Stunning inside and out!!
Dell’s biggest small change yet:
With its finally-improved webcam and longer battery life, the Dell XPS 13 may not be our ‘Best in Class’ laptop of 2019, but it remains among the very best the world over
The Dell XPS 13 is back in 2019, and this new model is a true return to form. This new XPS 13 finally fixes our biggest complaint: the awkward camera placement, and also extends battery life.
However, this new Dell XPS 13 isn’t so much different than previous models, beyond these improvements. Instead, it continues the lineage of one of the best laptops of all time. The high-end Ultrabook has drastically changed in 2019, though, so the Dell XPS 13’s place at the podium has shifted ever so slightly – thanks to tough competition from Huawei and Asus.
Dell’s XPS 13 is pretty much the best Windows ultraportable around, and you should buy it. Is that enough of a review for you? The XPS has been one of our favorite laptops over the past few years, thanks to its thin screen bezels and elegantly compact design. But this year, Dell has refined it to near perfection. The webcam is finally at the top of the screen, so it’s no longer peeking up at your nose from the bottom; there’s Dolby Vision HDR support; and somehow Dell managed to shave off even more screen bezel. It’s the rare gadget that we can recommend to just about anyone.
Let’s start with the most noticeable upgrades. With Dolby Vision and HDR, the XPS 13’s screen will be able to handle brighter highlights and darker black levels than before. On supported content like Netflix’s Chef’s Tableand Daredevil, everything pops off the display a bit more. You’ll also find plenty of HDR video on YouTube, but Netflix is your best source for things you’d actually want to watch. It’s notable that the XPS 13 offers Dolby Vision, since it’s the gold standard of HDR at the moment. It’s a premium feature on modern TVs, so it’s even rarer to see it in laptops.
There are also some unique improvements that you can’t easily see. The company added a variable torque hinge to the XPS 13, which makes it easier for you to open it one-handed. It flips up smoothly but adds more resistance as you open the screen further. You probably won’t even know this feature exists, but it’ll likely save you plenty of frustration every day.
Under the hood, Dell included Intel’s latest eighth-generation Core CPUs, and it supports up to 16GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD. Since it relies on Intel’s integrated UHD 620 graphics, I didn’t expect it to be much of a gaming powerhouse. Still, this is one area where I’d like to see Dell innovate a bit. ASUS’ ZenBook S13, which is even lighter than the XPS 13, features NVIDIA’s MX150 GPU. That gives you enough of a graphics boost to play Overwatch at 1080p beyond 60 frames per second, whereas the XPS 13 struggles to reach 30FPS in 720p. The ZenBook S13 also features thinner screen bezels: It’s pretty obvious ASUS is trying to take the XPS 13 down a notch.
The most powerful 13-inch in its class, remastered. With an innovative HD webcam located in the top of the InfinityEdge display and next generation Dell Cinema.
Processor : Up to 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-8565U Processor
Display : Up to 13.3-in. touch display
Operating System : Up to Windows 10 Home 64bit English
Hard Drive : Up to 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive
Video Card : Intel® UHD Graphics 620 with shared graphics memory
Memory : Up to 16GB LPDDR3 2133MHz
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