Previewed earlier in the year during CES, Dell’s first real entry in the thin and light Ultrabook market has arrived, packing in a 13 inch screen into a much smaller 11 inch form factor.
Bringing its own design to the Ultrabook table, Dell has designed the XPS 13 to be both thin, light, and compact. Most of the Ultrabooks we’re seeing at the moment feature a 13 inch screen, and while the XPS 13 doesn’t differ here, Dell has managed to make the footprint of the computer closer to that of an 11 inch computer, offering a smaller computer that should be even easier to take with you.
Adding to this, the company has built the case out of aluminium and used carbon fibre in the base, effectively lightening and strengthening the case in one hit.
Corning’s scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass has also been used to cover the 13.3 inch 1366×768 screen, helping to stop any scratches or breaks if the laptop is mistreated in any way.
Inside the XPS 13, you can expect an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, 4GB RAM, either a 128GB or 256GB solid-state drive, 1.3 megapixel camera, glass button touchpad, one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port, mini DisplayPort, and a headset jack.
Dell is promising a decent battery experience, with up to almost nine hours on offer in this laptop. We’ll be looking forward to testing that out when review models are available.
Several models of the XPS 13 are being released this week, with an Intel Core i5 equipped model and 128GB solid-state drive fetching a $1199 recommended retail price, while a faster Intel Core i7 and 256GB SSD variant will also be made available from $1699 RRP. Like a lot of Dell laptops, each model can be customised to match specific needs.
