Dell XPS 13 (Late 2020) Review: Greatness, Pure

This is a simple review. Today, looking at the XPS 13 9310, Dell has the best 13-inch ultraportable laptop in the class. It’s similar to the Dell XPS 13 9300, which I reviewed back in April, in every way, except one: it has Intel’s new 11th General Tiger Lake processors.

The new XPS 13 starts at 999.99. The base model includes a Core i3-1115G4, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, Intel’s UHD integrated graphics and a 1920 x 1200 touch display. But the most striking feature of the Tiger Lake line is Intel’s new Iris Z integrated graphics. Samples with those graphics start at 1,099.99 (currently listed at $ 1,077.99) and include a quad-core i5 1135G7 or i7-1165G7. You can go up to 4 2,499.99 models with 32GB RAM, 2TB storage and 3840 x 2400 touchscreen. I tested the 1,649.99 configuration (listed at લેખ 1,616.99 as of this writing), which includes 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

If you haven’t read my review of the XPS 13 9300 since the beginning of this year, go ahead and do it now because what I said about the exterior of that machine applies here as well. TL; DR: That’s really good. The chassis is made of CNC-machined aluminum, the logo is stainless steel, the screen is Corning Gorilla Glass 6; Palm rats are woven glass fibers with a distinctive texture. It’s about the laborious, sturdy and best build quality you’ll find in a laptop. It is also portable (2.8 pounds and 0.58 inches thick). The speakers are adequate, the keyboard is snug and comfortable, and the touchpad is simple and easy to click. Another highlight is the 16:10 display with a 91.5 percent screen-to-body ratio, which gives you more space than most consumer laptops (which is 16: 9). You will see the difference.

The two main downsides: the port choice is Meh (two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4, a headphone jack and a microSD reader), and a 2.25mm 720p webcam is not excellent for delivering blurry and washed out pictures. It does not include privacy shutter or kill switch.

Like I said, if you want to read in more detail about the exterior of a laptop, check out the 9030 review. What we are focusing on here is the performance of the new processor and whether the 1165G7 (and its Xe graphics) is an improvement over the Ice Lake Generation. The answer is yes. But it’s not emphatically or particularly excited yes.

It is also one of the first systems to be tested by Intel’s new EVO program. Giving the laptop an EVO badge, Intel claims to certify that it offers many benchmarks for “premium” thin and light laptops – Tiger Lake processor, Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6, full day battery life. Charging, fast boot time and, most importantly, solid real-world performance.

In daily tasks, 1165G7 is precisely measured. He was never impressed by my Chromebooks, apps and occasional Spotify, YouTube and Zoom C calls overtop – no slowdown or delay. During everyday use I never heard the fans even once and never felt the heat. If you are using this configuration for work or school, you should not experience any performance issues.

I’ve also seen a slight improvement in content creation. The 9310 took 10 minutes and 43 seconds to complete our real-world media testing, including exporting 5 minutes, 33-second 4K video to Adobe Premiere Pro. It’s a little faster than any laptop with an IceLake CPU and integrated graphics. The IB Plus Pro 13 with Iris Plus graphics took 11 minutes and 26 seconds, and the Surface Laptop 3 took just over 15 minutes. It’s better than what we’ve seen from other 1165G7 systems. Asus’s Zenbook 14 was about a minute slow.

Here’s the thing: When it comes to productivity, this XPS is good. It’s the excitement of his predecessor (and I’d be very worried if it weren’t for that). The 9300 (and other Ice Lake systems), on the other hand, was already good. Chrome tab loading speed and Premier Pro export time difference Earth-Vimu. Not so much that I can see that it makes a difference in the life of the average XPS 13 user. If you already have a comparable Ice Lake system or you are considering buying one to reduce costs, I would not urge you to upgrade.

Connoisseurs, for whom it is worth upgrading are people who want to play some light games. On titles with lighter textures (you just want to run on a laptop like this), the XPS 13 performed significantly better than its predecessor. Its average is 111 fps Of the Rocket League Maximum settings without speaking below 100; The 9300 scored 70fps with a minimum of 41. 9310 also won League of Legends, 205fps averages, while its predecessor averages below 160. (Of course, the XPS 13’s screen is only 60 Hz, so your experience in these games won’t change. You’ll see 60fps on any machine.) And it will beat its predecessor. Overwatch, Average of 48fps on ultra settings from a low-40 average of 9300 – 10 ish percent.

Better news for Intel: When it comes to gaming, those results put Tiger Lake a little ahead of AMD competitors. IdeaPad Slim 7 with AMD’s eight-core Raizen 7 4800U, same average 46fps Overwatch Settings. (You won’t see that difference when you actually play.)

Unfortunately, the games demanded in 1080p are still out of reach of this machine. Chug by 9310 Shadow of the Tomb Rider With an average of 22fps. This is a respectable increase from the Ice Lake XPS, which averages 17fps on the same title, but you can’t really play the game (at the original resolution) on any machine. So while Tiger Lake will give you a better experience with some of your titles, it probably won’t expand the range of games you can play. (We expect gambling to improve over time.)

I think this form factor is also close to the limit of what cools. Throughout my entire gaming session, the CPU hit 100 degrees Celsius on a few points, and spent a lot of time in the 90s. (There was toasting during the keyboard, but not quite uncomfortable.) It’s hotter than I’d like to see, and I’m worried that if Dell continues this design and doesn’t make significant gains in Intel’s chips functionality, the XPS 13 will run. Hit the wall when it comes to impact.

In the end, battery life was a pleasant surprise. I got nine hours and 15 minutes using this XPS as my primary work driver at about 200 brightness. It’s not the top in the time category, but it does mean you should walk to work or school day at leisure. The caveat is that I have all the things to save a battery battery – Windows Battery Saver Profile, Dell’s Battery Extender, Intel’s Display Power Savings, etc. When I was running a trial on Windows Better Performance Profile with Battery Extender, expect close to six hours. I just didn’t find the difference in performance between those two scenarios when I was just working office streaming and streaming, so I recommend that you do battery saving stuff if you’re interested all day.

This XPS has an edge of influence beyond what we have seen so far in 2020. The Tiger Lake processor is a respectable step, especially in graphics performance. People working with graphics and video will probably find this increase the most useful. For everyone else who mostly uses the XPS 13 for school and office fee tasks, both the Ice Lake and Tiger Lake system should be good – no upgrade required. Gaming performance clearly varies by title – gamers can see a significant difference, or see very little. But if you play the seemingly lighter fare that Ice Lake is already tearing up (which is probably for the good part of those gaming on XPS 13), you won’t see an improvement on this screen.

So overall, the XPS 13 is still an excellent laptop. It’s still one of the best you can buy. But not as sturdy as I was earlier this year, as the competition grows. ZenBook, Swift, Yoga, Invis and Specter have all taken steps in design, build, Nifty features and performance this year – and there’s an ARM-based MacBook on the way. There are few releases on the horizon that look more and more like the XPS 13.

This is the best laptop of 2020 with multiple solutions and minimal risks. But Dell will need to be creative if it wants to keep XPS at the top of the stack in 2021.

Photography by Monica Chin / The Verge