Disclosure: Some links on this page are monetized by the Skimlinks, Amazon, Rakuten Advertising, and eBay, affiliate programs, and Liliputing may earn a commission if you make a purchase after clicking on those links. All prices are subject to change, and this article only reflects the prices available at time of publication.

Dell has been pushing the boundaries of what we can expect from thin and light notebook computers with its Dell XPS 13 line of laptops for much of the past decade. The company was one of the first to shrink display bezels to cram 13 inch displays into notebooks about the size of typical 11 inch models. The laptops use premium materials including carbon fiber or glass fiber. And every year new models kick things up a notch with new processors and sometimes new designs.

But this year Dell is taking a step forward and a step sideways.

Six months after launching the Dell XPS 13 9310 with an 11th-gen Intel Tiger Lake processor and 91.5 percent screen-to-body ratio thanks to a 13.4 inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio surrounded by slim bezels on all sides, the company has begun selling a new Dell XPS 13 9305 model with a 13.3 inch, 16:9 display, a thicker bottom bezel, and an 80.7 percent screen-to-body ratio.

On the bright side, the new model has a lower starting price and a slightly lighter-weight body.

Left: Dell XPS 13 9305 / Right: Dell XPS 13 9310

It looks like Dell may have repurposed an older design in order to offer a lower-cost version of its thin and light laptop while still offering 11th-gen Intel Core processor options. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some folks who’d be happier with the older design anyway – while some folks will extoll the virtues of 16:10 displays, I sometimes find that squeezing extra vertical pixels onto a small laptop screen can have the side effect of making everything look a little smaller on the screen.

But if you’re still trying to figure out which Dell XPS 13 best fits your needs, I’ve put together a comparison based on currently available models. Note that the starting prices are based on the list prices though, Dell often runs sales that bring the prices a bit lower (there’s on going on right now, for example).

Dell XPS 13 9305Dell XPS 13 9310
Display13.3 inch
1920 x 1080 pixels
Non-touch (touchscreen not currently available)
80.7% screen-to-body ratio
13.4 inch
1920 x 1200 or 3840 x 2400 pixels
Touch or non-touch
91.5% screen-to-body ratio
CPUCore i3-1115G4
Core i5-1135G7
Core i7-1165G7
Core i3-1115G4
Core i5-1135G7
Core i7-1165G7
Core i7-1185G7
GPUIntel UHD (Core i3)
Intel Iris Xe (Core i5 or higher)
Intel UHD (Core i3)
Intel Iris Xe (Core i5 or higher)
Memory8GB or 16GB
LPDDR4x 4267 MHz
8GB to 32GB
LPDDR4x 4267 MHz
Storage256GB or 512GB
PCIe NVMe SSD
256GB to 1TB
PCIe NVMe
Ports2 x Thunderbolt 4
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C
1 x 3.5mm audio
1 x microSD card reader
2 x Thunderbolt 4
1 x 3.5mm audio
1 x microSD card reader
WirelessKiller WiFi 6 AX1650
Bluetooth 5.1
Killer WiFi 6 AX1650
Bluetooth 5.1
Battery52 WHr52 Whr
Keyboard Backlit with fingerprint reader in power buttonBacklit with fingerprint reader in power button
ColorPlatinum silver with black carbon fiber palm restPlatinum silver with black carbon fiber palm rest
or
Frost exterior with arctic white interior and glass fiber palm rest
Camera2.25mm 720p camera with array mics2.25mm 720p camera with array mics
Speakers2 x 2W2 x 2.5W
Dimensions11.9′ x 7.8″ x 0.62″11.64″ x 7.82″ x 0.58″
Weight2.6 pounds (non-touch)
2.7 pounds (touch)
2.64 pounds (non-touch)
2.8 pounds (touchscreen)
Starting price$850$1100

via NotebookCheck

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers

4 replies on “Picking a Dell XPS 13 laptop just got trickier”

  1. I love the XPS 13, but in meeting with Dell for our quarterly chat about their new products, they will not be introducing AMD to their laptop line-up, at all. A real missed opportunity. I hate to continue to give Intel money for bad behavior, using cash for the C-Level staff, rather than R&D. Although, seems AMD has hit a wall as well, the 4000-5000 series seem almost exactly the same(higher clocks). Sounds exactly like an Intel “tick-tock” cycle. At least the screens have gotten better, though I don’t need a 4k screen in an 11″ machine.

  2. still refreshing the 4k matrix is so tragic? when will the screen refresh be at least 90Hz or 120Hz?

Comments are closed.