High way to Dell

Fresh looks and some smart new additions put the XPS 13 Plus a level above one of the best Windows laptops around. But is it worth the extra outlay?

- Tom Morgan-Freelander

TESTED DELL XPS 13 PLUS

from £1299 / stuff.tv/13Plus

Minimalism: it's not just an art movement. Doing more with less is one of 2022's biggest tech trends, and now Dell is getting involved. Flat is where it's at for the XPS 13 Plus, a head-turning ultraportable that builds on everything we love about the firm's compact laptops.

And less really is more here: 'Plus' means a beefier CPU than what you'll find in an XPS 13, as well as an invisible touchpad, a flush keyboard and a row of light-up function keys. Just don't call it a Touch Bar.

Our review unit came with a 12-core Intel i7-1260P chip, paired with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD (adding up to £1949), but you can spec it up to an even more potent i7-1280P. There are also various touch and non-touch displays, including a 3.5K OLED; ours had a 3840x 2400 touchscreen LCD.

This is undeniably a distinctive offering. But does 'Plus' also translate to 'better'?

Hell's shells

From the outside, there's little to separate this from the regular XPS 13. Both are aluminium and both are seriously svelte (1). The featherweight Plus is a perfect travel companion, if not the absolute lightest laptop out there; it feels robust, with a firm screen hinge and a lack of flex.

Whole lotta glowsie