Dell XPS 13 (2020) review | Laptop Mag
Our Verdict
The Dell XPS 13 ditches all the bezels, gets even smaller and more than powerful.
For
- Bonny, premium chassis
- Powerful performance
- No bezels whatsoever
- First-class battery life
Confronting
- Lacks legacy ports
Laptop Mag Verdict
The Dell XPS 13 ditches all the bezels, gets even smaller and more powerful.
Pros
- +
Attractive, premium chassis
- +
Powerful performance
- +
No bezels any
- +
Excellent battery life
The Dell XPS 13 (2020) is a powerhouse. That'southward due to Dell's bold decision making and unceasing commitment to innovation. Following upwards on the excellent XPS xiii (2019), Dell takes its innovation to the next level by removing the last bezel on the company'south InfinityEdge display. That means the laptop is virtually borderless, making it the first of its kind.
But that'south non all. For $1,749, you become a laptop that'south got a larger display with a bigger, more comfortable keyboard and touchpad, all in a chassis that's somehow smaller than its predecessor's. Corrective changes bated, the XPS thirteen is plenty powerful, with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, and boasts over 12 hours of battery life. That's why the Dell XPS 13 is one of the best laptops bachelor. If you're looking for the latest model, cheque out our review of the 11th Gen Intel Tiger Lake Dell XPS 13.
Dell XPS 13 (2020) face-offs
Editor's Note (updated 12.14.20, originally published 4.2.20): Since the original publish date of this review, we've pitted the Dell XPS 13 against several of its nigh promising rivals in a serial of face up-offs. And the laptop has consistently come up out on top, retaining its spot as our favorite ultraportable. Be sure to check out our top confront-offs.
- Dell XPS 13 (2020) vs MacBook Pro
- Dell XPS 13 (2020) vs Asus ZenBook 13
- Dell XPS 13 (2020) vs HP Envy x360
- Dell XPS 13 (2020) vs Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
- Dell XPS xiii (2020) vs HP Spectre x360
- Dell XPS 13 (2020) vs MacBook Air (2020)
Dell XPS 13 (2020) pricing and availability
Dell XPS 13 (2020) specs
Price: $1,749
CPU: Intel Cadre i7-1065G7
GPU: Intel Iris Plus
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512 M.two NVMe SSD
Display: 13.4-inch, 1080p
Battery: 12:39
Size: xi.half-dozen ten 7.viii x 0.six inches
Weight: two.8 pounds
The $1,149 base model of the Dell XPS xiii has a 1-GHz Intel Cadre i5-1035G1 processor with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB Yard.ii PCIe NVMe SSD, an Intel UHD Graphics GPU and a 1920 10 1200 non-touch brandish. I had the opportunity to review the $one,749 model, which features a 1.five-GHz Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB Thou.2 NVMe SSD, an Intel Iris Plus GPU and a 1920 ten 1200 touch display.
The laptop tin as well be configured with a 1TB SSD ($150), 2TB SSD ($350) and a 3840 ten 2400 touch brandish ($300). A tricked-out XPS thirteen costs $ii,309 and gets you lot the Core i7 processor, 2TB SSD, Windows x Pro and a super- high-resolution display. The laptop would also come in the Frost color scheme instead of the usual silver-and-black motif.
Dell XPS 13 (2020) design
From its outside to its interior, the XPS 13 is a showstopper. The lid's Frost White, anodized aluminum finish is cool to the touch and looks stylish going in and out my bag. The sleeky Dell logo looks like a stylish broach, calculation only the right amount of sparkle. I'm a fan of the twin-coil hinge that makes opening the laptop with ane mitt as unproblematic as turning the page of a book.
Once the laptop is open, you lot'll find more of that winter white theme. Made from Dell'due south patented glass-cobweb weave, the stain-proof Arctic White deck is beautiful. Running my fingers beyond the textured surface is similar ASMR, but for your easily. The keyboard is pushed toward the top of the deck, leaving but plenty space for a glass touchpad.
At 11.half dozen 10 vii.viii ten 0.vi-inches, the 2.8-pound XPS 13 is i of the smallest ultraportables bachelor. It's 2% smaller than its predecessor. Regarding weight, it's on a par with the MSI Prestige 14 (2.8 pounds, 12.8 x 8.5 x 0.half-dozen inches), and lighter than both the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (2.9 pounds, 12.1 10 8.8 x 0.6 inches) and MacBook Pro (13-inch 2022 with Touch Bar) (4.4 pounds, 12.viii x eight.9 x 1 inches). Yet, the HP Spectre x360 13 (ii.7 pounds, 12.ane 10 7.7 x 0.7 inches) is a tad lighter just slightly thicker.
