The laptop computer is evolving. And at each stage, there’s a tipping level second that pushes the trade ahead from one period into the subsequent. We could also be witnessing such a second with the Dell XPS 13 Plus. Designwise, the laptop computer is in contrast to something we’ve seen from the corporate. In truth, its smooth, uber minimalist vibe is sort of spartan and is certainly polarizing. Customers must resolve if it’s a step in the proper path or a step too far.
If the reply is the previous and never the latter, the $1,900 system brings nice efficiency by means of its Intel Core i7-1280P processor. It’s the primary Dell laptop computer with a 28W CPU and it doesn’t disappoint. The corporate does what it does finest, streamlining and optimizing to create the most effective transportable powerhouses available on the market. Nevertheless, it doesn’t come with out flaws because the battery life leaves a lot to be desired. But when you will get previous that, the Dell XPS 13 Plus is without doubt one of the finest laptops obtainable.
Dell XPS 13 Plus pricing and configuration
I used to be transported to the longer term by the $1,910 mannequin of the Dell XPS 13 Plus. The laptop computer is supplied with a 1.8-GHz Intel Core i7-1280P processor with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen 4 SSD, an Intel Iris Xe Graphics GPU, and a 3,456 x 2,160-pixel contact OLED show with a 60Hz refresh price.
The bottom mannequin prices $1,273 and has a 3.3-GHz Intel Core i5-1240P CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen 4 SSD, an Intel Iris Xe Graphics GPU and a 1920 x 1200 non-touch panel with a 60Hz refresh price.
Dell XPS 13 Plus design
Avante garde, thy identify is Dell XPS 13 Plus. The laptop computer is like nothing you’ve ever seen from Dell. First off, the colour. The Plus is an absolute dream in Graphite. The darkish carbon aluminum chassis is cool to the contact and surprisingly fingerprint-resistant. The Dell emblem gleams regally within the middle of the lid. The rear of the laptop computer slopes right into a tender incline. Flip the laptop computer over and also you’ll see a pair of rubber ft, a shiny XPS emblem and three pairs of vents on both facet.
Nevertheless it’s while you open the pocket book that issues get actually attention-grabbing. There’s an edge-to-edge keyboard in direction of the highest of the system. On the very prime is a capacitive contact operate row that may change between your normal Operate and media keys by urgent the fn and esc keys concurrently.
After which there’s the touchpad — or lack thereof. No my expensive readers, your eyes don’t deceive you; the touchpad just isn’t there. As an alternative, you’ve got a seamless glass palm relaxation. However earlier than you panic, there truly is a touchpad hidden within the palm relaxation (extra on that later). The ability button is a small sliver subsequent to the backspace button. The ability button is doing double responsibility because it homes the fingerprint reader.
At 2.7 kilos, the 11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6-inch Plus is on a par with its rivals. The Acer Swift 5 (12.2 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches) and MacBook Air M2 (12 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches) match the Dell pound-for-barely-there-pound. The Microsoft Floor Laptop computer 4 (12.1 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches) is barely heavier at 2.8 kilos. The MacBook Professional 13 M2 (12 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches) and Asus ZenBook 14X OLED House Version (12.3 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches) are barely heavier at 3 and three.1 kilos, respectively.
Dell XPS 13 Plus safety
Whether or not it’s the blueprint for the higher mouse entice or simply some treasured images, it’s necessary to guard your delicate information. Dell provides you two strategies to lock the laptop computer down, each of which use Home windows Hi there. The primary is the fingerprint reader situated within the energy button and the second is the webcam for facial recognition. Along with Home windows Hi there, the laptop computer additionally makes use of Specific Signal-in, which dims the show while you’re not actively it or locks the system while you stroll away.
Dell XPS 13 Plus ports
That is going to be an excellent brief part because the Dell XPS 13 Plus solely has two ports –– a Thunderbolt 4 port on both facet. That’s it. You don’t even get a headset jack, so that you’ll undoubtedly want a pair of wi-fi headphones in addition to a pair of dongles and a USB-C dock.
Fortunately, Dell continued its custom of bundling a few dongles in with the laptop computer. Along with the same old USB-C to USB-A adapter, the Plus additionally comes with USB-C to three.5mm adapter.
Dell XPS 13 Plus show
The extra issues change, the extra issues keep the identical. So whereas the Dell XPS 13 Plus has this radical new look, I’m glad the corporate saved the four-sided InfinityEdge show with its extremely slim bezels. These barely-there bezels allowed Dell to squeeze a 13.4-inch, 3,456 x 2,160-pixel OLED contact show into the extremely smooth chassis.
I watched “The Girl King” trailer and marveled on the depth of colour. Actors Viola Davis and Lashana Lynch’s lovely brown pores and skin glistened within the daylight. The white cowrie shells drew your eye to Davis, which let me soak up the remainder of her garment with its deep blood purple, cerulean, teal and gold stripes. I noticed the tremendous particulars in her golden bracelet and the tremendous hairs in her fauxhawk.
