Dell XPS 13 (2026) takes on the MacBook Neo at $699
Dell has launched the XPS 13 (2026), a slim Windows laptop aimed squarely at buyers considering Apple's new MacBook Neo. At $699 in the US — or $599 with a student discount — it sits $100 above the MacBook Neo's entry price, but Dell argues the hardware justifies the gap. UK pricing and availability have not been announced.
The hardware
The XPS 13 measures 12.7 mm thick and weighs 1 kg, which Dell says makes it 226 g lighter than the MacBook Neo while sporting a larger screen. That screen is a 13.4-inch touchscreen LCD running at 2.5K resolution, covering 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and refreshing anywhere between 30 Hz and 120 Hz. The aluminum chassis ships in two colors: Sky and Storm — though Storm and the higher-end processor configs arrive later in summer 2026.
Standard equipment includes a backlit keyboard, a traditional trackpad, Intel Wi-Fi 7, quad speakers, Windows Hello biometric login, and a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port. The base config pairs 8 GB of LPDDR5X RAM with a 512 GB SSD; higher-spec versions will offer up to 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage.
Dell says the XPS 13 lasts up to 17 hours streaming video on a single charge. Cooling is handled by a dual-fan system.
Processors and timing
The first units ship with Intel Core Series 3 chips — part of Intel's Wildcat Lake family, launched at CES 2026 with budget laptops explicitly in mind. Intel Core Ultra Series 3 variants follow in summer 2026 and unlock the higher storage and memory tiers.
Dell announced this laptop at CES 2026 as a direct response to rising component costs — DRAM prices have surged roughly 171% year-over-year, per TrendForce data — while still promising a competitive price in every consumer segment.
Should you wait?
US buyers can order now at dell.com. For anyone in the UK, there's nothing concrete yet: no sterling price, no retailer listings, no launch date. The MacBook Neo is already shipping — though with two-to-three week delays, notes Macworld — so Dell has a narrow window to capitalize on Apple's supply squeeze. If you're set on Windows and want a genuinely portable machine, the XPS 13 looks compelling on paper; just don't book a UK delivery slot yet.