The Dell XPS 13 (9345): A Gorgeous Ultrabook With All-Day Battery Life, But Is It The Best?
Dell’s XPS lineup has always been synonymous with premium design, powerful hardware, and top-tier performance. The company recently updated its popular XPS 13 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor, aiming for a significant leap in speed and efficiency. While the exterior retains the familiar sleek aesthetic of its predecessor, the new XPS 13 promises a whole new level of computing power, thanks to the innovative ARM chipset. Starting at Rs. 1,39,990 in India, the Dell XPS 13 (9345) also offers the unique option of a Tandem OLED display, a first for a laptop. Having spent over a week with this laptop, I put its claims of exceptional performance and battery life to the test. Is this the ultimate ultrabook you’ve been seeking? Let’s dive in and find out.
Dell XPS 13 (9345) Design: Gorgeous
- Dimensions: 295.3mm (width) x 199.1mm (depth) x 14.8mm (height)
- Weight: 1.18kg
- Colors: Graphite
If I had to describe the Dell XPS 13 (9345) design in one word, it would be "gorgeous." The matte black finish, coupled with the exceptional build quality, slim profile, and minimal styling, makes this laptop look like a premium product. While the XPS 13 (9345) retains the design of its Intel-powered predecessor, the XPS 13 (9340), why fix something that isn’t broken, especially when it comes to aesthetics?
The CNC-machined aluminum construction ensures there’s no flex anywhere on the laptop, making it incredibly robust. The solid hinges, requiring some pressure to open and close, are a positive feature. However, the lid can remain ajar even with the laptop shut and held facing upwards, which could be a slight concern for some.
Weighing in at a mere 1.18kg and boasting a thin 14.6mm profile, the XPS 13 9345 is among the lightest and smallest 13-inch laptops in its price range. This compact design does come at a cost – the XPS 13 (9345) only features two USB Type-C ports, one on each side. The sides also house the speaker slits and intake vents.
You’ll find minimal branding on the laptop, with the lid featuring the Dell logo, an XPS logo at the bottom, and a Snapdragon CPU sticker on the bottom right side of the keyboard. The Graphite color option boasts a matte finish, effectively minimizing fingerprint marks.
Dell XPS 13 (9345) Display: Stunning
- Display type: 13.4-inch full-HD+ IPS or Tandem OLED touch
- Resolution: Up to 3K
- Refresh rate: Up to 120Hz
The XPS 13 (9345) boasts a fantastic display. Our review unit came equipped with a 3K Tandem OLED touch display, offering 400 nits of brightness, a 60Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision certification, HDR support, and touch functionality. The panel also boasts Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection.
The slim bezels surrounding the display, along with the lack of branding, enhance the visual appeal. The anti-reflective coating effectively minimizes glare, even in well-lit rooms. While the brightness isn’t groundbreaking, it’s sufficient for indoor use. I never found the need to go beyond 50 percent brightness for work or entertainment, especially with the lights turned off.
Dell has implemented Tandem OLED technology, delivering higher brightness while minimizing battery usage. There’s also a variant with a full-HD+ IPS panel that boasts a 120Hz refresh rate. Watching movies and shows on Netflix and YouTube was a delightful experience on the XPS 13. The vibrant colors, deep blacks, and HDR mode enabled a truly immersive viewing experience.
The display’s touch response is responsive, but I found myself using it less than anticipated.
Dell XPS 13 (9345) Keyboard, Touchpad, Speakers, and Webcam
- Keyboard: Backlit with touch function row
- Touchpad: Glass touchpad with Gorilla Glass 3
- Speakers: 2 x Woofers and 2 x Tweeters
- Webcam: 2-megapixel with Infrared sensors
The Dell XPS 13 boasts a slick, compact keyboard with a touch function row and a fingerprint scanner. The keys offer decent travel, allowing for comfortable typing. However, the compact design of the laptop necessitates cramped keys, which can lead to unintentional keystrokes. While the keyboard is excellent for typing, I found myself hitting nearby keys more often than I’d like. The backlight, while sufficient for nighttime use, isn’t exceptionally bright.
The touch function row adds a cool visual element and allows switching between F functions and other action keys. However, there’s no feedback when pressing the capacitive touch keys, and they don’t function when the laptop is in sleep mode, which is a drawback. Fortunately, they function when watching content in full-screen mode.
The touchpad is a unique feature of the XPS 13. It’s seamlessly integrated with the Gorilla Glass 3 that covers the entire section below the keyboard. This design creates a beautiful, minimalist aesthetic, but it comes with a tradeoff – finding the boundaries of the touchpad can be challenging. As a result, dragging and dropping files can be frustrating due to the lack of clear visual cues. However, the touchpad’s functionality is otherwise satisfactory. Decent haptic feedback supports multitouch gestures, and the surface is remarkably smooth.
The sound quality on the Dell XPS 13 is impressive. This laptop boasts quad speakers placed under the keyboard, comprising dual 2W woofers and dual 2W tweeters, resulting in a total output of 8W. These are some of the best-sounding speakers I’ve encountered on a 13-inch laptop. The presence of bass, clear dialogue, Dolby Atmos support, and the absence of crackling even at high volume further enhance the audio experience.
