The Dell XPS 13 is one of the best 13” laptops that I’ve ever used, let me show you what
it’s all about and why I would actually use this machine in this review.
This is the new 11th gen model, and mine has the highest i7-1185G7 tiger lake processor
with 16gb of RAM and a 1TB SSD.
The XPS 13 is made from CNC aluminium, so the build quality feels excellent despite
the smaller size.
The lid is silver, while the interior of mine is a black carbon fiber composite, but there’s
also a white version which uses glass fiber for the finish which feels different.
Mine weighed under 1.3kg or 2.8lb, then just 1.5kg or 3.3lb all up with the small 45 watt
Type-C charger.
It’s quite small and portable as a 13.4” machine at less than 0.6” or 1.5cm thick.
The 13.4” touch screen looks great, it’s using a 16:10 aspect ratio which means there’s
more vertical space when compared to most alternative options, and this just allows
the screen to take up more of the available space with a 91.5% screen to body ratio.
There are 1080p or 4K screen options, but only one of the 4K panels offers touch support
which is what I’ve got here.
It’s gorilla glass 6 so it’s got a glossy reflective finish, so fingerprints will show
up from touchscreen use.
You can’t use this model in tablet mode, however there is also a 2-in-1 version of
the XPS 13 that does support that if you’re after it.
The 4K screen offers a good colour gamut with good contrast ratio and excellent colour accuracy
after calibration.
Brightness was great too, getting to around 500 nits maxed out.
Backlight bleed was extremely minor in this worst case example, but this will vary between
panels and laptops.
Unlike older XPS 13 models, the 720p camera is above the display in the center, and it’s
got IR for Windows Hello support which worked quickly.
This is what the camera and microphone look and sound like and this is what it sounds
like to type on the keyboard.
The chiclet keyboard has white back lighting with two levels of key brightness which illuminate
all keys and secondary key functions.
By default the keyboard only stays lit up for 10 seconds, but you can modify this in
the BIOS with separate timers for AC and battery power.
Speaking of the BIOS, as is typically the case with Dell XPS laptops we’ve got a lot
of configuration options that can be changed, though many of these toggles are also available
through software too.
The keys don’t feel small despite the smaller 13” size.
The keyboard has 1mm of key travel but the key presses have a subtle clicky feeling to
them which I liked, here’s how typing sounds to give you an idea of what to expect.
The power button is right next to the delete and backspace keys, and an accidental press
will put the machine to sleep, so you might want to change that default behaviour in Windows.
The key is blank as it doubles as a fingerprint scanner, and I found it to work fast and accurately.
The glass precision touchpad felt extremely smooth to the touch.
It clicks down anywhere and just feels nice to use, and it’s a bit larger compared to
last generation.
Fingerprints show up on the black finish but weren’t too hard to clean with a microfiber
cloth, and I’d expect the white finish to be much better in this regard, though it would
probably show dirt easier.
There are two Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, one on either side of the machine, along with
a MicroSD card slot on the left and 3.5mm audio combo jack on the right.
Both Type-C ports can be used as DisplayPort outputs and both can be used to charge the
machine.
It also came with a USB Type-C to Type-A adapter in the box so you can use your older devices.
There’s nothing on the back, while the front has a small light bar for indicating charge
level and was completely smooth with no indent for your finger, which did make it a little
difficult to open up at times depending on the angle.
It was still possible to open with one finger despite the lighter weight, it felt pretty
well balanced.
It also powers on by default when you open the lid, which I think is a good feature as
chances are you want to use it when you open it.
Keyboard and screen flex were both on the lower side, again good build quality for a
smaller machine.
The bottom is clean with just some subtle air intake vents towards the back, however
only the area directly above the intake fans is clear for air flow.
Despite the smaller size and lighter weight, the rubber feet did a good job of preventing
it moving around on my desk.
Getting inside requires taking out 8 TR5 screws, after removing those I just pryed the bottom
panel off with the tools linked in the description.
Once inside we’ve got the battery down the front and a single M.2 storage slot just above
that covered by a metal heat shield.
WiFi 6 and memory are soldered to the motherboard, so you’ll need to buy with this in mind
as you can’t upgrade later.
The speakers are underneath on the left and right sides.
I thought they sounded great at lower volumes with some bass for the smaller size, though
there was some distortion at higher levels and the latencymon results weren’t that
great.
The XPS 13 is powered by a 52Wh battery, which Dell says is not user replaceable.
It lasted for a bit more than 6 hours in my YouTube playback test, similar to many other
laptops with similar batteries, but at the same time there are others like the MSI Prestige
14 with the same CPU and battery size that was going for 10 hours.
The Dell Power Manager software also lets you adjust the battery charge level to help
prolong battery lifespan.
Let’s check out thermals next.
Air comes in from the bottom and is exhausted out of rear vents that are hidden below the
screen.
The Dell Power Manager software also lets you pick between four different performance
modes, optimized which is default, cool, quiet, and ultra performance.
