Two of the best laptops you can buy, Dell’s XPS 13 and Apple’s MacBook Air, have undergone significant redesigns in their latest iterations. The XPS 13 9315 has transformed into an all-aluminum laptop with no carbon or glass fiber that’s thinner and lighter than ever while gaining Intel’s 12th-generation CPUs. The MacBook Air gains Apple’s latest CPU, the M2, while losing the iconic tapered design and becoming one of the thinnest laptops around.
The MacBook Air M2 is more expensive, starting at $1,199 for an M2 processor with eight CPU cores/eight GPU cores, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. It maxes out at a hefty $2,499 for an eight-core CPU/10-core GPU M2, 16GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. Both laptops are among the best-built options available. There’s no bending, flexing, or twisting anywhere in the lid or chassis.
Connectivity is almost evenly matched, with both laptops sporting two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support. The most significant difference is that the MacBook Air M2 maintains a 3.5mm audio jack while the XPS 13, unfortunately, omits it. That’s a disappointment and gives Apple a leg up. The XPS 13 does have more up-to-date wireless connectivity with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 versus Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.
There’s no doubt that the MacBook Air M2 dominates when it comes to performance versus the new XPS 13. And we should note that the MacBook Air M2 is fanless, meaning it will be completely silent even when operating under heavy loads. The XPS 13 can’t boast the same claim.
Fatal flaw is that you're running Windows on the Dell, unless you opt for some Linux variant.
Dell should embrace the Lenovo-style square, black, sober, 'serious business' aesthetics that made its computers cool, instead of trying to copy Apple's designs lol