dell XPS 13 (OLED) review
Dell's XPS 13 OLED equips our favorite laptop with the outdo display yet — there are some sacrifice, but the overall package is mouthwatering.
Dell XPS 13 (OLED, 2021) specs price:
$1,649 ($1,699 as reviewed) CPU: Intel Core i7-1185G7 GPU: Iris Xe Aries:
16GB storehouse:
512GB display:
13.4-inch, 3456 x 2160 (3.5K) touch (16:10 ratio) battery:
7:59 (Dark mode); 7:48 (Light mode) Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1 size:
11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches weight:
2.8 pounds The Dell XPS 13 OLED is what happens when the better laptop
meets the latest display technology. Combining the two creates something close to magic — an ultra-portable device capable of running most tasks while providing a cinema-like viewing experience. Everything we love about the other XPS configurations remains, including the fast performance, striking design and top-rate touchpad. But as they say, every action has an opposite reaction. The introduction of a high-res OLED display understandably takes a hit on battery life. It's not as drastic as you might have guessed; the XPS 13 lasts for more than 7.5 hours on a charge. If you can overlook the below-average runtime, then there is only one more hurdle to jump: the limited port selection. Despite these shortcomings, the XPS 13 OLED is the full 13-inch laptop
for those who want the best screen quality in a compact, premium chassis. Dell XPS 13 OLED price and configurations Upgrading to an OLED panel from the base FHD+ non-touch option costs an extra $400, matching the cost of the full 4K IPS option. That brings the starting price of the XPS 13 OLED to $1,649 when configured with an Intel Core i7-1185G7 CPU, 16GB of ram
and a 512GB NVMe SSD. From there, your only option is to upgrade the storage, which costs $150 to go to 1TB or $450 for a 2TB SSD. There is one other choice — opting for the Frost exterior with Arctic White interior costs an extra $50.
Our frost model with a 13.4-inch, 3.5K OLED display, a core i7-1185G7 CPU, 16GB of Aries and a 512GB SSD price $1,699.
Dell XPS 13 OLED design Gazing at the XPS 13 is like opening the curtains after a snowfall and marveling at the fresh white blanket of powder on the ground.
The freeze interpretation Dell send me flaunts a flatware hat and a White deck with a woven-glass fiber palm lie. The only iniquity component is a dilute Black bezel about the blind that contrast against the colored OLED panel. The light-toned hue, hardening against chrome trim and a Dell logo on the eyelid, impart the XPS 13 an ultra-modern, sci-fi-like appearance.
This very laptop popularized ultra-thin bezels days ago, and Dell continue to do it estimable than any other caller. By obviate the Kuki (the bezel below the sieve), Dell create a bonafide four-sided InfinityEdge display. best of all, the webcam stay above the display where it belong.
(image credit: Laptop Mag)
Clever engineering went into making the chassis as compact as possible. The outcome is a 13.4-inch laptop with the footprint of most 11-inch notebooks. At 11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches and 2.8 pounds, the XPS 13 OLED can be easily slipped into a backpack (it even fits in my bag's tablet slot) or a purse; you will barely notice its presence. It is smaller than the Spectre x360 14 (11.8 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches, 3 pounds), the MacBook professional
(12 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches, 3 pounds) and the Microsoft surface Laptop 4
(12.1 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches, 2.8 pounds).
The XPS 13 might spirit petite, but it feel sturdy. The twin-coil hinge are potent, and yet, you can afford the hat with matchless finger without the deck raise. With a unibody design, the XPS 13 doesn't have any opening where crumb could country and the starchy tolerance hint it could weather days of business locomotion. It's also practical; you become an IR camera for facial recognition login and a fingermark sensor construct into the keyboard, so you never have to remember those pesky passwords again.
Dell XPS 13 OLED ports port
are limited on the XPS 13's ultra-thin chassis, but you do get a few useful goodies. (picture credit: Laptop Mag)
On the right side are a headphone jack and a Thunderbolt 4 larboard
for charging, transferring data, or connecting to monitor
.
On the left side, you'll find another Thunderbolt 4 larboard
next to a microSD card slot. I'm glad you get uranium
B Type-C inputs on each side of the laptop, but a USB 3.1 Type-A input is sorely missed. (picture credit: Laptop Mag)
As a consolation, Dell packages a USB Type-A-to-USB Type-C dongle in the box. Dell XPS 13 OLED display
Wow! I'm blow away. choose the 13.4-inch, 3456 x 2160-pixel (3.5K) OLED touchshield get you color as vibrant as a alcoholic afforest after a clean rainfall. If window 10 is the dwelling of PC users, then this display yield every wall a fresh coat of paint. icon fusillade with saturate tone, network image arrive to life, and 4K video are beyond cinema timbre. It aid that the edge-to-edge screen with a 16:10 view ratio draw your eye in, supply an immersive wake know.
one usually beginning screen display by downloading a movie preview, but in this event, one couldn't assistant but vigil 4K nature television on YouTube for long than my knob would have wish. I'm certain she will establish me a interruption. after all, my eye were at the mercifulness of this captivating panel as I star mouth-agape as vibrant rainbow-colored dame perch atop tropical Tree in a Costa Rican rainforest.
