Dell XPS 13 (2017): Intel’s 8th-gen CPU makes a great laptop even greater
Forgive us if you’ve heard this one before but Dell’s latest XPS 13 is truly the best one yet. Seriously. Newly upgraded with Intel’s 8th-generation CPUs, the XPS 13 offers unheard-of performance in an ultra-portable laptop. By “unheard-of,” we mean the XPS 13 offers performance approaching and occasionally surpassing that of much larger and much heavier powerhouse laptops.
Granted, it hasn’t changed much on the outside. As we go through the features and specs, though, you’ll see the significant changes happening on the inside.
PRICES, SPECS AND FEATURES
Prices: Our review unit currently sells for $1,300 from Dell’s website. Other SKUs from Dell’s site range from the lowest-end $800 version, with a 7th-generation Core i3-7100UCPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD; and the top-of-the-line $1,750 model with the same 8th-generation Core i7-8550U and 256GB SSD.as our unite, but its memory is boosted to 16GB.
The XPS 13 hasn’t changed much on the outside, but this 8th generation upgrade is worth it for performance fiends.
The star of the show is Intel’s new 8th-generation Core i7-8550U. Based on the same basic microarchitecture as CPUs used in older versions of of the 8th-gen CPU for all the details). Up to now, most mainstream laptops have stuck to dual-core CPUs because quad-core CPUs would have required more cooling and bigger, heavier shells to handle the heat. Not anymore. It’s truly exciting to see quad-core power fitting into thin and light laptops
