The regular XPS 13 (no Plus) has long been one of our top Windows laptop recommendations. It stands out in many ways, including the build quality. Dell continues to sell this model and has upgraded it to 12th generation processors. The XPS 13 Plus is a separate model, and as I understand it, it’s for people who want to take that XPS’s performance to the next level — anyone who wants as much raw muscle as they can get in a 13-inch machine. To that end, Dell has pulled out all the stops to make the XPS 13 Plus as slim as possible. The touchpad is tactile and fully integrated into the palm rest. There are hardly any ports. The keyboard has been flattened and the function row has been replaced with a row of touchable LEDs. And the Plus starts at $300 more expensive than its non-Plus counterpart. These are all compromises, it’s Dell’s case, in order to achieve the thinnest and most powerful laptop. Unfortunately, the XPS 13 Plus is not that. It’s more expensive and much hotter than laptops of the same size and weight that offer similar or better power, significantly better battery life, better webcams, and more user-friendly port options — and that’s without even getting into the nitty-gritty of keyboard. I can’t be the only one getting deja vu here. This whole situation gives off vibes of 2016, when Apple made all sorts of changes to the MacBook in the name of thinness that ended up being… not much. Like this 2016 MacBook, this XPS 13 Plus is a beautiful computer with a great display. But even among people who really need to have the Dell brand and Windows OS, I don’t see it as an option.

Good stuff

Thin and light Great OLED screen Powerful P series processor Powerful multi-core performance Excellent construction

Bad things

Luxury pricing It gets very hot under non-extremely intense loads Not long battery life Very few ports (and no headphone jack) The LED function keys are kind of weird The touchpad is invisible and a bit shallow

To start off on a positive note, the XPS 13 Plus is superbly constructed of aluminum and glass. The lid is as sturdy as possible. Keep it closed and you won’t see much difference between it and the old XPS. Durability can sometimes decrease as devices get thinner, but Dell hasn’t compromised on that here. You won’t find a sturdier laptop in the 13-inch space. It’s also a pretty good-looking machine, with the flat keyboard creating a seamless aesthetic that looks decidedly futuristic. My one complaint about the Toner Color review unit’s chassis is that it’s a fingerprint magnet. If this is an issue for you, a platinum color is also available. Unlike the current MacBook Air, there is a small wedge. The other feature is the screen. I tested the OLED model with a resolution of 3456 x 2160 and an aspect ratio of 16:10. It’s a joy to watch with bright and vibrant colors and very little glare. With tiny bezels (91.9 percent screen-to-body ratio), the panel more than earns Dell’s famous ‘InfinityEdge’ title. Note that it’s only 60Hz, which not everyone will care about, but some people definitely will. (I actually had an issue with my first review unit where the screen stopped working after falling off the sofa onto the carpet, even though there was no visible external damage. Dell is sending a replacement unit and I’ll update the article if the problem recurs on it.) I wiped the fingerprints as best I could for you all. I was also pleasantly surprised by the speaker array, which includes two pop-up tweeters below the keyboard and two downward-firing speakers on the base. Percussion was a bit tinny, but sound quality was otherwise excellent with a marked improvement over last year’s XPS 13 (and no distortion at maximum volume, which was a problem I had with the predecessor). I’d say it’s on par with the sound from the M2 MacBook Air, which is pretty good for the class and well ahead of what’s typical with Windows laptops. Equalizer settings can be adjusted in the pre-installed MaxxAudio program. Look at all the ports on this thing. But elsewhere, the sacrifices Dell has made in the name of thinness are evident. Before I get into those, I want to put the size of this machine into context. It’s 0.6 inches thick and 2.77 pounds. (The non-OLED model is 2.71.) It’s portable enough, sure, but there are plenty of thinner and lighter Windows laptops in the 13-inch space, including OLED options and products that are much cheaper than this. The M2 MacBook Air is also noticeably thinner and lighter than this configuration. First compromise: the only ports here are two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports. There isn’t even a headphone jack. One of these USB-Cs is required to charge the laptop. That’s a factor here because the included 60W adapter doesn’t charge the device particularly quickly. Along with light Chrome usage, my unit took an hour and 14 minutes to reach 60 percent. You should factor the price of a USB docking station or hub into the price of this device. There’s totally a touchpad in there, we promise. Second: the touch bar. This isn’t actually a touch bar like Apple’s customizable (and now essentially abandoned) touch bar — it’s a “capacitive touch array.” But like that touchscreen strip, it replaces the array of physical functions that other keyboards have. It’s a series of LEDs that include things like brightness, volume, mic mute, escape, insert, etc. Holding Fn on the keyboard changes the LEDs to normal function keys. My first problem with it, similar to many complaints about Apple’s Touch Bar, is that there’s no haptic feedback, so I’m often not entirely sure if I’ve actually pressed the key. Second, if something got in the line (dust, hair, whatever), I could never brush it without pressing a bunch of buttons in the process and ruining whatever I was doing in the middle. Third, I wasn’t prepared for how disconcerting it would be for keyboard shortcuts that include things like Delete and Escape to require a combination of real keys and fake keys. Maybe this is something you’re used to, but right now it seems very strange. Look at that little backspace key. Cute! Third: the trackpad. When you open the XPS 13 Plus, the first thing you’ll likely notice is that there doesn’t appear to be a touchpad — there’s just a comfortable strip of glass under the keyboard floor. Now, there’s actually a capacitive touch trackpad in the area where you’d expect it to be. It’s just not demarcated in any way and you rely on muscle memory to ensure you click in the right spot. I had no problem with daily navigation here. My right hand instinctively knew where to click. Unfortunately, my left hand hasn’t developed that muscle memory and this became a problem on occasions when I needed to lower it. This was especially burdensome when I needed to click and drag things or highlight text, which usually requires two hands for me. Very often I missed the invisible zone with the first shot of my left hand. The hidden trackpad click is shallow and hard to find by feel Separately, the trackpad click is shallow. Dell actually encouraged reviewers to have their families test the device. (They wouldn’t believe it was a solid piece of glass, we were told.) So I had my mother click it. “It feels weird,” he remarked. I explained that it was a tactile touchpad. “Oh, that makes sense,” he said. I also gave the unit to my younger brother, telling him it was tactile beforehand. “Isn’t that what Apple is?” asked. I confirmed that it was. “Apple is better,” he said as he clicked away with the XPS. It probably depends on the family. One last thing about the trackpad – it broke when my hands were even slightly wet, I often thought it was depressing when I didn’t press it (which made it basically useless). I asked Dell about this and they said this is a common occurrence with all capacitive trackpads (which includes most modern trackpads) and advised me to dry my hands before using the laptop. Fair enough, but I use multiple models of laptops every week and rarely, if ever, experience problems to this extent. From behind it looks normal. I don’t have as much of a problem with the new zero-lattice keyboard, which is completely flat. It’s literally edge to edge now, with almost no space between the keys. If the pictures make you worry that we have the second appearance of the butterfly keyboard on our hands, don’t worry – it’s not that bad. There’s only 1mm of travel, but the keys actually feel quite bouncy while remaining fairly quiet. The caps are wide enough that I had no problem typing quickly and accurately, although the overall feel took some getting used to. There are some tricky layout things that will bother some: the arrow keys are half-height and the power button is pressed next to the backspace key. …