[0:00] When Apple launched their MacBook Neo
[0:01] earlier this year, this was very
[0:03] disruptive because this was a good
[0:05] performing laptop with great build
[0:07] quality and an incredible price point.
[0:09] This was like 600 bucks, 500 bucks for
[0:11] students. And when it launched, the
[0:13] entire like Windows laptop space felt
[0:16] uncomfortable because this was it was
[0:19] very difficult to compete against like
[0:21] all the manufacturers were like, "Okay,
[0:24] now this thing exists. What do we do?"
[0:26] Now, the one and only company so far
[0:29] that has come out with what I think is a
[0:31] real competitor is this product right
[0:32] here. So, this is from Dell. This was
[0:34] announced a couple weeks ago at uh
[0:36] Computex. This is their new XPS 13. I
[0:39] saw it. I reached out to Dell. I'm like,
[0:40] "Okay, give me your cheapest one, like
[0:43] the entry level one that is also priced
[0:45] at a very similar price point." So, this
[0:47] thing is 700 or like $6.99 for a regular
[0:49] and then for students, uh, $5.99. Now, I
[0:54] specifically asked for the 8 GB entry-le
[0:56] model, the one that's that price point,
[0:58] because I wanted to see what the
[0:59] experience was if you compare it
[1:01] directly to the MacBook Neo. Now, on
[1:03] paper, the XPS 13 is objectively better
[1:06] than the MacBook Neo in many ways. The
[1:08] screen on the XPS is a little bit
[1:10] bigger. It also has a higher refresh
[1:11] rate, goes up to 120 Hz, and it's also a
[1:14] touch capable screen. It's running a new
[1:16] chip and the base model of the XPS also
[1:18] only has 8 gigs of RAM like the MacBook
[1:20] Neo, but you can configure it with more
[1:22] if you want. The XPS also has
[1:24] upgradeable storage and the keyboard on
[1:26] the XPS has back lighting. Uh, it's got
[1:28] higher bandwidth ports that can handle
[1:30] multiple external displays. It has
[1:32] faster Wi-Fi and it's also listed as
[1:34] having more speakers than the Neo, but
[1:36] we'll come back to that. Now, the first
[1:37] thing I noticed when I picked this thing
[1:38] out of the box is that this is very well
[1:40] built. I mean, it is an XPS product and
[1:42] the legacy of the brand is like you
[1:44] would kind of expect it to be
[1:45] well-built, but it is one hand openable
[1:47] for one, but it's like because of the
[1:50] price point, I just imagine in my head
[1:52] that somehow they'd cut corners somehow
[1:53] to just make this fit that price point.
[1:56] It feels exactly like an XPS product
[1:59] should and would. Now, if you compare it
[2:01] to the Neo side by side, uh, or just
[2:03] like in hand, they're both wellb built,
[2:05] but the Neo does seem a little bit more
[2:07] durable. like the frame of it seems that
[2:09] if I dropped it and I also dropped an
[2:11] XPS, the Neo would take less damage
[2:14] somehow than the XPS. It's just a little
[2:16] bit, I don't know, beefier in that
[2:17] sense. That being said, the XPS product
[2:20] here is the best 6 or $700 Windows
[2:23] laptop on the market. Usually at this
[2:24] price point, you are dealing with
[2:25] plastic or like stamped metal, but this
[2:27] is machined. The screens, let's start
[2:30] here. The screen on the XPS is
[2:31] definitely better than the one on the
[2:32] MacBook. Similar brightness, but the
[2:34] colors are measurably better on the XPS.
[2:36] It's got slightly bigger panel with
[2:38] thinner bezels. The higher refresh rate
[2:40] is nice, but these aren't gaming
[2:42] laptops, right? You do need to play like
[2:43] undemanding 2D titles to get 120 frames
[2:46] per second in games. But for regular
[2:48] Windows use, like just your UI and just
[2:50] being in Windows, all the animation is a
[2:51] little bit smoother when you have that
[2:52] nice refresh rate. It's something I
[2:54] value, but it's definitely not important
[2:56] to everyone. Uh, now in terms of
[2:58] speakers, MacBooks in general have
[3:00] excellent speakers. The ones on the Neo
[3:02] were a little bit disappointing. These
[3:03] just don't sound as good as I would
[3:04] expect. The XPS 13 with its more
[3:08] speakers because it has four instead of
[3:10] two as advertised. I was expecting these
[3:12] to somehow be better. They are so not.