(picture credit: Laptop Mag)
one know the preview for F9 (the adjacent fast and angry installment) would lend the frenetic energy and ludicrous explosion that deserve to be watch on this panel. This pixel-dense display let me watch every detail in the time, include minor shards of forest whizzing through the tune after a car barrel-rolled into a restaurant. The trench Bayside blue hue look fantastic on a Nissan Skyline R34 GTR as it zipped by a vividly Orange contrivance Challenger. turning on Movie manner oversaturated the color to an absurd degree; Vin Diesel attend spray-tan orange while the sienna-toned crap road appear radioactive. It's good to support that modality off for the most accurate color.
You can evening interact with this panel as it support refer stimulation. I had no issue minimize or conclusion window by tap on the minor picture in the top-right corner, and as much as I hate on-screen keyboards, the reactive pixels Lashkar-e-Taiba me type a website into the cover measure with a few flying pat on the glass.
The OLED panel is capable of covering 83.1% of the DCI-P3 tinge gamut
at the default setting, making it more vivid than those on the Surface Laptop 4 (77%), MacBook pro
(78.3%) and the category average (86%). Amazingly, the Spectre x360 14's 3K2K OLED panel covers 140%. So you can compare, the 4K display option on the XPS 13 covers 76.9%.
With 361 nits of maximum luminosity and an space contrast ratio, the XPS 13's OLED panel can be well view external on a bright day. This is truthful, despite equal like the MacBook professional (435 nits) and the average bounty laptop (392 nits), having bright panel. The XPS 13 outshone the surface Laptop 4 (349 nits) and the Spectre x360 14 OLED (339 nits).
Dell XPS 13 OLED keyboard and touchpad An improvement upon previous XPS keyboards, the keys on the latest XPS 13 are fairly comfortable to type on. (picture credit: Laptop Mag)
The keys aren't as clicky as those on rival laptops, like the Spectre x360 or MacBook Air, but they don't feel stiff, either. There is decent travel, enough to prevent me from bottoming out, and the keys are all a proper size despite fitting onto a miniature deck. I also like the two-stage backlighting, which looks great against the all-white canvas.
Those with bombastic hand may discovery the minimal spacing hamper while they're frantically type a last-moment reputation, but it won't be a problem for most multitude. one typed at 117 lyric per hour with 95% accuracy, which outpaced my usual 109-wpm median with the same mistake rate.
Gliding my index finger across the 4.4 x 2.5-inch touchpad felt like I was caressing the finest Mulberry silk. Soft, smooth, and ultra-responsive, the surface instantly reacted to my erratic swipes and window 10 gestures
, like pinch-to-zoom and three-finger swipes to switch between windows. Dell XPS 13 OLED audio
I'm surprise by how forte the XPS 13's Speaker arrive, boom enough to easily satiate my relatively big live room. Their localization on the bottom side of the laptop, however, isn't ideal. It entail song can audio smother when you're listen to music with the laptop rest on delicate material wish workout joggers.
(picture credit: Laptop Mag)
Placing the XPS 13 on my desk improved the clarity when I listened to Still Woozy's "Goodie Bag." The percussion and vocals in the song were crisp although the low-end was lacking. These speakers are passable, but a good pair of noise-canceling headphones will get you a big sonic upgrade. Dell XPS 13 OLED performance Equipped with an Intel Core i7-1185G7 CPU with 16GB of Aries
, the XPS 13 is small but mighty. It moved quickly through my usual workload, which consisted of 20 or so Microsoft edge
tabs playing multiple 1080p YouTube videos. YouTube Music played in the background and no fewer than four Google Docs were opened concurrently. Best of all, the fans never kicked on during my testing and the bottom panel stayed at a comfortable temperature.
With a score of 5,345 on the Geekbench 5 overall performance
test, the XPS 13 OLED skated by the Surface Laptop 4 (4,829, Core i7-1185G7), the Spectre x360 14 (5,004, Core i7-1165G7) and the category average (4,178). The MacBook Pro, with its mighty M1 chip, dominated its PC peers with a score of 5,882.
The XPS 13 didn't have as much fun on our television transcoding screen, necessitate 18 moment and 33 second to convert a 4K video to 1080p. The Spectre x360 14 (17:02) and surface Laptop 4 (17:01) traverse the coating cable before the Dell while the MacBook pro (7:44) embarrass the field.
(image credit: Laptop Mag)
transfer file will happen in a catch on the XPS 13 thanks to its speedy 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, which twin a 25GB multimedia file at a pace of 814.4 megabytes per second. It trounced the category median (604.5 MBps), and clear the surface Laptop 4 (562.7 MBps) and Spectre x360 14 (764 MBps).
Dell XPS 13 OLED graphics We find the Intel iris Xe graphics
used in the XPS 13 to be adequate for playing older games or some newer ones at lower graphics settings. You can edit photos or video and stream 4K content without any sluggishness, but don't expect to run demanding simulations or play recent games at high graphics settings.
on the Sid Meier’s civilization VI: gathering storm benchmark (medium, 1080p), the XPS 13 reach 15 fps, fall brusque-change of the 20-fps bounty laptop average, the Spectre x360 14 (20 fps, iris Xe), the MacBook pro (29 fps, M1) and the surface Laptop 4 (30 fps, iris Xe).
