Dell XPS 13 Plus review: Beauty vs. usability

The XPS 13 Plus is among the boldest laptops I’ve ever seen. It is like Dell despatched a pc again in time from the longer term, Terminator-fashion. It has a keyboard that stretches from edge to edge, with no gaps between the keys. The haptic trackpad is hidden beneath the wrist relaxation, and the capacitive operate key row retains issues wanting clear, with out the annoying shape-shifting keys from Apple’s Contact Bar.

With all of these options, and probably the most computing energy ever in a 13-inch Dell ultraportable, the XPS 13 Plus must be good, proper? Nicely, not fairly. It is an admirable achievement, however it additionally looks like Dell’s designers emphasised fashion over usability.

Take that haptic trackpad, for one. Once I first received my arms on the XPS 13 Plus final December, I used to be each floored by its unconventional touchpad design and apprehensive that it might result in complications. It is positively intriguing: When the pc is on, the piezo motors within the trackpad space ship the feeling of clicking with out shifting in any respect. However when it is off, the wrist relaxation is only a silent slab of Gorilla Glass.

In fact, haptic trackpads aren’t new. Apple’s been utilizing them for years, they usually’ve lastly began popping up in different Home windows laptops just like the Floor Laptop computer Studio. Technically, they’ll make laptops extra dependable since they cannot entice gunk like regular trackpads. However on the XPS 13 Plus, that expertise feels even stranger. There is no straightforward technique to inform if you’re within the trackpad zone with out urgent down or searching for a shifting mouse cursor. With different notebooks, you possibly can really feel a transparent distinction between the trackpad and wrist relaxation. That is not one thing we take into consideration usually, however it goes a good distance towards making us really feel assured as we browse the net or scroll by means of paperwork.

On the XPS 13 Plus, simply right-clicking usually looks like trial and error. Is my finger too far to the left? An excessive amount of towards the best? Doing one thing so easy should not be irritating, particularly not with a laptop computer that is meant to signify the way forward for computing design. The invisible trackpad principally looks like a celebration trick: one thing that may impress your folks however will principally make your life tougher. Even after utilizing the XPS 13 Plus for per week, I nonetheless discover myself lacking the trackpad usually, particularly if I attempt to do any difficult finger gestures.

The XPS 13 Plus’s keyboard is much extra profitable. It spans your entire width of the pc, and it has virtually no gaps between the keys. We noticed one thing related on HP’s 2019 Spectre x360, however Dell’s machine goes even farther to the sting. The result’s one thing that feels luxurious to sort on — lastly, my massive arms can unfold out like they do on a desktop keyboard. It could be good to have greater than only a millimeter of key journey, however the general typing expertise nonetheless feels responsive.

After seeing the trackpad’s haptic performance in motion, it isn’t arduous to think about future keyboards utilizing related mechanisms to ship a deeper typing sensation. That expertise might additionally assist the XPS 13 Plus’s operate row really feel a bit extra like conventional keys whereas nonetheless being coated underneath Gorilla Glass. I did not thoughts the capacitive operate row — at the very least the keys stayed in place, not like the Contact Bar — however I want it was extra seen open air. It tends to get washed out in direct daylight, or in case you’re sporting sun shades. (One Engadget staffer has additionally needed to substitute the capacitive operate keys on his ThinkPad Carbon X1 a number of instances. That could possibly be an indication of Lenovo’s construct high quality, or it might level to capacitive buttons not being very sturdy.)

Except for these options, the XPS 13 Plus principally seems to be like a typical XPS 13 when it is closed. There’s the machined aluminum case, which seems to be as premium as ever and feels loads sturdy. When you look intently, you may discover there is no headphone jack, simply two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections on both aspect. That is one thing Dell additionally faraway from this 12 months’s XPS 13, and it stays a baffling resolution. And no, I don’t assume the brand new quad-speaker array makes up for that (it sounds positive, however it’s nothing miraculous).

Whereas Dell features a USB-C to headphone adapter within the field, together with a Kind-A adapter, there is no technique to cost the pc in case you have these each plugged in. If Apple can squeeze a 3.5 millimeter jack within the new MacBook Air, which weighs the identical 2.7 kilos because the LCD-equipped XPS 13 Plus, Dell actually has no excuse. (The OLED mannequin is a tad heavier at 2.8 kilos.)

Whereas we’re speaking about screens, if you wish to get a 4K or OLED display in an XPS this 12 months, the 13 Plus is your solely possibility. The usual XPS 13 solely has 1080p LCD choices. Our assessment unit is supplied with the three.5K OLED touchscreen mannequin, which presents a good 400 nits of brightness. It seems to be as nice as all the opposite XPS screens we have seen, with wonderful coloration and deep black ranges, however I am extra curious to see how the 500-nit 4K OLED variant performs. Our assessment mannequin’s show was simply positive open air, however a bit extra brightness would make it look higher in direct daylight.