Dell XPS 13 the first great laptop of 2015

Dell's revamped XPS 13 has a nearly borderless display and a very small body for a 13-inch laptop, plus the latest Intel CPUs. This new Dell XPS 13 is the first great laptop of 2015, but it owes that title more to a smart design revamp than Intel's new processors. It takes a lot to move the needle on laptop design.

Hybrids have proved inventive over the past few years, with Yoga-style systems and the slick Surface Pro line redefining what a portable PC can look like. But for clam shells that don't swivel or twist, the flagship design may still be Apple's MacBook Air, which is already several years old.


Dell now steps to the forefront with a laptop design tweak that feels so obvious, it's a wonder we haven't seen it before. Taking a cue from the past few generations of television design, the screen bezel, the outer border of glass and aluminum that surrounds the display, has been reduced to mere millimeters. Dell calls it the infinity display, and describes it as "virtually borderless."

 

It's not truly borderless (a development I'm sure is not too far off), but the difference between this and the previous-generation XPS 13 is striking, and the same can be said comparing this to any other high-end 13-inch laptop or hybrid, from the MacBook Air to the Yoga 3 Pro. This allows the chassis to be smaller than other 13-inch laptops, fitting a 13-inch display into the same body size as an 11 or 12-inch laptop.

At the same time, this is an important laptop for more reasons than just the thin display bezel. This is the first laptop we've tested with one of Intel's new fifth-generation Core i-series CPUs, also known by the codename Broadwell. The new Core i3/i5/i7 processors are just hitting systems in early 2015, and will be found in most new PCs going forward.

The new Dell XPS 13 starts at $799 in the US and AU$1,499 in Australia, which gets you some decidedly entry-level (but still decent) specs, as outlines below. At this time only the previous version of the XPS 13 (without the new display and CPU) is available from Dell's UK website, and that older model starts at £800.

Our review model trades up from the entry-level Core i3 CPU and 128GB SSD flash drive configuration to a Core i5 and 256GB SSD respectively. Just as notably, the 1080p non-touch display in the $799 model has been replaced with a 3,200x1,800 touchscreen one, all for a total price of $1,100 (AUS$1800 in Australia). Premium territory to be sure, but the low starting price for the same excellent build quality and design makes it tempting for mid-price shoppers. 

The latest Intel processor performs fine in its first time out, with decent battery life and speed, but it's not blowing any systems with last-gen CPUs out of the water. It's not the quantum leap you might be expecting from Intel's marketing hype -- maybe it'll get better as Microsoft and software makers optimize for it -- but it's a far sight better than the low-voltage Core M Broadwell chip we test drove late in 2014. That one, designed for super-slim laptops and tablets, didn't live up to our performance or battery life expectations. 

If you gauge performance and battery expectations accordingly, there's little to nothing with which to be disappointed, and quite a lot to love. You'll be looking at the new XPS 13 because it packs a big screen into a small body, and, operating system aside, is almost what most people would think of as their ideal MacBook Air redesign.