Dell XPS 13 (late-2020) review: greatness, refined

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This is an sluttish reappraisal. Nowadays, we're looking at the XPS 13 9310, Dell's best-in-class 13-inch ultraportable laptop computer. It's identical to the Dingle XPS 13 9300, which I reviewed back in April, in every way, leave off one: it has Intel's other 11th Gen Panthera tigris Lake processors.

The new XPS 13 starts at $999.99. The base model includes a Core i3-1115G4, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, Intel's UHD integrated artwork, and a 1920 x 1200 non-touch display. Just the nigh exciting sport of the Tiger Lake line is Intel's new Iris Xe integrated graphics. Models with those graphics start at $1,099.99 ($1,077.99 as presently listed) and include a quad-core Core i5 1135G7 or i7-1165G7. You can near to a $2,499.99 model with 32GB of RAM, 2TB of storage, and a 3840 x 2400 touch screen. I tested a $1,649.99 configuration (listed at $1,616.99 A of this writing), which includes 16GB of RAM and 512GB of entrepot.

Best Laptops 2020: Dell XPS 13 (late 2020) — *A acquainted with XPS 13 with a brand-new chip.*

If you haven't read my review of the XPS 13 9300 from earlier this year, rifle ahead and do that now because everything I said about the exterior of that machine also applies here. TL;DR: it's actually good. The frame is successful of CNC-machined aluminum, the logo is stainless steel, the screen is Corning Gorilla Glass 6; the palm rests are a woven-glass fiber with a unequaled texture. It's lustrous, sturdy, and just close to the best build quality you'll find in a laptop. It's also portable (2.8 pounds and 0.58 inches thick). The speakers are adequate, the keyboard is snappy and comfortable, and the touchpad is smooth and casual to click. Another highlight is the 16:10 display with a 91.5 per centum screen-to-trunk ratio, which gives you to a greater extent vertical space than most consumer laptops (which are 16:9). You'll notice the difference.

Two of import downsides: the port selection is meh (two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4, a headphone jack, and a microSD reader), and the 2.25mm 720p webcam isn't bang-up, delivering a blurry and washed-out image. It also doesn't admit a privacy shutter or kill switching.

Like I said, check out the 9300 recap if you want to read some the laptop's exterior in more particular. What we're focusing on here is the new processor's operation and whether the 1165G7 (and its Xe graphics) are an melioration over the Ice Lake genesis. The solvent is yes. But IT's non an emphatic or particularly excited yes.

The left back corner of the Dell XPS 13. — *It ships with a USB-C to USB-A adapter.*

It's also one of the first systems to represent supported through Intel's new Evo program. By giving a laptop an Evo badge, Intel claims to be certifying that it offers a number of benchmarks for "premium" light-and-luminousnes laptops — Panthera tigris Lake processors, Bolt of lightning 4, Wi-Fi 6, all-day battery biography, fast charging, spry boot clock, and, mayhap most especially, solid real-world performance.

In daily tasks, the 1165G7 for certain measured up. IT was never overwhelmed by my legions of Chrome tabs, apps, and casual Spotify, YouTubing, and Zoom calls overtop — nobelium slowdowns Beaver State delays. I ne'er once heard the fans spin up during daily use and never felt any heat either. If you'rhenium using this configuration for act Oregon school, you shouldn't experience any performance issues.

I saw a rebuff improvement in happy creation as wellspring. The 9310 took 10 minutes and 43 seconds to complete our real-world media test, which involves exportation a 5-minute, 33-arcsecond 4K video in Adobe Premiere Pro. That's a little faster than any laptop with Ice Lake CPUs and integrated nontextual matter completed the task. The MacBook Pro 13 with Iris Plus graphics took 11 minutes and 26 seconds, and the Open Laptop 3 took retributive over 15. IT's also better than we've seen from other 1165G7 systems. Asus' ZenBook 14 was about a minute slower.

The Dell XPS 13 tilted back, angled to the left. — *Have your pick of a Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7.*

Here's the thing: when it comes to productiveness, this XPS is good. It's an uptick over its predecessor (and I'd be very worried if information technology wasn't). Connected the other hand, the 9300 (and other Chalk Lake systems) were already quite good. The difference in Chrome tab load speed and Premiere Pro export time ISN't earth-loud plenty that I can see it devising a dispute in the lives of the average XPS 13 user. If you already own a comparable Ice Lake system or are considering purchasing one to thinned costs, I won't urge you to upgrade.

