Dell just DESTROYED the Surface Pro! - Dell XPS 13 2-in-1

Dell is back with their next XPS laptops, but this time, they've got a Microsoft Surface competitor. Alex is here to take a look at the XPS 13 and XPS 13 2-in-1 to see if Dell's lineup still holds the bar for easiest laptop recommendation or if these latest entries aren't up to par.

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

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CHAPTERS
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0:00 Need a normal laptop?
0:23 Unboxing the XPS 13
1:21 Unboxing the 2-in-1
1:58 2-in-1's Keyboard and Pen
2:43 XPS 13 design impressions
3:41 2-in-1 design impressions
4:09 Sponsor - LYTE Gaming
4:45 XPS 13 specs and 13 Plus comparisons
7:45 A closer look at the 2-in-1
9:30 Trying out the pen
10:29 Comparing webcam and mics
11:57 Comparing speakers
13:31 Gaming - Valheim
14:18 XPS 13 Teardown
14:50 XPS 13 Pricing and overall thoughts
15:42 XPS 2-in-1 Pricing and overall thoughts
16:59 Outro

[Sankray]

Checking price in europe: starts at 1800€
Welp that's another one crossed out

[ViXoZuDo]

I would 100% prefer the headphone jack over that camera...

[mahfah]

And the only thing they didn’t compare side by side is the very same Surface

[redmenaceT]

My work actually just got me this as a desktop/portable replacement. I’m a wine and beverage manager for a large country club. I have a dock for my desk, but am able to use it also as a portable POS station, and work wirelessly from the wine cellars and control our inventory and beverage lists on the fly during service from the restaurant. I’ve only had it three weeks or so but I love it already.

[ouilsen]

As a Surface Pro user I have one observation. The kickstand is not attached to the tablet. So you have to attach the keyboard when you want to put your tablet up somewhere. Also for note taking the surface can be leaned a bit with the attached kickstand. I make a lot of use of that attached kickstand. It's a great solution by Microsoft. I wish other manufactures could just use that design.

[Comisionado]

I'll still go with the Surface Pro because the Kickstand is built into the body. This enables you to easily angle the Surface in Tablet mode.

[Respectable_Username]

As somebody who used to main a Surface Pro 4, I immediately see two (Edit: four) major downsides that would prevent me moving to this if I were in the market for a new 2-in-1 (which I'm not right now):

1) While there are several magnets on the back to hold the case, it simply cannot have the range of the Surface Pro's kickstand in that form factor. Also, couldn't hook the not-a-kickstand over my knees while lying on a couch, something I used to do frequently with the Surface!

2) Flat keyboard my beloathed. The thing that made the Surface Pro keyboard not awful was the fact it clipped up to have a decent angle and therefore actual comfortable typing experience. That extra cm off the table really helps it feel like a normal keyboard!

Edit: 3) You could actually use the Surface Pro on your lap 😛 Well, I could at least, and did. Most of the time I used it!

Edit 2: 4) The movement to open this 2-in-1 and have it set up for typing seems a lot more involved than on the Surface. For the Surface, you open the keyboard lid (as with every laptop) and then just have to flick the kickstand back with the back of your middle fingernail in the little grooves on either side, then you're ready to go. Actually having to stop and adjust the back of the case, both pushing it into the right shape down the bottom and then adjusting the height up the top, is significantly more involved.

I'm sure if you swapped between the two as a daily driver for a week or so, these little design decisions would add up. I'm sure the XPS computer part is great, but I do want to give a massive shoutout to the UX team who designed the Surface Pro for so many simple QOL decisions that you don't appreciate until they're suddenly not there! In fact, trying to use my old Surface as Just A Tablet now I have a new laptop, and it's interesting seeing how difficult it is because of _software_ design decisions that seem to have been made with far less care than the hardware.

So no, I don't think the XPS has "DESTROYED" the Surface Pro, but it's good to see another serious competitor and I can't wait to see the learnings on a version 2. Little tip Dell: Great designers steal!

[chiTheKiller]

I just got the Asus ROG Flow Z13. Absolute beast for the size, has better specs than a similarly specced Surface Pro, has an Nvidia GPU, costs less than both the Surface Pro and the MacBook, oh and it has a headphone jack and USB-A port. You can also expand the storage with a micro SD card, and the hard drive is user upgradable. It's a bit thicker and heavier than the other 2 in 1 devices, but it's WAY more versatile. I'm glad I went with that one.

[tiagobastos]

It was strange not to have a conversion to kg when you were weighing the notebook, I always thought it was very good that you guys did the conversion for us

[yokayoksven]

This time the clickbait title actually disappointing, because I really hoped they did something cool with the surface form factor, but this is not actually better then Surface Pro. Just the Surface's hinge alone makes it better then any folio case combo. And Surface 8 has good improvements over previous generations (and still has a headphone jack). (Surface 9 though ditches the jack and just adds 5g and that's it)

[alphacompton]

The built in mic on the 2-1 is exceptional and the camera is excellent from your video sample. Look like a better buy especially if it's cheaper than the Surface pro.

[gsr_]

Have an 9510 and looked at the dell website while looking at this video. their prices exploded here in germany. the 9520 is five hundred euros more then my 9510. im shocked i have to say.

[barnaka]

I'd love to see comparing them to Thinkpads. The 10th gen Carbon is lighter, more upgradable, with more IO and even cheaper on sale...

[JeremieBPCreation]

I recently learned Colton is head of ShortCircuit so thanks for deciding to add the pricing part Colton!
Hope you don't get fired!
Oh and thanks for greenlighting the Linus body pillow, that shit was hilarious!

[rcxdus]

I recently bought an ASUS zenbook pro 14 duo OLED for 1840 euros. Every single laptop showcase on shortcircuit of laptops from the same price category have made me feel really good about my purchasing decision.

It honestly baffles me how little you get for such exorbitant amounts of money.

[pyroslev]

I can always trust Alex to properly rip ANY laptop apart verbally as much as Steve at GN rips into any Prefab desktop.

[yeetisnomore]

6:05 metric measurements too, shortcircuit! metric measurements too!

XPS 13: 1.169 kg
XPS 13 Plus: 1.266 kg
XPS 13 2-in-1: 1.315 kg

[kindlad]

as a work laptop sometimes sound with teams is screwey and i need emergency headphone jack access. this would be a no go. Oh well, my other dell has been very good for work. onedrive works for storage. idk why someone would use a 13 incher as their personal laptop. upgraded to 15 inches for work because excel on 13 inches is pure suffering

[CricketEngland]

I have the XPS 13 Plus (9320) with a core i7, 1TB ssd and 32gb memory and it’s a very good compact machine and does all I need very well and much better than my old 17” HP Spectre x360

Love the fact it automatically starts up when you pull the screen up

[rzul]

Soldered memory, soldered SSD, barely any I/O. I'd hate it if I got it for free.