Beautiful laptops with usability quirks

Say farewell to the traditional XPS 13, and say howdy to the spiffy new XPS 13. Dell stunned us at CES by bringing the trendy (and considerably controversial) design of 2022’s XPS 13 Plus to its whole flagship lineup, which now consists of the bigger XPS 14 and 16 fashions. With this new design, all of them have invisible haptic trackpads hidden beneath the glass-covered wrist relaxation, a capacitive prime row of perform keys (which might immediately change to media controls), and wider gap-less keyboards that haven’t any spacing between keys. However do these upgrades really make them higher computer systems than Dell’s earlier XPS lineup? Nicely, it actually depends upon how a lot you want the best way they give the impression of being.

Once I reviewed the XPS 16 final month, I used to be impressed by its sheer energy and attractiveness, however its excessive value and some quirks made it a more durable promote than the XPS 15 that got here earlier than it. The identical is generally true for the XPS 13 and 14. The smaller mannequin is principally simply the XPS 13 Plus with a brand new Intel Core Extremely 7 chip. The XPS 14 is much extra intriguing, because it goals to pack within the energy of the XPS 16 with out being so rattling hefty. I’m reviewing them collectively as a result of they’re gunning for a really related viewers: Individuals who demand each velocity and portability. Selecting between them comes right down to how a lot energy you really want and the way a lot weight you are prepared to take care of.

Dell

Dell’s XPS 14 is a stupendous and highly effective MacBook Professional competitor, although you’ll pay for its fashionable design with usability quirks and the next general value.

Execs

• Quick efficiency
• Beautiful OLED display
• Engaging fashionable design

Cons

• Invisible trackpad results in usability points
• Operate keys disappear in daylight
• Costly
• Trackpad sluggish at 60Hz

$1,699 at Dell

Identical to their bigger sibling, each the XPS 13 and 14 are beautiful to behold. They’re workout routines in minimalism, with all-aluminum circumstances (accessible in gentle or darkish variants) and clear layouts round their keyboards. And sure, their shows even have razor-thin bezels, one thing Dell popularized with the XPS line over a decade in the past. Fairly than attempt to stand out with extraneous options like twin screens or a plethora of LEDs, the XPS 13 and 14 make extra of a press release by what they do not have: seen trackpads and devoted perform keys.

Just like the XPS 13 Plus, this 12 months’s XPS 13 solely carries two USB-C sockets and no different ports — no devoted headphone jack, not even a devoted charging connection. However hey, at the very least Dell put its USB-C ports on reverse sides, one thing I would nonetheless prefer to see on the MacBook Air. If you’d like every other extra connectivity, you are in all probability higher off with the XPS 14, which has three USB-C ports, a headphone jack and a micro-SD card slot. Professionals could be higher off with a full-sized SD card reader, although, and it could be good to have an HDMI port just like the MacBook Professional 14-inch.

Weight is the obvious distinction between the XPS 13 and 14: the smaller mannequin is available in at 2.6 kilos (barely lower than the MacBook Air), whereas the XPS 14 is noticeably heftier at 3.7 kilos. (Dell is following Apple’s product technique a bit, because the 13-inch MacBook Air weighs 2.7 kilos and the MacBook Professional 14-inch sits between 3.4 and three.6 kilos.) The XPS 13 and 14 are each straightforward to hold round all day, however the one-pound distinction may make the bigger mannequin extra annoying in the event you’re making an attempt to journey gentle.

Nonetheless, the XPS 14 justifies its extra heft by cramming in additional {hardware}. It may be geared up with NVIDIA’s RTX 4050 GPU (working at 30 watts), and in addition options extra sturdy cooling, which permits it to succeed in the next most thermal envelope of 47 watts. The XPS 13, alternatively, can solely hit 28 watts of sustained efficiency. Although each machines use the identical Intel Core Extremely CPUs, you may find yourself seeing much better efficiency from the XPS 14 for extended workloads like video encoding or 3D rendering. (Once more, that is very similar to the distinction between the MacBook Air and base configuration MacBook Professional.)

The XPS 14’s 14.5-inch display is an inch bigger than the XPS 13’s, which makes it extra comfy for multitasking with a number of apps or engaged on media timelines. Regardless of which mannequin you select, although, you may get a vibrant and immersive picture, together with skinny bezels that Apple nonetheless cannot contact. Each computer systems supply a wide range of viewing choices: the XPS 13 may be geared up with Full HD+ (1,920 by 1,200 pixels, non-touch), Quad HD+ (2,560 by 1,600) or 3K+ OLED (2,880 by 1,800), whereas its bigger sibling will get Full HD+ (non-touch) and three.2K+ OLED (3,200 by 2,000) screens..

Dolby Imaginative and prescient is commonplace throughout the board, however you may solely get one hundred pc DCI-P3 colour gamut protection with the pricier shows. You may additionally stand up to 120Hz refresh charges on all the screens, besides for the XPS 13’s OLED, which maxes out at 60Hz. (I would suggest avoiding that choice completely and going for a excessive refresh fee LCD, which is able to in the end ship a smoother picture.)

