Review: The 2022 Dell XPS 13 is more than just a pretty face

I was treated to a welcome surprise when I first laid eyes on the latest Dell XPS 13 (9315). The color options—a youthful sky blue or a unique purplish brown—are visual candy in a PC world dominated by shimmery silvers, grown-up grays, and boring blacks. Dell's 2022 XPS 13 doesn't compromise by offering a more traditional colorway for cheaper, as prior XPS 13 laptops did, either.

After I moved past appearances, I found there was more to enjoy under the hood. While this machine isn't as wild of a redesign as the one given to the costlier Dell XPS 13 Plus, the company did some tinkering to make the XPS 13 lighter and thinner than ever, all while accommodating quality-of-life upgrades like better speakers and a bigger battery. Unfortunately, it has a dreadfully limited and dongle-dependent port selection.

There are flashier alternatives for a thin-and-light laptop, but the 2022 XPS 13 is an admirable clamshell with more to offer than a couple of unique hues.

If looks could kill

I've worked with numerous XPS 13s over the years, including personal purchases, review units, and work-issued systems. So you can forgive me if I've found an iteration or two boring in terms of design changes. After all, it's not every year you get a spinout like the Dell XPS 13 Plus.

The 2022 XPS 13 has a memorable appearance. Just take a look:

The 2022 XPS 13 in Umber (top) and Sky (bottom)

Credit: Scharon Harding

The laptop's chassis is CNC-machined aluminum tinted to a "tone-on-tone" design, as Dell describes it. There's a subtle icy blue called Sky and a sophisticated, HP Spectre-like deep purple called Umber.

I'm delighted to see uniquely shaded PCs and peripherals that help to brighten work and home office spaces. But I'm surprised there isn't a more traditional color available. Dell found a decent medium: In certain lighting, the lids have a more muted look, with the blue version even being able to pass for a silver-ish color. But blue and purple laptops are understandably not for everyone.

Still, the XPS 13 has a frosted finish and thoughtfully selected hues that feel fun but not excessive, making it one of the most attractive laptops we've reviewed all year. Its build is firm and professional-feeling, with a thin lid bringing minimal flex and a deck that shows just a smidge of give when I forced it.

This year's XPS 13 is the thinnest yet, and while that's good news for portability, it's terrible news for port selection. There are just two USB-C ports on the XPS 13.

Dell's 2021 XPS 13 9305 on top of the 2022 XPS 13 9315 in Sky and Umber.

Credit: Scharon Harding

At least they're powerful Thunderbolt 4 ones (Thunderbolt 4 supports USB4.) Plus, the laptop comes with two dongles for adding a USB-A and 3.5 mm connection. But a computer this beautiful and portable shouldn't be bogged down with adapters.

Keyboard

The XPS 13's tasteful colors are stronger when the laptop is open. The keyboard on the Umber version looks more matchy-matchy, though the keys' white lettering adds some nice contrast. I preferred the bolder, powdery blue of the Sky version's keyboard. The pop of color made me excited to type, while the matte finish subdued the look so it wasn't too much to look at daily.

Other keyboard inclusions: a tiny fingerprint reader/power button, a mic mute button that lights up when activated, and brightness controls—but there are no forward/back media keys, and there isn't a camera shutter button.

Credit: Scharon Harding

Like the keys on the lattice-free, extra-large XPS 13 Plus keyboard, the XPS 13's Chiclet keys each have 1 mm of travel, but the latter felt much more comfortable and natural. Broadly speaking, though, the short travel made me bottom out frequently, exhausting my fingers and making me miss my mechanical keyboard. Unlike on the XPS 13 Plus keyboard, these keys are spaced out nicely, making for more precise typing.

Meanwhile, the touchpad accompanying the XPS 13's keyboard feels as slippery-smooth as always while offering firm and distinct left and right clicks.

