Dell XPS 13 review: thin bezel, decent 7 hour battery life, good value at $799, but high-res touchscreen costs an additional $500
Dell XPS 13 (2015) review: Stunning screen, compact design make XPS 13 the first great laptop of 2015 — The Good Dell's revamped XPS 13 has a nearly borderless display …
Context & Ripple Effects
Dell launched this redesign just days ago, announcing the 13.3-inch edge-to-edge display and optional 3200 x 1800 touchscreen as the headline changes to a line that had been drifting. CNET's verdict lands where the announcement left open questions: the nearly borderless screen and compact body make reviewers call it the first great laptop of 2015, and the $799 base price reads as genuine value.
The catch the review surfaces is the pricing ladder — the hi-res touchscreen configuration adds $500 on top of the entry model. That tension between an affordable base and a steeply priced premium display becomes the recurring storyline for the line: the 2019 XPS 13 pushed the same design further with smaller bezels and a relocated webcam, and the XPS 13 Plus in 2022 traded ports and battery life for OLED and a faster chip while drawing the same 'expensive' criticism.
First-order effects
- Buyers choosing between configurations face a sharp fork: the $799 base delivers the borderless-screen experience reviewers praise, while getting the 3200 x 1800 touchscreen costs an extra $500 — a near-60% premium over base price for the marquee feature.
Second-order effects
- Within Dell's own lineup, the display-first identity forces every future XPS 13 generation to escalate the screen rather than differentiate elsewhere — leading to the fanless 2-in-1 at $1K with stylus support in 2017, and eventually the hot-running, port-starved Plus in 2022.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the premium-display upsell becomes structural to the ultrabook category: base models anchor the price perception while high-resolution screens carry the margin — with battery life and ports as the recurring casualties, exactly what later XPS reviews keep flagging.
The trend: Dell's borderless-display bet turned the XPS 13 into a decade-long design template where each generation trades battery life and ports for screen quality and a pricier premium tier.