Dell XPS 13 refresh gets classy with rose gold finish

Ah, our old friend the Dell XPS 13!

Yes. It’s good to see it again. We were very taken indeed with the 2015 edition of this compact notebook, awarding it a full five stars in our review and heaping praise on its design – that near-borderless monitor really keeps the size down. And now it’s getting a 2016 update, complete with new seventh-generation Intel Core processors and a new colour option.

Is it… rose gold?


Of course it’s bloody rose gold! The gadget gods have decreed that every product released in 2016 must come with a gold-but-also-a-wee-bit-pink finish, and the XPS 13 is no exception.

OK, so there’s a new colour – but let’s get back to those specs.

Indeed. Well, the new model comes with a choice of new i3, i5 and i7 Intel chips, and better battery life than its predecessor (Dell says 13 hours if you’re Netflix streaming or web browsing, 22 if you’re just using productivity apps), higher speed Wi-Fi and a Thunderbolt 3 port that’ll allow a single XPS 13 to power two external 4K displays, as well as single-cable docking.

Anything else?

Aside from the above, the specs are unchanged from last year’s edition. The base model features a 13.3in 1080p screen, Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of solid-state storage, and upgrades can take that to a 3200 x 1800 touchscreen, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.

Price and availability?

There’s no sign of the new model on Dell’s UK site yet, but in the US the 2016 XPS 13 starts at US$799, although you’ll need to pay more (US$1149) for the rose gold model.

Buy the XPS 13 here from Dell