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Apple reset the budget laptop market earlier this year when it debuted MacBook Neoa machine with superior design to anything close to its $599 price and sufficient performance for most students. It was only a matter of time before Windows laptop makers responded, and Dell has responded with the XPS 13. XPS is Dell’s premium brand, but it designed its entry-level XPS 13 model for students that brings it close to what they’d pay for a Neo.
The XPS 13 follows on the heels of Dell’s relaunch of its XPS line with XPS 14 and XPS 16. The XPS 13 starts at $699, and students can purchase it for $599. That’s $100 more than the base model Neo, which costs $499 with Apple’s education discount, but the XPS 13 has some advantages over the Neo.
Campus Battle: Dell XPS 13 vs. MacBook Neo
You can’t use a MacBook without offering a sleek, all-metal design, and it looks like Dell has done just that with the XPS 13. The aluminum chassis is thin at just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 2.2 pounds. That’s half a pound lighter than the Neo.
Based on a 13.4-inch 2.5K LCD display, up to 120Hz variable refresh rate and touch support, the XPS 13 offers a slightly larger screen than the Neo. The Neo’s display is also not a touchscreen and has a standard 60Hz frequency.
The $599 XPS 13 has a six-core Intel Core 5 Series 3 processor and integrated Intel graphics with two Xe GPU cores, and you can upgrade to a Core Ultra 7 Series 3 chip with an eight-core integrated GPU for more oomph. Memory starts at 8GB and goes up to 32GB, while SSD storage starts at 256GB and goes up to 1TB. The Neo also starts with the A18 Pro’s hexa-core CPU coupled with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
The XPS 13 is thin and light and will likely last for long trips across campus.
There are four features that favor the XPS 13: speakers, biometrics, wireless networking, and keyboard backlighting. The XPS 13 has quad speakers for the Neo’s pair of stereo speakers, so audio output will likely be better with the XPS 13. It also has a Windows Hello webcam so you can use facial recognition for easy and secure logins. Without an infrared webcam or fingerprint scanner, the Neo suffers from a distinct lack of biometrics. The XPS 13 offers Wi-Fi 7, while the Neo offers previous-generation Wi-Fi 6E. Finally, the XPS 13 has a keyboard backlight for term papers and late-night study sessions, while the Neo does not.
Dell makes a vague battery life claim that it’s “targeting up to 17 hours of streaming” with the XPS 13. This should give students longer on a single charge than the Neo, which lasted 13.5 hours in our video streaming battery drain test. We’ll need to test the XPS 13 to confirm Dell’s 17-hour number, but we’ve seen good results so far with laptops based on Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors, so 17 hours isn’t out of the question.
The XPS 13 relies on a 13.4-inch touchscreen.
One element in favor of neophytes: color. Apple offers the MacBook Neo in three fun colors, in addition to the basic silver color. The XPS 13 comes in two colors – Sky and Storm – and from the images, each looks like a different shade of gray or silver.
Dell says the $100 discount on the XPS 13 will be available to students ages 16 and older. So, basically high school sophomores and up. Sorry, student!
the XPS 13 “coming soon.” Dell did not immediately respond to my inquiry about the availability of the XPS 13 and when and for how long the student discount will start.
