2. Boot up your XPS 13 into Macrium Reflect and click "Browse for an image or backup file to restore."

3. Choose your external hard drive. 

4. Select the backup that you made.

5. Click Restore Image.

6. Click "Select a disk to restore to..." and choose your new SSD. Click Next. We had used our SSD previously, but your SSD will likely be empty.

7. Click Next.

Your data will copy over from your external hard drive to your new SSD. This may take a bit, so sit back and make a cup of tea.

8. Click OK when the process is complete.

9. Reboot your computer. It should have all of your original data on your new SSD.

Dell XPS 13 User Guide

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• Dell XPS 13 User Guide
• How to Increase Battery Life on the Dell XPS 13
• How to Fix Dell XPS 13 Display Driver Problems
• How to Turn the Dell XPS 13's 'Nosecam' Into a Webcam
• Best Accessories for Your Dell XPS 13

One of the most common complaints about the Dell XPS 13 is that the display may flash, flicker or produce a message that the display driver has crashed. Luckily for owners of the laptop, Dell has identified and fixed the issue with a January update to the Intel HD Graphics driver.

Here is how to download and install your new Dell XPS 13 Display Driver:

1. Go to the driver page. You can find it here.

2. Click Download File. 

3. Click Run.

4. Click Yes when asked if the driver can make changes to your PC.

5. Click Install when the Update Package window appears.

6. Click Next in the setup program.

7. Click Yes to accept the license agreement.

8. Click Next on the Readme screen. The driver will begin to install, and your screen may flash. This is normal.

9. Click Next when the setup operations are complete.

10. Click Finish after deciding when to restart your computer.

Once the computer restarts, you'll have the latest driver, and, hopefully, no more screen issues.

Dell XPS 13 User Guide

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• Dell XPS 13 User Guide
• How to Upgrade Your Dell XPS 13's SSD
• How to Increase Battery Life on the Dell XPS 13
• How to Turn the Dell XPS 13's 'Nosecam' Into a Webcam
• Best Accessories for Your Dell XPS 13

Dell has announced a fall release for Project Sputnik, a notebook targeted specifically at developers. This official developer laptop will be based on the Dell XPS 13 and include Ubuntu 10.04 LTS pre-loaded, which will help provide an ideal computing environment for developers. 

Project Sputnik is optimized to provide a complete client-to-cloud solution, using a full set of Linux hardware drivers as well as Cloud and Profile tools. Developers will be able to use these features to immediately create micro-instances and easily push these directly to production servers. There will be a library of profiles, including Ruby and Android, which will expedite the lengthy set-up process usually involved when creating new development environments and tool chains.

Project Sputnik was launched to a select group of beta testers in May and positive feedback from the development community has ushered in the official launch. "By listening to developers, Dell can provide them with solutions and products to help make them more productive and allow for greater innovation," said Barton George, project Sputnik's lead and director of Dell's web vertical marketing. "We have continued to be amazed by the amount and quality of interest and input we have received."

This is not the first time that Dell has released a laptop running a Linux build rather than the popular Windows operating system. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9, released in 2008, ran a customized version of Ubuntu's Netbook Remix. With Project Sputnik, however, Dell is demonstrating a commitment to open source software, releasing a notebook targeted at developers with an unmodified Linux build. This new laptop will help alleviate much of the work involved with setting up and maintaining a robust development environment.

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When you're one of the last to enter a new category, you better make sure your laptop brings something fresh. Dell has done just that with its XPS 13 Ultrabook. Starting at $999, this 3-pound machine is one of the smallest of its ilk, and has some neat innovations, such as Smart Connect technology for downloading email and social networking updates when the lid is closed. Add to that a blazing-fast SSD and a great backlit keyboard, and you have the makings of a great ultraportable. Is this the best Ultrabook yet?

Design

Click to EnlargeMeasuring 12.4 x 8.1 x 0.24-0.71 inches, the XPS 13 is not only striking, it has a smaller footprint than most Ultrabooks and the MacBook Air. For example, the ASUS UX31 is 13.3 x 8.9 inches, although it's a slightly thinner 0.1-0.7 inches, and the 13-inch Air has a 12.8 x 8.9-inch footprint while measuring 0.11 to 0.68 inches thick. Only the new Samsung Series 9 comes close to the Dell's small size, at 12.3 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches.

Where other wedge-shaped Ultrabooks are either all metal (as with the ASUS UX31) or plastic (as with the Acer Aspire S3), Dell has gone in a different direction with the XPS 13. While the lid and the edge of the keyboard deck are aluminum, the bottom of the laptop is made of carbon fiber, which keeps it strong, thin and cool.

Click to EnlargeNot only are we glad that Dell didn't simply copy the Apple MacBook Air, this material makes Dell's notebook easier to grip.

