Dell counters MacBook Neo with affordable XPS 13
The MacBook Neo is shaking up the mid-range notebook market. Dell wants a piece of the pie with the new XPS 13 – at the same price with better features.
(Image: Dell)
Dell is introducing its most affordable XPS notebook to date, competing in price with Apple's MacBook Neo. Previously, Dell's XPS notebooks were typical representatives of the premium class: stylish all-metal cases, fast technology, many comfort features – but also very expensive. The new XPS 13 (not to be confused with the identically named ancestor, which has now grown to 14 inches with a corresponding name change) is intended to be different. Prices start at $699 or (limited time for the start of the new school year) at $599 for pupils and students – and thus exactly at the level of the larger MacBook Neo variant with 8 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. This also names the storage configuration of the basic XPS 13 configuration...
What's more, Dell is stepping up its game with both the screen and the keyboard. The 13.4-inch display is a high-resolution (2560 × 1600 pixels) touchscreen that fully covers the DCI-P3 color space and runs at up to 120 Hz. The MacBook Neo only manages sRGB and 60 Hz. The keyboard, in turn, features backlighting – its flaw is a major drawback of the Neo. On the XPS 13, both USB-C ports transfer up to 10 Gbit/s (USB 3.2 Gen 2), while the MacBook Neo only has one. Dell, unlike Apple, does not include an audio output.
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During the presentation, Dell's Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke compared the XPS 13 extensively with the MacBook Neo, but at the same time stated that development had begun earlier. Apple's introduction of the Neo had no impact on any hardware changes to the XPS 13. What he didn't say was whether Dell had to adjust prices to counter the Neo: An all-metal casing, available in two colors (silver or gray), a better screen, and the Windows license plus the ongoing storage crisis likely leave little room for margin.
Neo Overlap
A look at the data sheet reveals that Dell did not really design the XPS 13 as a true MacBook Neo competitor. Instead, the two only overlap in the one $699 configuration. The Neo is otherwise only available with weaker specifications, while the XPS 13 also comes with significantly better options – for example, with 16 GB of RAM and even larger SSDs.
(Image:Â Dell)
Internally, Intel's new entry-level processors Wildcat Lake, also known as Core 300, are used, but there will also be more expensive configurations with Panther Lake, also known as Core Ultra 300, with more CPU cores and a stronger GPU. Such variants will then have two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4, up to 32 GB of RAM – and almost certainly four-figure price tags. The aforementioned screen is always included, which supports the assumption that Dell cannot offer an alternative and is hoping for economies of scale: The more XPS 13 units the company can manufacture and sell, the better the expensive casing will be amortized. The screen and keyboard backlighting are then also included as (expensive) side effects in the cheapest configuration variant.
German European prices or information on availability in Germany were not yet available at the time of publication. It is also unclear whether an educational discount will be available here.
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