Case

The Rose Gold color option is more than just a color swap from the default black and silver option. While the familiar matte magnesium outer lid remains, the white palm rests are now made of multiple layers of textured woven glass fiber as opposed to a single sheet of smooth carbon fiber. This alternative material has the additional benefit of mitigating grease and stains to maintain its milky white appearance throughout the life of the notebook.

There's no question that the new chassis is even more visually stunning than the outgoing XPS 13 9360, but both the thinner height and narrower bezels have naturally gotten us worried about the rigidity of the system. Overall, the XPS 13 9370 is slightly more susceptible to bending and twisting around the base and lid than the thicker XPS 13 9360. Attempting to twist the base from its two palm rests with moderate force, for example, will visibly warp the base more so than on the outgoing XPS 13. Other than this minor downgrade, slight creaking is audible when twisting the unit and slight depressions can be observed when pushing down on the center of the keyboard or outer lid. Creaking may also occur on the standard carbon fiber SKU as we've experienced on our second XPS 13 9370 test unit.

Amazingly, the display feels strong despite having the narrowest bezels for a consumer notebook. It's absolutely more unyielding than the lids of the Yoga 920, Samsung Notebook 9, and LG Gram while being slightly more flexible than the displays of the Razer Blade Stealth and older XPS 13 9360. Both the magnesium backing and edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass 4 likely contribute to the impressive rigidity of the lid.

When compared to the XPS 13 9360 or MacBook Pro 13, both the Apple and thicker Dell design are still a bit stronger from top to bottom. Even so, the XPS 13 9370 still feels more sound than the current crop of consumer Ultrabooks from major manufacturers like HP, Acer, Asus, and Lenovo.