Dell has introduced a new XPS 13 laptop but with a different spin — a Snapdragon X processor powering it. We’ve used XPS 13 laptops in the past and have been impressed with the power they pack in such a small package but they all ran on Intel power.
Will an XPS 13 with a Snapdragon X chipset pack the same punch? Read on to find out what we thought of the new Dell XPS 13 (9345) powered by Snapdragon X.
| PROS | CONS |
| Sleek design | Keyboard and trackpad steep learning curve |
| Compact and lightweight | Only two ports |
| Decent performance |
Specs and features
As with all Dell laptops, the XPS 13 (9345) Snapdragon X laptop is customisable. The specs of the review laptop were:.
- CPU: Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100
- Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X (also available in 16GB and 64GB)
- Graphics/GPU: Integrated Qualcomm Adreno
- Display: 13.4-inch FHD+ 1920 x 1200 LCD
- Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD (also available in 512GB and 2TB)
- Webcam: 1080p
- Connectivity: 2x USB4 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode
- Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
- Biometrics: Windows Hello fingerprint, facial recognition
- Battery capacity: 55 Wh
- Dimensions: 295.30 x 199.10 x 15.30 mm
- Weight: 1.19kg
- Colours: Graphite or Platinum
- MSRP: $2,598.20 – as reviewed
The XPS 13 has a Copilot+ button which launches Copilot to allow you to chat and ask questions of Copilot. I use Copilot a bit and it seems to be good but all this is done in the cloud and not the point of the AI on this laptop. The Snapdragon X chipset inside this laptop has built-in neural processing units (NPU) capable of 45FLOPS and is designed to perform AI and machine learning tasks on-device.
At this stage, like so many other current laptops, on-device AI and ML uses are limited to blurring backgrounds in video chat and performing some tasks in photo and video editing. I feel like AI on-board at the moment is a solution waiting for a problem — “if you build it, he will come.”
These are the early days of on-device AI with many software developers looking for ways to integrate AI into their apps so that will likely change in the future and when it does arrive, the NPU on the Snapdragon X will be there for you with its NPU.
Design
The laptop itself is very XPS with the usual extremely slim and lightweight design. It is incredibly thin – a maximum of 15.3mm in the review laptop (slightly less if you go for the OLED display) — and small so is incredibly portable.
The lid is a matte shade of whichever colour you choose (Graphite or Platinum) with the Dell logo in the middle the only marking on the top of the laptop. Very minimalistic and I’m here for it. Unfortunately, there is no notch or lip to help you lift the lid. Instead, the lid sits flush with the base all along the front making it difficult at times to open – yes you will need two hands to accomplish that. Not a huge issue as with two hands it opens easily – it is so small and light — but you will struggle to perform the task with one hand.
The base of the laptop has two long rubber feet that stretch from one end to the other. These work well without adding much bulk to the laptop.
Open the laptop and instead of seeing a touchpad, you see an area where the touchpad should be. It looks incredibly sleek but I didn’t like this idea when I reviewed the 16-in XPS last year and I don’t like it any more now. The invisible trackpad sits underneath a single long piece of glass.
There is no way to tell quickly just where the trackpad is nor how wide it is and I was often either missing the trackpad or tapping on the right side to right click instead of left etc. More on this below.
The 13.4-inch display on the XPS 13 (9345) is once again surrounded by extremely thin bezels – as Dell has done for the XPS for a long time. The top houses the 1080P webcam along with an IR camera for Windows Hello which is impressive given how thin the bezels are.
If you need a laptop with a lot of ports you are barking up the wrong tree. There is a single USB4 40Gbps USB Type-C with DisplayPort and Power Delivery on each side (so, two in total). It’s 2024 and the use of USB thumb drives is just about extinct but if you need that you better get yourself a dongle to connect – unless it’s a USB-C thumb drive.
Keyboard and trackpad
Dell has done a great job making the new XPS 13 look sleek, stylish and downright gorgeous. But is it functional?
The keyboard once again has keys that are extremely close to each other with very little concavity. The virtually-flat keys make it difficult at times to orient your fingers correctly over the keys – and with virtually zero gap between the keys it is very easy to mistype.
The keys seem to be even flatter than that on the XPS 16 I reviewed earlier this year and I’m not a fan. I much prefer some form of concavity to a key to help guide my fingers into the middle of it.
The top row of function buttons are once again capacitive touch buttons and if the delete button wasn’t one of them I’d be all for it but the delete I use it a lot – unfortunately – and to have to use it on a capacitive button is not a great experience, especially when there is no feedback for when you press it. For the lesser-used buttons such as volume, brightness etc I think it’s a great idea but the delete button should not be capacitive.
As mentioned above, the trackpad is invisible once again, just as it was on the XPS 16 laptop we reviewed earlier this year and covered by a piece of glass that stretches across the entire width of the laptop below the keyboard. It looks amazing and sleek but once again you need to ask yourself, have Dell sacrificed form over function?
Where does the trackpad start and end? Who knows. Well, you do once you start touching the trackpad area but when in the middle of working it will be hit-and-miss where the touchpad is when you reach for it after finishing typing something. It looks great but there were so many times I missed the touchpad.