The Plus solely reached 86.9% on the DCI-P3 colour gamut. It’s barely under the 89.9% premium laptop computer common. Nevertheless, that was greater than sufficient to beat the Floor Laptop computer 4 (76.7%) and the MacBook Air (75.9%). Nevertheless, each the ZenBook 14X (96.4%) and Swift 5 (93.3%) had been extra vivid.
After we measured for brightness, the Plus averaged 366 nits, which is brighter than the Floor Laptop computer 4’s 349 nits. Nevertheless, the 435-nit common was brighter as was the Swift 5 (457 nits), MacBook Professional (475 nits) and MacBook Air (489 nits).
The touchscreen is quick and responsive, permitting me to rapidly carry out a spread of multitouch duties and draw a rudimentary flower in Paint. Nevertheless, I actually hate smudging the show with my finger. My kingdom for a stylus.
Dell XPS 13 Plus audio
Fairly sneaky Dell. I scoured the physique of the Dell XPS 13 Plus in search of the audio system solely to find that two of the quad speaker setup are hiding underneath the keyboard whereas the rest are housed within the laptop computer’s base. The result’s loud, generally distorted audio that had no drawback filling my smallish front room.
I listened to a lot of tracks, together with Megan Thee Stallion’s “Large Ole Freak,” which had little to no low-end. I obtained one of the best outcomes listening to Jamiroquai’s “Time Gained’t Wait” because it provided one of the best separation of instrumentals with out sounding distorted.
As a way to tamp down a few of that distortion, I turned to the Waves Maxx Professional software program, which provides over 10 EQ presets to realize an optimum listening expertise. After biking by way of all of the settings, I settled on Pop because it gave probably the most balanced efficiency.
Dell XPS 13 Plus keyboard and touchpad
I just like the Dell XPS 13 Plus’s keyboard. The sting-to-edge, zero-lattice design is putting and the massive keys make typing that a lot simpler. The keys render a mild click on when typing and my fingers by no means bottomed out. The backlighting is simply vibrant sufficient to let me work in a darkened surroundings.
After I ran the 10FastFingers typing take a look at, I achieved 72 phrases per minute, which is barely higher than my regular 70 wpm. My solely different grievance concerning the keyboard is that the backspace secret is considerably small for my style. It’s a minor grievance within the grand scheme of issues.
So again to the invisible touchpad. As an alternative of the same old rectangular recess in the course of palm relaxation, there’s only a easy floor. However run your fingers alongside the place the touchpad usually resides and also you’ll really feel a slight vibration and see the cursor seem. That’s proper; Dell embedded a haptic touchpad into that easy glass floor.
And it’s each bit as quick and responsive as your conventional touchpad. The touchpad’s floor space is a bit bigger than your normal enter system, however due to its sturdy palm rejection, the cursor by no means veered off into the aether. Urgent down alongside the underside of the world to both the proper or left elicits a tender click on and mouse button performance.
Dell XPS 13 Plus efficiency
What the Dell XPS 13 Plus lacks in ports it makes up for in energy. The mighty minimalist comes outfitted with a 1.8-GHz Intel Core i7-1280P processor with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen 4 SSD. The laptop computer by no means faltered on multitasking or productiveness duties. I opened 60 Google Chrome tabs, which consisted of Google Docs, Sheets and Displays together with Tweetdeck, Twitch, YouTube and several other information websites. The Dell deftly dealt with the workload with no indicators of latency.
The pocket book continued displaying its energy throughout our artificial assessments resembling Geekbench 5.4, our total efficiency take a look at. With a rating of 10,621, the Plus crushed the 6,179 premium common. Not one of the competing laptops stood an opportunity. The Swift 5 (Intel Core i7-1260P), MacBook Air and Professional with their 8-core Apple M2 CPUs reached 9,859, 8,919 and eight,911, respectively. The Floor Laptop computer 4, sporting an Intel Core i7-1185G7 CPU, solely managed a measly 4,829. Nevertheless, the ZenBook 14X (Intel Core i9-12900H CPU) was the victor with 11,142.
After we ran the HandBrake video transcoding benchmark, the Plus transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 8 minutes and 17 seconds, roasting the 9:47 class common. The MacBook Professional noticed a time of 6:51 and the Swift 5 clocked in at 7:36, the ZenBook 14X reached 7:39 whereas the Air hit 7:52. The Floor Laptop computer 4 completed at 17:01.
We additionally ran the Puget Photoshop take a look at, which makes use of scripts to use a collection of filters and different changes to high-resolution images in Adobe Photoshop CC. It then assigns a rating based mostly on how properly the system does. The Dell claimed a rating of 670 in comparison with the MacBook Professional’s 817 and the Air’s 822.
