- So Dell gave us a look at next year's XPS 13 Plus,
and wow, it's different.
(gentle jazzy music begins)
I've always thought the XPS 13
was one of the best designed laptops on the market.
But I guess Dell disagreed
because they made a ton of changes.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is unlike any Windows laptop
I've ever seen on the market.
(jazzy music continues)
So from the outside, this looks like a regular XPS 13,
it's still just over half an inch thick.
It's got a similar lid, a similar finish,
than the last year's XPS 13.
You've got the same 16 by 10 aspect ratio,
the same webcam that supports Windows Hello,
and the same aluminum build.
But open this thing up and things get exciting.
So the first thing you'll probably notice
is that Dell's gotten rid
of the function row on the keyboard.
So there's now a thing called,
a capacitive touch function row.
Basically, it's replaced the physical function keys
with like digital keys that you just tap,
and those adjust things like brightness, volume,
and that sort of stuff.
Now I tried to call this a touch bar and Dell got mad at me.
So just to be clear, this is not a touch bar, you guys,
capacitive function row, not a touch bar.
Now you may also notice
that there's not like a track pad on this device.
That's because the track pad is actually haptic.
So it's similar to MacBook track pads,
where instead of actually clicking when you depress it,
it just pretends to click.
These sorts of touch pads are starting to pop up
as devices get thinner,
and they certainly offer more customizability,
but they also feel different.
And since it all looks the same,
there may be a learning curve
to figuring out where the touch pad ends
and the palm rest begins.
So my advice,
if you're gonna buy a Dell XPS 13 Plus,
is to try one of these touch pads first,
because, while it doesn't necessarily feel worse,
it does feel different.
The keyboard is also depressed now,
which gave me instant butterfly flashbacks,
but Dell says it actually has the same amount of travel
as the last XPS 13 keyboard did.
So this new design allows for key caps to be larger,
and gives the whole thing a smoother and sleeker look.
So like the touch pad,
this keyboard is something I can see myself getting used to,
but it does feel different.
There are also two upward firing speakers
hidden under the keyboard,
which Dell says will make the audio sound better.
So, cool, I'm all for that.
(jazzy music continues)
One other thing to note is
there is going to be an OLED display option.
Now the non OLED option on the unit that we saw
already looked pretty good,
but the OLED panel will add an extra amount of contrast.
However, if you choose to go the OLED route,
it will probably add a couple hundred dollars to the price.
And as we saw with the last XPS 13 OLED,
it could impact battery life.
And battery life is one thing
that I'm a little nervous about.
But Dell says that this is the first XPS 13
designed to a 28 Watts spec.
Now that could mean a bunch of different things,
but it should in theory,
make this the most powerful XPS 13 ever.
Higher wattage chips are also generally less efficient,
meaning they're working the laptop harder.
So the laptop doesn't last as long.
And this year's Dell XPS 13 Plus
is using an Intel processor.
And last year's Intel processors
didn't have like fantastic battery life results,
but, you know, new generation, you never know.
(jazzy music continues)
So that's the Dell XPS 13 Plus.
It should be shipping in spring of 2022.
And you can get it with Windows 11 or Ubuntu.
We can expect the base model to cost 1,199.
So I won't lie and say, I'm not a little bit nervous.
The last XPS 13 was really good,
and making all these changes feels a bit like tinkering
with something that wasn't really broken.
And we've seen that lead to disaster
when companies do that in the past,
not naming names, (clears throat) Apple.
But as customers ask for laptops
to be thinner and look sleeker,
this sort of design may well be where the market is headed.
And this may be a glimpse into the future
of ultra portable laptops.
It's definitely going to be a different future,
but it maybe one that I can get used to.
So it's CES 2022, kind of,
and Dell is releasing all kinds of other laptops,
including gaming stuff from Alienware.
We've got all kinds of videos on our site.
So check out theverge.com,
and like, and subscribe to our YouTube channel
if you wanna see more.