Dell XPS 13 (2020, 11th Gen) review

Our Verdict

The Dell XPS 13 (11th Gen) makes the best laptop you can purchase even better with a fast Tiger Lake CPU and a stunning bezel-less InfinityEdge display.

For

Stunning pattern
Gorgeous, immersive display
Comfortable keyboard
Bang-up overall operation

Against

Blurry webcam
Slim port option
Bombardment life could be better

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Dell XPS xiii (11th Gen) makes the best laptop you can buy fifty-fifty amend with a fast Tiger Lake CPU and a stunning bezel-less InfinityEdge display.

Pros

+
Stunning design
+
Gorgeous, immersive brandish
+
Comfortable keyboard
+
Great overall performance

Cons

-
Blurry webcam
-
Slim port selection
-
Battery life could be better

Dell XPS xiii (11th Gen) specs

Price: $979 (starting)
CPU: 11th Gen Intel Cadre i3/i5/i7
RAM: 8GB/16GB
Storage: 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB SSD
Graphics: Intel Iris Plus/Intel Iris Xe
Size: eleven.seven 10 8.2 x 0.five inches
Weight: 2.9 pounds

At this indicate, it'due south difficult to imagine the Dell XPS xiii getting much better. This virtually-perfect notebook has sat at the top of our best laptops rankings for years, cheers to fast performance and a gorgeously sleek design that Dell has made thinner and more bezel-less with every iteration.

But laptop processors are always evolving, which is why the latest Dell XPS 13 has gotten even faster thanks to Intel's new 11th Gen CPUs and integrated Xe graphics. Combine that with the stunning four-sided InfinityEdge display introduced in this year'south model, a wonderfully portable design and a comfy keyboard and touchpad, and you have an even better version of the one of the all-time Windows laptops.

However, every bit you'll see in our Dell XPS xiii (11th Gen) review, there are a few quirks to be aware of before you buy the latest version of Dell'due south flagship laptop. And thanks to new contest from the amazing MacBook Air M1 and MacBook Pro M1, the XPS thirteen may non agree its spot on the pinnacle of the mount through to 2022.

Thanks to Blackness Fri deals, you can currently become the Dell XPS xiii for a deal price.

Dell XPS 13 price and availability

The new Dell XPS thirteen is bachelor now and starts at $899 (a sale cost from the "normal" $1,059 price, as Dell always lists two prices). For that money, you get an 11th Gen Intel Core i3-1115G4 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and Intel UHD graphics.

Stepping up to a $989 (down from $1,159) configuration gets you a Core i5 processor with Intel Iris Xe graphics, while bumping upwards to the $i,259 (normally $ane,458) model nosotros reviewed will get you lot a Core i7 CPU, a bigger 512GB SSD and a touch display. If you want to go all out, there'a a $i,493 (regularly $1,758) model that includes 16GB of RAM and a 4K screen.

The XPS xiii comes in silver and black past default, but y'all can get the stunning Arctic White variation for an actress $45 (Dell took $5 off this toll, but we wish it was costless). Other optional upgrades include upwardly to a 2TB SSD and a 4K Infinity Edge display.

Dell XPS 13 blueprint

The Dell XPS thirteen with Tiger Lake is the 4th modern XPS I've reviewed this twelvemonth, and I'm still not tired of getting my hands on Dell'south best-in-form design. This thing is equally compact, lightweight and gorgeous as premium laptops get, with a slick aluminum outer shell and a gorgeous Chill White interior that makes nigh competitors look boring.

Dell XPS 13 (2020, 11th Gen) review — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The Tiger Lake XPS 13 features the same updated pattern that Dell rolled out earlier this twelvemonth, which is a very proficient thing. Dell's latest InfinityEdge brandish is as close to bezel-less every bit the visitor has gotten on an XPS, and that's with a proper webcam placed upwardly top.

