Key Specifications
- Review Price: £740
- 8th-gen Intel CPUs
- Updated keyboard and InfinityEdge designs
What is the Dell XPS 13?
The Dell XPS 13 is the flagship 13-inch laptop in Dell’s Ultrabook lineup, and for the past few years it’s been king of the small-form-factor laptops.
This won’t be changing any time soon, since this latest upgraded XPS 13 has once again set the benchmark for all other 13-inch Windows laptops.
Featuring improved internal specifications plus a number of subtle but important design tweaks, the XPS 13 is currently the best 13-inch laptop you can buy.
But if you’re a creative working in physical media then beware: while the display is perfect for regular users and is super-attractive, its colour gamut coverage remains leagues behind that of the MacBook Pro.
Things are getting even better for the Dell XPS 13 too, with Dell revealing at CES 2019 that it will be releasing a new model in January 2019 with the webcam positioned above the display rather than below it. Come February, there will also be a new colour option for the Dell XPS, with a stylish ‘Frost White’ design.
Dell XPS 13 – Design and build
At first glance the new Dell XPS 13 doesn’t look particularly different to its predecessor – the sleek design and InfinityEdge display are still present and correct. But upon closer inspection you’ll spot a few subtle, but positive, changes.
For starters, Dell has managed to reduce the already minuscule 5.6mm bezel around last year’s display to a meagre 4mm on the new XPS 13. It’s also moved the webcam to sit centrally below the screen.
The placement doesn’t stop the webcam generally giving people a lovely shot of your nasal passages during video calls, but it does at least make you centrally framed, which is a minor improvement. Personally, I’d have also liked it if Dell had bump up the camera’s max resolution to 1080p, like the Surface Book’s, but using the XPS 13 as my main work laptop I didn’t have any huge issues with its max 720p resolution.
Fortunately a new model releasing in 2019 will have a new webcam positioned above the display without impacting the ultra-thin InfinityDisplay bezel as this will be the smallest webcam Dell has made yet. I can’t comment on the new webcam’s quality yet though, having not yet being able to test it.
Up close you’ll see Dell has surrounded the keyboard and trackpad with a new woven glass-fibre finish. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the new white and gold version I tested, but some other reviewers swooned over it – each to their own, I guess. Either way, the material feels well made and proved to be suitably scratch-resistant.
The upcoming ‘White Frost’ colour looks rather suave though, and will become available from February 2019.
0 Comments