Dell slathers on factor XPS 13 to reveal new shiny with... ooh... a 0.1 inch bigger screen

Dell is kicking off 2020 with a significant refresh of its XPS 13 laptops, including the Ubuntu-powered XPS 13 Developer Edition. The XPS 13 9300 boasts Intel's 10th generation Core processors, ranging from the i3-1005G1 on the basic model, all the way to the quad-core i7-1065G7. It's worth noting that the pricier XPS 4K ships …

[Blake St. Claire]

Can I get that in London double decker buses?

...size of the panel from 13.3 inches to 13.4 inches. And while that sounds like a fairly modest increase, every extra centimetre of screen...

Or football (American or FIFA) fields? (Yes, I know there's not a standard FIFA field size.)

[baspax]

Re: Can I get that in London double decker buses?

The real life difference seems to be substantial:

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_1600/t6nqfhq1btycftwbcrlv.jpg

Here is the Gizmodo article comparing the old with the new XPS13

https://gizmodo.com/the-newest-dell-xps-13-is-a-tiny-laptop-that-promises-i-1840773443

[cjcox]

Read other "real" overviews...

Was going to detail all that is "wrong" on Reg's "slather" article.... just read about the new XPS from other sources. Nuff said.

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess I'm not the target market.

But then I figured that out the moment you wrote "ultrabook" in the description.

Fuck the whole "ultrabook" and "thin and light" bullshit. I want ports not dongles. I want a battery life measured in days not hours. I want a keyboard that rivals my noisy-as-fuck mechanical one on my desktop.

I don't mind the weight nor the heft as I can remember when the Compaq luggable was a thing. Sure not weighing in at the better part of a small wildebeast is a good thing, who wouldn't like something you can carry in a messenger bag, but I'm not so fekkin weak that I can't carry a ten gram smarty pants phone without whinging about how difficult it's making my life.

Give us real laptops. Real ports. Real batteries. Real computers for real people. Keep your thin and light Calvin Klein crack model shite and give me something hefty enough to make me confident it won't shatter if I so much as sneeze too hard in its general direction.

You shave off all the ports and you've just shaved me off your potential customer list. Tata! *Waves & gives you the finger*

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I guess I'm not the target market.

As you said, you're not the target market, but there's plenty of laptops around that will fit your requirements, other people have different priorities.

btw you said you want battery life measured in days - do you know any laptops that fit that bill other that this XPS that's quoted as 30 hours when specced with the biggest battery?

[Avatar of They]

Re: I guess I'm not the target market.

I was reading that with the Trainspotting - "Choose life" sound track in my head at the same time.

[trevorde]

Re: I guess I'm not the target market.

Worked at a company where the sales reps had super slim, super thin, super light, super powerful, super sexy Dell laptops. Unfortunately, battery life was super short and the power brick was super heavy.

[AMBxx]

Re: I guess I'm not the target market.

Take another look. My wife has an XPS 13. USB C charger, no bigger than a phone charger (also works with most modern non-Apple phones). Rarely needs to carry it though as the battery lasts all day with light use.

When my MS Surface 4 finally goes, I'll be looking for a deal on one of these. That said, I do my proper work on a big PC, so I do like small and light when I'm out and about.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: I guess I'm not the target market.

” USB C charger, no bigger than a phone charger (also works with most modern non-Apple phones).“

FTFY.

[Rich 2]

Re: I guess I'm not the target market.

I have an XPS-15 with a 4K screen. It’s a very nice laptop but it’s very annoying that it only has a single USB port. And that’s ALL it has. I had to buy an Ethernet dongle with a couple of extra USB ports. I would rather it was half a cm thicker, was brimming with ports and had a better battery. In general use, the battery isn’t bad (once you work out how to put the nVidia graphics chip into low power mode (makes a massive difference), I’d rather have more battery and less thinness any day. Same with mobile phones - What’s the point of making something so thin that the battery is crap and you have to stick an ugly dongle on it to use it?

