Dell XPS 13-9333 Pro Reviews

The XPS 13 is a return to form for Dell in a big way, and a laptop I am willing to recommend to nearly everyone. If only I didn't have to return this review unit to Dell.

The Dell XPS 13 Touch (9333) is a compact touch-screen ultrabook made with premium materials like carbon fiber and Gorilla Glass. It's an excellent travel companion, but strictly luxury class.

If you're looking for one of the most compact and mobile yet comfortable ultrabooks available, the XPS 13 should top your shopping list. Yes, a convertible would be nice at this price, but not everyone needs a convertible. We wouldn't call the notebook stylish, but it is attractive and professional. More important, it delivers a first-rate form factor without cutting any performance corners. Getting one year of on-site warranty service (after remote diagnostics) is simply icing on the cake. In short, the new XPS 13 may not be perfect, but it's one of the highest-value and most pleasing clamshells we've seen lately. Buyers will not be disappointed.

The XPS 13 is thin and tough. When I shove it into my carry-on, I forget it’s there until I need it. I don’t feel it, and I don’t worry about it. The only downsides: I’m casting around for a wall socket more often than I’d like, and its dearth of slots and ports drag it down a wee bit. And if you give a lot of presentations, need hard-wired ethernet, or carry a lot of files, you’ll need to load up on dongles and a USB drive. But on the whole, it’s a terrific little machine.

Despite its age, the Dell XPS 13 remains one of the most attractive Ultrabooks on the market. The system’s carbon-fiber chassis, extremely thin bezels and elegant appearance combine to create an aesthetic that can easily compete with Apple’s MacBook Pro, and puts alternatives like the Toshiba Kirabook and Acer Travelmate P645 to shame. The XPS 13 is the pinnacle of design in the Ultrabook market. And there’s more to it than good looks. The display offers the highest contrast ratio we’ve ever seen from a laptop, and the XPS 13′s battery life score is the second-best we’ve ever recorded, trailing the Travelmate P645 by just fourteen minutes. Even the speakers are good. In fact, in a strange twist of fate, Dell’s fortunes have improved since we last reviewed the XPS 13. ASUS has bumped the price of its latest Zenbooks to well over $1,500, which simply doesn’t compete with the XPS 13. Lenovo’s new ThinkPad X1 Carbon suffers from a lackluster display, the new Acer Travelmate P645 doesn’t have the premium feel that it should have, and even the excellent HP Spectre 13t is inferior, though also several hundred dollars less expensive. Only Apple’s MacBook Pro 13 with Retina is better, and even then, the margin of victory is narrow. And here’s the best part; while our review unit sells for $1,299, which seems reasonable, you can also snag a base model for $1,049. This downgrades the processor to a Core i3, cuts RAM to 4GB, and ditches the touchscreen. However, you still receive a 1080p display, a great chassis, and excellent battery life. That seems like a heck of a value to us. In the end, no matter the version you opt for, it’s hard to go wrong with the XPS 13.

To give credit where it is due, Dell corrected the main issue we had with the last version of the XPS 13. It's still on the expensive side of what this particular set of components should cost, but keep in mind the aluminum/carbon fiber body is excellent, and the actual footprint is noticeably smaller than other 13-inch laptops. For the first time, we can say that the Dell XPS 13 has earned a place among the best high-end 13-inch ultrabooks.