Dell's striking XPS 13 Plus is now available, starting at $1,299

[Tudor Cibean]

Highly anticipated: The Dell XPS 13 Plus, announced at CES 2022, features a stunning redesign of the award-winning XPS 13 and Intel's latest 12th Gen chips with a hybrid architecture. Now, it's finally available to buy, starting at a rather steep $1,299.

Dell has just announced that their impressive-looking XPS 13 Plus is now available. The laptop is a futuristic redesign of the popular XPS 13, one of the best ultrabooks you can buy right now.

Dell made the keyboard sit flush with the chassis and removed the space between individual keys, allowing each key to be slightly larger. At the top, there's a row of capacitive buttons that can display either media controls or traditional function key labels depending on whether the Fn key is toggled. Finally, the touchpad is seamlessly integrated into the chassis and doesn't physically click in, using haptics instead to reproduce the sensation.

The Dell XPS 13 Plus comes equipped with either a Core i5-1240P or i7-1260P, up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and up to 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage. The screen measures 13.4 inches, with options for a Full HD+ or Ultra HD+ LCD or a 3.5K OLED. Of note is that these displays have 16:10 aspect ratios and all but the lowest-end feature touch support.

Unfortunately, Dell decided to remove the headphone jack, leaving just two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports. Other features include dual stereo speakers, a 720p camera with an IR sensor used for Windows Hello, and a 55Wh battery.

The Dell XPS 13 Plus can be had in either Platinum or Graphite color options and starts at $1,299 with a Windows 11 license included. However, if you prefer Linux, the Developer Edition comes with Ubuntu 20.04 pre-installed and starts at just $1,249.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/94389-dell-striking-xps-13-plus-now-available-starting.html

 

[Squid Surprise]

I really wish they'd left a few USB-A ports... and the SD Card slot... While RJ45 can be accessed via a docking station (still wish I didn't need one), not being able to transfer photos from my camera or USB key on the go is a real annoyance.

 

[CowsGotMilk]

Looks great. But I would prefer AMD CPU.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Looks great. But I would prefer AMD CPU.

Why? Alder Lake our-performs AMD in mobile...

 

[Dd663]

Unfortunately, Dell decided to remove the headphone jack, leaving just two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports.

Trying to ape Apple in prioritizing looks over functionality won't win any points with me.

Not that I could afford this thing anyway. And not that I have much use for a laptop (as opposed to a desktop) anyway.

 

[CowsGotMilk]

Why? Alder Lake our-performs AMD in mobile...

Ryzen has better perfomance per watt. On laptops energy efficiency is more important. I don't need a CPU that's 30% faster, but eats 300% more energy.

 

[scavengerspc]

Why does less impressive keep getting more expensive?

 

[psycros]

Ugly and impractical. They don't' even define the touchscreen area? This is minimalism gone mad.

 

[arrowflash]

"the touchpad is seamlessly integrated into the chassis and doesn't physically click in, using haptics instead to reproduce the sensation."

Whomever thought this was a good idea must have been dropped quite a bit as a baby, or never actually used a touchpad.

I understand the $1300 base price is for the i5-1240P with 8 GB of ram and 256 GB SSD. Talk about overpriced.

What I find interesting about this laptop is the 16:10 display. I wish there were more with this aspect ratio on the market, years ago I used to own an HP laptop with 16:10 (1280x800) display and I find this AR much better than 16:9 for web browsing, programming and reading.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Why? Alder Lake our-performs AMD in mobile...

Yeah sure at double the power. In the 20-50W range the AMD is better and smokes Alder Lake for battery life and iGPU. Rembrandt is a the best all round APU in the PC market IMO. I don't think Intel will really shine until Arrow Lake which is a huge redesign and is mobile focused for huge gains in efficiency and it's needed.

I'm personally waiting for Phoenix though, Zen 4 + RDNA2/3 with up to 2x the CU's won't even require a discrete card for 1080p gaming.

 

[Dd663]

Ugly and impractical. They don't' even define the touchscreen area? This is minimalism gone mad.

I suppose one could do it oneself with a permanent marker and some probing...

To be fair, most use of a touch pad is focused to the center of it, and most users probably don't look when they're using the touch pad anyway. If you've got a touchpad that becomes shiny with wear, the shiny part will be roughly oval-shaped, leaving out the corners.

