“The Dell XPS 13 is the first real competitor to the MacBook Neo”
Antonio G. Di Benedetto, writing at The Verge:
While the MacBook Neo is still the clear winner in performance, the XPS 13 is its best competition yet. Dell has positioned this as an affordable student laptop, just like the Neo, and the company has mostly nailed it — at least in the US, where the XPS 13 seems to be much cheaper than in other regions (sorry, international friends). The models with 8GB RAM are even the same price as the Neo, at $699.99 for 265GB of storage and $799.99 for 512GB.
Val wanted a new laptop, and asked for a Windows-based machine. As much as she knows I don’t want to support Windows, she’s got years of experience on Windows machines from work, and just isn’t as comfortable on the Mac. She also asked to keep it relatively inexpensive. I’ve seen good reviews of the new XPS 13 like the one linked here (but before that article was published), and decided that was the one we’d get. I convinced her we should spend the extra money to get the 16 GB version. I’ve been helping to set it up for her over the past few days.
The Dell XPS 13 is the first real competitor to the MacBook Neo
Call it a comeback.
He continues:
The XPS 13 is the nicest-looking and -feeling Windows laptop you’re going to find at this price. It’s just as sleek as a MacBook Neo or Air, and at 2.2 pounds / 1kg and 0.5 inches / 12.7mm thick, it’s lighter than the Air and almost as thin. The XPS is an exquisite laptop to hold, and it practically disappears into a bag. The screen has much thinner bezels than a Neo, and it’s equally bright and colorful — but with 120Hz refresh and touch support rather than the Neo’s 60Hz non-touch screen. It even has an anti-glare finish the Neo doesn’t offer.
This is my experience as well. The packaging and unboxing experience is very nice and surprisingly minimal—just the laptop, a small charging brick, and a USB-C cable. The instructions are online, accessible from a QR code. The machine itself, wrapped in a light, black bag, is surprisingly thin and light. I haven’t used a MacBook Neo, which is what this is aimed at competing with, but I do have a modern MacBook Air here, and the XPS 13 feels smaller and lighter. It doesn’t feel quite as premium as the Air, but it really does feel good.
Once you push it a bit, it’s clearly an entry-level machine—it slows down when installing software and running more intensive tasks—but it handles everyday tasks with aplomb. I’m not this machine’s target, but it seems to be a really nice fit for Val, and I’m glad it’s on the market. Kudos to Dell for making such a nice, relatively affordable machine.