The processor was cool at idle, then when under a CPU stress test using Aida64 to represent
a worst case heavy workload we’re seeing 70 degrees Celsius as a maximum.
Cool mode does what it says on the box, and ran cooler than the other available performance
modes.
These are the clock speeds for the same tests just shown.
Cool mode only seems to be cooler because the performance is being limited, I thought
it might instead just run the fan faster but that wasn’t the case.
Cool mode appears to limit the processor TDP to 10 watts, while the other modes all have
the same 15 watt long term power limit.
It could of course boost higher than this, but it’s worth noting this is a fair bit
behind the full 28 watt limit of the i7-1185G7 processor.
Here’s how CPU only performance looks with the different modes in use.
Single core was about the same regardless of the performance profile, though there was
a larger difference in multicore here.
The best ultra performance mode did the best, but the default optimized mode wasn’t far
behind.
Here’s how the R23 score compares to other laptops, so both single and multicore scores
are lower when compared to all of the other Tiger Lake laptops that I’ve tested.
This wasn’t too surprising as Dell tends to prefer cooler and quieter as opposed to
maximum performance.
Here’s how performance changes on battery power, so very similar results to running
while plugged in, meaning you shouldn’t be sacrificing CPU power when running unplugged.
At idle the keyboard was cool in quiet mode, most laptops are around 30 degrees Celsius
for context.
With the CPU stress test running it gets to the mid 40s in the center so just a little
warm.
The default optimized mode was fairly similar, then not too much difference in the highest
ultra performance mode either, but let’s have a listen to fan noise.
It sounded completely silent to me at idle in quiet mode.
Even with the CPU stress test running it was hardly much louder.
It was again only slightly louder with the default optimized mode, while cool mode was
a little lower.
The highest ultra performance mode was loudest, but regardless these results are still quieter
when compared to pretty much all laptops I’ve tested.
Although not a gaming laptop by any means, the Intel Xe graphics are definitely capable
of running games.
AAA titles at 720p can be ok at low setting levels, while esports titles are able to do
far better.
I’ve also tested some content creator workloads.
Adobe Premiere was tested with the Puget Systems benchmark, and the XPS 13 was offering the
lowest score I’ve had, though this is the first time I’ve tested a system with just
Intel Xe graphics here.
Adobe Photoshop is heavily dependent on processor performance, and as we’ve seen before the
11th gen tigerlake processor does quite well in single threaded performance, and this is
why it’s scoring higher than thicker more powerful laptops here.
DaVinci Resolve on the other hand is heavily dependent on the GPU, and the Intel Xe graphics
just can’t keep up compared to laptops with discrete GPUs.
I’ve used Crystal Disk Mark to test the storage.
The 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD was doing well for the reads, though write speed was lower comparatively.
The MicroSD card slot was basically maxing out my V90 card, and the card clicks in and
sits most of the way into the chassis.
Linux support is something that Dell have offered for years, you can even purchase the
developer edition of the XPS 13 with Ubuntu 20 preloaded.
I only just briefly booted a live CD but found the keyboard backlighting, screen brightness,
touchscreen, touchpad, WiFi, speakers and camera to all work fine.
For updated pricing check the links in the description, as prices will change over time,
plus there are a bunch of different specs you can choose from in terms of screen, storage,
CPU and memory.
At the time of recording, the XPS 13 starts at $1000 USD for the entry level i3 model
with 8 gigs of memory and 256gb SSD, and then it goes right up to $2300 for the top end
model with highest processor and maxed out memory and storage, with of course options
in between.
Here in Australia it’s starting for over $2000 AUD, while the exact configuration I’ve
tested here is over $3000, then over $4000 for the maxed spec.
I could easily see myself using this laptop when travel is an option again.
I do already have a smaller 12.5” Xiaomi Air for short trips, but it is missing a lot
of the nice to have features due to the cheaper price.
The XPS 13’s build quality just feels excellent, the screen looks great, and it just works
well, but this does of course come at a higher cost.
Yeah, there’s not as much sustained CPU performance in long term workloads compared
to most other Intel 11th gen Tiger Lake machines that I’ve used.
I don’t know about you, but with a smaller machine like this I’m not exactly smashing
the processor with multicore workloads like blender or something anyway.
If that is what you’re all about though, then you’ll probably be looking at a Ryzen
based option with 6 to 8 cores.
Personally for me, a smaller machine like this is ideal for travel, so I don’t think
those 4 lower powered cores are going to cause me any issues.
That said, the battery life wasn’t that great when compared to those other Ryzen models,
or even other Intel models for that matter.
Another downside is the lack of discrete graphics.
13” gaming laptops do exist with GTX 1650 graphics, and these include the ASUS X13 and
Razer Blade Stealth 13, granted both of those can cost more than this depending on the configuration,
but if you do need discrete graphics power, either for content creation or say gaming,
then those would be a better choice than the XPS.
And if you are after more information on either of those machines then I’ve got some videos
over here that you can check out, so I’ll see you over in one of those next, otherwise
if you’re new to the channel then make sure you’re subscribed for future laptop reviews
like this one.