Dell flips its high-end XPS 13 into a new hybrid
The Dell XPS 13, one of our favorite premium laptops, gets a new hybrid version with a 360-degree hinge.
- Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
Dell's XPS line of laptops , available in 13-inch and 15-inch models, is one of our favorites because the laptops are well-built, with a great design and keyboard. But most importantly, they have a nearly invisible bezel around the screen, making for a very striking edge-to-edge look that almost no other laptop can match (Dell calls it the Infinity display).
Now Dell is expanding the idea into hybrids with the new XPS 13 2-in-1, which is a 360-degree hinged convertible with a very similar slim bezel display. That means you can fold the 13-inch display back into a table tent or kiosk position, or fold it all the way back into a slightly chunky tablet. The nice thing about this style of hybrid is that it works great as an ordinary clamshell laptop as well.
Inside, you've got Intel Core i5 and i7 Y-series low-voltage processors, and the Gorilla Glass screen comes in full HD or 3,200x1,800-pixel-resolution versions. It's available now, starting at $999 (£806 or AU$1,377) in the US. It's got dual under-the-screen webcam lenses, but Windows Hello support, for now, will come from an optional fingerprint reader.
If you're still partial to the non-hybrid versions of these systems, the XPS 15 is getting an under-the-hood update to newer seventh-gen Intel Core i-series CPU, and even an option for Nvidia's new entry-level GeForce 1050 graphics chip.
