Apple MacBook Air vs. Dell XPS 13: Is there a new 13-inch laptop champ?

One rhetorical instance I’ve used over time is that a pc is lots like a couple of eyeglasses: It’s sensible and it is something most of the people can’t stay without.

But at the same time, it is an immensely personal choice, combining every so often contradictory forces of the price range, capabilities, and style. Like a pair of glasses, a pc is usually a big a part of the photo you gift to the world, both in meetings, at espresso shops, or in elegance, so it’s not handiest about who offers the most widgets for the least cash, it’s about which laptop is the right match for you.

For an extended (actually lengthy) time, Apple’s thirteen-inch MacBook Air became the undisputed champ. I used to call it “the most universally useful laptop you may buy.” By that, I meant the $999 base model become the unmarried computer maximum probably to be the most beneficial to the largest quantity of people. It had the most important overlap in its Venn diagram of capacity proprietors and it had such an identifiable layout that it became a great deal a declaration piece as a work device.

But, time catches up with each person and the whole lot. Over a previous couple of years of the Air’s decade-plus lifespan, the fundamental design stayed the equal. The low-resolution display with its thick borders and generations-old CPU generation got here to experience more and more dated. Meanwhile, more modern laptops from Dell, HP, Acer, and others appeared and felt more contemporary and delivered new capabilities, from touchscreens to USB-C ports.

At long remaining, in late 2018, Apple released an entirely redesigned version of the MacBook Air, making it thinner, lighter, and yes, extra high priced. It felt like a stripped-down version of the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and most importantly, shaved that display screen bezel right down to a reasonable size, pairing it with a high-res modern-day show.

But what about the Windows side of the fence? What become the satisfactory PC alternative to the Air?

One of my favorite current laptops is Dell XPS thirteen. Since 2015, it’s made waves with the aid of shaving its screen bezel all the way down to mere millimeters, much like an excessive-stop TV. The XPS nonetheless had a few flaws, and other laptops passed it via in layout over the past 4 years, however the new 2019 version fixes nearly all of that, and as I said in my review, “I had to look lengthy and tough to locate something I did not like” about the up to date model.

Now that I’ve got a new edition of the MacBook Air and the XPS 13, which one ought to be my default place to begin for thirteen-inch computer recommendations?

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We might not be dwelling in a bezel-unfastened universe, but we’re genuinely getting nearer. The Air has been robotically mocked, and rightly so, during the last numerous years for its an excessive border-to-screen ratio. The new Air cuts that by way of as a minimum 50 percentage on the edges and backside, although the pinnacle bezel is a touch wider to deal with a webcam.

The XPS thirteen is already the slender-bezel champ, and its sides are all the way down to 4mm extensive. The pinnacle bezel is slightly wider — even more so than closing year’s model — but it is a sacrifice to an excellent reason. The device’s largest ancient knock has lengthy been its webcam, which was relegated to a gap underneath the display screen, in place of above it. That brought about an unflattering up-the-nostril perspective that made the XPS 13 much less useful for Skype calls, YouTube videos or every other video-recording or streaming wishes.

There’s now a brand new XPS webcam that by hook or by crook fits into that very slender pinnacle border, way to a brand new lens design it is best 2.5mm excessive. That adds a piece to the width of the pinnacle display screen border, but it’s a fair trade-off.

As ways as the display screen itself, Dell offers resolutions on the high and low end, and Apple falls right in the middle. The 13.3-inch MacBook Air display is two,560×1, six hundred pixels. And, like several Macs, it’s non-contact. Dell offers a non-touch 1,920×1,080-pixel model and a more steeply-priced 4K touchscreen. Frankly, the 4K display provides plenty to the cost and runs down the battery quicker. My XPS choice could be a 1,920×1,080 touchscreen, but you cannot constantly get everything you need.

Faster, but does it count?

When you say a laptop has an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor, that doesn’t let you know everything you need to know. Even specifying that it’s a modern-day 8th-gen chip does not cut it. The MacBook Air has Core i5 and i7 processor alternatives, but they’re part of Intel’s “Y” series of CPUs, meant for skinny laptops. They generate much less heat and use much less energy, so you get longer battery lifestyles. The turn side is they’re now not as speedy as a trendy computer with a “U” collection processor.

In this example, we have the XPS 13’s Core i7 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8565U vs the MacBook Air’s 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-8210Y. Even in case you traded up to the Air’s Core i7 alternative or knocked the Dell down to a Core i5, the XPS 13 might still be more powerful, because it comes from a more full-electricity CPU own family.

That said the brand new MacBook Air by no means felt sluggish in the course of my tremendous use time. It’s greater than speedy enough for the majority, making an allowance for net browsing, video streaming, and social media, which is what we spend most of our laptop time doing. Want a mainstream CPU in a MacBook? Trade as much as the 13-inch Pro.

The key to excellent keyboards

Let’s get this out of the way right now. No one likes the extraordinary-flat butterfly keyboard at the modern-day MacBook lineup. The growing older pre-replace Air becomes the ultimate safe haven of the traditional island-fashion keyboard. No more. In this new Air, you get the contemporary model of the butterfly keyboard, with a brand new membrane underneath to help keep dirt from gumming up the keys. The fact is, the current Mac keyboards aren’t as awful as their rep, however they’re no longer superb, both.

Dell wins this spherical for a quick keyboard with a terrific feel. The glass-blanketed touchpad is the first-rate, but no fit for Apple’s nice-in-class pads.

Battery: More pixels, extra troubles

MacBooks are now not the automated battery champs, and in fact, on our current list of lengthy-lifestyles laptops, the best-ranking MacBook is at No. 8. But towards an XPS thirteen with an extra energy-hungry Core i7 processor and a 4K display, the Air easily dominates in our streaming video playback take a look at. That said, if you went with the non-touch HD-display model of the XPS thirteen, it might be a one of a kind story The coffee store factor

One of the largest motives we adore thirteen-inch laptops so much is portability. No one desires a four-pound laptop pulling on their shoulders all day or maybe a 3-pound one. Both of those are mild, at 2.Seventy five lbs for the Air and 2.Seventy three lbs. For the XPS 13. People (or at least PC businesses) constantly communicate approximately how thin their laptops are, however it truly is a fakeout. Once you get all the way down to about 15mm at the thickest part of a laptop, it would not make that plenty of a distinction, besides for bragging rights. Lighter trumps thinner every time.

The XPS 13 and MacBook Air have both long gone USB-C-most effective, with 3 and two ports, respectively. But the XPS thirteen at least throws in a microSD card slot, too. Both nonetheless have headphone jacks. For now.

We pitted an extra-highly-priced XPS thirteen in opposition to a less-pricey MacBook Air. The Dell, however, starts at as low as $899, that is an awesome rate for the build fine, layout, and those candy, candy skinny bezels. That stated I wouldn’t purchase the entry-level Core i3 version with just 4GB of RAM, it is simply now not really worth it. Trade as much as the Core i5/8GB model (currently $1,209) and you have got a wonderful MacBook Air alternative.