Dell just took a huge swing at Apple and the Macbook Neo, with new Dell XPS 13 launching at $599

Well, we didn't see this one coming. After all the talk of how Apple has completely changed the landscape of budget laptops with its MacBook Neo, Dell has come out fighting and is offering its new XPS 13 for the same $599 price, which is roughly half that of its predecessor. However, there is a catch, which is that this Dell XPS 13 price is only available to students.

However, it's not that much of a catch; the Dell XPS's starting price is just $699 for non-students, too. What's more, the version available at this price still includes all the features that make the Dell XPS 13 one of the best laptops around. This includes a premium aluminium chassis, 2.5K touchscreen display, and impressive battery life.

Looking at those specs in more detail, there really isn't a lot that differentiates this machine from the previous, far more expensive, XPS 13 models, and there are several items that put it above the MacBook Neo. In particular, the screen you get here is not only touchscreen, but 0.4 inches larger and with a slightly higher 2560 x 1600 resolution (vs the 2,408 × 1,506 of the Neo). The 500nit-brightness LCD also delivers 100% of the DCI-P3 color space, for ultra-vivid colors, and has a 2,000:1 contrast ratio.

	Dell XPS 13 2026 specs	MacBook Neo specs
CPU	Intel Core 5 320 or Intel Core Ultra 7 355	Apple A18 Pro
CPU cores	2 x P-cores and 4 x LP E-cores or 4 x P-cores and 4 x LP E-cores	2 P-cores, 4 E-cores
RAM	32GB	8GB
Integrated GPU	Intel Graphics with 2 x Xe cores (20 TOPS) or Intel Graphics with 4 x Xe cores (40 TOPS)	5-core Apple GPU
Display	13.4-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 LCD, 100% DCI-P3, 2,000:1 contrast, 500nits, touchscreen	13.0-inch, 2,408 x 1,506 LCD, 74% DCI-P3, 1,400:1 contrast, 500nits
Keyboard	Standard laptop layout without numpad, backlit	Standard laptop layout without numpad, not backlit
Claimed battery life	17 hours video playback	16 hours video playback
Price	$699 ($599 for students)	$599 ($499 for students)

The new Dell XPS 13 also includes a backlit keyboard, which Dell Vice Chairman and COO, Jeff Clarke, describes as a feature that is "a mistake not to include," in a not-so-subtle dig at what is arguably the MacBook Neo's biggest compromise.

As to that aluminium build, the whole exterior chassis is built from the stuff, and, despite this, Dell has actually managed to make this new Dell XPS 13 markedly lighter than the MacBook Neo. It weighs just 1kg (2.2lbs) versus the Neo's 1.2kg (2.7lbs).

Another surprise is that this laptop includes 32GB of RAM as standard. Considering the current RAM price crisis is forcing many PC gamers to consider buying just 16GB for their system, including 32GB is a huge bonus. And again, it's a big step up from the Neo, which has just 8GB of RAM.

As for battery life, Dell claims the XPS 13 2026 will last 17 hours when streaming 4K video via Netflix. This longevity comes from the decent-sized 65Wh battery and the efficiency of the Intel CPUs used in the new laptop.

On which, the standard version of the Dell XPS 13 2026 will use the Intel Core 5 320 (Wildcat Lake) CPU, which is a six-core chip running at up to 4.6GHz and with a basic two-Xe-core GPU. Meanwhile, there will also be a version with the Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 355, which is an eight-core chip running at up to 4.7GHz and is based on the Panther Lake architecture, with its more powerful four-Xe-Core GPU.

Neither configuration will be much of a gaming laptop, but both will be able to run some older titles, and the Panther Lake version should be able to stretch to at least being able to run some more modern titles, even if at low resolutions and detail settings.