It’s still stuck at 720p resolution, resulting in a visibly grainy video feed. One area Dell sadly didn’t improve upon is the webcam. The trackpad is excellent too, as it’s comfortably large enough for all of my swipes, feels satisfyingly smooth and provides instant responsiveness. It’s very responsive and easy to reach, speeding up the process of signing into Windows. A fingerprint scanner has been embedded into the power button in the top-right corner of the keyboard. There’s no number pad here, but that means Dell hasn’t needed to squash down the size of its keys. I can’t fault the keyboard though, which provides satisfyingly snappy feedback that’s ideal for smashing out long essays. Dell does at least include a USB-C to USB-A adapter in the box, but using an adapter is still an undeniable faff that can be avoided with other laptops. It’s a poor offering, especially since Dell hasn’t been unable to fit a USB-A port onboard, which is required for flash drives and peripherals. You get 2x Thunderbolt 4, a MicroSD card reader and a headphone jack but that’s it. You can find cheaper laptops that weigh even less – such as the Acer Swift 5 – but they won’t feel or look as premium as the XPS 13 laptop does.īut there is a big drawback to being so skinny as Dell has been unable to fit some of the usual port options on the XPS 13. This also results in an impressively light build, weighing a dainty 1.27kg. The XPS 13 OLED is a very thin laptop, with Dell claiming it measures just 14.8mm. That said, the XPS 13 still has a slight flex in the deck when you push down on the keyboard so it’s not perfect in this regard. By using aluminium, the Dell XPS 13 has a sturdier build than the magnesium LG Gram 16 or the plastic Chromebooks. This nicely contrasts the silver aluminium casing, which you can see on both the lid and the trim that features all of the ports. The patterned interior deck, made of carbon fibre, adds some extra flair to the laptop.
Laptops with a chunky bezel, such as the MacBook Air M1, look woefully outdated by comparison. The wafer-thin bezel gives the laptop a stylish look, while also affording more space for the screen. The Dell XPS 13 has been the benchmark for laptop design for the past few years now. Lack of USB-A port makes you reliant on adaptors.Very skinny and lightweight build is great for portability.Edge-to-edge screen still looks incredible.This is one of the best laptops ever made, but is it the right choice for you? Design With the fantastic new addition of an OLED panel, Dell has further strengthened its lead over the competition, even compared to the revolutionary MacBook Air M1. The XPS 13 OLED features an 11th Gen Intel Core processor, a gorgeous lightweight design and a surprisingly affordable price (from £1249), considering the spec sheet. Unlike Nintendo’s portable, it’s genuinely difficult to see what else Dell could have improved.
#Intel s xps 13 upgrade
If you watch the likes of Netflix on your laptop, the improvements will be immediately obvious.īut as Switch OLED pessimists may tell you, just adding an OLED screen looks like a minor upgrade on paper. Upgrading to an OLED screen has boosted the laptop’s contrast, brightness and colour accuracy, resulting in substantially better picture quality.