Dell XPS 13 9380 (2019) Review

Is the new Dell XPS 13 an excellent laptop overall? And what changed sinced last year? Dell has just updated their XPS 13 laptop for 2019, and we got an entry level i5 model for $1,150. which is a great price considering it packs of 8GB of RAM and 256GB of NVME SSD storage. So lets go through everything you need to know about it. Just like last year, its encased in an aluminum shell that looks and feels great, compared to many other windows laptops. The display has very thin great-looking bezels despite the fact that they've moved the webcam back up above the display. Last year model has the webcam under the display to accommodate Windows Hello, a useful feature that scans your face to log in without having to enter your password. That feature is now gone. But it's not a big deal since the power button doubles as a fingerprint scanner for logging in.

The display itself uses a 1080p panel that definitely isn't the sharpest display out there. But the excellent color accuracy in the matte filter make it one of the better 1080p displays you can find. But either way if you care a lot about the display, we'd recommend upgrading to the 4k model for a few hundred dollars more. The keyboard feels pretty decent for a windows laptop, with good amount of key travel. Typing is pretty comfortable, but some users did complain that there was a bit too much spacing between the keys.

Is Dell XPS 13 a Good Laptop?

Personally we prefers the latest MacBook Pro Keys, which are wider and more clicky. But most people prefers the Dells. It also features backlighting with two brightness setting, so it's great for using at night. The build quality is really solid, and doesn't flex like other cheaper Windows laptop do. One thing we can complain about, is that there's no notch in the front to help open the laptop. So you kind of have to jam your finger nail in to open it up. The hinge itself, is pretty stiff so it's tough to open with one hand. The trackpad is also pretty good for a Windows laptop, but you definitely won't get the same experience as with one of the newer Macbooks, which feature the best trackpad in the business. But the XPS 13 trackpad is still above average.

One thing that really stands out about the XPS 13, is that it packs a total of three full speed USB C Ports, with two of them supporting full speed Thunderbolt 3. a lot of Windows laptop only come with one full speed Thunderbolt 3 port or two slower ones, so having two full speeds ports is impressive. It also packs a mini SD card slot, a headphone in, a neat little battery indicator that shows you your current battery.

One thing that still disappoints us, year-over-year is the speaker quality. Its sounds ok but it definitely lacks volume in a wide range of frequency reproduction. A few years ago, these types of speakers were the norm. but many windows Laptops have been making big improvements. The 720p webcam actually isn't too bad, using noise reduction to make for a clearer, but not a sharp image. The microphone quality was really terrible.

How Long Does the Dell XPS 13 Battery last?

The Plus side, battery life is also really impressive compared last year, but that's using the default battery saving settings. If you leave it on these settings, you'll get decent performance similar to the base 13 inch dual-core Macbook Pro, which is not what you expect from its i5 Quadcore Processor. If you turn on best performance mode, you'll gain a lot of extra processing power. We saw the same result s for the graphics as well. Compared the last year, we're getting a ton of graphics performance. This is probably one of the biggest standout features of the laptop. It's really powerful for the price, so can handle things like entry-level video or photo editing really well, even simple 4k video editing.

However we're a bit disappointed with the NVME storage speed. It's not too bad, but we really hope it'll speed up next year. Either way, if you someone who's looking for a good quality laptop with a great performance for around the $1000 range, the Dell XPS 13 is a good choice. It's a great laptop overall with only a couple of downside that many regular users may not mind. At a price of just $1150 it's really good value, but if you will be using the soft top in a bright environment or watching a lot of video content and music, you might want to look elsewhere.

Huawei mate book X Pro would be a good alternative, but everything that's been going on with Huawei recently, it's a tough sell. If you've got some extra cash, definitely look into the 4k model of the XPS 13, or maybe even one of the higher-end XPS 15 model, which packs dedicated graphics in 6 core processors. If you're also considering buying an Apple Macbook, you should definitely check out the comparison between the XPS 13 and the base 13 inch Macbook Pro.