Dell XPS 13 and XPS 13 Developer Edition—side-by-side review
Enlarge / On the left, we have the XPS 13 Developer Edition running Ubuntu 18.04. On the right, a regular XPS 13 running Windows 10 Pro. (credit: Jim Salter)
We spent this weekend going hands-on with a pair of 2020 model Dell XPS 13 laptops-one standard edition running Windows 10 Pro, and one Developer Edition running Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. The XPS 13 is among Dell's most popular models, and for good reason-it's a sleek, solid-feeling laptop that usually has top-of-the-line hardware and good battery life.
Unfortunately, both of the XPS 13 models we tested had driver issues-particularly the Windows laptop, which has a Killer AX1650 Wi-Fi card.
Hardware| Specs at a glance: Dell XPS 13 2020 model, as reviewed | ||
|---|---|---|
| XPS 13 | XPS 13 Developer Edition | |
| OS | Windows 10 Home | Ubuntu 18.04 LTS |
| Screen | 13.4-inch FHD+ (1920*1200) touchscreen | 13.4-inch UHD+ (3840*2400) touchscreen |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-1065G7 | |
| GPU | Intel Iris+ | |
| RAM | 16GiB | 32GiB |
| HDD | Intel 512GB NVMe SSD | Hynix 512GB NVMe SSD |
| Networking | Killer AX1650 Wi-Fi 6 (2*2), Bluetooth 4.2 | |
| Ports | 2 x Thunderbolt 3, 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack, 1 x microSD card reader | |
| Size | 11.6*7.8*0.58 inches (296*199*15mm) | |
| Weight | 2.7 pounds (1.2kg) | 2.8 pounds (1.3kg) |
| Battery | 52Wh battery | |
| Warranty | 1 year on-site (after remote diagnosis) | |
| Extras | Fingerprint reader (in power button), 720P IR camera, backlit keyboard | |
| Price as tested | $1,617 at Dell | $2,000 at Dell |
The XPS 13 is a small, sleek, very solid-feeling laptop with a bright screen and very narrow bezels. It doesn't offer much in the way of connectivity-there's no Ethernet jack, no HDMI port, and no USB-A port either.
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