Dell XPS 13 Unveils “Infinity Screen” In 2015 Revamped Laptop

Building on a the trend to end the bezel, Dell’s latest addition to their XPS series of laptops offers compact, portable design that doesn’t sacrifice screen size or performance.

BUY NOW: Dell XPS 13 Unveils “Infinity Screen”

Taking some major steps forward in innovation for traditional clamshell (i.e. no swivel, no 360-tilt) design, the XPS 13 has reduced its screen border to millimeters in size, offering as large a display as possible on the the 13-inch device. Interestingly, this has forced the webcam into the lower-left portion of the screen, and requires some fussing with to prevent callers from staring up at your ceiling or your nose. The chassis of the laptop itself has also shrunk, making it as portable as an 11 or 12-inch model. All this reduction in size comes at a cost, as Dell has eliminated built in HDMI and Ethernet ports, leaving you with a mini-DisplayPort connection, two USB 3.0, and audio and SD card ports.

Good for basic photo manipulation, video editing or simply office tasks, the he new 2.2GHz Core i5-5200U is decently fast and did well in both stand-alone app use and multitasking. However, its performance and battery life (seven hours) is not radically different from its Intel predecessors, including the Surface Pro 3. That being said, CNET still reports it as being fast and responsive, although it’s perks seem to come more from design that actual use.

Starting at $799, the tightly packed, near-borderless Dell XPS 13 offers affordability and improved form, and makes the Macbook Air appear wasteful of space in direct comparison. The base price excludes any hardware boosts and lacks a touchscreen, which users and upgrade. They may have to, given the lack of responsiveness when scrolling on the built in track-pad. When adding all the improvements to the device, don’t be surprised if the final cost resembles that of a Macbook.