*While streaming Netflix at 1080p with an FHD+ screen at just 150 nits of brightness.
Still, that’s eight hours more than its last-gen laptop in the same test, even with the same battery size and display. The only thing on the spec sheet that’s changed is the processor — to Intel Lunar Lake.
It now offers a five-year warranty on Intel’s problematic 13th and 14th Gen CPUs, just like its closest competitors.
We also got a vague new statement from Dell/Alienware that suggests it might extend its own parts warranty, but doesn’t promise to do so.
The company’s restructure mostly affects sales and managerial staff. Some outlets have reported, based on sources, that the layoffs will cut more than 10,000 jobs, but an analyst told SiliconAngle a number that high seems unlikely.
Dell isn’t the only tech company handing out pink-slips; Intel announced last week it’s laying off over 15,000 employees.
The new 14-inch XPS has the redesigned chassis, touchbar, and invisible trackpad of the XPS 13 Plus, but better thermals and twice the battery life. And yet.
Dell has confirmed to The Verge that its new Arm-powered XPS 13 features a tandem pOLED display. It’s the first to market with such a display in a laptop, after Apple introduced tandem OLED on its latest iPad Pro. Dell’s new XPS 13 is part of a collection of Copilot Plus PCs that are launching on June 18th with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite processors inside.
Dell’s new 27-inch 1440p QD-OLED Alienware gaming monitor costs $899.99 and goes on sale on January 11th as part of a new wave of 360Hz OLED monitors using panels from Samsung Display (MSI and Samsung itself also have versions on the way). For more resolution and less refresh rate, Dell’s also announcing a $1,199.99 32-inch 4K 240Hz version.
At BlackHat EU, Binarly showed how custom boot logo features could be exploited by crashing vulnerable image parsers, report SecurityWeek and ArsTechnica, allowing them to take over Windows and Linux systems. Binarly’s researchers write, “we detected parsers vulnerable to LogoFAIL in hundreds of devices sold by Lenovo, Supermicro, MSI, HP, Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Samsung, and Intel.”
Not all of those systems are actually exploitable this way, but some vendors, like Lenovo, have issued BIOS updates or advisories in response.
8
Verge Score
The latest Spectre model is a solid competitor to Dell’s high-end XPS, but there’s a big difference in battery life.
Dell has announced updates to its Inspiron line, a tried-and-true favorite of high school and college students everywhere. There’s a 16-incher, a 16-inch 2-in-1, and a 14-inch 2-in-1 — and they’ll all be available with both 13th-Gen Intel processors and AMD Ryzen 7000 processors.
Boy, do I wish these had been available in my college era when I was living life on a clunky, pink Inspiron that could barely open my word processor. Actually, maybe it’s a good thing that all these options weren’t available — I probably would’ve spent days Googling them all instead of writing my Comparative Literature papers.
In case you missed it, our Dell XPS 13 review went live over the weekend. One thing to note: there are literally only two ports on it. There’s not even a headphone jack!
Dell is an extreme example, but many thin and light laptop lines have been shedding ports over the past few years, and it’s making me nervous. I refuse to carry a dock around with me. I refuse!
The latest XPS 13 is good enough — but no longer good enough to top the market.
This isn’t a bad laptop, but it is a bad deal.
You can get a great 1080p webcam for under $75. If you want to spend more, you can get 4K recording, AI head tracking, and even a real gimbal.
