**The New Dell XPS 13: A Masterclass in Laptop Design and Performance**

When it comes to laptops, there are few brands that consistently deliver high-quality products like Dell's XPS series. The latest iteration of the XPS 13 is no exception, boasting a sleek design, impressive performance, and an array of features that make it a compelling choice for anyone in the market for a new laptop.

One of the standout features of the new XPS 13 is its keyboard. Despite being slightly wider than previous models, Dell has found a way to accommodate it within the chassis itself, albeit with some minor compromises. The result is a keyboard that feels premium and responsive, with a satisfying tactile feedback that's perfect for typing. The only potential drawback is that taking away one of the USB-C ports can be frustrating for users who rely on multiple devices at once.

However, this small trade-off is more than made up for by the inclusion of two Thunderbolt 3 ports on either side of the laptop, which provides a convenient and fast charging solution. The presence of these ports also suggests that Dell has been paying attention to user feedback, as it's clear that they've prioritized convenience in their design decisions. Additionally, users will still have access to a headphone jack and a micro SD card slot, making it easy to connect peripherals or expand storage as needed.

**Performance: More Than Meets the Eye**

One of the most significant areas where Dell has excelled with this latest XPS 13 is in terms of performance. Despite using the same 10th gen Intel processors found in other laptops, Dell consistently manages to eke out more power from these components than its competitors. The quad-core Core i7 processor in our test model is a particular standout, delivering impressive results in both content creation and photo editing tasks.

In fact, Dell's efforts to optimize the performance of their processors have been so successful that this XPS 13 is only marginally behind last year's six-core Core i7 model. While this may not seem like a huge difference at first glance, it's worth noting that the new processor is also more power-efficient and produces less heat than its predecessor, making it an attractive option for users who prioritize portability and low energy consumption.

**Integrated Graphics: Not for Gaming**

While the Core i7 processor in our test model includes Intel's Iris Plus graphics, it's essential to note that this laptop is not designed for gaming. While it can handle casual games and some eSports titles at lower resolutions, it's by no means a gaming laptop. If you're looking for a device that can deliver high frame rates and smooth gameplay, there are better options available.

That being said, the Iris Plus graphics do provide a significant boost in terms of integrated performance, making this XPS 13 an excellent choice for users who need to balance work and play. Whether you're editing photos, working on documents, or browsing the web, the Core i7 processor and Iris Plus graphics combination will ensure that everything runs smoothly and efficiently.

**Battery Life: A Full Day's Worth**

One of the areas where Dell has historically struggled is in terms of battery life. However, this latest XPS 13 has bucked the trend, delivering a full day's worth of usage on a single charge. While it may not be the longest-lasting laptop on the market, the XPS 13's battery life is still remarkably competitive, making it an excellent choice for users who need to work on the go.

**Design and Build: The Small Details Matter**

Finally, it's worth noting that Dell has made a number of small tweaks to the design of this latest XPS 13. One of the most significant improvements is the ease of opening the lid – simply press one finger on the top bezel, and the laptop will spring open with ease. This may seem like a minor change, but it's one that makes a significant difference in terms of user experience.

