Dell’s $599 XPS 13 is coming for the MacBook Neo’s lunch cash

Dell’s newest XPS 13 may not have got down to particularly problem Apple’s MacBook Neo, however it arrives on the proper time. Its $599 value for college kids immediately challenges the MacBook Neo’s personal $599 value, with both Intel’s newest “Wildcat Lake” or the extra highly effective “Panther Lake” processors beneath the hood. Higher but, the brand new XPS 13 sports activities an OLED show and a 17-hour battery life regardless of its modest sticker value.

Dell is constant its redemption arc with this price range head-turner. After killing the XPS model in 2025, Dell introduced again the Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16 at CES 2026, tipping the reveal of a inexpensive XPS 13 later within the 12 months. That offers Dell a bit of road cred, because it had already deliberate a inexpensive XPS earlier than Apple made low-cost laptops a speaking level once more.

The productiveness story right here is barely uncommon. Although we suggest the very best laptops for faculty college students, it’s uncommon {that a} PC maker explicitly markets their product in that route. That’s the case right here, the place college students will be capable to purchase the XPS 13 for $599, however everybody else should pay $699 and up.

“We’re not making an attempt to be the most affordable choice with the XPS 13; we’re not racing to the underside on value,” Jeff Clarke, chief working officer of Dell Applied sciences, mentioned prematurely of the present. “What we got down to do was to construct one thing that offers college students and shoppers a bit of extra of all the things that issues at a value that doesn’t ask them to make a compromise, and that’s precisely what we did.”

“We now have a $599 value level for the again to high school season, contact display screen, backlit keyboard, extra storage, sooner Wi-Fi, lighter weight, the total XPS expertise,” Clarke mentioned. “We’re not asking college students to compromise, we’re asking them to make a significantly better selection.”

A $599 problem to Apple

Microsoft has traditionally used an analogous technique in its on-line retailer. If it detects you logging in with a enterprise or instructional account e-mail it’s going to give you decrease costs. It’s uncommon, although, that college students are explicitly referred to as out as they’re right here.

Dell’s $599 value is offered till Nov. 2, for high-school college students 16 and over by means of college students enrolled at a university or college that gives a level. Dell didn’t specify precisely when the XPS 13 can be accessible, hoewever.

In any other case, the advertising and marketing message right here is sensible: light-weight portability plus battery life. College students face all types of technical challenges transferring from class to class, from dusty outdated lecture halls to commutes forwards and backwards from their dorm to holing up in a comfortable nook to check or write. None of those spots have assured energy shops, so the load (one kilogram / 2.2 kilos), the show (at 13.4 in, 2560 x 1600, barely bigger than the Neo), the dimensions (barely smaller at 11.69 x 7.9 x 0.5 in) and the battery life (17 hours, streaming) present a compelling various to the brand new MacBook Neo. It’s a message that Acer’s new TravelMate additionally delivers, and why not? Who doesn’t need each all-day battery and a weight beneath 2.2 kilos, and with the identical CNC-milled aluminum chassis that the Neo boasts?

Dell seems to be conducting this with some good under-the-hood selections. Intel quietly debuted the Intel Core Sequence 3 (Wildcat Lake) processor earlier this 12 months — a less expensive, much less highly effective model of the wonderful Core Extremely Sequence 3 Panther Lake processor. Panther Lake has confirmed to allow laptops with lengthy battery life, although laptop computer makers have additionally stuffed them filled with battery cells, too.

Dell

The opposite expertise that contributes considerably is the laptop computer show’s dynamic refresh price, which scales between 30Hz and 120Hz. Consider it as you’ll a automobile: when wanted, you need the engine to rev at its full RPMs for energy and acceleration. At 120Hz, the show refreshes as quick as potential to allow clean mouse scrolling and even some mild gaming. In case you’re merely watching it with out taking motion, the frequency at which it updates drops all the way down to 30Hz, saving energy like a automobile idling at a stoplight.

At 13 inches, the show is perhaps a bit of small, although Dell executives mentioned that it’ll cowl the total DCI-P3 coloration gamut used for digital cinema — and on an OLED display screen. That is perhaps a possible shortfall; a 15-inch display screen does supply a extra usable area. Keep in mind, whereas the XPS can use an exterior show, it may possibly’t protect the colour gamut on an exterior display screen with out that display screen explicitly supporting that coloration gamut, too.

To be truthful, that $699 value will shortly climb if a buyer provides reminiscence (as much as 32GB are allowed) and extra storage (256GB/512GB/1TB), too. Nonetheless, an aggressive $599/$699 value level is extraordinarily welcome information in an period of inflation and tariffs, and can put stress on different PC distributors and even the brand new Googlebooks to carry costs down. The worth right here may very well be off the charts.