On the inside, the edge-to edge Gorilla Glass display lends a degree of sophistication. We especially like the soft touch rubber coating on the magnesium keyboard deck, which feels very comfortable when typing, and is also cool to the touch.

Weighing 3 pounds, the XPS 13 isn't the lightest Ultrabook--that honor goes to the 2.4-pound Toshiba Portege Z835--but it's the same weight as the UX31. Overall, this is one of the best designed Ultrabooks out there, even if it's missing a key feature (see below).

Keyboard and Touchpad

Click to EnlargeOne of the better keyboards on an Ultrabook, the keys on the XPS 13 are large, nicely spaced and provide a nice amount of travel and snappiness. We liked that the backlighting on the keyboard raises up gently, a small but nice touch. It's also brighter than on the XPS 14, which makes the layout easier to see at oblique angles.

Like many notebooks, the XPS 13 requires you to use a function key combination in order to adjust settings such as screen and keyboard brightness as well as the volume. While you can reverse the function in the BIOS menu (press F2 as the system is starting up to access these settings), it's high time that these were made the primary function by default.

It seems like Dell is one of the first Windows-based notebook makers to finally figure out how to get mouse buttons to work as part of a touchpad. Not only is the touchpad a spacious 3.9 x 2.4 inches, but the Cypress TrackPad interpreted multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom and three- and four-finger flicks quickly, smoothly, and correctly.

Ports

Click to EnlargeAlthough we understand there are space considerations with a notebook this slim, we were disappointed by the lack of an SD Card slot on the XPS 13. It's the easiest way to transfer photos from a digital camera, especially when you're on the go and don't feel like schlepping a USB cable.

The left side of the XPS 13 has the power jack, a powered USB 2.0 port, and a combo headphone and mic jack. The right side has a mini Display Port, a USB 3.0 port, and a button and four LEDs that show the battery level. We don't see why that last feature could have been an SD card slot instead.

Webcam

Images from the 1.3-MP webcam on the XPS 13 were warm, and highlighted our skintones well, but lacked detail. Everything was slightly fuzzy, and our hair was an amorphous brown blob. The Dell Webcam Central utility let us add effects such as fun backgrounds and avatars, as well as adjust brightness and contrast.

The FastAccess Facial Recognition utility recognized our face and logged us into the system in about 5 seconds, which is nice, but no faster than entering a password.

Heat

After streaming a video at full screen for 15 minutes, the touchpad measured a cool 79 degrees, the space between the G and H keys was 93, and the middle of the underside was just 90 degrees. All are below 95 degrees, the threshold we consider uncomfortable. However, the fan on the XPS 13 was noticeably loud, and would turn on at regular intervals.

Display

Click to EnlargeWhile it has a standard resolution of 1366 x 768, the 13.3-inch display on the XPS 13 is covered in edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass, which provides durability. While watching the trailer for "The Avengers," explosions were bright and firey, and we could make out details such as windows in skyscrapers and Iron Man's suit. Despite the glossy finish, viewing angles were fairly good, too. We could sit on either side of the notebook and still see the action on-screen comfortably.

However, the Asus UX31 sports a higher resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels, and the 13-inch MacBook Air (1440 x 900) also has a sharper panel.

Dell claims the XPS 13's display has a brightness of 300 nits. We measured its brightness at 232 lux, which beats out the Folio 13 (139 lux) and the Lenovo U300s (156 lux), but falls short of the Toshiba Z835 (260) and the UX31 (391).

Audio

Click to EnlargeThe XPS 13's speakers are fairly loud for such a thin design. Even better, the Waves Maxx Audio control panel went a long way in improving the sound. With the feature turned on, Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" everything from bass to midtones to treble got boosted. We liked that we could tweak the settings, too. The ASUS UX31 has more robust audio, but the Dell is one of the better sounding Ultrabooks.

Performance

The 1.6-GHz Intel Core i5-2467M processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD in the XPS performed well on our tests. On PCMark07, the laptop notched 3,521, which is about 1,200 points above average, and 400 points higher than the HP Folio 13, which has the same processor. The UX31 scored slightly higher, at 3,606. When writing this review, watching some HD movies and listening to music, the XPS 13 performed smoothly, without any hiccups.

The XPS 13 booted Windows 7 Home Premium in a quick 27 seconds; that's on a par with the HP Folio 13 and the Z835, and was about 20 seconds faster than the average. This machine also woke from sleep in about 2 seconds, which was also on a par with other Ultrabooks.

This Dell's SSD was one of the fastest we've tested, duplicating a 4.97GB folder of multimedia in just 37 seconds, a rate of 137.5 MBps. That even beats the MacBook Air (127 MBps), and is about 40MBps faster than the UX31.