Additionally, Dell has opted for a more aluminum-heavy chassis than ever before, which not only looks premium but also provides improved durability and resistance to wear and tear. These small changes may go unnoticed by some users, but they demonstrate the attention to detail and commitment to quality that Dell is known for.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe Dell XPS 13 has been the most influential laptop design of the past few years kicking off this craze for thinner and thinner bezels on our laptop displays so what happens when Dell brings something entirely new a fresh design for the XPS 13 well it's right here and it's one of the most exciting laptops of 2020 so far now there are a lot of small tweaks Dell brought to the design this year and we'll get to those but let's start with the big stuff the screen this is a brand new 13 point 4 inch screen that's in a 16 by 10 aspect ratio I mean just a little bit taller and a little bit square of a screen it also means it has kind of a strange screen resolution of 1920 by 1200 but if you're used to MacBooks this kind of shape should be familiar for me it's the right balance of size and portability yes you still get those black bars for videos but the trade-offs in workflow and productivity are a big win for me it's a super bright 500 nits display the colors are really accurate and the contrast ratio is actually the best I've seen on a laptop that uses a standard LED screen if you opt for that 4k plus version this could be a killer little photography laptop but rather than just add a larger screen to something that's supposed to be small Dell is actually cut out some of that bottom chin bezel so that the screen sits lower the overall footprint is still that same small size and again smaller bezels are always a good thing it's hard to explain but when you sit in front of and open it up it really just feels expansive that extra amount of screen size and that smaller bezel really just makes the screen pop now this philosophy of using the space more efficiently applies beyond just the screen if you go down to the keyboard you'll see that this is a larger keyboard and a larger touchpad essentially what Dell has done is stretch the keyboard from edge to edge made these key caps a little bit larger in the space in between them a little bit smaller the result is something that looks kind of like the old 12-inch MacBook that was a really efficient design I really like this choice that Dell is made here and fortunately the keyboard itself the typing experience is also really great rather than going for the butterfly style mechanism of the XPS 13 to one or all the old Mac hooks they stuck with the standard one millimeter of travel in these key presses and it's a really really satisfying keyboard typing experience it might be my favorite keyboard on a laptop right now and like I said the touchpad below is also wider and they've made me click mechanism a little bit quieter just small tweaks but an overall better laptop experience this year now this edge to edge keyboard does have a downside and that's in port selection basically what you're getting on this new XPS 13 is one less USB C port that in previous years and the reason is because they just couldn't find a place to fit it in the actual chassis itself because of how wide that keyboard is what you do get though is a Thunderbolt 3 port on the left side and the Thunderbolt 3 port on the right side I like that they split these up that's really nice in terms of convenience you also of course get a headphone jack and a micro SD card slot I know taking away one of the USB C's ports can be really frustrating I feel like this is enough for me but again everyone's different here and when you do look at some of the competition like the HP spectre x360 they're still including a USB a port there so you really need to keep that in mind when you're coming to this XPS 13 let's talk about performance because when you're going out and shopping for a laptop it's really easy just to compare spec sheets and say oh this one's more powerful than this one but really that's not how real-life performance works and a great example of that is this new XPS 13 because it's using the same 10th gen isolate Intel processors that a lot of other new laptops are using but Dell consistently gets more performance out of these same components the one I've got here is a quad core Core i7 processor with 16 gigabytes of RAM so that's kind of at the top end but of course you can configure it all the way down to a dual core Core i3 I would be wary of that processor which starts at thousand dollars for that configuration you are going to be seeing some restrictions in terms of performance and multitasking but the one I tested here is a super powerful quad core laptop in fact it's the most powerful quad core laptop I've ever tested now this is interesting because Dell actually released a six core Core i7 XPS 13 last year which had the kind of promise of extra cores but should bring better performance in content creation specifically but this year's model is actually only a marginally behind that one it's only five or six percent in my test things like in handbrake or photo editing and you know that's a great sign for this XPS 13 and the components it has inside but again Dell is doing extra work there to bring that performance out of those components now I'm not saying you should go out and buy this for a 3d rendering machine or video editing machine not at all you you should look towards something like the XPS 15 or some of those bigger laptops with better processors in them but this one does handle itself pretty well and I could see it being used as a little portable work machine if you're doing photo editing or some Adobe apps here and there it could really work for that scenario now of course these new isolate processors also have better integrated graphics Intel calls them iris plus the one I have is the highest level of course because I have the core i7 and you know this doesn't turn this machine into a gaming laptop by any means like if you try and pull it for tonight you can play it if you bring the settings all the way down to low its playable but honestly you're gonna get the best frame rates if you lower the resolution which you don't really want to do so yeah you can play some casual games you can play some of those eSports games if you bring the settings down pretty low and this could be a nice side thing you can do with this laptop but again not a gaming laptop at all and finally of course the XPS 13 gets great battery life it's a little bit behind the HP Spectre x-360 which is kind of the leader in this field in terms of battery life right now but you're still gonna get beyond a full day of work on a single charge on this and of course as I said there's a bunch of small tweaks Dell has made to the design that I really appreciate as someone has used XPS for years now for example it's finally easy to open it's just a one finger open of the lid and I really appreciate that since a lot of laptops have that right now and then there's even the IR camera that they put into the top bezel so you can do Windows hello and stuff like really appreciate those small tweaks delt listening to the criticism it's gotten over the years and actually fixing those little problems so yeah this new Dell XPS 13 is better than ever and that's impressive given the number of changes that Dell has made to the design this year whether it's the bigger screen the new keyboard the fact of using more aluminum and the chassis than ever before all those changes are ones that are better and