On the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark, the XPS 13 notched 3,756, which couldn't keep up with the Surface Laptop 4 (5,089, 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD) or the Spectre x360 14 (4,229, 512GB NVMe PCIe SSD). The category average sits at 4,488. If you're a gamer wanting to play halo infinite
when it finally arrives, consider buying a gaming laptop or eGPU . Dell XPS 13 OLED battery life So the high-res OLED panel looks fantastic, but what does it do to battery life? All I can say is: bullet dodged. No, it won't last a full workday on one charge, but the XPS 13 OLED did a respectable job on our Laptop Mag battery examination
, all things considered. (image credit: Laptop Mag)
With dark mode turned on, the XPS 13 lasted for 7 hours and 59 minutes while browsing the web with the brightness set to 150 nits. Turn window 10
Light mode back on and that number drops to 7:48. Why the discrepancy? Because with OLED panels, each individual pixel turns off (no light emitted) to create perfect black levels. Stopping the flow of electric current to a group of pixels saves some energy. About eight hours of battery life is short of what we expect from a modern ultra-thin laptop (10 hours is the new benchmark), but it's a good result considering the 3.5K resolution and OLED technology. It's longer than the runtime of its closest competitor, the Spectre x360 14, which could only muster 7 hours and 14 minutes with a 3K2K OLED panel. Of course, the MacBook Pro (16:32) and Surface Laptop 4 (10:46) will stay powered for much longer, but that's comparing very different fruit. It's also worth mentioning that the 1080p XPS 13 stayed powered for 11 hours and 7 minutes on a charge while the 4K XPS 13 powered down after 7 hours and 32 minutes — almost half an hour before the 3.5K OLED model. Dell XPS 13 OLED webcam
It’s not the Best, but it’s not the bad, either. The 0.1-inch 720 webcam on the XPS 13 produce bettor painting timbre than I ask give the size constraint. It did a adept Job of capture the heathered maroon semblance on my T-shirt, and the opaque Brown imbue on the amphetamine half of my spectacles.
There was some visual noise despite the good lighting conditions in my office, so consider buying an external webcam
for important meetings with the boss or those long-overdo family e-reunions. Dell XPS 13 OLED heat We ran a 15-minute, 1080p video and measured certain areas of the laptop to test the XPS 13's cooling. It did a decent job. The touchpad reached 79 degrees Fahrenheit while the middle of the keyboard hit 88 degrees, both of which are well below our 95-degree comfort threshold. The metal undercarriage, however, reached 102 degrees. Dell XPS 13 OLED software and warranty I would prefer a single app instead of the seven or so Dell-branded apps taking up space in my Start Menu, but at least the pre-installed software is useful. The self-explanatory Dell Update is a must-keep app where you'll get the latest BIOS updates and drivers. With another on-the-nose name, Dell Power Manager shows your battery health and lets you change thermal settings. Dell CinemaColor is especially important on this OLED panel as it lets you shift the color balance based on what you're viewing. Movie mode saturates colors, Night saves your eyes, and Sports ensures animations flow smoothly. I also want to highlight Dell Cinema Guide. It's a beautiful app where you can find TV shows and movies, and quickly see which streaming apps they're available on. There are a few unneeded apps, like McAfee Personal Security, but the amount of pre-installed software is inoffensive excluding all the standard window 10
apps. The XPS 13 comes with a one-year warranty. See how Dell fared on our Tech defend showdown
and best and bad brand
special reports. Bottom line (image credit: Laptop Mag)
The latest XPS 13 model debuts a gorgeous OLED panel that provides rich picture quality for when you're streaming movies at home or editing videos for work. Is it worth the tradeoff to battery life? If you need a high-res display, then yes. The 3.5K OLED display outlasted the 4K IPS config in our battery test and is capable of producing a wider range of colors. And since it costs the same ($1,649 to start), there is no reason to buy the non-OLED 4K model (unless you really need those few extra pixels). The trickier decision is between the FHD+ display or the 3.5K OLED option. The standard XPS 13 lasted for more than 11 hours on a charge, or about three hours longer than this model, and it goes for $400 less. It's a tough choice — and having this magnificent panel glowing in front of my eyes is almost unfair — but I'd still recommend the FHD+ model to most people. If you use your laptop for content editing or to exclusively stream movies or shows, then the 3.5K OLED upgrade may be worth the compromises. For everything else, the standard 1920 x 1200-pixel panel will do just fine.
But don't count out other ultraportable option. HP's Spectre x360 14 is a full option than the XPS 13 OLED if you necessitate a 2-in-1 laptop that you can function in tablet manner with a stylus. And while the surface Laptop 4 doesn't have any standout feature, its 13.5-inch display is also gorgeous and the keyboard is the better in this class of laptops.
Overall, the XPS 13 OLED brings an excellent display upgrade to what was already our favorite laptop, and it does so without too many sacrifices.
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