Internal design changes

Beauty is only skin deep, but the allure of the XPS 13 extends to its internal design as well. XPS 13s get thinner with every release, so it's not surprising that this is the thinnest and lightest XPS 13 ever. However, even by 2022 standards, this laptop is impressively thin (0.55 inches) and lightweight (2.59 lbs). For comparison, the XPS 13 Plus, a complete redesign to accommodate a CPU with a higher TDP, is 0.6 inches thick and 2.78 lbs (as reviewed), and the HP Spectre x360 13.5-inch is 0.67 inches thick and 3.02 lbs. The MacBook Air is trimmer at 0.44 inches thick, but it's slightly heavier at 2.7 lbs.

It's easy to overlook a few tenths of an inch or pound, but slimming down as much as the XPS 13 required notable redesigns. The laptop has the smallest motherboard a Dell laptop has ever used, according to the company. That allows the PC to have a bigger battery and speakers while being lighter than 2021's XPS 13, model number 9310, which weighed 2.8 lbs with a touchscreen. Dell says the motherboard has an area of 8,745 mm², a notable reduction from the 2021 XPS 13 9310, whose motherboard's area measured 16,526 mm².

Sky-blue keyboard.

Credit: Scharon Harding

The 2022 XPS 13 can make do with a smaller motherboard partially because of its slimmer SSD. Storage here is a rare M.2 1113 ball grid array SSD measuring 0.45×0.51 inches (11.5×13 mm). That's much smaller than the typical M.2 SSDs found in laptops or available to purchase, which are typically at least 0.87 inches (22 mm) long. M.2 2280 SSDs, which are 0.87×3.15 inches (22×80 mm), and M.2 2230 SSDs (0.87×1.18 inches / 22× 30 mm), for example, are way more common. Dell says the 2022 XPS 13 is the first computer to market using an M.2 1113 PCIe 4.0 SSD.

Performance

The XPS 13 goes up to an Intel Core i7-1250U with vPro support, but my review unit uses an Intel Core i5-1230U. The chip has eight Efficiency cores (0.7–3.3 GHz), two Performance cores (1–4.4 GHz), and 12 threads. That's a downgrade from the 28 W i7-1280P I tested in the XPS 13 Plus, a fancier 13-inch-class XPS with a more experimental design.

My review unit's processor is less powerful than that of most ultraportables we've tested lately. That also means the machine carries a lower price than many of the review units in our sample group below, as well as longer expected battery life.

Here are the laptops used in the upcoming benchmarks.

The XPS 13 has four thermal modes: Cool, Optimized, Quiet, and Ultra Performance. The charts below represent the laptop in its Ultra Performance mode.

As expected, my review unit fell behind in productivity tasks compared to the pricier machines with beefier processors, like the MacBook Air and XPS 13 Plus. Thankfully, though, the XPS 13 wasn't dramatically behind its most closely priced competitor here, the Surface Pro 9 tablet-laptop.

Generally, the XPS 13's SSD speeds were below the pricier sample group, but the laptop still managed to beat the MacBook Air in sequential read speeds and random write and read speeds. And it beat HP's Spectre x360 13.5-inch and Lenovo Yoga 9i in random write speeds.

Meanwhile, the graphics benchmarks above show the difference between an i5 with 80 EUs versus the likes of Apple's graphically advanced M2 silicon or an Intel i7 chip with (in the case of the XPS 13 Plus) 96 EUs.

The XPS 13 has air intake vents on the deck, south of the USB-C ports. In Ultra Performance mode, sound and temperature weren't too concerning, but you can expect different results from a more highly configured model.

Battery life

The battery life chart above shows the benefit of moving from an i5 to an i7 CPU. The i5 U-series equipped laptop lasted about twice as long as the XPS 13 Plus and 69 percent longer than the Spectre x360 on the PCMark 10 Modern Office battery life test with each laptop's screen set to 200 nits. Intel's 12th Generation P-series chips offer a potential boost in productivity capabilities, but our reviews of the Surface Pro 9, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10, and 2022 Framework Laptop have suggested that P-series chips are more power-hungry than their U-series counterparts.

Because the latest XPS 13 has a smaller motherboard than last year's version, it can accommodate a larger battery despite weighing less.

The XPS 13 9315 (right) has a bigger battery than the XPS 13 9305 (left) or 9310 (center) despite weighing less. Each XPS laptop's battery is outlined in yellow.