The new XPS 13 feels wonderfully tiny and lightweight at 11.7 x eight.2 ten 0.five inches and 2.9 pounds, which is more graceful and almost as low-cal every bit the new MacBook Air M1.

Dell XPS 13 ports

The XPS 13's slim design comes at the expense of a slim port pick, consisting of simply two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, a microSD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

You do get a USB-C to USB-A adapter out of the box for connecting older accessories, only y'all'll likely need to bound for a dongle or USB-C hub if you're the type to use lots of peripherals and monitors with your laptop.

Dell XPS xiii brandish

The 13.4-inch 1920 x 1200 display on the new XPS 13 looks as gorgeous as ever, thanks to Dell's latest InfinityEdge design that cut down the chunky bottom bezel from the 2019 model. Every bit a event, the latest XPS 13 offers a truly immersive, almost-borderless viewing experience complete with a whopping 91.5% screen-to-body ratio.

When watching The Witcher on Netflix, I saw rich greens, yellows and pinks burst off the screen as Geralt chatted up Stregobor the sorcerer in a lush outdoor oasis. I could also make out tons of fine detail, from individual bits of stubble in Henry Cavill's ridiculously chiseled face up to the tiny creases on his leather armor.

Dell'southward latest laptop gets plenty brilliant, registering a strong 469 of brightness on our calorie-free meter. That beats out the Asus ZenBook Flip S (375 nits), besides as Apple'southward latest MacBook Air (365 nits).

The new XPS 13's gorgeous real-world color performance was largely reflected on our tests, as information technology covered a strong 97.9% of the sRGB color gamut. However, both the ZenBook (160%) and MacBook Air (114%) did even better.

Dell XPS 13 audio

The XPS xiii's speakers tin can go loud enough to fill a pocket-size room, but yous'll want a defended audio device for serious music listening or binge watching. The twirly guitars, soft rollicking drums and pleading vocals of Julien Bakery'southward "Faith Healer" came through decently articulate at medium volume, but the vocal became unpleasantly buzzy one time I cranked things all the fashion.

The energetic pop stone of Tigers Jaw's "Warn Me" fared a flake amend at full volume, as the warm distorted guitars, cracking drums and intertwining vocal harmonies all shone. Merely again, the track sounded muddier than I'd similar information technology to on total blast.

The XPS thirteen'southward MaxxAudioPro app is enabled by default, and gives a boost to the laptop's overall audio output while providing things similar a customizable EQ and head-tracking for optimal positional audio. The app significantly enhances whatever y'all're listening to, as the laptop'southward music output sounded even softer and tinnier with information technology off. Only you'll still want to spring for the all-time calculator speakers or best headphones if you desire to hear your favorite songs and shows at full quality.

Dell XPS thirteen operation

Armed with Intel's new 11th Gen Tiger Lake CPUs, the new XPS thirteen delivers some of the best functioning we've seen from Dell'south already blazing notebook. The latest XPS thirteen chewed through my usual multitasking load without a unmarried stutter, even as I bounced betwixt more than than a dozen Chrome tabs while listening to music on Spotify and chatting on Discord and Slack for hours on end.

So just how big a bump does Tiger Lake provide? The new XPS xiii scored v,254 on the Geekbench v general performance test, which is a notable improvement from the 4,847 we got from our tenth Gen model and beats our 11th Gen powered Asus ZenBook Flip South UX371 (3,880). Dell's laptop doesn't quite measure out up to the 5,896 we saw from Apple's new M1 chip on the latest MacBook Air, however.

Our XPS 13's 512GB SSD performed solidly on our file transfer test, copying roughly 5GB of files at a speedy 806 MB per second. However, our Zenbook Flip S' 1TB drive turned in a faster 1,296 MBps.

Dell's laptop wasn't the fastest on our Handbrake video editing test, taking nigh 18 minutes to convert a 4K video to 1080p. That'due south faster than the ZenBook'south 22 minutes, simply the MacBook Air completed the test more than than twice as fast at 7 minutes and 44 seconds.