Maybe Dell could put a light underneath the glass that lights up when the keyboard lights up to illuminate just where the touchpad is. It is a very steep learning curve as to where it is, especially the left and right sides of it. If I had it long term I dare say eventually I’d be able to consistently know where the touchpad was without thinking about it.
The keyboard is also another thing that does get easier to use the more you use it but it does seem like geting used to this is also a very steep learning curve. I love the look but I question Dell’s decision with these keys.
The fingerprint sensor is fast and accurate but not as fast as the IR Windows Hello camera but I set up both to test them out. It’s not a massive fingerprint sensor that doubles as the power button so there’s nothing lost having it.
The webcam is good and is 1080P — that seems to be the best manufacturers are willing to put in their laptops these days. It is better than the 720P that many manufacturers so Dell should be applauded for that. The 1080P looks great in video meetings etc but you might want a better camera if you are going to be recording anything serious such as YouTube videos etc.
Display
The display in the review laptop is the bottom of their range – the “13.4″, FHD+ 1920 x 1200, 30-120Hz, Non-Touch, Anti-Glare, 500nits, EyeSafe, InfinityEdge”. It may be the bottom of their XPS range but their XPS laptops are Dell’s premium laptops so the display is no slouch.
The display is actually available in three different configurations:
- 1920 x 1200, IPS LCD, 120 Hz, non-touch, matte – review unit
- 2560 x 1600, IPS LCD, 120 Hz, touch, glossy
- 2880 x 1800, OLED, 60 Hz, touch, glossy
I bought my first XPS 13 about 7 or 8 years ago and one of the big attractions to the XPS 13 was the tiny bezels. Once again they are tiny, but they are not alone in doing that these days.
Colours get a bit muted when not viewing the laptop from directly in front – but this laptop is for you to work on and I can’t see too many times you would not have it directly in front of you while using it. While not as vibrant as an OELD display the LCD display was fine for productivity work.
If you were looking to do creative work on it I would consider upgrading to the OLED display – at only $200 it’s nearly a no-brainer and OLED displays are so much better than LCDs these days.
Connectivity
The connectivity may be lacking port-wise, as mentioned above but Dell has included a Wi-Fi 7 module which is a nice addition as many laptops (and smartphones) are still not including it.
Also included is Bluetooth 5.4 so the connectivity is enough, especially given this is a portable laptop and not designed for being a desktop powerhouse.
Performance
Everyday tasks were performed with ease, as you’d expect. Video editing was good but not as fast as some laptops I’ve used because there is no discrete graphics card in the XPS 13 (9345). I used the laptop mostly for productivity on the go and it performed all those tasks, photo editing andsome basic video editing without any issues.
I was able to connect the XPS 13 (9345) to my 38-inch ultrawide Alienware monitor and drive that as well as itself. I like to work like this when I’m at home, with many windows open, at least one runing Spotify or YouTube, but I was also testing it running Camtasia video editing while surfing the web and writing. It did not miss a beat.
I am pleasantly surprised with the amount the chipset could handle given it is Qualcomm’s first truly big moment in the PC spotlight. I thought it would crash and burn but it was a pleasant experience. Honestly I did not see much difference between this and an Intel chipset in everyday performance.
The XPS 13 (9345) has a Qualcomm chipset which is also meant to be decent for gaming and seemed to run just fine on most cloud-based games via the installed Xbox app. Running games on Steam it worked just fine. Higher-end AAA titles with a more intensive graphics experience did struggle a bit so I would not be buying this for those titles but the occasional basic or cloud-based gaming session is easily handled.
Battery life
Qualcomm chip promises long battery life and it delivers. Playing a video, the battery lasted for about 15 and a half hours – similar to other laptops at this end of the market. Time will tell how well it lasts when AI becomes more prevalent in the software we use and how much this affects the battery life of the Snapdragon X laptops.
The charging brick is the smallest I have ever seen for a Windows laptop. It is a tiny brick with a USB-C cable that plugs into it and then into the USB-C port of the laptop. The charger is only 60W but that is enough to charge the battery quickly.
Final thoughts
The Dell XPS 13 (9345), powered by the Snapdragon X chipset is small, sleek, lightweight and a great looking little laptop. The entire design is based on what looks stylish and that means there are times when functionality suffers. Unfortunately the keyboard still has relatively flat keys that are very close together resulting in a lot of mis-typing and the capacitive buttons should not be used for keys that we often use — such as the delete button.
The trackpad is borderless wiht no indication where it starts and ends. this also has a stepp learning curve but using both the trackpad and keyboard improved the more I used it but I’m not sure this should be required.
The display has some of the smallest bezels around it and yet still manages to pack an IR Windows Hello camera in it.
The Snapdragon X has enough power to make the laptop fly when required giving it effortless power when required. The jury is still out on how well it performs with AI tasks given there are so few uses for it just at this stage. This XPS 13 (9345) is ready for when these problems arise though.
The Dell XPS 13 (9345) is a great little laptop with a keyboard and touchpad that do get more accurate over time, lightweight and slim, it is great for the professional on the go. Starting at $2,197 you can pick up the Snapdragon X-powered laptop from Dell now.
Scott is our resident open technology expert. If you can mod it, or want to use it your way, Scott has probably done it. From Laptops to phones, headphones and game consoles, he’s played with it and wants to see the next generation.
