Dell has refurbished its 2017 world’s smallest 13.3-inch laptop. Dell’s XPS 13 was the smallest 13.3-inch laptop in 2017 but that title now goes to the 2018 model. The new release came with some changes to improve the performance of the Intel’s eight generation processors while maintaining battery life long and shrinking its overall footprint. The new XPS 13 is 24 percent smaller by volume due in part to the 4mm border around its InfinityEdge display, which gives it an 80.7 percent screen-to-body ratio.
The improvement on XPS 13 may be due to the cries of professional hardware reviewers about the laptop’s two-year-old look. All the parts of the Dell’s XPS 13 experienced a touch in the new makeover.
Specs and Features of the Laptop
The latest model of the XPS 13 has been further trimmed down by 3.4mm from the original thickness compared to the previous model.
It allows you to choose either from 4K UHD or full HD resolution touch displays or still a full HD non-touch display with a maximum brightness of 400nits.
The webcam is located at the bottom just like the previous model only that it is centered in the latest model and it an infrared camera and is also used for logging in for facial recognition. The fingerprint reader is also built into the power button.
Dell’s XPS 13 has a CNC machined aluminum body in platinum silver with carbon fiber composite palm rest in black, but its’ joined by a new rose gold model with alpine white woven glass. The glass fiber is lightweight and has a soft feel to it and is coated to prevent yellowing. The materials keep the weight down to about 22.7 pounds while still being strong.
Inside the Dell XPS 13, is the same basic 8th-generation Core i7 quad-core that Dell refreshed with the previous Dell XPS 13 that debuted a few months ago. Performance on the newest Dell XPS 13 is beefed up by an upgraded cooling system that goes from a single heat-pipe and fan design to a dual-fan and dual-heat pipe.
To get the body thickness down to 0.46 inch (11.6 mm), you do lose full-size USB ports in favor of dual Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports and a USB-C 3.1 port. Any of those USB-C ports can be used to charge or power the laptop, and there's a microSD card slot to bolster internal storage.
Performance
Dell through its own test has concluded that the Dell XPS 13 is the most powerful laptop among its rivals like HP Spectre x360 13t, Microsoft Surface Book 2, and MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
Battery life
According to Dell said, the battery life is still pretty awesome, with the new laptop rated at about 11 hours on the most power-hungry configuration: Core i7, 16GB LPDDR3, 1TB SSD, and 4K panel. The power-sipping version with a Core i5, 4GB of LPDDR3, 128GB SSD and 1080p screen, will hit 19 hours and 46 minutes, according to Dell. Expect far less battery life on more typical browsing activities, with probably half the rated battery life in certain video tasks. Though it’s not bad for a somewhat smaller battery of 52 watt-hours.
The controversy
The good news: Dell now includes two Thunderbolt 3 ports, plus a USB-C port. You even get a 45-watt USB-C charger too. There’s also a microSD card reader and a Noble lock port.
The bad news: We’re pretty done listing the expansion ports on the XPS 13. Dell left the truly universal USB Type-A behind to “save space.”
Dell’s XPS 13 has arguably led the way for other Windows thin-and-lights in the past. Now that the company's made a huge redesign investment, we'll be interested to see who follows.
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