Dell’s annual refresh of it’s very popular XPS 13 ultraportable has seen some interesting upgrades and new features to improve its performance, that has further refined an already excellent notebook. With the 2019 edition – also known as the XPS 13 (9380), Dell sent us the Rose Gold version (not the new White Frost colour variant) that uses anodised aluminium for the top and bottom covers, with the Dell logo in metallic gold that actually looks a little understated on the anodised rose gold background.
Lift the cover and at first glance the interior looks almost exactly the same with same woven carbon-fibreglass surface around the touchpad, but if you take a closer look you’ll notice that the bezel is all new, with the fixed 720p webcam that used to be located below the screen (derisively called a ‘nosecam’ because at that angle it has a great picture of your nostrils) has now been moved and is a tiny pinhole just above the screen, which makes you look far more normal and natural when your on a video call – and to further enhance your video chatting experience Dell have added 4 far-field microphones for clearer voice pickup. The 13.3-inch screen itself is a bright 4K Ultrasharp touchscreen display that looks great and supports Dolby Vision.
For ports, the 2019 XPS 13 gains an additional USB-C port for a total of three – one that simultaneously handles charging and external display (so it can be synced to a Dell USB-C hub monitor), a second USB-C port has Powershare while the third port has Displayport.
Performance wise the XPS 13 has gotten a small bump and still uses an 8th Generation 1.8Ghz Intel Core i7 processor, though now its a Whiksy Lake i7-8565U instead of a Kaby Lake Core i7-8550U, so the difference is in better power efficiency. Paired with an integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 and 16GB RAM, gives XPS 13 plenty of power to run most casual multiplayer online games and 4K HDR video streaming, but this is not a laptop that can handle Destiny 2 at higher graphics and screen refresh settings.
Verdict
Rating: 4.5/5
The 2019 XPS 13 is a minor refinement of an already excellent 13.3-inch ultraportable, with a stellar 4K touchscreen, slim bezels, refined styling and up to 8 hours of battery life while streaming 4K video.
From S$2,699 (as tested)
www.dell.com/sg
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