[3:14] These actually sound significantly worse
[3:17] than the ones on [music] the Neo.
[3:22] [music]
[3:26] I don't know if it's like early drivers
[3:27] or something else, but these are just
[3:29] not great speakers. Same thing applies
[3:31] to the webcam and the mic. So, I've
[3:33] obviously gotten a haircut before
[3:35] shooting this demo, but this is the
[3:36] camera and microphone from the XPS 13.
[3:38] And then this is a camera microphone on
[3:40] the MacBook Neo. It is significantly
[3:43] better. The keyboard, however, on the
[3:44] XPS is excellent. This is way better
[3:48] than the one on the Neo simply because
[3:50] of the fact that it has backlighting.
[3:51] So, the actual typing experience is
[3:53] solid. The keys feel responsive and I
[3:54] type fast on it. But the backlighting on
[3:56] this is just so important. Like, these
[3:59] are products geared towards students,
[4:00] right? and you know even a dim lecture
[4:02] hall like there's just often scenarios
[4:04] where having backlighting is just
[4:06] critical and the fact that it doesn't
[4:08] exist on the Neo like we know why it's
[4:09] not there right they want the product
[4:10] segregation and Apple wants to sell you
[4:12] that whole MacBook Air for like you know
[4:14] 500 bucks more but I'm just so glad that
[4:17] XPS 13 has it and many people might look
[4:19] at the spec and be like ah whatever
[4:21] that's fine I don't need it but there
[4:23] will be times like for sure on an
[4:25] airplane somewhere where you just can't
[4:27] see your keyboard very well and you want
[4:29] to change like the volume or the
[4:30] brightness or something where you just
[4:31] don't know where the key is and you're
[4:32] like, I can't see it. You got to do the
[4:34] whole like tilt your screen down to
[4:36] light up your keyboard and then find the
[4:37] key and then press it. It's super
[4:39] annoying. Uh the trackpad on the XPS 13
[4:41] is also really good. This is a
[4:42] mechanical trackpad just like the Neo
[4:44] and this feels really nice. I don't
[4:46] think there's anything I would complain
[4:47] about in terms of like size or anything.
[4:48] It is uh kind of keyboard focused in
[4:51] terms of sizing and it's just a small
[4:53] trackpad. But I like it. I think this
[4:55] feels and tracks really nicely. Looking
[4:57] at performance, this is running Intel's
[4:58] new Core 5320 chip. This has pretty good
[5:02] CPU and GPU benchmarks, and it is aimed
[5:04] at the entry level market. When I'm
[5:06] using the XPS for normal or light
[5:08] computing tasks, like browsing the web,
[5:10] or catch up on news, typing an email,
[5:12] typing a document, this feels super
[5:14] responsive. There's no issue with it
[5:16] whatsoever. It just feels like a very
[5:17] smooth experience. Even you have a lot
[5:18] of tabs open. And I would say that the
[5:20] experience between the XPS 13 and the
[5:22] Neo is largely the same when it comes to
[5:24] just like normal light computing tasks.
[5:27] However, if you have a more RAM
[5:29] intensive application open in the
[5:31] background, like let's say I do this a
[5:33] lot. I'll have Adobe Premiere open and
[5:34] I'll be all tabbed in a browser doing
[5:36] stuff. Both of them can hiccup for sure.
[5:38] Here and there it happens. I feel like
[5:40] the XPS 13 does it a little more
[5:42] frequently than the Neo. It's not often
[5:45] at all, but experience-wise,
[5:48] it has a little bit of a hiccup. More
[5:50] noticeable on this. Now, if you run the
[5:52] very unrealistic scenario where let's
[5:55] say I have like four videos playing
[5:58] while also running a video editing
[5:59] program while also playing like a game
[6:01] in the background while having a bunch
[6:03] of Chrome tabs open and I run both of
[6:06] these systems, I find that the MacBook
[6:09] is just way better at handling that
[6:12] workflow. Now, is that a realistic
[6:14] workflow? Not at all. Like, no one works
[6:16] like that. I don't think that it's meant
[6:18] to simulate a realistic workflow. But I
[6:20] think what it does indicate is that the
[6:22] RAM swapping in Mac OS is just better.