Credit: Dell

Disappointingly, Dell says the XPS 13's battery is "built in to the laptop" and "not replaceable by the consumer," which may not sit well with tinkerers and those seeking an eco-friendly, repairable laptop.

Dell also says the laptop can reach up to 80 percent battery after an hour of charging.

Display

At 1920×1200 max resolution, the 13.4-inch XPS 13 isn't the most pixel-dense ultralight (169 pixels per inch). With competitors like the 13.5-inch Spectre x360's OLED going up to 3000×2000 (267.1 ppi) and the XPS 13 Plus reaching 3456×2160 OLED (304.1 ppi), my review unit's IPS screen doesn't feel so flashy. But that doesn't mean it's not a strong display.

Minimal bezels surround a bright screen.

Credit: Scharon Harding

The XPS 13's screen is positively bright, making it easy to use in different environments, including my overly sunny office. Its 16:10 aspect ratio feels natural, especially with many laptops moving from 16:9 to taller screens over the past couple of years. It also has a much slimmer bottom bezel than the early 2021 XPS 13 9305 features.

Colors don't appear super vivid or exceptionally vibrant. However, they're far from dull, and they seem accurate. In a side-by-side comparison with last year's XPS 13 9305, light images on dark backgrounds appeared to pop more. Dell claims the new display has a 2,000:1 contrast ratio, which is about twice as strong as the average IPS laptop screen.

The XPS 13 is the brightest PC in the sample group, with our colorimeter reporting numbers in line with Dell's (and the MacBook Air's) 500-nit claim. I also recorded 70.7 percent DCI-P3 coverage, which is significantly less than the 98.6 percent recorded with the XPS 13 Plus. The XPS 13's screen looks less colorful than that of the 13.5-inch Spectre x360. However, strong contrast ensures images still pop. This display doesn't quite wow like a good OLED does, but I was still happy to watch movies, look at photos, and work on it daily.

It's worth noting that the first XPS 13 review unit I received had a screen that flickered randomly when set to 60 percent brightness or lower. Dell sent me a replacement unit, and I had no further issues (the laptop has a one-year warranty). But with XPS 13 Plus OLED screens inadvertently detaching, build quality could be a concern.

Speakers, webcam, and software

The speakers on the XPS 13 9315 bring marked improvement over those on last year's XPS 13 9305—an impressive achievement, considering the former is a slimmer, lighter-weight machine. In side-by-side testing, the XPS 13 9315's speakers were noticeably louder and warmer, with less of the tinny, metallic sound often associated with ultraportable audio. Of course, music doesn't sound as full as when it's coming from dedicated speakers. And I sometimes struggle to hear dialogue and get a clean sound when using the XPS on my lap due to the system relying on downward-firing speakers.

The XPS 13 has 4 W of total output through a pair of 2 W speakers that are bigger than the last year's XPS 13 speakers, providing higher volume and more bass.

Webcam

In ideal lighting situations, the 720p camera on the XPS 13 showed minimal grain, with my hair looking only slightly fuzzy and my skin appearing a little more smoothed than natural. Colors look decently accurate, though.

The camera differs from last year's by using separate infrared and RGB sensors to improve image quality. My review unit's webcam looks sharper and has more true-to-life colors than the shooter in the early 2021 XPS 13 9305 I have on hand.

But there's also a pesky outline framing the camera area. It looks like a peel-off sticker and breaks up the clean look of the XPS. And there's also no physical shutter, as there is on the 13.5-inch Spectre x360.

Software

With the preloaded My Dell app, you can set the XPS 13 to automatically dim the screen if it senses you're not looking (for mild privacy and battery conservation). It also has capabilities similar to the Dell UltraSharp U3223QZ IPS Black monitor in that it can lock the PC if it senses you've walked away and wake it back up when it feels your return. These features worked mostly reliably (assuming I sat at a desk) without being distracting. The Lenovo Yoga 9i's approach of blurring the screen when you're not looking offers more privacy, but I found that implementation more distracting.