they actually add to the kind of quality of life experience of using this laptop on a daily basis it's hard to believe but Dells done it again and made the best laptop you can buy in 2020the Dell XPS 13 has been the most influential laptop design of the past few years kicking off this craze for thinner and thinner bezels on our laptop displays so what happens when Dell brings something entirely new a fresh design for the XPS 13 well it's right here and it's one of the most exciting laptops of 2020 so far now there are a lot of small tweaks Dell brought to the design this year and we'll get to those but let's start with the big stuff the screen this is a brand new 13 point 4 inch screen that's in a 16 by 10 aspect ratio I mean just a little bit taller and a little bit square of a screen it also means it has kind of a strange screen resolution of 1920 by 1200 but if you're used to MacBooks this kind of shape should be familiar for me it's the right balance of size and portability yes you still get those black bars for videos but the trade-offs in workflow and productivity are a big win for me it's a super bright 500 nits display the colors are really accurate and the contrast ratio is actually the best I've seen on a laptop that uses a standard LED screen if you opt for that 4k plus version this could be a killer little photography laptop but rather than just add a larger screen to something that's supposed to be small Dell is actually cut out some of that bottom chin bezel so that the screen sits lower the overall footprint is still that same small size and again smaller bezels are always a good thing it's hard to explain but when you sit in front of and open it up it really just feels expansive that extra amount of screen size and that smaller bezel really just makes the screen pop now this philosophy of using the space more efficiently applies beyond just the screen if you go down to the keyboard you'll see that this is a larger keyboard and a larger touchpad essentially what Dell has done is stretch the keyboard from edge to edge made these key caps a little bit larger in the space in between them a little bit smaller the result is something that looks kind of like the old 12-inch MacBook that was a really efficient design I really like this choice that Dell is made here and fortunately the keyboard itself the typing experience is also really great rather than going for the butterfly style mechanism of the XPS 13 to one or all the old Mac hooks they stuck with the standard one millimeter of travel in these key presses and it's a really really satisfying keyboard typing experience it might be my favorite keyboard on a laptop right now and like I said the touchpad below is also wider and they've made me click mechanism a little bit quieter just small tweaks but an overall better laptop experience this year now this edge to edge keyboard does have a downside and that's in port selection basically what you're getting on this new XPS 13 is one less USB C port that in previous years and the reason is because they just couldn't find a place to fit it in the actual chassis itself because of how wide that keyboard is what you do get though is a Thunderbolt 3 port on the left side and the Thunderbolt 3 port on the right side I like that they split these up that's really nice in terms of convenience you also of course get a headphone jack and a micro SD card slot I know taking away one of the USB C's ports can be really frustrating I feel like this is enough for me but again everyone's different here and when you do look at some of the competition like the HP spectre x360 they're still including a USB a port there so you really need to keep that in mind when you're coming to this XPS 13 let's talk about performance because when you're going out and shopping for a laptop it's really easy just to compare spec sheets and say oh this one's more powerful than this one but really that's not how real-life performance works and a great example of that is this new XPS 13 because it's using the same 10th gen isolate Intel processors that a lot of other new laptops are using but Dell consistently gets more performance out of these same components the one I've got here is a quad core Core i7 processor with 16 gigabytes of RAM so that's kind of at the top end but of course you can configure it all the way down to a dual core Core i3 I would be wary of that processor which starts at thousand dollars for that configuration you are going to be seeing some restrictions in terms of performance and multitasking but the one I tested here is a super powerful quad core laptop in fact it's the most powerful quad core laptop I've ever tested now this is interesting because Dell actually released a six core Core i7 XPS 13 last year which had the kind of promise of extra cores but should bring better performance in content creation specifically but this year's model is actually only a marginally behind that one it's only five or six percent in my test things like in handbrake or photo editing and you know that's a great sign for this XPS 13 and the components it has inside but again Dell is doing extra work there to bring that performance out of those components now I'm not saying you should go out and buy this for a 3d rendering machine or video editing machine not at all you you should look towards something like the XPS 15 or some of those bigger laptops with better processors in them but this one does handle itself pretty well and I could see it being used as a little portable work machine if you're doing photo editing or some Adobe apps here and there it could really work for that scenario now of course these new isolate processors also have better integrated graphics Intel calls them iris plus the one I have is the highest level of course because I have the core i7 and you know this doesn't turn this machine into a gaming laptop by any means like if you try and pull it for tonight you can play it if you bring the settings all the way down to low its playable but honestly you're gonna get the best frame rates if you lower the resolution which you don't really want to do so yeah you can play some casual games you can play some of those eSports games if you bring the settings down pretty low and this could be a nice side thing you can do with this laptop but again not a gaming laptop at all and finally of course the XPS 13 gets great battery life it's a little bit behind the HP Spectre x-360 which is kind of the leader in this field in terms of battery life right now but you're still gonna get beyond a full day of work on a single charge on this and of course as I said there's a bunch of small tweaks Dell has made to the design that I really appreciate as someone has used XPS for years now for example it's finally easy to open it's just a one finger open of the lid and I really appreciate that since a lot of laptops have that right now and then there's even the IR camera that they put into the top bezel so you can do Windows hello and stuff like really appreciate those small tweaks delt listening to the criticism it's gotten over the years and actually fixing those little problems so yeah this new Dell XPS 13 is better than ever and that's impressive given the number of changes that Dell has made to the design this year whether it's the bigger screen the new keyboard the fact of using more aluminum and the chassis than ever before all those changes are ones that are better and they actually add to the kind of quality of life experience of using this laptop on a daily basis it's hard to believe but Dells done it again and made the best laptop you can buy in 2020\n"