The brand-new Dell XPS 13 model for 2018 is on sale today

Alan Martin January 3, 2018

If you’ve been diligently reading Alphr for some time, occasionally refreshing our best laptops page, you’ll know that we hold the Dell XPS 13 line of laptops in pretty high regard. Well, surprise! Dell has just announced a product refresh and the new, improved model is available to buy today.

As the name suggests, the XPS 13 still packs a 13.3in screen, although this time buyers get the option of specifying a full 4K display (3,840 x 2,160) instead of the QHD+ (3,200 x 1,800) screen offered on the previous model. That may well be overkill on a laptop of this size, but if most phones are now packing a 2K screen, it only makes sense that laptops should keep up with the Joneses. If you’re worried that this upgrade will see a hit to battery life, you’re 100% correct: Dell estimates the XPS 13 will see a very respectable 11 hours with the 4K screen, but this can be nearly doubled to 20 if you opt for the 1080p version.

Powering the machine will be a choice of eighth-generation Intel processors: either the 3.4GHz Core i5-8250U or the 4GHz Core i7-8550U. And the laptop will have between 4GB and 16GB RAM, depending on your model. Either way, the graphics will be Intel UHD 620-powered: this remains a business laptop through and through. dell_xps_13_2018_edition_announced_-_1

So far, so ordinary. The big news here is that redesign. The new XPS is now 30% thinner than last year’s model and tips the scales at a mere just 1.2kg. Dell also boasts that this is the first laptop to have “crystalline silica” materials woven into nine composite layers of the design.

What this means in practice is that it looks pretty but that said weave has titanium oxide coating to prevent yellowing or staining. In fact, I’m assured, you can take a pen to it and just wipe it off afterwards, although I wouldn’t recommend doing that to the display models in John Lewis if you don’t want to be removed by security.

Speaking of John Lewis, that’s one of the places you can buy it now, should you be convinced into pulling the trigger, as well as directly through Dell. The 2018 XPS 13 starts at £1,269, with a rose gold version debuting in February for £1,669. An Ubuntu-based edition, aimed at developers will also be on sale from £1,319.

We hope to have a full review soon, but if you just can’t wait, you can go order one from Dell right now.