How to make the best Windows laptop even better?
Putting an OLED screen on it is not a bad way to start.
The Dell XPS 13 OLED has just that, packing a nearly borderless 13-inch display that makes watching movies, editing photos, and even catching up on Slack chats all the more fascinating, though it does come with a few caveats.
The new deluxe display aside, it's from the same XPS 13 family that has long been our favorite Windows laptop, thanks to its slim design, fast overall performance, and comfortable keyboard.
However, the laptop's speakers and webcam could still improve and the battery life of this particular model suffers a bit due to the high-resolution OLED display.
Is the XPS 13 OLED worth splurging over the standard model?
Here's what we think of after weeks of working and playing on Dell's latest laptop.
The who, what and how
Who's it for:
The Dell XPS 13 OLED is for people who are looking for the best overall Windows laptop for basic work and entertainment, and who don't mind splurging on an extra-immersive display.
Those who don't want to go for the OLED display will be fine with the standard XPS 13.
What you need to know:
The Dell XPS 13 OLED offers the same great, compact design, comfortable keyboard, and fast performance we've enjoyed, but with an OLED display for more vivid images.
However, this laptop's battery life isn't nearly as good as its competitors (probably because of that OLED screen), and its webcam and speakers could use some improvement.
How it compares: It
outshines its closest competitor on the Surface Laptop 4 in terms of build quality, overall performance, and screen richness, although Microsoft's laptop has a taller screen, deeper keyboard, and better screen life. Battery.
Dell's laptop is a great Windows alternative to the MacBook Air, although Apple's laptop offers more overall power and endurance, as well as a superior webcam.
It's all about the OLED screen
Dell XPS 13 OLED
MX $ 32,960
Buy it here
The Dell XPS 13's screen has always been its forte, especially since Dell cut almost all the bezels on the 2020 models to offer a truly immersive display for work and play. It was hard to imagine this laptop's display getting any better, but Dell managed to add OLED to the mix, and the results are impressive.
OLED displays are known for delivering especially deep blacks and high contrast, two advantages that immediately became apparent as soon as we laid eyes on the 13.3-inch InfinityEdge display on the XPS.
Black Slack and Twitter backgrounds looked incredibly bold and rich in dark mode, allowing messages and tweets to arrive in a satisfying and legible way.
The other way around it looked great too - the black text showed up nicely on top of the white backgrounds in Google Docs, but if you're someone who finds the dark mode more pleasing and easy on the eyes, you'll especially love this screen.
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Of course, the OLED display on the XPS 13 is good for more than just reading text. An 8K nature video exploded in vivid color and lifelike detail on the Dell screen - the orange-brown fur in a deer pack and the bright greens of a forest were especially eye-catching and we could see every strand of fur in a lion's mane. during a close-up. When watching the same video on a Surface Laptop 4, there was a marked difference in saturation and vibrancy that made Microsoft's still impressive display look dull in comparison.
While the XPS 13 OLED makes a big screen even better, the laptop's audio output is still fine.
Energetic rock tracks like "Nervous Wreck" from Real Friends got quite loud, while the quieter indie tunes from Julien Baker's "Relative Fiction" performed much better.
The XPS 13's speakers also make it easy to hear your colleagues during work calls, but you'll probably need to find a pair of headphones or speakers if you plan to use it to enjoy lots of music or movies on this laptop.
A magnificent design
OLED display aside, the latest XPS 13 is more of the same, and that's largely a great thing. Dell's flagship laptop is still one of the most attractive PCs you can buy, with thin edges and a comfortable interior that looks especially impressive in Arctic White. And if you're on the go, the XPS 13 is very travel-friendly because it weighs just over a kilo.
Just as the XPS 13's beautiful design remains intact, so does its relatively slim port selection. You get two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, which can be used for everything from charging the laptop to connecting multiple 4K monitors, as well as a microSD card slot and a headphone jack. While that's not a lot of connectivity, we appreciate that Dell includes a usb-C to USB-A adapter in the box for using older accessories.
We've enjoyed typing on various versions of the XPS 13 for years, thanks to the keys that are especially soft to the touch and have a good amount of bounce to them.
The textured wrist rest certainly doesn't hurt either.
However, after spending time with the deeper and snappier keyboards on newer laptops like the Surface laptop 4 and Acer Chromebook Spin 713, we wish the keys on the XPS 13 offered a bit more.
Great overall performance, but that webcam has areas of opportunity
We have always found the Dell XPS 13 to be more than powerful enough for our daily workflow and that trend continues with the new OLED model. Our review unit came loaded with an
11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB
of solid-state drive storage, which translated into agile and smooth multitasking no matter how many things we did at once.
We regularly had 30 or more Google Chrome tabs during a typical work day, and we never noticed any hiccups as we bounced between various documents, websites, Twitch streams, and a browser-based photo editor.
The XPS 13 continued to hold steady as we added eight apps to the mix, including Slack, Spotify, Discord, the Audacity editing app, and a 4K video running through the VLC player.
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Simply put, you're going to have a hard time slowing down this machine.
One word of caution, however: the XPS 13 got noticeably hot on the bottom under this heavy load, so we recommend working at a desk rather than your lap if you're doing a lot of multitasking.
While the XPS 13 OLED can handle just about any combination of daily work tasks, you'll want to have your charger handy if you plan on working long hours on it.
Dell's laptop lasted six hours and eight minutes, quite disappointing in our battery test, which consists of playing a 4K video in a loop at medium brightness with Wi-Fi turned off.
That's a notable step down from the 8.5 hours we got from the Surface Laptop 4, and below Dell's 8-hour rating for streaming content from the XPS 13 4K model.
The latest XPS 13 configuration also doesn't fix one of the laptop's few glaring weaknesses: the webcam.
The photos we took on the laptop's 720p camera were dark and noticeably pixelated, even when faced with direct sunlight.
The XPS 13's camera works well in a pinch, but we recommend looking for a dedicated webcam for interviews or important meetings or considering a superior camera like the one on the MacBook Air.
In conclusion
The Dell XPS 13 OLED adds an even more immersive display to our favorite laptop, with vivid colors and deep blacks that bring movies, images, and text to life in a way that really stands out from the base model.
If you're into creative work or just want the best possible laptop screen for a Netflix marathon, this is the XPS 13 setup to have.
However, that beautiful OLED display can suck up battery life pretty quickly, as it doesn't last as long as the initial 1080p model or competitors.
We also wish Dell to improve the webcam and speakers, which pale in comparison to what you get on the MacBook Air.
Note: The above prices reflect the price at the time of publication of the article.