The XPS 13 took 6 minutes and 57 seconds to complete the LAPTOP Spreadsheet Macro Test, in which we use OpenOffice calc to match 20,000 names with their addresses. That showing bests the ultraportable average by about 3 minutes, but is on the slower side for Ultrabooks. While it was faster than the Toshiba Z835 (11:36), the Dell was bested by the Folio 13 (6:44), the UX31 (5:50) and the U300s (5:05).

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics in the XPS 13 scored 4,091 on 3DMark06, about 700 points above the category average, and blows past all other Ultrabooks with the same GPU, including the UX31 (3,761) and the Z835 (3,620). Still, don't expect much more than the ability to play high-def movies and moderate games. On our "World of Warcraft" test, the XPS 13 averaged 32 fps with the settings at default. That's certainly playable and on a par with the Z835 and the U300s. When we increased the settings to max, the XPS 13's framerates dropped to an unplayable 14 fps.

Battery Life

The XPS 13 lasted 5 hours and 46 minutes on the LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi on 40 percent brightness. This runtime is long enough to get you through a good part of your workday, but it's one of the shortest times we've seen from an Ultrabook. The next closest, the ASUS UX31, lasted about 15 minutes longer. The ultraportable category average is about an hour longer (6:46), and the HP Folio 13 lasted for an excellent 7 hours and 50 minutes.

Smart Connect

Click to EnlargeA new Intel feature introduced in the XPS 13 is Smart Connect, which enables the notebook to remain connected to the Internet while in sleep mode. This means that you can continue to receive emails or updates from TweetDeck while the notebook is closed. Of course, this feature does negatively impact battery life, which is why you can disable this feature, or set the frequency at which the XPS 13 checks for updates from once every 5 minutes to once every 60 minutes. Overall, though, we really like Smart Connect because you can wake your notebook up and have the latest info at your fingertips.

After enabling Smart Connect, we launched both TweetDeck and Windows Live Mail, and then closed the notebook. After waiting for 15 minutes, we opened up the notebook again, and found that Smart Connect worked--for the most part. We saw the latest tweets in Tweetdeck, but only our email headers had been downloaded in Live Mail, which is more a function of that app's security.

Software

Click to EnlargeThere's not much in the way of preinstalled apps on the XPS 13, which we think is a good thing. A trial of McAfee Security Center, Microsoft Office 2010 Starter and Skype are loaded, but that's about it. Dell's utilities include the Dell Support Center, which lets you set passwords, back up your system, check to see if components such as the battery are performing properly and access tech support.

Configurations

Our $999 configuration of the XPS 13 (Core i5-2467M processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD) is the starting model. Dell sells two other versions: For $1,299, you get a Core i5-2467M processor and a 256GB SSD, and $1,499 will get you a Core i7-2637M CPU and a 256GB SSD.

The XPS 13 comes with a one-year premium protection package that includes Accidental Damage, LoJack, In-Home and premium phone support. Check out how Dell fared in our annual Tech Support Showdown and Best & Worst Laptop Brands report.

Dell XPS 13 vs Ultrabook Competition

The two most formidable Windows-powered competitors for the XPS 13 are the Toshiba Portege Z835 and ASUS UX31. For $100 less, the Z835 offers a greater array of ports, an hour more of battery life, and a lighter (though larger) chassis. The $1,099 ASUS UX31 sports a sharper screen and better sound, but it's also bigger than the Dell and lacks a backlit keyboard.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeFrom its stylish and compact carbon-fiber design to the backlit keyboard to its fast SSD, there's a lot to like about the $999 Dell XPS 13. Intel's Smart Connect technology is yet another plus, which will help you get right back to work when you lift the lid. However, the lack of an SD card slot and the below-average battery life detract from what is otherwise an excellent system. Overall, Dell has delivered a solid Ultrabook for $300 less than the MacBook Air. It should find plenty of takers.

• The 10 Hottest Ultrabooks
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Ultrabooks stole the show at CES 2012, including one with a unique glass design and one that folds completely back to transform into a tablet. The Dell XPS 13 fits a 13.3-inch panel into a frame 15 percent smaller than the 13-inch MacBook Air. But that wasn't the only story here. Razer showed off a killer gaming rig with a secondary touchscreen touchpad, while Samsung debuted an ultraportable with a 15-inch display.  At this year's CES, innovation came in all shapes and sizes.

The XPS 13 is the sexiest Ultrabook yet, with a sturdy Gorilla Glass screen and Intel Smart Connect technology to update your inbox and social feeds even with the lid closed.

Read More about the Dell XPS 13

HP's Ultrabook stands out from the Ultrabook crowd with an elegant glass panel on the lid and palm rest, plus Beats Audio and a bright 1600 x 900 screen.

Read More about the HP Envy 14 Spectre

A secret-agent chic Ultrabook, the Aspire S5 won our Readers' Choice Award thanks to a clever MagicFlip door in the back that reveals the ports.

