Futuristic Dell XPS 13 Plus Now on Sale

Dell’s unique XPS 13 Plus laptop, which we first got some hands-on time with at CES, is now on sale, starting at $1,299.

When closed, this spinoff of Dell's flagship laptop looks similar to its ultraportable sibling, but open it up and you find that a row of white LED-backlit touch buttons replace the function and media keys. The keyboard also features an edge-to-edge design with flush keys, resulting in larger keycaps and a 55% increase in airflow, Dell says.

Most notable is the invisible touchpad. There’s no cutout here, just an unmarked glass pad with haptic feedback. Dell’s betting that most of us are familiar enough with where to place our hands on a laptop touchpad, though at CES, it told us it will include a paper insert showing the touchpad's location when you first open the laptop, to avoid any confusion.

The XPS 13 Plus uses a higher-wattage processor than the new XPS 13, up from 15 to 28 watts. Processor options include a 4.4GHz 12th Generation Intel Core i5 or 4.7GHz Core i7. Storage goes up to a 2TB PCIe 4×4 SSD, and memory options go up to 32GB.

The Plus runs Windows 11 Home out of the box and supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. On the downside for some is the lack of a headphone or audio jack, just two Thunderbolt 4 ports.

You can get the XPS 13 Plus with or without a touch screen; one of the touch options is an OLED display. The PC weighs about 2.71 pounds, slightly more if you go with the OLED.

The Plus is available to purchase now starting at $1,299 ($1,649 CAD). A developer edition with Ubuntu 20.04 starts at $1,249 ($1,599 CAD).