Every few years, the PC industry needs a brutal reminder that most of us aren’t made of money. Apple’s $600 MacBook Neo was a wake-up call for many in the industry: a reminder that there is a demand for sub-$1000 laptops that doesn’t suck. According to first impressions, Dell XPS 13 He seems to be doing everything necessary. But there is one detail that hardly fails.
The XPS 13 starts at $700, although you can get the device for $600 with a student discount. As for the specs, it doesn’t sound very exciting; the base model has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage (both similar to the MacBook Neo). It’s running an Intel Core 5, one of the new Wildcat Lake chips made for low-end PCs. At first glance, it should be perfectly fine for working and streaming.
I wasn’t able to benchmark the system or open a ton of Chrome tabs during my brief hands-on time, but I was able to pet the chassis. I’m happy to report that the full CNC aluminum case feels solid. It’s not heavy at 2.2 pounds and I can confirm it’s a hair thinner than the MacBook Neo. I enjoyed the feel of its keys more than the Apple Magic Keyboard. As for connectivity, you’re limited to just two USB-C ports, which convert to Thunderbolt 4 if you buy a more expensive version containing Intel’s Panther Lake. Someone will complain about the lack of a headphone jack, although it won’t be me, as this device also supports Bluetooth 6 and Wi-Fi 7.
The screen was a curious case. It’s a full 2.5K touch panel, but it didn’t seem particularly bright. It supports a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and up to 30Hz, which may help surpass the Neo’s maximum 60Hz for some hesitant customers.
The only aspect that gave me pause was the trackpad. Apple’s Neo design featured a mechanical pad instead of the haptic pad that adorns the macbook air either macbook prowhich is not as stylish as its premium siblings but still feels great to use. The XPS 13 also uses a mechanical pad, but its responsiveness was disappointing in comparison. In my testing, it was most sensitive near the bottom of the deck and nearly impossible to press toward the top. The XPS trackpad may not be as bad as what you’ll find on other laptops, but in terms of pure usability, it’s a disappointing miss.
I also didn’t have the opportunity to test how this device sounds. Apple’s MacBook Neo includes two 2W side-mounted speakers with sound quality you won’t mind listening to without headphones. The XPS 13 has four speakers, but they all fire downwards, so the sound quality could really go in either direction. I’ll have to spend more time with the laptop to determine if its audio deserves a passing grade.
There is several more laptops here at Computex, like the $600 Acer Swift Air 14that aim to compete with the MacBook Neo, but Dell has been the most explicit and determined in its desire to dethrone Apple in budget laptops. The only thing that matters is that we will have more quality laptop options at the low end, and that is a good thing.
