Dell has released the XPS 13 Touch (2016 Rose Gold Edition) (starts at $799.99, $1,649.99 as tested), the third iteration this year of its flagship ultraportable laptop. It (still) features a brilliant 13-inch 3,200-by-1,800 (QHD+) IPS screen, a compact body that's smaller than usual for a 13-inch ultraportable, carbon fiber construction, and a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3. In addition to the new Rose Gold color, this XPS 13 comes with a 7th Generation Intel Core i7 processor. It might be heavier and a bit thicker than our last top pick, the Asus ZenBook 3($999.00 at Amazon), but you'll have to make fewer concessions, which means that this latest XPS 13 Touch is the one to beat, and our Editors' Choice.
Design and Features
The Rose Gold Edition looks almost identical to the regular($1,699.99 at Dell) and Gold Edition($1,699.99 at Dell) versions of the XPS 13 Touch from earlier this year; check out those reviews for more details. The new version's aluminum top and bottom lids are a bit redder than on the Gold Edition, and deeper than the glossy copper accents on the HP Spectre 13($1,499.77 at Amazon). Like the other versions of the same chassis, it measures 0.6 by 12.0 by 8.0 inches (HWD), and weighs 2.9 pounds. It has the same comfortable keyboard, carbon fiber keyboard deck, and one-piece touchpad.
You get the same ports as the other recent XPS 13 Touch models, including a headset jack, a USB 3.0 port, and a USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port on the left side, and an SD card reader and another USB 3.0 port on the right. There is a traditional barrel-style AC adapter connector, but you can also charge from the USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port via a docking station or a USB-C charger. You'll need a USB-C adapter to connect to legacy DisplayPort, HDMI, or VGA monitors, though USB-C–native monitors are starting to appear in stores and online. Dell offers a $75 pocket adapter that connects USB-C to Ethernet, HDMI, USB 3.0, and VGA, as well as an updated desktop Thunderbolt 3 dock, for which we have not been able to confirm pricing. As before, 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.1 handle wireless connections.
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While the future of physical connectivity is certainly tied to USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, retaining USB Type-A ports on the XPS 13 helps it immensely in comparison with the recently updated Apple MacBook Pro($808.85 at Amazon). You can continue using your "old" USB memory sticks, hard drives, mice, and printers without needing adapters or dongles, as you would on the USB-C– or Thunderbolt-3–only Acer Swift 7($1,499.11 at Amazon), Asus ZenBook 3, HP Spectre 13, or MacBook Pro. Compatibility with both USB standards is a big plus while we wait for USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 to become as ubiquitous as Type-A currently is. The savings and convenience alone will make the XPS 13 Touch worth it.
The 3,200-by-1,800-resolution IPS screen is very detailed and has a good color balance. Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide (IGZO) technology improves color fidelity and quality, and helps keep consistent detail at higher-than-full-HD resolution. It's a relatively bright (400-nit) screen, and it can display sharp text and graphics. Many ultraportable laptops have a much lower 1,920-by-1,080-resolution (full HD) screen and are dimmer (250-350 nits). That said, though the MacBook Pro's screen has a lower resolution (2,560 by 1,600), it's moderately brighter (500 nits) and has a (slightly) wider DCI-P3 color gamut that displays more lifelike color. You'll have to jump up to a desktop-replacement laptop like the Dell XPS 15 Touch($2,199.55 at Dell) if you want DCI-P3 (or the Adobe RGB color gamut) on a Windows laptop for the time being. Even so, the XPS 13 Touch's display should be good enough for professional-level digital photography and video.
If there's any nit we can pick about the tiny bezel around the screen, it's that the webcam has been moved to the lower left, by the hinge. This makes for odd capture angles when using the webcam, so keep that in mind if you have daily Web conferences. The resulting thin bezels, though, do help keep the overall dimensions compact. All three of the 2016 XPS 13 Touch models have this issue.
