Review: Dell XPS 13

The Dell XPS 13 is the PC manufacturer's first Ultrabook and packs a stylish 13.3-inch display into the size of a super-thin 11-inch frame.

The XPS 13 impresses in terms of its beautiful form factor, ability to boot up in seconds, long battery life, high performance and durability.

While the XPS 13 is incredibly lightweight, at 1.36kg, and ultra-thin, at less than a quarter of an inch at its thinnest point - similar to what we've seen with the Apple Macbook Air - Dell hasn't sacrificed on durability.

The Ultrabook is built with lightweight sheet aluminium on the top of the device, which gives it a metallic and strong finish for protection, as well as carbon-fibre at the base, which makes it soft to the touch and also lighter than other harder plastics.

The XPS 13 is perfect for travelling due to the fact that it is so lightweight in comparison to notebooks. It packs the performance punch of a laptop, but with the weight of a tablet device.

Starting up the Ultrabook was very impressive. It was able to boot up completely in less than six seconds. It does this using Dell's Rapid Start and Smart Connect technology, which aims to improve response times and productivity.

The XPS 13 comes tailor-made to the user's performance requirements. It delivers second-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, 128GB and 256GB solid state drive options, and Intel HD 3000 graphics. The solid state drives are smaller and lighter than their hard disk drive counterparts, which makes the device even more compact.

The screen, which is covered by strong Gorilla glass, has a WLED 300-nit display. While the screen provides a rich and sharp display, it falls slightly short in terms of graphics. It's notable that this is not a gaming Ultrabook, and if the user is looking for a notebook that provides top-of-the-range graphics for high-end gaming, then this is not the device to purchase.

However, it does show videos in outstanding, crystal-clear quality without any lag. The sound quality was also superb, especially considering how small the speakers are - and they're tucked in at the sides and the base of the Ultrabook.

The XPS 13's battery life is excellent and surpasses competitors in this class. While Dell claims more than eight hours' battery life, I was able to achieve six - but with intensive use; playing videos, surfing the Web and working on documents.

The device has an app that can manage power use by adjusting performance and screen brightness and toggling which other apps are running in the background. It also has a battery indicator on the front.

The XPS 13 is one of the most energy-efficient and 'green' Ultrabooks on the market today. No mercury or harmful toxins are included in the manufacturing of the energy-efficient LED display. It has also been accredited with an Energy Star rating and ships with bamboo packaging.

The XPS 13 is very fast and intuitive, and can manage multiple applications and workloads with ease. It comes preloaded with Windows 7 Home and has a widget on the home screen, which provides easy navigation to most-used programs and applications.

The widget enables the user to access videos, music, documents, Web sites and social networking sites all in one central hub. This provides an exceptional user experience that is both intuitive and convenient.

The Ultrabook comes with a full-size, backlit keyboard, which was a pleasure to type on, as well as a glass integrated button touch-pad with multi-gesture support. The touch-pad was extremely responsive and performed better than competitors' in the Ultrabook category.

The XPS 13 supports Bluetooth 3.0 wireless connectivity, which I found reliable. It falls short, however, in terms of the number of ports available, as it only has one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port, a mini-display port, as well as a headset jack.

This is problematic, especially considering it doesn't have an optical DVD drive and requires an external portable DVD drive, which leaves only one USB port for an external hard drive or a flash stick or mouse. I found I had to rely on USB hubs to connect all my devices.

It's also important to note that the XPS 13 cannot connect to an Ethernet LAN cable, which is typical among Ultrabooks that predominantly rely on WiFi connectivity to connect to a network. I expect the lack of ports and drives is part of Dell's effort to create as small a frame as possible.

The Dell XPS 13 is one of the best computers in the Ultrabook and notebook categories and presently outperforms competitors. Its strengths lie with its high performance, mobility, attractive exterior, weight, intuitiveness and rapid boot times. However, better graphics and additional ports would have made the XPS a clear winner.