2022 Dell XPS 13 and XPS 13 Plus Review

Dell has split the iconic XPS 13 Ultrabook into 2 lines for 2022. We look at both the standard XPS 13 (9315) and XPS 13 Plus (9320) in this review. Both are extremely compact CNC aluminum 13.4” laptops with 16:10 aspect ratio narrow bezel displays, Wi-Fi 6E, Thunderbolt 4 and Intel Iris Xe graphics. The Plus offers higher end display options including our 3.5K OLED and 4K IPS, and it has a faster CPU. The Plus sports a new keyboard design and an interesting borderless trackpad too. The XPS 13 standard edition fights back with a lower price tag and a more conventional keyboard.

[NeonVisual]

Ahh, the corporate 2022 contagion of passing supply chain costs on to consumers by inflating the cost of the actual expected device into a edition, and then placing an intentionally less desirable device at the price point said premium device would otherwise have been at to make it more appealing by disassociation.

In the good old days a premium product line sold itself.

[mr]

The lack of ports and physical function keys are already a "no" for a lot of us. We just came here to watch Lisa's usual awesome reviews.

[robocopvn]

Yeah, it's a bit late, but I still love to watch your honest review, Lisa. Had a flash back of when I decide to purchase the XPS 9343 (back in 2015 or 2016) after watching your review. It's been many years... WOW !!

Note: Currently waiting for my 9315 to be shipped - Bough it on the black Friday :)

[NCC_]

dell have a special way of crafting beautiful well rounded devices which work well at launch but then immediately break when they can't be bothered to keep pace with windows updates

[hawkins]

My XPS 13 QHD touch 9350 Core i7 16gb 512 NVMe from 5, 6 years ago is still kicking strong. Else would love to get a new one.

[Michael-urqb]

This is such a weird year for Dell. Idk why there's two sub brands here along with a tablet now. I wish they had kept the hinged xps going instead of the Plus or tablet.

[treeriders]

No headphone jack, no function keys, bad webcam, and high price. I don't see the point.

[ArthropodSpidey]

Dell’s quality control is still a nightmare though. 😢

[JoJoHartt]

You are absolutely correct about the Dell. As a previous Dell xps 13 plus owner, I definitely do not recommend it at all! I had the xps 13 plus with i7-1260p, OLED 3.5k, and 16gb ram. The battery life is terrible with only 3-5 hours of usage before it dies out. The fans are running so loud consistently like a jey engine. The Dell xps would lag randomly due to overheating issues. I ended returning it about daily using for nearly a month with about 7 usage per day. I ended getting the Lenovo yo 9i with a 2.8k OLED 90hz screen, 16gb ram, i7-1260p. The Lenovo 9i lasted about 8-9hours of daily usage and it is so quiet while doing heavy workload. The Lenovo yoga 9i also doesn't lag like the xps 13 plus. I highly recommend the Lenovo yoga 9i with the 2.8k OLED. 💯 Avoid the 4k OLED model

[jackoneil]

The issue I've had with those flush keyboards is that slight side pressure tended to pop the keys off and putting them back on could be a problem

[bonedatt]

I'm one of the lucky ones that have not had any issues with their XPS, and I really love mine. It has a 4k screen, core i7 1065G7, 16/512 GB memory/storage. Paid ~$1300 after taxes back in 2020 for it. The XPS 13 Plus would be the natural upgrade, going by how watered down the 9315 is, but Dell would first need to bring back those ports, upgrade the webcam to at least a 1080p, and also make the display refresh at 90Hz minimum. If they can get this done by 2025, which is when I plan to upgrade my 9300, then I'll get an XPS Plus. If not, I'll be looking at Lenovo or Microsoft.

[RobloxianX]

I have a maxed-out standard 13 with the i7, Win11 Pro, 1TB SSD, 32GB of RAM and Intel vPro in the Umber color. I have absolutely loved it! I am probably going to continue using this as my main laptop until mid 2027

[sonvu]

I've purchases the new 9320 and swapped through 3 and finally ended up returning it!

[KLHJ]

Best bang for the buck in my opinion is still Lenovo with its one terabyte solid state drive 16 GB of RAM 500 nit touch screen 15.6 in display illuminated keyboard and aluminum case 1000 bucks with a more than acceptable i7 Intel processor.

[cameronbosch]

How to not make laptops 101 with Dell.

[thesecondtonone]

As a Windows user, I have had my eyes on Dell for a while in the thin-and-light category. Love the super sleek design. Still reluctant because of heat and some build quality issues I've noticed in the community. The webcam is still mediocre. The screen resolution is nice, but with this price point, I expect adaptive 120Hz (maximum) display and 600+ nit. I wish Dell improve these in their upcoming models and be one of the leading Windows laptop brands that really stands out.

[thanhtacles]

So the engineer managed to convince whichever corporate executive middle manager who thought having capacitive keys on a keyboard was a good idea and pulled a 180.

[davidfgranger]

Where's the headphone socket? This is getting stupid now.

[DKBoerner]

Thank you for the nice review. Very informative and entertaining. :)

[jedidiahsteele]

You are better off buying the Inspiron 14 or 16...I bought the 16 2 and 1 and wow what a great Machine...95% sRGB, quad speaker set up, all the ports, all aluminum, awesome battery life all for around 900 out the door....wanted something to haul around and to leave my Alienware at home