Dell's nearly bezel-less XPS 13 is about as small as an 11-inch laptop
Nope, sorry, Dell: You do not have the lightest 13-inch laptop. That distinction belongs to Lenovo. But could you have the smallest 13-inch notebook? Maybe. The company just announced a redesigned version of its XPS 13 Ultrabook, and thanks to a nearly bezel-less display, it's about as compact as an 11- or 12-inch laptop. So how small is that, exactly? Let's put it this way: If you were to set it down on top of a MacBook Air, you'd have lots of room left over, both length-wise and width-wise. That's because the Air, and other machines like it, have relatively thick bezels surrounding the display; on the XPS 13, that buffer space measures just 5mm wide.
Other than that smaller, 2.6-pound frame, it looks much the same as its predecessor, what with its aluminum skeleton and carbon fiber weave (hey, there's even carbon fiber on the palm rest this time too). It also has pretty much all the specs you'd expect from a flagship Ultrabook, including fresh fifth-generation Intel Core processors and an option for a 400-nit, 3,200 x 1,800 display.
As for battery life, Dell rates it for over 15 hours, provided you go with the lower-res 1080p screen option. From there, you can plug an optional $99 battery into the power port, which should net you another seven hours of juice. We really, really hope we get to review one soon, but if you just can't wait it's available starting today for $800 -- not bad, considering the last-gen XPS 13 started around a thousand bucks. Meanwhile, Dell's larger XPS 15 hasn't received an upgrade, per se -- it's the same design as ever -- but it does have a spanking new 4K screen option. That's "coming soon," says Dell, with a starting price of $2,349. Ouch!
Additionally, Dell made some updates to its mid-range Inspiron line, with the Inspiron 15 7000 series also getting Broadwell processors and a 4K touchscreen option. Meanwhile, the Inspiron 23 all-in-one and mid-level Inspiron 15 5000 series each get a motion-sensing 3D Intel RealSense camera (you're going to see that on a lot of PCs this week at CES). All of them are available today, with the 5000 series starting at $750 with the RealSense camera, and the Inspiron 15 7000 series starting at $1,100. As for the all-in-one, the Inspiron 23 starts at $1,600 with the RealSense camera.