[Craig100]

Re: I guess I'm not the target market.

I have one of those too (XPS 15 4K) with the i9. Bought it as a desktop replacement), given it's power, and run only Linux MInt on it (wiped W10 on delivery). Awful temperature/fan problems. Because the screen hinge blocks the fan exhausts when shut, have to run it with the screen half up while driving two 27" displays via the very unreliable TB16 dock. I also hate the fact you have to either have a dock or dongle extension. Def won't be buying another one when this one's time is up. Bigger with ports, good ventilation and a camera in the TOP of the bezel not by the keyboard next!

Otherwise it's a nicely built machine I suppose.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Give us real laptops. Real ports. Real batteries. Real computers for real people

unfortunately for power users, the so-called "progress" in laptop market moves in exactly the opposite direction :/

[volts]

Re: I guess I'm not the target market.

Have One of these >>>

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: I guess I'm not the target market.

I want a keyboard that rivals my noisy-as-fuck mechanical one on my desktop.

Seconded. The keyboard on the Dell Precision 5520 I got from IT a couple years ago is horrible - one of those awful new-chiclet ones with flat keytops and minimal travel. The keyboard on my old Latitude E6540 isn't great, but it's worlds better than the new one.

The Derision also lacks the Platitude's isometric (Trackpoint-style) pointer. I loathe touchpads, and using the Derision's for two years has not led me to hate them any less. Even with all the settings tweaked for maximum sanity it's still way too prone to false input from the heels of my hands, for example, or to misinterpreting a single click as a double or vice versa. And, of course, it requires taking a hand off the home row.

I've carried laptops around for decades (since the mid-1990s) in shoulder bags and backpacks - frequently two at a time (first work and personal, and for the past two years two work laptops, as I haven't been able to bear the thought of moving to the Derision full-time yet. I don't find it to be a problem. I'm sure there are some people who have a legitimate need for a light laptop, but really carrying a few pounds of computer ain't digging coal.

[cantankerousblogger]

Re: I guess I'm not the target market.

Dell Precision laptops don't have to be crap.

I took delivery of a Precision 3530 today with i5-8400H (not not a U processor which will throttle after a few seconds of work), NVidia Quadro P600, IPS 1920 x 1024 screen, 256GB NVME Drive, 16GB RAM with another easily accessible slot, nice keyboard with trackpoint and numeric keypad, loads of ports including Thunderbolt, Intel Wifi 5 and Bluetooth 5, Windows 10 Pro brand new from a Dell dealer with three year next day on-site warranty. £650 + VAT = £780.

Sure, it is a heavier than an XPS but you can get to everything and the processor won't overheat in thirty seconds.

I'll replace the SSD with 2TB NVME drive and add an extra 16GB at a cost of about £250.

[ecofeco]

13" screen?

13" isn't usable to me these days.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 13" screen?

Well don't buy it then...

[Buzzword]

Re: 13" screen?

I'm inclined to agree - how does anybody over 40 manage to read the text on a 13" screen?

[Tigra 07]

Re: 13" screen?

"I'm inclined to agree - how does anybody over 40 manage to read the text on a 13" screen?"

Make the text larger or get glasses?

[Aussie Doc]

Re: 13" screen?

Works for me. And him --->

[NATTtrash]

That price..?

"The Dell XPS 13 9300 will be unleashed on 7 January in the US, UK, France, Denmark and Sweden, with the rest of the world getting it at some unspecified point in February. It'll retail at $999.99 for the entry-level model.

Like your computing with a bit of Linux flavour? The Dell XPS 13 9300 Developer Edition goes on sale in the US, Canada and Europe on 4 February, with a starting price tag of $1,199.99."

What am I missing here? You get the machine without MS idiot tax, and it turns out to be $200 more? I hope that this "Developer Model" packs some significant extra hardware that justifies this? Because, since W10 retails at ~ $200, I would expect it to be ~$200 cheaper. Pity reviewer doesn't let us in on that...

