Dell’s newest XPS 13 is a thinner, lighter love letter to long-time laptop computer followers

An all-new XPS 13 has been a very long time coming for followers of light-weight laptops. At one level Dell was the de facto alternative for anybody wanting slick styling and travel-friendly dimensions in a Home windows-powered pocket book; now the agency’s complicated 2025 rebrand is within the rear view mirror, this newest effort goes the place no different XPS has gone earlier than.

At simply 1kg/2.2lbs and solely 12.7mm/0.50in, it’s the slimmest and lightest XPS laptop computer ever. The CNC-machined chassis seems very straightforward on the attention, whether or not you go for Sky or Storm colors (advertising communicate for “lighter or darker gray aluminium”), whereas the XPS emblem sits proudly on the lid. It carefully matches the prototype I received a preview of forward of CES in January alongside the XPS 14 and XPS 16.

Not like the outgoing technology, which might be had with both Qualcomm or Intel {hardware}, the 2026 XPS 13 is just launching with Intel’s Sequence 3 Core silicon.

The entry-grade XPS 13 comes with a Sequence 3 Core 5 320, with six CPU cores, two Xe graphics cores and 18 TOPs of on-device AI processing. It may be had with both 8 or 16GB of reminiscence and can launch with 512GB of storage. A 256GB base mannequin will observe later.

Stepping as much as the Core Extremely 7 335 laptop computer will get you eight CPU cores and 4 Xe graphics cores, together with 50 TOPs of AI compute energy. There are variants with 16 or 32GB of RAM, and 512GB or 1TB of storage. A twin fan energetic cooling setup ought to hold temperatures in examine on each fashions.

The XPS 13’s 13.4in display screen makes use of LCD panel tech, with seemingly no plans to supply an OLED improve. In addition to being a boon for battery life – Dell reckons the XPS 13 ought to squeeze as much as 17 hours of video playback from its 52Whr cell – the touch-sensitive show hasn’t skimped on specs. It has a 2560×1600 decision, 30-120Hz variable refresh charge, 500 nits peak brightness and Dell’s acquainted InfinityEdge skinny bezels on all 4 sides. DCI-P3 color protection is pegged at 100%, and it’s backed by a quad speaker setup with spatial upmixing.

Connectivity is admittedly anaemic, with only a single USB-C port on both facet. On fashions with the Core Extremely 7 CPUs in addition they double as Thunderbolt 4 ports. There’s additionally a 2MP Home windows Whats up-ready webcam for biometric safety.

Dell has gone for an island-style keyboard structure, relatively than the tightly grouped keys I by no means fairly gelled with on the XPS 14. It’s absolutely backlit for low-light working, and has a bodily operate row – the agency has discovered its lesson and firmly ditched the capacitive contact bar that clients hated on the earlier technology.

There’s no phrase on when the brand new XPS 13 will go on sale, or the place pricing will begin at.