The iconic XPS line is getting a new artificially intelligent-powered variant led by Intel’s new Core Ultra Processor Series 2 chip.
As more Windows laptop OEMs experiment with the Copilot + PC framework, Dell is redrafting its XPS – 9350 models to be a bit thinner at only 2.6 pounds and 14.8mm thick. Dell is keeping the iconic minimalistic design that’s accented by either a pearl white or gunmetal grey colorways options.
Dell continues to lean on its future leaning design of seamless glass touchpad that blend into the palm rests to present a clean singular area below the keypad, capacitive function keys and flush keycaps, which have been enlarged with a subtle increase 0.3mm of a deeper indent.
The industry leading 13.4-inch InfinityEdge display remains an outstanding panel that boasts up to 2880 x 1800 of resolution with 100% DCI-P3 color support and configurations with 120Hz variable refresh rate. However, Dell is following one industry competitor in releasing a TandemOLED variant this time around that should deliver brighter displays while sipping significantly lower power simultaneously, in addition to its standard OLED options that deliver 5 million individually lit pixels.
Moving beyond subtle hardware changes, Dell’s biggest improvements for the XPS 13 this year will be in what’s running under the hood and the future experiences it’s going to power for users. Intel recently took the wraps off its Core Processors Series 2 chips and Dell stuffed them into the XPS 13 already. The Series 2 once again aims at AI processing with improved NPU (48 TOPS) performance in conjunction with Intel’s integrated Arc graphics or NVIDIA’s connected GPUs for up to 3.1x the performance over last year’s model.
Offloading some previously demanding CPU cycles to the NPU, Intel is promising up to 26-hour battery life (on FHD+ models). Anecdotally, testing the Snapdragon variant that gets routinely up to 19hrs under moderate use, I’m excited for what Intel can muster.
Unlike Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chipset offering, Dell is providing customers with several SoC configurations that include Ultra 5, Ultra 7, and Ultra 9 ranging from 8 to 12 core support.
Dell is also supporting Wi-Fi 7 on these devices which should also aid in the battery life department for the XPS 13 thanks to its more efficient low-latency connectivity.
As for the AI experiences, Dell touts’ video, audio, and graphics content creation as highlight of the Dell XPS via MAGIX Vegas Pro, Audacity, Adobe, and Luminar Neo as software that helps stretch the battery while avoiding any performance sacrifices.
Davinci Resolve recently removed the beta tag from its industry-leading video content creation software, and it runs like butter on the Windows on Arm platform which bodes well for the native client aided by this new processor.
While Microsoft’s flagship Recall AI platform is still missing in action, customers can still make use of Copilot for general AI tasks, Cocreate for imaging tasks, Windows Studio Effects for improved conferencing tasks such as presence detection, intelligent audio, and high-resolution imaging via standard webcams.
Most of these AI features can be summoned by the new dedicated Copilot button that replaces the former context menu key on most Windows keyboard decks.
Unfortunately, the port selection remains anemic on the XPS 13 with only two Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports slotted on either side of the device.
The Dell XPS 13 is available for pre-order today and starts at $1,399.99 US and $1,899.99 CA.