In the course of the File Switch take a look at, the XPS 13 Plus duplicated 25GB of multimedia information at a switch price of 1,502.1 megabytes per second, toppling the 1,069.5MBps class common and the Floor Laptop computer 4’s (512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD) 562.7MBps. Nevertheless, the ZenBook 14X and Swift 5 posted 1,747 and 1,673.1MBps, respectively.
We additionally ran the BlackMagic Disk Pace take a look at and the Plus posted a learn pace of 4,879.8MBps and a write pace of three,638.1MBps. The MacBook Professional hit 2,794.7MBps for learn and a couple of,953.8 write whereas the Air delivered 2,800.1MBps (learn) and a couple of,210.6MBps (write).
Dell XPS 13 Plus graphics
You’ll be able to’t play most AAA video games with the Dell XPS 13 Plus’s built-in Intel Iris Xe Graphics, particularly newer titles. However with the proper video games and settings, you possibly can pull one thing off. The laptop computer achieved a rating of 4,944 on the 3DMark Fireplace Strike take a look at, falling in need of the 9,020 common. Sporting their very own Iris Xe Graphics, the Swift 5 and Floor Laptop computer 4 obtained 5,189 and 5,089.
On the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI benchmark, the Plus achieved 23 frames per second, which is way in need of the 52-fps common. With their 10-core M2 graphics, the MacBook Professional and Air notched 51 and 40 fps, respectively. The ZenBook 14X and Swift 5 every produced 36 and 26 fps.
Dell XPS 13 Plus battery life
If there’s one shortcoming the XPS 13 Plus has, it’s battery life. The pocket book lasted 7 hours and 34 minutes on the Laptop computer Magazine Battery take a look at, which entails steady Net browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits. The Dell’s runtime is properly in need of the ten:11 premium laptop computer common. That’s higher than the ZenBook 14X’s 6:02, however not sufficient to maintain tempo with the Floor Laptop computer 4 (10:42), Swift 5 (11:24), MacBook Air (14:06) or the MacBook Professional (18:20).
When it’s time to recharge the Dell XPS 13 Plus, its Specific Cost know-how will provide 80% of the laptop computer’s energy in an hour.
Dell XPS 13 Plus warmth
I’ve talked about among the issues the XPS 13 Plus has shed, now it’s time to speak about one thing it’s gained –– bigger followers. By ditching the standard Fn row, Dell managed to suit bigger followers that the corporate states delivers 55% extra airflow. We put it to the take a look at and ran a fullscreen video for quarter-hour and measured particular factors on the laptop computer’s chassis.
The touchpad reached a cool 85 levels Fahrenheit. The middle of the keyboard reached 90 levels whereas the undercarriage hit 103 levels, which exceeds our 95-degree consolation threshold. Nevertheless, I used the pocket book in my lap for over two hours with no sick impact.
Dell XPS 13 Plus webcam
Whereas I would like a 1080p built-in webcam, I’d be a hater if I didn’t commend the Dell XPS 13 Plus’s 720p shooter. Regardless of the decrease decision, I can’t deny that it does an incredible job reproducing colour, particularly on my heat chocolate complexion. It additionally precisely captured the purple, inexperienced, blue and pink in my locs in addition to the cream and metallic gold of my gown.
Though there’s a good quantity of visible noise, you possibly can plainly see the ruffles in my gown and the coils in my barrel rolls. For those who’re in search of greater high quality photographs, try our finest webcam web page.
Dell XPS 13 Plus software program
Dell preinstalled a number of branded items of software program together with Dell Digital Supply, which helps you to buy software program while you’re shopping for your pocket book. While you obtain the laptop computer, every part you obtain can be there, ready to be put in. You additionally get Alienware Replace, which retains all of your pertinent software program updated with the newest drivers and updates.
Helpful third-party software program contains Killer Intelligence Heart, which provides you the facility to prioritize community bandwidth. You additionally get a free yr of McAfee LiveSafe.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus ships with a one-year premium service guarantee. See how Dell fared throughout Tech Help Showdown and Greatest and Worst Manufacturers, our annual particular studies.
Backside line
Are you prepared for the longer term? Dell actually is, and for them, the longer term is the XPS 13 Plus. Though the laptop computer sports activities an extremely minimalistic and polarizing design, it doesn’t skimp within the energy division — due to its Core i7 processor. The 4K OLED show is a imaginative and prescient of loveliness and the keyboard is comfy, which simply serves to sweeten the pot.
Nevertheless, as lovely because the show is, it’s additionally a drain on the battery life. After which there’s that polarizing design. Some, like myself, can be drawn to the ultra-minimalistic aesthetic whereas others will take problem with the invisible touchpad and absent headset jack. These in search of a extra conventional tackle the laptop computer ought to try the $1,549 Acer Swift 5. For those who’re staff Apple, the $1,899 MacBook Air M2 is the way in which to go. However for those who’re in search of a bit of the longer term proper now, then the $1,910 ($1,273 beginning) Dell XPS 13 Plus is for you.
