Dell XPS 13 9300
With its ultra-compact case and stunning screen, this Dell is not just a powerful laptop, it’s a work of art
SCORE
PRICE £1,458 (£1,749 inc VAT) from dell.co.uk
Probably the first thing that strikes you about the XPS 13 is how little it is. At just 296 x 199mm and a mere 15mm thick, it’s the smallest laptop here. The next is Dell’s “InfinityEdge” display: this may not be quite as gobsmacking today as when it was introduced in 2015, but the bezels still look impressively tiny – and they make it possible for Dell to cram a 13.4in touchscreen into that very compact case.
And what a screen it is. The 16:10 shape is a tad taller than the usual letterbox aspect ratio, giving you some welcome extra workspace, and the model we tested boasts an extreme native resolution of 3,840 x 1,200. That equates to an astronomical 338ppi, which makes everything look almost supernaturally smooth and solid. It’s bright too, going up to a maximum of 410cd/m2 and (optionally) adjusting itself as needed to suit ambient lighting conditions. Colour performance is strong too: we measured an excellent 99.8% sRGB coverage, while an average Delta E of 2.12 is only a fraction short of creative professional standards.
The XPS 13 isn’t just a looker, either: inside, it’s equipped with a quad-core Core i7-1065G7 CPU. That’s a capable chip, and it showed its strength in our desktop benchmarks with an overall score of 90. That’s not a record-breaking score, but it’s impressive when you consider the thermal implications of Dell’s as-small-as-possible construction.
The CPU additionally features Iris Plus graphics, a step up from the UHD Graphics 620 GPUs used by many rivals this mmoonntthh. This ccaann’tt compete with a dedicated Nvidia chip, but it will happily handle the odd bit of gaming and graphical processing: we saw a beautifully smooth 54.7fps in our 720p Dirt: Showdown test, and a strong 57.5fps in the 1080p GFXBench Car Chase benchmark. The built-in loudspeakers provide a good blast of engine roar too – they’re astonishingly loud, considering their size, and produce a reasonably full sound, though the low end is weak. While the Dell XPS 13 might appeal as an entertainment station, it’s also a very practical machine to work on. Although the slim design necessitates a low-travel keyboard, the keys are large and the action is so clean and positive that typing is a pleasure. Similarly, the touchpad isn’t huge, but it’s precise and responsive enough to make mouse movements effortless. A nice sturdy hinge means there’s no wobble when you tap and swipe on the touchscreen, and the combination of a Windows Hello webcam and a fingerprint reader set into the power button mean you can forget about password woes.
One of the XPS 13’s most notable shortcomings is its sparse connection options. Peer around the edges and you’ll find just two USB-C ports – one of which is used for charging – along with a microSD card reader and an audio jack. A USB-A adapter is included in the box, but if you want to integrate the XPS 13 into an office setting, you’ll probably need to invest in a third-party dock. On the upside, both USB ports support Thunderbolt 33, so you can hook up more or less anything at screamingly fast speeds, and Wi-Fi 6 is built in too.
Another point to be aware of is that, while the XPS 13 is small, it sits quite heavily in the hand. The main unit weighs 1.26kg, which is actually a tad more than the much larger Acer TravelMate P6, and the 4K+ screen burns through the relatively beefy 52Wh battery at quite a rate: in our video-rundown test, this Dell XPS 13 lasted not much more than six hours.
Notably, the Full HD+ version of the XPS 13 we tested last month ( see
issue 311, p58) lasted for 10hrs 50mins, and the higher-res screen pushes up the price significantly too. Cheaper configurations with 1,920 x 1,200 displays start at £1,124 exc VAT, but the model on review is the cheapest UHD specification Dell offers. All those prices are with Windows 10 Home; if you want to step up to Pro edition, prices start at £1,249 exc VAT
( see p125 for a cheaper route!).
With such high prices, the Dell
XPS 13 isn’t the ideal candidate for those merely seeking a personal email companion or whose workloads are light; it’s simply over-qualilfied for the job. And while it’s endearingly small, this isn’t a particularly light laptop. If you’re seeking a chic portable workstation, however – and if you can afford it – then the XPS 13 could well turn your head. It’s powerful enough to get real work done, yet petite enough to throw into the smallest satchel, and the 4K+ InfinityEdge design is simply sumptuous.
“That equates to an astronomical 338ppi, which makes everything look almost supernaturally smooth and solid”