Specs at a glance: 2015 Dell XPS 13 Worst Best As reviewed SCREEN 1920×1080 IPS at 13.3" (165 PPI) 3200×1800 IPS at 13.3" (276 PPI), multitouch 3200×1800 IPS at 13.3" (276 PPI), multitouch OS Windows 8.1 64-bit CPU 2.1GHz Core i3-5010U 3.0GHz Core i7-5500U 2.7GHz Core i5-5200U RAM 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 GPU Intel HD Graphics 5500 HDD 128GB SATA SSD 512GB PCIe SSD 256GB SATA SSD NETWORKING Dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2x2, Bluetooth 4.0 PORTS 2x USB 3.0, mini-DisplayPort, SD card reader, headphone/microphone dual jack SIZE 11.98 × 7.88 × 0.33-0.6" WEIGHT 2.6 lbs 2.8 lbs 2.8 lbs BATTERY 4-cell 52Wh Li-polymer WARRANTY 1 year PRICE $799.99 $1899.99 $1399.99 OTHER PERKS Precision touchpad, 720p webcam

More than three years ago I wrote about Intel's $300 million investment plan to develop Ultrabooks. Lightweight long-lasting well-specced PC laptops to offer something approximating the MacBook Air experience, just not made by Apple.

It took PC vendors a long time to shape up, and there are still rough spots to the whole PC laptop experience—the proliferation of models and options remains more complex and confusing than it should be, for example—but with the 2015 edition of the Dell XPS 13, it's fair to say that PC vendors have not just matched the MacBook Air experience, they've beaten it.

The eye-catching highlight of the XPS 13 is what Dell calls its "infinity display." The name is a little silly, of course; the screen doesn't actually do the infinity pool thing of running all the way to the edge, and who knows what name Dell will conjure up when technology exists to actually do that, but right now what we have is a laptop with a slim bezel of about 5 mm all around. This narrow bezel means that the footprint of the machine is smaller, and as a result, the new XPS 13 is a lot more petite than your average 13-inch laptop.

From most angles, the XPS 13 is a slim and good-looking machine. It has a certain air of familiarity—a machined aluminum body isn't going to stand out from the Ultrabook crowd too much—but it isn't a slavish MacBook Air clone by any means. In particular, the inside of the machine is black, not bare metal, with the keyboard surround being a "carbon fiber composite with soft touch paint."

I'm not entirely sure what "soft touch paint" is, but I do know that the machine is comfortable to use. I find the MacBook Air particularly uncomfortable to use, with the metal edge digging into my wrists whenever I rest my hands on the keyboard. The XPS 13's soft touch paint is, in comparison, soft. To the touch. The only thing that concerns me is the "paint" aspect—a year or two down the line, will this look worn and tatty?—but right now, it's very comfortable.

Peculiarly, the only real visual flourish on the machine is on the bottom of the system. There's an XPS badge placed on the bottom. It's hinged, and folding it open reveals the various regulatory stamps and serial numbers.

Peter Bright

Peter Bright

Dell

Dell

The keyboard itself has a decent enough layout, an attractive backlight, good-size keys, and enough key travel to make typing effortless.

The touchpad is surprisingly decent, too. It supports Microsoft's Precision Touchpad spec, which means that its behavior is largely governed by built-in Windows drivers and not custom third-party drivers. This in turn means that it's a lot more predictable; it performs similarly to other Precision Touchpad hardware, taking "device manufacturer" out of the picture. Tracking accuracy is good, and the glass surface is smooth and low in friction. The only weakness, and this is as much personal preference as anything else, is the clickability. I would have liked a more positive click action, something with a little more bite to it.

And oh yeah, the screen. Dell has two screen options for the XPS 13, all with the narrow bezel. There's one with a 1920×1080 resolution and no touch, and one with a 3200×1800 resolution and multitouch. The higher resolution forfeits battery life, adds 0.2 lb to the weight, and $300 to the price, but I think it's well worth the trade-off. It's a good-looking screen, with decent viewing angles, and it's bright enough to use in most kinds of lighting. Touch responsiveness is good.

The real joy of the narrow bezel is the system's size. This is a full 13.3-inch screen, but the footprint of the XPS 13 is markedly smaller than that of, say, the Yoga 3 Pro that I looked at last year. This has tangible benefits for any of us who have to use laptops when suffering the indignities of flying cattle class. I've long felt 13 inches to be the screen size sweet spot—11 inches is too cramped, 15 is bigger than I want to carry—so this pairing of a 13-inch screen with a (more or less) 11-inch form factor is a godsend for mobile users.

There is one downside to the narrow bezel and small size of the XPS 13. It has a 720p webcam, but instead of mounting that webcam at the top of the screen, it's mounted below it. Presumably there isn't room at the top. The position of the webcam means that its view is largely obscured by my left hand, and the part of the picture that isn't obscured is mainly looking up my nose.

I regard a webcam as an essential feature of any computer, and I'm not sure there's any situation in which I'd regard the XPS 13's to ever be good enough. With the narrow bezels, I don't know if there's any easy solution, either. It's the only aspect of the system that feels compromised, like Dell's designers knew they had to stick a webcam in there somewhere but couldn't find a good place for it, so they picked a bad one instead.

Listing image by Peter Bright