The PugetBench Photoshop test proved to be a like story. The latest XPS 13 turned in a solid 588 in the photo editing criterion, merely fell behind both the tenth Gen model (656.seven) and the 652 we saw from the new MacBook Air.

Dell XPS thirteen graphics

The new Dell XPS 13 packs Intel'due south new Iris Xe integrated graphics, which showed some notable improvements from the integrated Iris Plus graphics found in previous-gen laptops.

The crash-land to Xe delivered some nice gains on the 3DMark Fire Strike exam, scoring 3,598 versus the ii,837 we saw on our 10th Gen XPS 13 with standard Iris Plus graphics. That's in line with the 3,351 we got from our Tiger Lake ZenBook Due south, which also saw similar improvements compared to 10th Gen machines.

However, other results were mixed. The XPS 13 ran the Culture 6: Gathering Tempest game at 15.seven frames per 2d, which is really lower than the 18.7 fps nosotros got from our 10th Gen model and a fraction of the 36 fps we saw from Apple's new M1 MacBook Air.

Dell XPS 13 keyboard and touchpad

The latest XPS 13 keyboard is a joy to type on, with smoothen, boisterous keys that allowed me to work comfortably for hours at a time. I jammed away at Dell's keyboard at a speedy 104 words per infinitesimal with about-perfect accuracy on the 10FastFingers typing test, and never felt any discomfort throughout.

The XPS xiii's four.vii x 3.2 touchpad was just as intuitive, allowing me to easily scroll through spider web pages, pinch to zoom and perform multi-finger gestures without any resistance. Dell's latest laptop features 9% larger keycaps and a 17% larger touchpad than the previous generation, so yous're getting even more real estate for hammering out documents and emails all solar day long.

Dell XPS 13 webcam

The XPS 13's webcam quality is fairly standard for a laptop webcam, which is to say that its disappointingly blotchy and blurry. I'thou impressed that Dell was able to cram a 720p camera into the laptop's tiny top bezel, and it does take infrared back up for instant facial logins via Windows Hello. But if you desire to await clear in an historic period of constant video calls, you'll want to bound for i of the best webcams and not rely on the XPS 13's built-in camera.

Dell XPS 13 bombardment life

The latest Dell XPS 13 lasted for eleven hours and 7 minutes on our custom battery test, which consists of endless web surfing over Wi-Fi on the new Microsoft Edge browser.

While that will get you through a full workday and and so some, it's less juice than we saw from the 10th Gen XPS 13 (12:39) using a slightly unlike version of our test. And it doesn't concord a candle to the incredible 14 hours and 40 minutes of endurance we eked out of the new M1-powered MacBook Air.

Dell XPS xiii verdict

The Dell XPS 13 (11th Gen) largely makes the best laptop around even better, bringing even better speed and improve graphics performance in most situations. That'due south coupled with the many subtle improvements Dell already made to the XPS 13 this year, including a truly bezel-less InfinityEdge display and an even more than comfortable keyboard and touchpad.

All the same, a scattering of performance quirks hold the XPS 13 back from being truly perfect. While it'southward xi-hr battery volition be more enough for most folks, the 10th Gen XPS xiii lasted fifty-fifty longer. And our benchmark tests revealed some areas where Tiger Lake hasn't quite delivered the kinds of gains we'd expect from a new generation.

If you want fifty-fifty faster performance and batter bombardment life (and don't mind switching to macOS), the new MacBook Air with Apple tree'south blazing M1 processor is well worth a look. Only the latest XPS 13 still admittedly shines during everyday use, and remains the all-time Windows laptop you can buy today.

Mike Andronico is Senior Writer at CNNUnderscored and was formerly Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. When not at work, you can normally catch him playing Street Fighter, devouring Twitch streams and trying to convince people that Hawkeye is the all-time Avenger.