[6:27] It's fluid and makes it a usable
[6:29] experience if even if you throw stupid
[6:31] unrealistic workflows at it. But the XPS
[6:34] 13 with Windows 11 can make that RAM
[6:36] limitation feel a little bit more
[6:37] potent. Now, neither of these devices
[6:39] are great for video editing. They're
[6:41] both entry-level systems, right? But if
[6:43] I had to pick between the two, like the
[6:44] better one, I'd say the MacBook Neo, the
[6:47] GPU capabilities are just a little bit
[6:49] better. At least in Premiere, it's just
[6:51] a little smoother on the edits. There is
[6:53] another thing though. So on the XPS
[6:56] device, there is no audio jack. So if
[6:57] you have an external drive for your like
[7:00] your media connected up to this and
[7:02] let's say you have, you know, a power
[7:04] cable connected to the other one,
[7:06] there's no audio jack. So you would have
[7:08] to use a Bluetooth connected audio. But
[7:10] now you have latency like lag, right? So
[7:13] if you need like millisecond precise
[7:15] audio, you would have to have a USBC
[7:18] audio thing and then now you're down to
[7:20] one port. Uh it's not something that's
[7:23] important to most people, but if you do
[7:25] need precise audio for timing,
[7:28] no audio jack. Okay, the battery life on
[7:31] straight video playback is better on the
[7:33] XPS 13 by a little bit, but they're
[7:35] pretty similar when it comes to just
[7:36] light workloads. The XPS 13 does have a
[7:39] pair of fans on the inside. It doesn't
[7:40] come on very often, but when it does, it
[7:42] is audible. Like, if you're installing a
[7:44] big piece of software or if you're
[7:46] playing a game, something, it will kick
[7:47] in. And it's quiet, but it is
[7:49] noticeable. The Neo is fanless. So, the
[7:52] overall experience for the XPS 13 is
[7:54] quite good. And for the $7 or $600 that
[7:57] the entry- level product gets you, it's
[7:59] surprisingly good. There is a bit of a
[8:01] caveat, though. So, for one, this is a
[8:04] timelimited price. I don't know exactly
[8:06] for how long it'll last. I think, you
[8:08] know, they're trying to get students
[8:09] into this thing, so I guess into the
[8:11] fall. But this pricing will eventually
[8:14] change. And as to how much it changes,
[8:16] too, I don't know. I don't even know if
[8:17] Dell at this point has that exact
[8:19] number. But this is a variable price
[8:22] depending on like the RAM situation and
[8:23] the storage pricing situation. So, as it
[8:26] stands, this is a phenomenal price.
[8:29] Like, if you look at the market right
[8:30] now, Dell is the only company that's
[8:31] offering something like this in the
[8:33] Windows space at this price point.
[8:34] Literally, no one else is doing it to my
[8:36] understanding. And I think they can't
[8:39] maintain this price for all that long,
[8:41] right? Because who knows how this stuff
[8:42] is going to play out in terms of the
[8:44] pricing of stuff. So right now, if you
[8:46] get this or if you get it before the
[8:47] price changes, I think you're getting a
[8:49] great value. I understand that as this
[8:52] thing as you throw more RAM into this
[8:54] system, obviously the price jacks up and
[8:56] you could argue that, you know, at 16
[8:58] gigs or 32 gigs, this is an awesome
[9:00] system, but at that point the price is
[9:02] like so high up there that you're now
[9:04] comparing it to other systems and like
[9:05] MacBook Air, MacBook Pro pricing that
[9:07] it's it's a separate conversation. I'm
[9:09] only looking at this thing from the
[9:10] perspective of the cheapest versions,
[9:12] like the base entry level. And so for
[9:13] that extra $100 that the XPS 13 costs,
[9:16] you get a lot. You really do. uh the
[9:19] overall user experience I think is just
[9:21] marketkedly better. However, it's only
[9:24] at that price. I think the moment the
[9:26] price fluctuates or you start throwing
[9:28] configurations and stuff, everything
[9:29] goes out the window and I no longer have
[9:31] a comment on it. It's just the entry
[9:33] level price. I'm like, this is it's
[9:35] good. Uh okay, there you have it. the
[9:38] XPS 13.