Dell XPS xiii security
The XPS 13 has an embedded fingerprint reader in the ability button for easy login using Windows Hello. Information technology's a prissy, easy way to add an extra layer of security. I practice wish Dell had institute a way to either add a physical shutter for the webcam or an electronic kill switch. Having to use a piece of tape mars the beauty of those barely in that location bezels.
Dell XPS 13 (2020) ports
This is a short section, because the XPS 13 is short on ports. The svelte stunner has a Thunderbolt 3 port on the correct with a headset jack. On the left, you'll find another Thunderbolt three port and a microSD slot. That's it, then if you're planning on using a mouse or external hard drive, you're going to need to invest in a USB Type-C hub.
Dell XPS 13 (2020) brandish
When yous first look at the XPS xiii, information technology's what you don't see that you'll notice before anything else. This marks the first time Dell has ditched all the bezels, including the lesser chin. But Dell didn't only ditch the thick bottom bezel, information technology managed to compress the other three bezels fifty-fifty farther, with the side bezels measuring 0.15 and 0.ii inches, respectively, and the lesser bezel slimming down to but 0.18 inches.
In the wake of those barely there bezels, you get a 13.iv-inch, 1920 10 1200 touch display with a 16:x attribute ratio. The panel is 6.8% larger than its predecessor. Somehow Dell managed to give consumers fifty-fifty more visual existent estate in a 12.viii-inch chassis — all while keeping the webcam smack-dab in the heart of the elevation bezel.
But how does it look? Vivid and extremely brilliant. I was transfixed by actress Tracee Ellis Ross' reddish-red sequined clothes that played upward her light dark-brown skin in The High Note trailer. Details were so precipitous, I saw every design embroidered into Ice Cube's inky-blackness smoking jacket.
As gorgeous as Ross looked, I was surprised that the XPS xiii wasn't as bright as I thought. At least, not on paper. In fact, the laptop reproduced 115% of the sRGB colour gamut. That's more enough to hold off the Prestige fourteen (112%) and the Spectre x360 (109%), but the MacBook Pro (118%) and the Surface Laptop 3 (121%) are more than brilliant every bit is the 123% premium laptop boilerplate.
Still, Dell's CinemaColor utility adds a pop of color past adjusting saturation , contrast and white remainder via a number of presets (Flick, Evening, Sports and Animation). And if that's non enough, the laptop as well has Dolby Vision to raise the HDR.
The XPS 13 made upwards for the slight color deficiency with an boilerplate brightness of 417 nits. The notebook easily outshone the 357-nit average and the contest. The MacBook Pro was a close second with 408 nits with the Spectre x360 (369 nits), the Surface Laptop 3 (348 nits) and the Prestige fourteen (269 nits) right behind.
Equally much as it pained me to smudge this lovely display with my fingers, I encountered an agile touch panel with authentic response.
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Dell XPS 13 audio
This is a great instance of large things and small packages. Despite having bottom-mounted speakers, the XPS 13 delivered loud, relatively clean audio. Megan Thee Stallion's braggadocious flow on "Savage" easily filled my smallish living and dining rooms. The Waves MaxxAudio Pro software helped provide that popular of bass nearly laptops this size usually lack. Don't get me incorrect, information technology's not going to replace a good pair of headphones or external speakers, just the XPS 13 is fine for watching movies or an impromptu trip the light fantastic toe party.
Dell XPS keyboard and touchpad
No, your eyes aren't deceiving yous, the XPS 13'due south edge-to-edge keyboard is sporting larger keycaps — nine% larger to exist verbal. Despite the bigger size, the keys are still well-spaced and none of them were downsized to make room. I also like the backlighting that is bright enough for me to brand out every central character in a darkened room.
Typing on the keys proved to be a comfortable experience, although I adopt a bit more feedback. Notwithstanding, I reached 71 words per minute on the 10FastFingers typing test, which is slightly above my 70-wpm average.
My fingers glided effortlessly over the glass Precision touchpad. At 4.iv 10 ii.vi inches, the touchpad is 17% larger than previous iterations, giving me extra room to navigate spider web pages. Performing Windows 10 gestures such equally pinch-zoom and 3-finger swipe were seamless in execution. The bottom corners of the touchpad delivered firm, clicky feedback.
Dell XPS 13 performance
For such a lightweight laptop, the Dell XPS thirteen hits similar a heavyweight. Packing an Intel Core i7-1065G7 (Ice Lake) processor with 16GB of RAM, the laptop allowed me to watch an episode of Tiger King on Netflix while running 25 other open up tabs in Google Chrome — all without a stutter.