Best Laptops 2020: Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 — *Mental object and media creators can opt for a 4K 3840 x 2400 display.*

Folks for whom it may be worth upgrading are those World Health Organization lack to play some light games. On titles with lighter textures (the only ones you'd want to keep going a laptop look-alike this), the XPS 13 did a noticeably major business than its predecessor. Information technology averaged 111fps connected Eruca vesicaria sativ League's maximum settings without dipping below 100; the 9300 digest 70fps with a minimum of 41. The 9310 also won out on League of Legends, averaging 205fps piece its predecessor averaged low 160s. (Of course, the XPS 13's screen is only 60Hz, so your feel in these games won't change. You'll project 60fps on either machine.) And information technology beat its predecessor on Overwatch, averaging 48fps on Ultra settings to the 9300's low-40s average — a 10-ish percent increase.

Thomas More redemptive news for Intel: those results likewise put Tiger Lake slightly ahead of AMD competitors when it comes to gaming. The IdeaPad Reduce 7, with AMD's eight-gist Ryzen 7 4800U, averaged 46fps on the synoptical Overwatch settings. (You North Korean won't notice a difference of opinion that decreased while you'Ra in reality acting.)

Unfortunately, demanding games in 1080p are still out of range for this machine. The 9310 chugged through Fantas of the Grave Freeboote at an average of 22fps. That's a respectable increase from the Ice Lake XPS, which averaged 17fps happening the same title, but you commode't really gaming the game (at native resolution) along either machine. Soh piece Tiger Lake will give you a better feel with some of your titles, it belik won't expand the chain of mountains of games you can play. (We act up expect gambling performance to get down better over time.)

I call up this form factor is also close to the limits of what it fire cool. Throughout my gaming session, the CPU hit 100 degrees Celsius at a few points and spent a lot of prison term in the high 90s. (The keyboard was toasty throughout only not rather uncomfortable.) That's hotter than I'd like to see, and I worry that if Dingle continues with this design and Intel's chips don't make substantial gains in efficiency, the XPS 13 is going to hit a surround when it comes to performance.

The Dell XPS 13 from the back, angled to the left. — *The 52Whr battery is integrated and not replaceable. RAM is too soldered.*

Eventually, battery life was a pleasant surprisal. I got niner hours and 15 minutes using this XPS as my primary influence driver at around 200 nits of brightness level. That prison term doesn't top the family, but IT does mean this should comfortably last you a full work or school Clarence Day. The caveat is that I had all the various stamp battery-thrifty things on — the Windows Battery Saver profile, Dell's Barrage Extender, Intel's Reveal Big businessman Nest egg, etc. When I ran a trial on the Windows Bettor Performance visibility with Bombardment Extender off, I could expect closer to six hours. I didn't observance a performance difference 'tween those two scenarios when I was just doing office work and cyclosis, so I recommend that you do the bombardment-saving poppycock if you need totally-day juice.

This XPS has a performance edge over what we've seen insofar in 2020. The Panthera tigris Lake processor is a goodly come to the fore, particularly in graphics performance. People who work with graphics and picture bequeath probably find the gain most useful. For everyone else WHO's mostly using the XPS 13 for school and office tasks, both Ice Lake and Tiger Lake systems should be okay — upgrading ISN't essential. Gaming carrying into action clearly varies widely by title — gamers may see a substantial difference or may see very little. But if you for the most part play hoy fare that Methamphetamine hydrochloride Lake was already tearing through (which is probably the slip for a good chunk of folk who are gaming on the XPS 13), you won't see the improvement on this screen.

So overall, the XPS 13 is relieve an excellent laptop computer. It's still one of the best you derriere buy. But I'm non as starstruck as I was at the opening of this year, because the competition is creeping up. Zenbooks, Swifts, Yogas, Envys, and Spectres have all made strides in intention, build, bully features, and performance this year — and in that respect are Weapon-based Macbooks connected the way. There are quite a couple of releases connected the horizon that are looking more and more like the XPS 13.

This is the top-quality laptop of 2020 with the fewest compromises and the fewest risks. But Dell testament need to stay creative if it wants to go along XPS at the top of the stack up in 2021.

Photography away Monica Chin / The Verge