The Dell XPS 13 was recently refreshed with Intel’s 8th generation processors, and now, the company teased the upcoming refresh of the well-loved ultraportable. Featuring slimmer chassis and a new colour option, the 2018 XPS 13…foregoes some key features too.
Dell gave TechRadar an early look at the upcoming XPS 13 during a tour of the company’s Texas headquarters. Although Dell did not give too much details on the unreleased laptop, TechRadar did manage to get some information. The new XPS 13’s palm rest area, for one, features a new woven glass fiber material – no more carbon fiber here.
In comparison to the current generation XPS 13, the new laptop has a better positioned webcam too (possibly with support for Windows Hello); right in the middle of the bottom bezel instead of the lower left corner. This is still an awkward position, of course, but it’s definitely an improvement.
Naturally, the 2018 XPS 13 is also noticeably thinner than its predecessor, though it’s not exactly the slimmest ultraportable we’ve seen. On top of that, the slimmer profile also comes with some sacrifice: the new XPS 13 only has three USB Type-C ports now. The SD card slot? It’s been replaced with a microSD slot.
We imagine some consumers won’t be thrilled with Dell’s decision to forego full-size USB ports and the SD card reader on the 2018 XPS 13, but it is a trend with new ultraportables. Nonetheless, we can expect more details to be revealed at CES 2018 next year; perhaps Dell will finally add a dedicated GPU in the XPS 13.
(Source: TechRadar)