The notebook also performed well on our constructed tests. On Geekbench four.3, which tests overall operation, the XPS xiii accomplished nineteen,053, handily beating the 16,669 premium laptop average. The Spectre x360, which also has a Core i7-1065G7 CPU, scored 18,408, while the MacBook (Intel Core i5 CPU) and the Prestige 14 (Core i7-10710U CPU) reached eighteen,221 and 17,296, respectively. The Surface Laptop 3 (Core i7-1065G7) barely edged the XPS 13 out with 19,078.
During the HandBrake examination, the XPS 13 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 15 minutes and 10 seconds, speeding past the nineteen:40 boilerplate. That time was besides faster than the Surface Laptop 3 (24:55) and the Spectre x360 (21:xiii). Withal, both the MacBook Pro (14:20) and the Prestige 14 (14:01) were quicker.
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The XPS xiii's 512GB M.ii PCIe NVMe SSD duplicated 4.97GB of multimedia files in 8.3 seconds for a transfer rate of 613.1 megabytes per 2d. That rate is faster than the 622.4MBps category average, the Surface Laptop 3 (541.4MBps, 256GB M.2 PCIe SSD) and the Spectre x360 (318.1MBps, 512GB Chiliad.two PCIe NVMe SSD). However, the Prestige (512GB One thousand.2 PCIe NVMe SSD) achieved 978.7MBps, while the MacBook Pro (256GB SSD) got an incredible ii,573MBps on the BlackMagic test.
The Intel Iris Plus GPU inside the XPS thirteen isn't really designed to handle hard-cadre gaming, but it works in a pinch. The laptop produced 59 frames per minute (fps) on the Clay 3 gaming benchmark. That'due south just beneath the 60-fps average, but nonetheless higher than the MacBook Pro (38 fps), the Intel Iris Plus GPU-equipped Surface Laptop 3 and the Spectre x360, all of which notched 47 fps. The Prestige, with its Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q GPU, hit 150 fps.
Dell XPS 13 (2020) bombardment life
Whether you're on the road or working from abode, the XPS 13 tin can put in a full piece of work twenty-four hour period and and then some. The laptop lasted a whopping 12 hours and 39 minutes on the Laptop Mag Bombardment Test, which consists of continuous spider web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. The XPS 13 hands outclassed the 8:47 premium laptop average, likewise every bit the Prestige fourteen (9:49), the Surface Laptop 3 (9:17) and the MacBook Pro (eight:41). Only the Spectre x360 was the last laptop running, with a time of 13:20.
Dell XPS 13 heat
Fifty-fifty though the XPS 13 looks hot, it stays cool. Nosotros measured the temperature of the laptop in key areas after running a full-screen video for 15 minutes.The touchpad, center and bottom measured 79, 86 and 91 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively.
Dell XPS 13 webcam
Dell however has one of the smallest integrated webcams in the industry. The 0.1-inch, 720p webcam does a great job capturing color. My warm brown complexion was spot-on in my test shots as was my snow-white sweater. The detail, nonetheless, was a mixed bag, with the shooter showing off my sweater'southward knit design, but making my locks look like long, blurry blobs.
Dell XPS 13 software and warranty
Dell arranged a solid suite of useful branded software with the XPS 13. Dell Power Manager lets you manage power consumption via preset profiles to extend battery life or to squeeze every bit of operation out of the organization. Customer Connect is your conduit to a Dell technician if y'all need system assistance. Digital Delivery keeps track of all your software downloads and restores them afterward a system wipe or crash.
The company recently updated Dell Mobile Connect so it now plays nice with the iPhone. Now everyone can swap images, documents and videos seamlessly between your smartphone and laptop.
3rd-party apps include Killer Command Center, which lets you lot fix network bandwidth priority. The laptop also comes with a 20GB of complimentary Dropbox storage for a yr. There is, of course, some Windows 10 bloatware such as Netflix, Farm Heroes Saga and Processed Vanquish Saga.
The Dell XPS 13 ships with a ane-year hardware warranty with onsite and in-Abode service after remote diagnosis. Run into how Dell fared during our annual special reports: Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands.
Bottom line
Smaller, sleeker and sporting the tiniest bezels on all sides, the new Dell XPS 13 shows that Dell nonetheless knows how to push the envelope without going as well far. It's an exercise in patient restraint, improving the notebook in a bunch of small ways that add up to a big jump for the organization.
For $1,749, you get a laptop that's got virtually no bezels, a powerful tenth Gen Intel Core i7 processor, a speedy SSD, a lovely display, over 12 hours of bombardment life, a comfy keyboard and surprisingly skilful audio, all in an elegant chassis that's 2% smaller than its predecessor.
Nonetheless, if you're looking for something with longer battery life, you'll want to consider the $1,313 HP Spectre x360 13-inch. Need more than power? The MSI Prestige 14 might be more your speed. Merely if you're looking for the total package, the Dell XPS 13 is the laptop for you.
Source: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/dell-xps-13-2020
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