The 8GB of memory and 256GB solid-state drive (SSD) are identical to what you get on the Acer Swift 7, the HP Spectre 13, the MacBook Pro, and the previous two versions of the XPS 13 Touch. The Asus ZenBook 3 comes with double the memory and storage, but the combo here seems to be the present sweet spot between price and usability for a midrange or high-end ultraportable. It gives you enough RAM to keep a few apps as well as dozens of browser windows (including smoothly streaming music and video) open simultaneously, and sufficient storage space to house most of the programs you'll use every day, as well as your projects or movies. Although you can upgrade the SSD after purchase, the memory is soldered to the motherboard, so choose wisely while configuring. The system comes with a one-year warranty.
Performance
An Intel Core i7-7500U processor with Intel HD Graphics 620 powers the XPS 13 Touch. It adds some much-needed performance, as well as quite a bit of extra battery life, which was a sticking point of the previous Gold Edition model. The XPS 13 Touch was near the front of the pack on our Handbrake (2:08), CineBench (342 points), and Photoshop (3:42) tests. It was faster than the Asus ZenBook 3 and the recently updated MacBook Pro on all three tests, and it's only a few seconds or percentage points behind the New Razer Blade Stealth($999.99 at Razer) on each as well. It's much faster than the Acer Swift 7 and the 12-inch Apple MacBook ( at Amazon) , both of which use lower-powered Core i5 and m5 processors. If you get the new XPS 13 Touch with Core i7, you're all set for graphic arts and multimedia performance.
Day-to-day performance was good, as shown by the XPS 13 Touch's score of 2,769 points on the PCMark 8 Work Conventional test, an improvement over the last two XPS 13 Touch systems. It is a bit slower than the Asus ZenBook 3, the New Razer Blade Stealth, and the HP Spectre 13, which were helped by only having to drive full HD screens; the 3,200-by-1,800 panel puts more of a toll on the XPS 13 Touch.
At the 3D gaming tests, the XPS 13 Touch put in a good effort, with scores that were near the top on the 3DMark Cloud Gate (6,761 points) and Fire Strike Extreme (425) tests. That's a bit behind the Gold Edition, which had a more powerful Intel Iris 540 graphics processor. The latest Apple MacBook Pro and XPS 13 Touch Gold Edition both beat the Rose Gold model by a small margin on the 3D gaming tests, and were both more playable at medium quality settings. You should be able to play 3D games on the XPS 13 Touch, though on lower detail settings and not at the native resolution.
All-day usage (and then some) is assured, because the XPS 13 Touch lasted 10 hours, 42 minutes, on our battery rundown test. That's several hours better than the Gold Edition (7 hours) and the early-2016 version of the XPS 13 Touch (9 hours). The Rose Gold model outlasted most of the competition, too, including the Acer Swift 7, the HP Spectre 13, and the New Razer Blade Stealth. That said, the Asus ZenBook 3 (12:07) and Apple MacBook Pro (11:53) endured longer, and the Apple MacBook Air (17:36) and the 2015 version of the Microsoft Surface Book($495.00 at Amazon) (15:41) are still the overall leaders.
Conclusion
The Rose Gold Edition of the Dell XPS 13 addresses most of the issues we had with the regular Gold Edition, and comes in costing $100 less. It has a top-notch screen, a compact body, premium construction, upscale aesthetics, 11 hours of battery life, a powerful processor, and ports supporting both USB 3.0 Type-A and the latest USB-C with Thunderbolt 3 technology. While it is a bit thicker than the Asus ZenBook 3 and the newest Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch, it has a higher-resolution screen than both, as well as better connectivity, which you'll need as long as USB 3.0 remains the prevalent standard (probably for another half-dozen years or so). The XPS 13 Touch also has better benchmark performance overall, save an hour (or so) in battery life. While it is a bit pricier, you'll spend the difference on dongles for the Asus ZenBook 3 ($50) or the MacBook Pro ($150). We have no qualms giving the Editors' Choice for high-end ultraportable laptops to the Dell XPS 13 Touch—it's a terrific choice for power users.
With powerful hardware, a high-resolution screen, and both USB 3.0 and USB-C ports, the Dell XPS 13 Touch is the best ultraportable laptop for power users right now.
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