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Re: That price..?

Just guessing, but the $999 model with be i3 with 4gb RAM

The Linux machine with be i5 with at least 8gb RAM

[Gio Ciampa]

Re: That price..?

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/work/shop/cty/pdp/spd/xps-13-7390-laptop/bnx73924

10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-10510U, 8 MB Cache, 4 Core, up to 4.90 GHz

Ubuntu 18.04, Linux

Intel® UHD Graphics with shared graphics memory

16 GB, LPDDR3, 2133 MHz, Integrated

512 GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid-State Drive

£1,159.00 (Ex. VAT @20%, free Delivery)

[Craig 2]

Re: That price..?

In these modern times you don't think Dell actually PAY Microsoft for Windows licenses do you? More likely MS are paying Dell...

[pmb00cs]

Re: That price..?

Possibly because the "MS idiot tax" includes significant development of tools that make supporting it (from a device manufacturer point of view at least) easier, where as Linux has a less polished volume licensing and support solution. Meaning Dell must expend engineering effort to be able to fully support Linux on it's products.

Free Software does not mean that it has no costs associated with it, just that the software itself is Free (and there are some debates as to if "Free" should be "free as in beer" or "free as in speech" but that is a whole other can of worms)

As someone who works with Linux, I'm not so blinkered by ideology to be unable to accept that sometimes you have to pay for "Free Software" somehow.

[Anonymous Coward]

@pmb00cs - Re: That price..?

You are aware that FOSS is not about paying for software, aren't you ? There's nothing stopping you from selling GPL licensed software. No ideology here.

[pmb00cs]

Re: @pmb00cs - That price..?

The OP got upset about price, complaining about the fact that a laptop with Linux pre installed cost more than a laptop with Windows pre installed, despite the "MS idiot tax".

So yes I am aware that FOSS isn't about paying for software. I'm also aware, as was the point of my reply, that not all costs are monetary.

[Dave K]

16:10!

The big news here is the return of the 16:10 aspect ratio in a Dell laptop. If you look at the laptop and compare to last years, the chassis hasn't changed size. The reason the screen is fractionally bigger is that instead of a fat bottom bezel, you've now got an extra bit of screen to take up that space. Result is more viewing area but with the same chassis width as before.

Personally I think it's an excellent move and long overdue. Here's hoping we see 16:10 returning to more machines in future. I have an Elitebook for work and the ridiculously fat top and bottom screen bezels (to accommodate the crap screen) just look stupid.

[essamnagy]

As you said, you're not the target market, but there's plenty of laptops around that will fit your requirements, other people have different priorities.

[David 132]

Hang on...

[the power button] now sits embedded in the power key,

So, place your finger on the reader and inadvertently switch the machine off every time?

Ok, I’m sure I've either misunderstood the design, or else Dell have some cunning system for disabling the power button when the FP reader is active, but still, this seems like one of the worst places to put it.

[Paul 195]

Re: Hang on...

I've not found the combination of fingerprint reader/power button to be an issue at all on a Dell Precision 15 (last year's model). The power button only does anything if you actually push it, but it will read your fingerprint if you just touch it lightly. It's neat, tidy, and I only have to remember to push/touch one thing to get my laptop running and get into it.

[Dave K]

Re: Hang on...

Same on my wife's Huawei Matebook X Pro. I manage to unlock it via fingerprint from the power button no problem, never had it shut down yet...

[justincormack]

The fingerprint reader will work in future on Linux

According to https://bartongeorge.io/2020/01/01/introducing-the-2020-xps-13-developer-edition-this-one-goes-to-32/ there will be an update to support the fingerprint reader under Linux.

[ArrZarr]

"...the power key, adjacent to the "delete" and "backspace" keys."

Not sure about anybody else, but this seems like a distinctly questionable choice to me.