Dell’s XPS line up of laptops may be one of its most beloved, so any time it’s refreshed, it’s an exciting time. And that’s exactly what’s happening this October, with a brand new range of 15, 13 and 12-inch notebooks with various internal hardware options, new ultra high-definition displays, light frames and ridiculously long battery lives, making this new line of laptops ultra competitive.
XPS 15
The big news is the XPS 15, which Dell says is the the smallest 15 inch laptop in the world. It is just 17mm thin at its thickest point and weights just 3.9 pounds at its lightest.
The key to its thin and light design is its “InfinityEdge” thin-bezel display. Small bezels means a smaller overall footprint. A 1080p display is standard, and a 4K touchscreen is optional. Dell says the UltraHD panel can hit an incredible 100 percent of the AdobeRGB gamut. Most desktop monitors don’t come close to that.
The battery comes in two flavors, depending on buyer preference –56 watt-hour or 84 watt-hour. That results in a battery life range of between 11 and 17 hours, depending on battery size and screen configuration. Pricing starts at $1,000 for the standard 1080P display and a low end CPU. The ‘entry level’ 4K system starts at $1,600.
XPS 12
The smallest of the bunch is the new XPS 12, which is built in a two-in-one fashion, allowing it to switch between a tablet and laptop as and when the user needs it. It’s lightweight, coming in at just 2.8 pounds, but that doesn’t mean there’s any skimping on hardware. This little device still packs a 12.5 inch display, with optional 4K resolution (1080p is standard), powered by an Intel 6th-gen m5-6Y54 CPU and 8GB of DDR3 1,600MHz RAM.
Storage is restricted to either a 128GB or 256GB SATA SSD. It also features an eight megapixel rear facing camera and a five megapixel one facing the user for video calling.
Pricing starts at $1,000. That’ll snag you most of the features mentioned aside from the 4K display, so it’s a solid deal.
Coming soon
XPS 13
The XPS 13 continues the trend of lightweight but powerful hardware, featuring any CPU you could wish for. Buyers can opt for an entry level i3-6100U, running at up to 2.3GHz, or the more performance focused i7-6500. Coming in January, there will be a 6600U running at up to 3.4GHz option too.
Memory wise, if you don’t need much you can opt for just 4GB, though there is space for up to 16GB of, alongside as much as a terabyte of SSD storage. While the base model with 128GB SSD will have a SATA drive, the larger drive options will connect over PCI Express.
Display options include a base 1080p unit or a QHD+ 3,200 x 1,800 screen. These are unchanged from earlier models. Both utilize “InfinityEdge” design, which is a fancy way to say they have extremely thin bezels.
Despite its powerful hardware, Dell claims that this is the smallest 13 inch laptop in the world, measuring just 15mm thick at its widest point and weighing in at just 2.7lbs. It still manages to cram a 56 watt hour battery in there, though. That’s a 4 watt upgrade over the original, which debuted at the beginning of 2015. The large capacity battery is said to give the XPS 13 as much as 18 hours of battery life on a single charge. Its price starts at $800.
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