Dell COO Jeff Clarke didn't dodge the MacBook Neo comparison when announcing the new XPS 13 ahead of Computex 2026.
"We didn't change a single feature when the Neo was launched," Clarke said. "We stayed true to the XPS' identity. And I think we've achieved it with the $599 price point." The result is the thinnest and lightest XPS laptop the company has ever made, weighing 2.2 pounds and measuring 0.5 inches thin. At $599 for students (and $699 for general consumers), it undercuts or matches Apple's budget laptop on price while delivering features the Neo lacks: a backlit keyboard, a touch display, dual USB-C ports (one on each side), and support for multiple external displays.
Intel's new Wildcat Lake Core Series 3 chips power the base configuration, trading peak performance for efficiency. Dell claims up to 17 hours of battery life for video streaming. The entry-level model includes an Intel Core 5 (6-core) or Core 7 (6-core) chip with integrated Intel graphics, 8GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and a 512GB SSD. Higher-end configurations with Intel's more powerful Panther Lake Core Ultra 7 355 chip and up to 32GB of RAM arrive later this summer. The 13.4-inch display is slightly larger than the Neo's 13-inch panel, with a 2560x1600 resolution, 500 nits brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color coverage, and a 30-120Hz variable refresh rate. It's a touchscreen, too, something no current Mac offers.
"We're not in a race to the bottom," Clarke said. "We're not trying to be the cheapest option." The student pricing runs until Nov. 2 and applies to high school students 16 and over through college and university degree programs. For everyone else, the laptop starts at $699, though adding 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD pushes the cost well beyond that threshold.
Dell plans to launch the XPS 13 in June 2026, with the more powerful Core Ultra configurations following later in the summer. The company also teased support for Kensington lock slots on forthcoming models and confirmed Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 across the lineup.
Apple's MacBook Neo, revealed earlier this year at $599, shocked the PC industry and sparked weeks of debate about Windows laptop pricing. The XPS 13 is the first time a major Windows manufacturer has so directly matched Apple's price while keeping its premium brand name intact, and competes on features the Neo lacks.