The webcam is claimed to be an improvement over previous XPS 13 models, and I found it suitable for video calls. The 2-megapixel sensor supports 1080p video recording and Windows Studio effects. While daylight performance is satisfactory, visuals can become noisy in low-light conditions. The inclusion of infrared sensors for Windows Hello face recognition is a welcome addition, offering reliable facial recognition even with surrounding lights turned off.
However, the lack of a camera shutter or a quick disable key is a missed opportunity.
Dell XPS 13 (9345) Software: Sprinkled with AI Goodies
- OS: Windows 11 Home
- AI features: Copilot+, Cocreate, Windows Studio effects
- Other software: MyDell
The Dell XPS 13 runs Windows 11 Home out of the box and comes with several AI-powered features. Copilot+, accessible via the Copilot key, elevates the user experience.
The Cocreator feature in Microsoft Paint and the built-in Copilot in Microsoft 365 Office tools are valuable additions. I tested the Cocreator feature and found it effective in helping translate ideas into reality. Windows Studio effects allow for background blurring, background noise reduction, and improved lighting during video calls.
The Live caption feature provides instant English subtitles for any video service or app. While Microsoft’s controversial Recall feature has been planned for the laptop, it’s currently on hold due to privacy concerns.
The MyDell app provides a convenient way to change power modes and adjust display color settings.
Dell XPS 13 (9345) Performance: Pretty Good, But Not There Yet
- CPU: 12-core Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100
- RAM: Up to 32GB LPDDR5x
- Storage: Up to 1TB PCIe 4
- Graphics: Qualcomm Adreno GPU
The Dell XPS 13 is one of the first laptops to feature the ARM-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chipset. The 12-core CPU, paired with a Qualcomm Adreno GPU, and the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, capable of up to 45 TOPS, are key components. The CPU boasts sustained performance at up to 25.5W max power.
During my time with the laptop, I found that it delivers exceptional performance for everyday tasks and work. I could run multiple Chrome tabs alongside other applications without encountering any lag. However, I observed that the browser would hang occasionally when waking the laptop from sleep. Apart from this issue, I didn’t experience any lag while using other software.
I ran some synthetic benchmarks on the laptop and found that it generally outperformed other non-ARM 13-inch laptops and even the M3 MacBook Air.
| Benchmark | Dell XPS 13 (9345) |
|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 Single Core | 2,795 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi Core | 14,478 |
| Geekbench AI Single Precession Score | 2,203 |
| Geekbench AI Half Precession Score | 11,211 |
| Geekbench AI Quantised Score | 22,200 |
| Crossmark | 1,538 |
| Cinebench 2024 Single | 121 |
| Cinebench 2024 Multi | 997 |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad Light | 1,931 |
| 3DMark CPU Profile | 8,459 |
| 3DMark Night Raid | 25,732 |
| CrystalDiskMark | 5019.93 MB/s (Read)/ 4377.97 MB/s (Write) |
The MyDell app offers a range of power modes, and I observed that the fans usually only kicked in when Ultra Performance mode was enabled. While the fans are not overly loud, the bottom front of the laptop and the touch function row area did become hot during demanding tasks and benchmarks. However, under normal usage, such as browsing, streaming, and multitasking, the laptop remained cool.
While the XPS 13 isn’t designed for gaming, based on the benchmark results, it should be capable of running basic games at playable frame rates. The laptop offers Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, which performed flawlessly throughout my review.
Dell XPS 13 (9345) Battery: All-Day Champion
- Capacity: 55Whr
- Charging: 60W adapter included
Dell claims that the battery life on the new XPS 13 has seen a significant improvement thanks to the Snapdragon X Elite chipset. It promises up to 35 hours of video playback on the full-HD+ display variant. However, our review unit featured the 3K Tandem OLED display. During my testing, the laptop easily delivered an entire day’s worth of work and around an hour of YouTube streaming. I even binged-watched a season of Rick and Morty on Netflix without needing to charge the laptop.
These results were achieved with the Balanced performance mode and about 50 percent screen brightness.
Charging the laptop’s 55Whr battery from 10 to 100 percent took approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. Achieving a 50 percent charge took just 30 minutes. The XPS 13 comes bundled with a 60W compact charging adapter.
Dell XPS 13 (9345) Verdict
The "XPS" in Dell stands for "Extreme Performance System," and for a long time, most XPS machines have lived up to that moniker. The latest XPS 13 (9345) with the Snapdragon X Elite chipset continues this legacy, taking things to a new level. The exceptional battery life, combined with the impressive form factor, makes it a compelling choice. While the AI features still have room for improvement, the XPS 13 emerges as an excellent option for users seeking an ultrabook that embodies style, solid performance, outstanding battery life, a vibrant and colorful display (OLED), and a sleek and compact design.
For users looking for alternatives, the Asus Zenbook S13 OLED is a worthy contender. It costs less, offers good performance, has more ports, and boasts a less-cramped keyboard. Another option is the Apple MacBook Air 13 M3, which is priced similarly but offers a superior keyboard experience, additional ports, and better app support.
