Watch as we go hands-on with the new OLED screen option on one of our favorite lightweight laptops.
Read more about the new XPS 13 right here!
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[Music] Hello And welcome to one cool thing our Occasional show at pc mag where we show Off A cool or interesting uh gadget that We’ve been testing out in the lab or In all of our labs at home these days And that thing for this one cool thing Is uh the surprise the New dell xps 13 laptop uh Which is uh updated very slightly uh for Spring 2021 And uh my colleague matt buzzy will Share uh exactly what dell has done to Add some new pizzazz to this this uh Perennial editor’s choice winner Yes your um your surprise was a bit a Bit sarcastic because this is one that We see Quite a bit the deluxe pistol team um Much like a macbook it is the go-to Sort of annual update machine that’s Their go-to ultra portable for General use premium it is you know it’s A premium laptop it feels great those Follow is good We do love it every time but um the base Build quality Most most editions uh does not change That much Every every few years of course it’s due For for a redesign Um the main feature updated on this
Particular model Uh is an oled display which should be Really Literally eye-catching uh and head Turning for a lot of people out there Um so the outlet adding oled to laptops Has been a big thing over the past say Two to three years Many other models have got oled um To me the key benefit of an oled screen Is those brilliant colors Like the really high contrast ratio but In many of the models that i’ve Personally reviewed They they’re they it’s somewhat limiting In terms of the screen resolution you Might not be able to get 4k Or or things like that so what is dell Offering here Um yeah so there is a strictly uhd plus Version of this as well but they are Referring to this as 3.5 k Um the exact resolution i believe is 3456 by 2160 For those for those who are counting Pixels um Which for all intents and purposes it’ll Look like a 4k screen um it does look It looks brilliant um unfortunately Obviously that’s not Quite something that comes across on Camera um you know your screen can only Display your screen can display and Here it’s even only at uh 50 less
Brightness so it doesn’t Doesn’t blow out the the camera lens Here but it is um It is a super short and really Incredible looking screen um And obviously for those who are doing a Little media editing photo editing Anything like that Um the super sharp resolution and the Vibrant Accurate colors uh will will be a big Boom now what about touch support can You touch this thing You can okay i see the the that little Bar there That there is touch support that’s one Of the key things also that i That i sometimes uh you know have a Question about oled displays Um is that you know that not all Not all of them come with uh touch Support the notable one i’m thinking of Is Made kind of headlines earlier uh this Month was samsung’s galaxy book pro Um which has oled but uh only Certain versions of it have the Touchscreen because they actually They they did what’s called super amoled Which for super oled which which is You know instead of adding a touch Capacitive layer on top of the screen They actually build the touch support Into the screen i assume dell doesn’t do
That but it’s great to see I mean you know a windows laptop should Have a touch screen in my opinion it’s Great to see that it’s there Yes and we did mention the macbook Earlier that uh that is of course one Downside to apple’s Beloved laptop line they have not they Have not yet Tbd they have not yet uh gone the Touchscreen route on their laptops and It is unclear if they ever will Um so yes touch touch option always good Some people don’t use it some people Don’t really get why you’d want to poke Your screen i get that every now and Then you just kind of feel Like it instead of instead of clicking Clicking the touchpad Um especially on the convertible which Is not but it is it is a it is a nice Option to have Now let’s talk about some other things Quickly which you can also find out if You read our review but for those of you Who would rather listen than read Um the things that come to stand out to Me about the xps 13 it’s got the latest Tiger lake uh Uh you know processors um looks great Available in multiple colors um it looks Like you’ve got the white one there But the keyboard to me is not great The keyboard yeah the keyboard is okay
Uh you can read our as tom said A review of the previous edition of this Which screen aside And a slight processor change aside in This particular unit Is it is identical uh build-wise so yeah The keyboard it’s a little mushier than It almost even looks like it’s going to Be um it’s not it’s not my favorite Typing experience i would agree with you There overall the build quality is super Good the touchpad’s satisfying it has This Nice uh material on the keyboard deck The lid Is is strong uh it feels feels high Quality as well Um so it’s a really nicely built and Compact small laptop as you can see But uh yeah this is this is for all Intensive purposes identical to the the Previous edition that we reviewed since The screen One of the the other issues with the xps 13 although it’s not Uncommon is that there are very few Ports that you only get usb-c Um some versions in the past have come With an adapter in the box which is very Nice and something that Apple and other companies don’t do um But just you know To to to take note that like you’re Buying a slim laptop there’s not a lot
Of room for uh plugging things In yeah this does come with an adapter Uh that makes it a little use Easier to use i think dongles are Annoying to carry around in general but They are more annoying if you have to Also go buy them separately so Uh there’s something to be said for for Including in the box because they know It’s a bit inconvenient for a lot of Users so Adding it in uh it is nice this unit i Should mention As configured with the with the core i7 Um 11 gem processor Uh 512 gigabyte ssd 16 gigs of ram and Of course the upgrade to the oled Display which is A good several hundred dollar um Increase uh it’s about eighteen hundred Dollars as configured Um not a cheap laptop any means it never Was going to be The same way you’d expect to spend on a Nice macbook um that’s sort of the role That this That this plays as well so obviously the Oled screen has great contrast Um it has the touch support but you know You’re gonna pay extra for it so are There any other considerations that you Might want to think about Uh if you’re gonna get spring for this Oled version of the xps 13.
Yeah so um those things you mentioned Are good i test it passes immediately as I said a head turner like it looks it Looks great in person there’s no getting Around that Um it does in our testing has proven to Save battery which Is um less important obviously something Like a oled television set Uh but in a laptop is a pretty big deal Because people want their batteries Especially in a laptop that’s super Portable Like this uh to last a long time um oled Is supposed it’s not it’s not a um That’s not like a side benefit that’s Like a main benefit uh to using the Screen Is that it should it consumes less power And it saves your battery um When an old screen is displaying black Pixels those pixels are Are fully off which also makes uh the Blacks look better but it also saves Battery A lot of the older laptops ship in dark Mode by default because the Manufacturers know this Um that it will lead to battery savings So when your windows explorer files are Up Those windows are dark that saves Battery if you’re watching a video that Has a lot of
Black pixels it’s dark that’ll save Battery we ran our rundown tests On past oled laptops during sort of the First wave of oled screens And we found real hours worth of savings By running uh dark mode or a full screen Color Some black on the side even even raising The brightness when you’re in dark mode Versus the brightness or low raising or Low in the brightness In regular light mode makes a much less Much less of a difference In dark mode so battery savings are real Simply by switching that one setting or Keeping it on if they do If they do ship it in dark mode uh makes A real Big battery impact so that’s kind of a Cool passive benefit you get Again especially in a laptop that you’re Going to want to take with you on the Road Yeah cool hack use dark mode on an oled Oled screen i’ll i’ll write that down Yeah same just like that black black Folders Saving batteries um yeah and it looks Better and it uh It helps you save battery life as well Yeah and ultimately plenty of people Want an oled screen on the xps 13 i’m Sure Now you can finally do it you’re gonna
Have to pay extra but um you know if you Plan to keep it for a while it might be A worthwhile purchase and we will Definitely have more Um on whether or not we we our final Verdict on the Adding the oled to the dell xps 13 at Pcmag.com Until then uh thanks very much for being With us to watch this Brief one cool thing and we will Have more to come with the next gadget That we review
