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Reading Time: 4 minutesLast year’s XPS 13 left us with very little to complain about. But this year, Dell is making a splash with a complete redesign for the new XPS 13 Plus, and it might just be one of the most eye-catching launches of the year.
Targeting a more modern look, the company says it has “stripped away the unnecessary” while streamlining the design to draw a focus on its most essential features: fast performance, a simplified interior, and a stunning display.
And at a glance, the result is clear to see–the new XPS 13 is not just the most powerful 13-inch XPS laptop Dell has ever made, it’s packaged into a strikingly minimalistic, yet more futuristic-looking frame. Let’s take a closer look.
Forward-Thinking Design
With such widespread praise for the XPS line, it would have been easy for Dell to play it safe with this year’s revision, but the new XPS 13 Plus’s design is anything but.
Dell aims to deliver a seamless user experience, both figuratively and literally. Gone are the “flashy finishes,” says Dell, opting for a more minimalist, yet equally premium interior design.
Most distinct is the lack of a defined touch pad, eschewing convention in favor of a seamless glass touchpad on the lower deck. This surface will use haptic feedback to clearly communicate user inputs with a targeted tactile response, and as we’ve seen before, this combination of glass touch surfaces and haptics can make for a surprisingly intuitive experience.
Above that, the new zero-lattice, edge-to-edge keyboard presents the user with large, well-defined keys that stretch all the way across the XPS 13 Plus’s compact frame, intended to make for the best touch-typing experience possible.
And this is complemented by the new capacitive touch function row, which further enhances the modern look of this laptop and allows users to choose between function and media keys.
Stunning Display
A top-of-the-line display has long been a mainstay of the XPS line, and last year’s OLED example was its best yet. This year, the XPS 13 Plus will be offered with a choice of three displays: FHD+ (1920 x 1200 touch and non-touch), 4K+ (3840×2400), and 3.5k OLED (3456 x 2160) with touch.
The OLED promises a 100,000:1 contrast ratio, along with a wide color gamut (100% DCI-P3), which delivers the impressive contrast and deep blacks that we’ve come to expect from a high-end OLED panel.
This will elevate the XPS 13 experience for content creators by making them more productive with the 16:10 ratio screen. You see more content on your screen (such as more rows in Excel) and experience high clarity with rich color.
Sound will also be improved with a quad speaker system that employs two up-firing tweeters hidden under the keyboard, along with two down-firing speakers. With this, Dell promises louder sound with more dynamic range, clearer vocals in conference calls, and more cinematic audio for movies.
Not Just a Pretty Face
A sleek new design is great, but whether you use the XPS for work or play, it’s performance that matters most. Dell boasts that this is the first time a 13-inch XPS has been designed to a 28W spec, providing more power than ever before in about the same size to push the full potential of the 12th-gen Intel Core i5 and i7 processors available in the new revision.
The leap to 12th-Gen Intel up to i7 processors brings with it compatibility for the newest RAM technology, DDR5, and the XPS 13 Plus supports up to 32 GBs of RAM at a super-fast 5200 MHz.
This will deliver more power than ever before from an XPS 13, says Dell, while also delivering long battery life in a chassis that remains incredibly compact at 15.28 mm thin and starting at 2.73 lbs.
Larger fans provide up to 55% more airflow, enabling more performance in the about the same size as before without increasing noise or temperature. This is critical in a laptop this thin.
Plus, customize your performance based on how you want your laptop to operate. Adjust system behaviors based on your preference between quiet, performance, cool, and optimized modes with Dell Performance.
A Bold Refresh
With its seamless glass touchpad with haptics, capacitive touch function row, and zero-lattice, edge-to-edge keyboard, the XPS 13 Plus stands out as one the most distinctive redesigns for 2022.
XPS devices have long set a high bar in the premium laptop market, and the latest 13-inch model looks set to raise the brand further with its edgy, futuristic approach to user input and elegant, minimalist design. The XPS 13 Plus is available now via Dell.
Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson has been writing for high-profile publications for 16 years, primarily in the video game industry, but also covering tech. Mike is an obsessed video game hoarder with hundreds of games spanning a 30-year collection. An entire room in his house is dedicated to Super Mario, and he thinks the Nintendo Switch is “the best invention in human history.” Counseling may be necessary.
