Dell’s new-look XPS 13 Plus is now available, starting at $1,299

Here’s hoping that the Touch Bar-like function row is worthwhile

Dell announced that the bold XPS 13 Plus it debuted back at CES 2022 is now available for purchase. It starts at $1,299, and while Dell didn’t detail the exact specifications for this configuration, it’ll likely get the lowest specs listed in a spec sheet shared by the company. Those include a 13.4-inch 1920 x 1200 16:10 aspect ratio display with 500 nits of peak brightness, Intel’s 12th Gen Core i5-1240P processor (28W, 12-core, 4.4GHz boost clock), 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM clocked at 5,200MHz, and a 256GB SSD.

Each model includes a 60W USB-C AC adapter and features two Thunderbolt 4 ports (but no headphone jack), a Windows Hello 720p webcam, as well as a fingerprint reader embedded in the power button.

there will also be a Developer Edition that will ship with Ubuntu 20.04

As we noted back at CES, this new version of the XPS 13 has a more futuristic-looking design than Dell’s standard model. The most notable differences include the Plus’ Touch Bar-like row of backlit function keys, as well as the keyboard, which sits flush with the chassis. Finally, there’s the new trackpad that’s invisible to the eye but takes up a similar (if not slightly larger) amount of real estate within the middle of the glass-covered wrist rest. And instead of physically clicking in, the trackpad hardware emulates the click with haptic feedback, like Apple’s recent laptops.

While Dell didn’t share pricing information for other configurations, you’ll be able to upgrade the XPS 13 Plus at the time of purchase with a 1080p touchscreen (it’s non-touch by default) or a 4K touchscreen. The highest-end display option is a 3.5K (3456 x 2160) Gorilla Glass 7-covered OLED touchscreen with 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut coverage.

In terms of processing power, Dell can go up to a 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1280P with 14 cores, as well as up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM and up to 2TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. Oh, and last thing: there will be a Developer Edition of the XPS 13 Plus that will ship with Ubuntu 20.04, and it will cost $1,249.99.

We look forward to testing out the XPS 13 Plus soon. As my colleague Monica Chin wrote in her hands-on back in January, we’re cautiously optimistic that all of these aesthetic changes won’t get in the way of it being a good machine. But stay tuned for the full review to find out.

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