 

[himindedlolife]

Clown show

 

[VitalyT]

Finally, the touchpad is seamlessly integrated into the chassis and doesn't physically click in, using haptics instead to reproduce the sensation

That's what going to kill the demand. Some companies just never learn from previous mistakes.

 

[Irata]

Why? Alder Lake our-performs AMD in mobile...

In the thin and light category that‘s very doubtful, although U/P series reviews will show this. But I do expect results to be different from Tiger Lake where competing Ryzen models had double the MT performance at slightly lower power.

The top CPU is the i7-1260P, a 4P8E 16T model, so I‘m curious how that will compare to 8C16T Rembrandt in this power range.

 

[Irata]

Looks great. But I would prefer AMD CPU.

You wouldn‘t from Dell though.

 

[Bobbydpue]

Looks great. But I would prefer AMD CPU.

Why does that matter? There are no performance stats given in the article, so why have you made such a decision based on no real information?

 

[Bobbydpue]

In the thin and light category that‘s very doubtful

Based on what objective evidence? Why are you fanboying? Without objective evidence why would you prefer one brand over another? AMD doesn't care about you and neither does any company.

 

[Bobbydpue]

Yeah sure at double the power. In the 20-50W range the AMD is better and smokes Alder Lake for battery life and iGPU.

How much power did Dell set the Core i5-1240P or i7-1260P to in these laptops? What is the battery life in this laptop? I don't see this information anywhere in the article so how are you forming an opinion?

 

[bviktor]

I really wish they'd left a few USB-A ports... and the SD Card slot... While RJ45 can be accessed via a docking station (still wish I didn't need one), not being able to transfer photos from my camera or USB key on the go is a real annoyance.

Get a USB-A to USB-C cable. Get a USB-A/C dual pendrive.

I most certainly don't want any USB-A ports taking up all the space on an ultrabook.

I can't remember the last time I used a USB drive for anything other than OS installs btw. OneDrive ftw.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Get a USB-A to USB-C cable. Get a USB-A/C dual pendrive.

I most certainly don't want any USB-A ports taking up all the space on an ultrabook.

I can't remember the last time I used a USB drive for anything other than OS installs btw. OneDrive ftw.

I don't want extra cables... the whole point is this is an ultrabook... shouldn't need adapters... and USB-A ports don't take much space.

And there are times when you have no internet - so Dropbox/Onedrive/etc are useless then...

Plus, I have tons of USB External HDs as well... all useless with this laptop without adapters...

 

[GoldenGoat]

I really wish they'd left a few USB-A ports... and the SD Card slot... While RJ45 can be accessed via a docking station (still wish I didn't need one), not being able to transfer photos from my camera or USB key on the go is a real annoyance.

This laptop is literally too thin to fit a usb-A port on the side of it. If you want usb-A then you can't have a laptop this thin. That is the tradeoff. It is not that they don't like USB-A. It just won't fit.

 

[Squid Surprise]

This laptop is literally too thin to fit a usb-A port on the side of it. If you want usb-A then you can't have a laptop this thin. That is the tradeoff. It is not that they don't like USB-A. It just won't fit.

Not true... the previous models of XPS were the same thickness.... and they sported 2 USB-A ports alongside a USB-C port...

 

[CowsGotMilk]

I don't want extra cables... the whole point is this is an ultrabook... shouldn't need adapters... and USB-A ports don't take much space.

And there are times when you have no internet - so Dropbox/Onedrive/etc are useless then...

Plus, I have tons of USB External HDs as well... all useless with this laptop without adapters...

This kind of problem is solved with docking stations

 

[Squid Surprise]

This kind of problem is solved with docking stations

Yes - but not when you want it to be PORTABLE.... My wife uses an older XPS - she has it attached to a docking station at home... but when she takes it to work, she needs the USB-A ports...

 

[GoldenGoat]

Not true... the previous models of XPS were the same thickness.... and they sported 2 USB-A ports alongside a USB-C port...

The previous model was the XPS 9305. It did not have a USB-A port. Nor did the XPS 9310, the generation before that. Nor did the 9300 before that. Nor did the 7390 before that. Nor did the 9380 the generation before that. Nor did the 9370 the generation before that. I think you have to go back to the 2017 XPS 9360 to get a usb-A port and that laptop was not thin. No usb-A for XPS 13 is not new.