Each the XPS 13 and XPS 14 I reviewed have been geared up with Intel’s Core Extremely 7 155H CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. The XPS 14 additionally had NVIDIA’s RTX 4050 GPU, whereas the smaller laptop computer relied on Intel’s built-in Arc graphics. As I anticipated, they did not differ an excessive amount of when it got here to CPU benchmarks like Geekbench 6. However the XPS 14 was twice as quick because the XPS 13 within the Geekbench 6 Compute check, which depends on the GPU for extra intensive work. That NVIDIA {hardware} additionally helped the XPS 14 be greater than thrice as quick because the 13 within the Geekbench Machine Studying GPU check.

Whereas the XPS 14 is much from what I would name a gaming laptop computer, its NVIDIA GPU additionally let me play Halo Infinite in 1080p with medium graphics at 40fps. That is not precisely my preferrred Halo expertise, however hey, it is playable. Compared, the XPS 13’s Intel Arc graphics barely managed to maintain 25fps. The RTX 4050 GPU is principally helpful for media creation on the XPS 14: I used to be in a position to make use of Handbrake to transcode a 4K clip into 1080p in 26 seconds, whereas that very same job took 36 seconds on the XPS 13.

I had no bother with my day by day workflow on both machine, however I loved carrying the XPS 13 round city excess of the XPS 14 just because it is lighter and simpler to maneuver. I may slip it right into a tote bag with out a second thought, carry it to Starbucks and stand up and working simply. Due to its extra bulk and weight, II generally had bother stuffing the XPS 14 into the identical bag amid the accoutrements of parenthood. This may not be a lot of an issue in the event you’re utilizing a backpack (and never making an attempt to slot in children’ toys and snacks), nevertheless it was a reminder of how helpful a sub-three pound pocket book may be.

Very similar to the XPS 16, I loved typing on Dell’s lusciously large keyboards. The big key caps are straightforward to hit they usually have a satisfying quantity of key journey. The keyboard is extra visually spectacular on the XPS 13, because it stretches fully edge-to-edge, whereas it is flanked by audio system on the XPS 14. The capacitive perform keys are superb more often than not, however they nonetheless disappear in direct daylight and different vibrant lighting.

After which there’s the trackpad. By now, I am used to Dell’s invisible design, and I additionally appreciated the elevated measurement of the XPS 14’s trackpad. But it surely nonetheless takes some adjustment, particularly for newcomers. I’ve additionally observed that it is generally robust to search out the road that separates left and proper clicks, which led to a couple annoyed makes an attempt to repeat and paste hyperlinks from Chrome.

Now that I’ve skilled Dell’s invisible trackpad and capacitive perform row throughout 4 machines, I am much more satisfied they are a mistake. Certain, they give the impression of being cool and assist Dell stand out within the boring world of Home windows laptops, however that does not justify the usability points. On the XPS 13 and 14, I additionally noticed fraction-of-a-second delays whereas swiping round Home windows. The issue went away after I pressured each machines to run at 120Hz, however that additionally makes use of extra battery life than working at 60Hz. It nearly seems like I am making an attempt to swipe by an extra layer of glass. I observed the identical challenge on a number of XPS 13 and 14 items, however Dell tells me it hasn’t been capable of replicate any slowdown in its labs. The corporate might be doing an additional investigation into our evaluate items, and I am going to report again in a while what it finds.

As for the remainder of their {hardware}, each the XPS 13 and XPS 14 function strong 1080p webcams with Home windows Howdy help for facial authentication. You may as well use Home windows Studio Results throughout video chats to blur backgrounds and regulate your gaze, due to the NPUs in Intel’s new Core Extremely chips. Their 8-watt speaker setups sound superb for watching YouTube movies or taking part in a little bit of background music, however they’re not almost as spectacular as Apple’s notebooks. There was additionally a stunning battery life hole between each machines: The XPS 13 lasted 13 hours and quarter-hour in PCMark 10’s Fashionable Workplace benchmark, whereas the XPS 14 ran for simply 4 and a half hours. You possibly can chalk that as much as its beefier GPU, in addition to its bigger display.

One other draw back to the XPS 13 and 14’s spiffy look? Larger costs. The XPS 13 now begins at $1,399 with the configuration we examined, whereas the XPS 16 begins at $1,699. (Our evaluate unit would price $2,399, due to its NVIDIA GPU and OLED display.) I am going to give Dell credit score for making 16GB of RAM commonplace, as a substitute of 8GB like earlier fashions, however for essentially the most half you are paying out the nostril to have a prettier trackpad. Is that actually value it? Dell’s pricing is especially wild when you think about you may nab an M3 MacBook Air for $1,099 and a 14-inch MacBook Professional for $1,599. Certain, you may additionally want so as to add $200 to get 16GB of RAM, however even the bottom configurations are quicker than Dell’s laptops.

Whereas there’s lots to love in regards to the new XPS 13 and XPS 14, we are able to’t suggest them as simply as Dell’s earlier XPS generations. They appear enticing and carry out properly, however that comes at a price for usability, battery life and, properly, precise price. Merely put, you’re paying extra for fairly machines.