At Computex 2026, Dell came out all guns blazing. Ever since its inception, the XPS series has served as the pinnacle of Dell’s design and engineering innovation for laptops. Of course, they cost a pretty penny, too. After a brief sunsetting, the XPS line is back, and this time around, Dell is taking an extremely ambitious path. The latest from the computing giant is the XPS 13, and more than anything, it’s the $699 asking price of this sleek machine that is going to turn heads.
What makes the XPS 13 special?
Dell says it has a different definition for “premium” laptops at an accessible price, and on that front, it has succeeded. Compared to the MacBook Neo, the XPS 13 offers a few crucial upgrades. To start, it offers a dramatically superior 2.5K touch-sensitive display with a 120Hz refresh rate, faster USB-C (3.2 Gen 2) ports, speedier Wi-Fi 7 support, and a quad speaker setup.
More importantly, the XPS 13 offers a backlit keyboard, which also happens to be one of the biggest omissions on the MacBook Neo. Furthermore, you also get an IR sensor for biometric face unlock on the Windows machine. The base variant draws power from an Intel Series 3 Core 5 Processor, while the higher-end trims will get the more powerful Intel Core Ultra Series 3 silicon, starting at 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage.
Take a look at the innards of this machine:
How does it stand out?
Dell is not mincing words here. The XPS 13 is targeted squarely at the MacBook Neo, and it actually does a far better job at a few crucial aspects. Going a step further, Dell is offering the XPS 13 at $599 to students during the back-to-school season. The machine comes in Sky and Storm colors, and it looks pretty stylish.
“The XPS 13 is the lightest and most accessible expression of everything XPS has always stood for. Not a lesser version, but a smaller, lighter one,” says the company. It’s the thinnest and lightest XPS series laptop that Dell has ever made. Despite being lighter and smaller than the MacBook Neo, it actually packs in a bigger display that is also more pixel-dense.
The overarching goal is pretty clear. Dell simply built on the XPS pedigree, while making practical upgrades that make the XPS 13 a far more appealing machine than the MacBook Neo. It’s one of the best laptops to build on the vision that is Intel’s Project Firefly, dropping alongside the Acer Swift Air 14 that was also introduced a few days ago.