Read More about the Acer Aspire S5

The Series 9 15-inch gives road warriors a big screen in a very slim and light aluminum design, complete with huge touchpad and SuperBright display.

Read More about the Samsung Series 9 15-inch

Razer seeks to redefine the gaming experience with a one-of-a-kind touchscreen touchpad inside a superfast and superslim Core i7 notebook.

Read More about the Razer Blade

Samsung puts Alienware in its sights and pulls the trigger with a beast of a rig that features a special gaming mode, screaming speed, and a best-in-class display.

Read More about the Samsung Series 7 Gamer

Lenovo's gymnastic Yoga combines a tablet and Ultrabook in a very innovative way with a unique dual-hinge design that supports four different modes of operation.

Read More about the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga

This 14-inch business-class Ultrabook offers rare specs like a fingerprint reader with single-swipe login capability and a bottom panel that pops off for easy access to the RAM and SSD.

Read More about the Lenovo ThinkPad T430u

During the official first day of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, our reporters and editors combed the floors in search of the hottest news of the day. And they found it. Here's a quick recap of the top events of 1/10/12.

This conceptual gaming tablet, codenamed Project Fiona by Razer, blew our minds. It sports two controllers to either side, and inside offers up Core i7 processor and Windows 8.

See It In Action

Priced between the Kindle Fire and iPad 2, the $329 10-inch Acer Iconia Tab A200 features Tegra 2 power and 16GB of storage space. From our hands-on time with it, we can say it’s a slate that’s stripped down in some ways, but comes with a unique ring interface.

Watch the UI In Action.

Lenovo's small business line of ThinkPad's is getting a makeover with the Edge S430, upping the ante with a lighter, thinner chassis. But most important new features include its 1600 x 900-pixel HD resolution, non-reflective display, and the included Thunderbolt port.

Watch Our First Impressions

The Lenovo K800 Android 4.0 smartphone impressed during our hands-on time with it. It's powered by Intel’s 32nm Atom Z2460 processoer, which runs at 1.6 GHz. Unfortunately, for now, it's a China-only device.

Watch It Work

Texas Instruments showcased its OMAP 4400 series CPU’s support for wireless display technology and ability to display different content on an Android tablet than from what's projected on the big screen.

Watch It Work

Razer’s long-awaited entry into the notebook space is finally here in the flesh, and it was worth the wait. The Blade's most interesting feature is SwitchBlade UI, which includes a touchscreen that doubles as a touchpad and the 10 customizable keys above it.

Watch Us Play

Manufactured by Russian company Ectaco, the Jetbook Color eReader shows off a 9.7-inch, 1600 × 1200-pixel display imbued with color E Ink technology. Their target is the education set, but we'd love to see this display technology come to more devices.

Read More

Samsung puts Alienware on notice with the 17-inch Series 7 Gamer by packing in specs such as Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX670 with 2GB of graphics memory, and a 2TB hard drive.

Watch Us Play

Our hands-on time with the LG Spectrum revealed a 4.5-inch high-resolution display made from scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass and featuring a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The sharp and colorful screen is—hands down—one of the best we’ve ever seen in a smartphone.

See For Yourself

We spent a few minutes with the 17-inch Samsung Series 7 Chronos and liked what we saw–and heard from the built-in JBL speakers and the subwoofer down below for supplying extra audio oomp.

Hear It In Action

Dell has entered the Ultrabook race in a big way with the XPS 13, a superslim aluminum and carbon fiber notebook that crams a 13-inch screen in a body that’s 15 percent smaller than the MacBook Air. We took a few moments to examine the durable Gorilla Glass display and Intel’s Smart Connect Technology that's built in.

Check It Out

First shown off at IFA Berlin, Samsung officially released the Galaxy Tab 7.7 to U.S. customers at CES 2012. We got some hands-on time with this 7.7-inch tablet, which boasts a 1280 x 800 Super AMOLED display and 4G LTE connectivity through Verizon Wireless.

Watch It Work

ThinkPads get the Ultrabook treatment with the T430u from Lenovo. It's also the first Ultrabook to feature a fingerprint reader and removeable bottom.

See For Yourself

We got a chance to go hands-on with Gigabyte’s T1132N, a convertible notebook that becomes a tablet and then a desktop-style machine thanks to the included dock that connects to a monitor via HDMI. The T1132N runs a Core i5 CPU and boasts a generous selection of ports, including USB 3.0 and HDMI, plus four speakers and a DVD drive on the dock.

See For Yourself

The voting began yesterday for our Readers' Choice: Best of CES 2012 award. You can tell us which of the amazing pieces of technology--including such choices as FXI Cotton Candy, HP Envy 14 Spectre, Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, and several more--is your favorite.

Vote Now

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