15/12/2015
The best laptop just got even better. With its latest updates, Dell has given the XPS 13, our favorite notebook, a brighter screen, longer battery life, a new USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 and your choice of Intel's latest 6th-generation Core Series CPUs. Dell also kept all the features we liked on the previous model, including the sexy aluminum and carbon-fiber body, the gorgeous quad-HD infinity display and comfy backlit keyboard on this $1,399 ultraportable ($799 to start). While the location of the we**am still feels out of place and the less-expensive nontouch model offers even longer battery life for less, this latest XPS 13 continues to reign supreme.
Design
Like the previous version from early 2015, the current XPS 13 features a carbon-fiber deck sandwiched between its brushed-metal lid and bottom, which creates an appealing and modern two-toned look. I really like Dell's attention to detail, which is best seen in the bottom-mounted aluminum flap, whose sole purpose is to cover up the ugly service stickers and labels required by the Federal Communications Commission.
When you open the lid, you're treated to Dell's infinity display, which features an almost nonexistent bezel that seems to just disappear into the background. It's intimate and engaging, and when you watch movies, it's feels like the video player is just hovering in midair.
The Infinity display isn't just for looks, either, as the smaller lid means the XPS 13 also has a small footprint. Measuring 11.98 x 7.88 x 0.33-0.6-inches and weighing 2.9 pounds, it's even smaller than some of the tiniest 13-inch systems, including the MacBook Air 13 (12.8 x 8.9 x 0.11-0.68-inches, 2.96 pounds) and the Lenovo Yoga 900 (12.75 x 8.86 x 0.59 inches, 2.8 pounds).
Keyboard And Touchpad
The XPS 13 features a backlit keyboard with two levels of lighting. Dell makes up for the keyboard's somewhat shallow 1.2 mm of travel by adding a good spring at the bottom of the stroke, so even though there's not a lot of room to work with, it's not painful when you bottom out while typing.
On my first attempt at 10fastfingers.com's typing test, I recorded 85 words per minute, which is 5 more words per minute than my typical pace.
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The 4.1 x 2.3-inch touchpad features a seductively smooth matte-black surface that my fingers simply couldn't get enough of.
Even better is the feeling of the touchpad's mouse click, which offers a really satisfying snap every time you press down. As expected, mouse movement and multifinger gestures, such as pinch-to-zoom and two-finger scrolling, responded quickly and accurately.
Display
The Dell XPS 13's 13.3-inch quad-HD (3200 x 1800) touch screen is a sight to behold. It features wide viewing angles, and even better brightness and great color range than the full-HD version of this notebook.
The Infinity display is intimate and engaging, making it seem like the video player is floating in midair.
The result is a display whose picture lags behind only that of the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. When I watched the trailer for Gods of Egypt, the radiant blue light of Horus' eye provided a good contrast to the dark and gloomy dungeon. When compared side by side with the nontouch XPS 13, the quad-HD model featured brighter and more saturated colors, although the nontouch model didn't have to deal with the glare from having a glossy coated screen.
When measured with a light meter, the XPS 13 produced 336 nits of brightness. That's more than the Yoga 900 and the nontouch XPS 13 could muster. However, the pricier Surface Book (387 nits) is brighter.
Color range was on point, with the XPS 13 covering 103.6 percent of the sRGB spectrum. The MacBook Air 13's color range was significantly more limited, at just 66 percent, although the nontouch XPS 13 (92 percent), the Yoga 900 (93 percent) and Surface Book (99) percent) weren't far off.
Interestingly, despite good brightness and great color range, the XPS 13's color accuracy is only slightly bet..
