Dell XPS 13 Plus: The future is now

This is one fast and stunningly sexy laptop.

- GORDON UNG

Like cars and fashion, laptop makers tend to all mirror each other's looks and features. For example, ridiculously large bezels were all the rage until Dell's original XPS 13 broke from the pack and introduced InfinityEdge bezels. Within a generation, any laptop with large bezels looked years if not a decade out of date. The latest Dell XPS 13 features much of the same design cues, but with some, shall we say, interesting changes.

The XPS 13 offers blazing-fast processing performance, a gorgeous OLED display, and above-average audio. When it comes to what most people want in an ultraportable system, it ticks off a lot of boxes. It's lightweight, luxurious, and powerful. However, it's missing a headset jack and there are only two USB-C ports. The lack of a headset jack is certainly an odd omission, but we still feel this is a fantastic pick for business professionals or graphic designers.

SPECS AND FEATURES

Let's check out what's inside the XPS 13 Plus. The review sample has an Intel Core i7-1280P CPU. The CPU features an impressive-sounding 14 cores (6 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores) of Alder Lake CPU inside. Here's the rest of the specs for you to eyeball, but the key features include a standard M.2 Gen 4 SSD and the option for a luscious 3.5K OLED panel.

Display: 13.4 3.5K 3456x2160 OLED touch, 400-nit rated, anti-reflective coating

Processor: Intel 14-core Core i7-1280P

Graphics: Iris Xe Graphics

Memory: 8GB-32GB LPDDR5/5200 (16GB as tested)

Storage: 512GB-2TBGB SSD M.2 Gen 4 PCle (512GB as tested)

Ports: 2 Thunderbolt 4 (3.5mm dongle and USB-A to USB-C dongle included

Camera: 720p with Windows Hello support

Battery: 55Whr

Wireless: WiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1