All three Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 SKUs in review: Core i5-1240P, i7-1260P, or i7-1280P OLED?

After its initial unveiling at CES 2022, the 2022 XPS 13 Plus is now shipping with three processor options to choose from (Core i5-1240P, Core i7-1260P, and Core i7-1280P) alongside three different display resolutions (1920 x 1200 IPS, 3456 x 2160 OLED, and 3840 x 2400 IPS). We've already tested the i5-1240P, i7-1260P, 1200p IPS, and 2400p IPS configurations leaving only the i7-1280P 2160p OLED SKU left.
This review focuses on the i7-1280P and 2160p OLED configuration and the differences users can expect between it and the other XPS 13 Plus options. As configured, the unit currently retails for $1750 USD. We recommend checking out our existing two reviews on the XPS 13 Plus to learn more about the physical features of the model.
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Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
87.3 % | 09/2022 | Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED i7-1280P, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.3 kg | 15.28 mm | 13.40" | 3456x2160 | |
86.1 % | 08/2022 | Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p i5-1240P, Iris Xe G7 80EUs | 1.2 kg | 15.3 mm | 13.40" | 1920x1200 | |
88.2 % | 08/2022 | Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U i5-1230U, Iris Xe G7 80EUs | 1.2 kg | 14 mm | 13.40" | 1920x1200 | |
86.9 % | 07/2022 | Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K i7-1260P, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.2 kg | 15.3 mm | 13.40" | 3840x2400 | |
86.7 % | 10/2021 | Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 i7-1165G7, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.3 kg | 14.35 mm | 13.40" | 1920x1200 | |
88.3 % | 05/2021 | Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED i7-1185G7, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.2 kg | 14.8 mm | 13.40" | 3456x2160 |
Case
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under 300 USD/Euros, under 500 USD/Euros, 1,000 USD/Euros, for University Students, Best Displays
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Smartphones, Phablets, ≤6-inch, Camera Smartphones
Display
The OLED panel isn't the be all end all option as it carries both advantages and disadvantages over IPS. Advantages include better brightness uniformity, deeper black levels, full P3 coverage, and significantly faster black-white and gray-gray response times. Disadvantages include screen flickering and a 100-nit dimmer maximum brightness. The brightness difference shouldn't be an issue if working indoors, but the IPS panels are be slightly easier on the eyes if working outdoors.
Note that the OLED panel here is almost exactly the same as the one used for the last generation XPS 13 9310 (Samsung 134XK04 vs. Samsung 134XK01). If you've seen the XPS 13 9310 OLED before, then you'll know exactly what to expect from the XPS 13 Plus 9320 OLED.
|
Brightness Distribution: 98 %
Center on Battery: 371.8 cd/m²
Contrast: ∞:1 (Black: 0 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 2.37 | 0.55-29.43 Ø5.1
ΔE Greyscale 2 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
98.4% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
100% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
99.5% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.29
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED Samsung 134XK04, OLED, 3456x2160, 13.40 | Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p Sharp SHP1548 LQ134N1, IPS, 1920x1200, 13.40 | Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U Sharp SHP1548 LQ134N1, IPS, 1920x1200, 13.40 | Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K LQ134R1, IPS, 3840x2400, 13.40 | Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 Sharp LQ134N1, IPS, 1920x1200, 13.40 | Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED Samsung 134XK01, OLED, 3456x2160, 13.40 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Display | -20% | -20% | -15% | -19% | -0% | |
Display P3 Coverage | 99.5 | 69 -31% | 69 -31% | 76.5 -23% | 69.7 -30% | 99.7 0% |
sRGB Coverage | 100 | 99 -1% | 100 0% | 100 0% | 99 -1% | 100 0% |
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 98.4 | 71 -28% | 71 -28% | 76 -23% | 71.7 -27% | 97.7 -1% |
Response Times | -1266% | -1193% | -1170% | 80% | 105% | |
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 2.6 ? | 45 ? -1631% | 40 ? -1438% | 38.9 ? -1396% | 55.6 ? -2038% | 2.2 ? 15% |
Response Time Black / White * | 2.1 ? | 21 ? -900% | 22 ? -948% | 21.9 ? -943% | 40.4 ? -1824% | 2.2 ? -5% |
PWM Frequency | 59.5 | 2500 ? 4102% | 240.4 ? 304% | |||
Screen | -23% | -10% | -2% | -44% | -14% | |
Brightness middle | 371.8 | 498 34% | 466 25% | 494 33% | 555.7 49% | 384 3% |
Brightness | 374 | 460 23% | 442 18% | 474 27% | 528 41% | 387 3% |
Brightness Distribution | 98 | 85 -13% | 89 -9% | 89 -9% | 90 -8% | 97 -1% |
Black Level * | 0.53 | 0.4 | 0.28 | 0.35 | ||
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 2.37 | 3.65 -54% | 3.03 -28% | 3.1 -31% | 4.83 -104% | 4.56 -92% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 6.1 | 7.11 -17% | 6.68 -10% | 4.2 31% | 8.46 -39% | 7.27 -19% |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 2 | 4.25 -113% | 3.12 -56% | 3.2 -60% | 6.1 -205% | 1.5 25% |
Gamma | 2.29 96% | 2.45 90% | 2.41 91% | 2.41 91% | 1.98 111% | 2.26 97% |
CCT | 6261 104% | 6690 97% | 6418 101% | 6189 105% | 6686 97% | 6219 105% |
Contrast | 940 | 1165 | 1764 | 1588 | ||
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 2.16 | 2.34 | 1.5 | 0.76 | 4.52 | |
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 87.1 | |||||
Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 100 | |||||
Total Average (Program / Settings) | -436% /
-248% | -408% /
-228% | -396% /
-218% | 6% /
-7% | 30% /
19% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
---|---|---|
2.1 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 0.8 ms rise | |
↘ 1.3 ms fall | ||
The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 5 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (21.9 ms). | ||
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
2.6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 1.3 ms rise | |
↘ 1.3 ms fall | ||
The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.25 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 5 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (34.5 ms). |
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
Screen flickering / PWM detected | 59.5 Hz | ||
The display backlight flickers at 59.5 Hz (Likely utilizing PWM) . The frequency of 59.5 Hz is very low, so the flickering may cause eyestrain and headaches after extended use. In comparison: 54 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 18982 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. |
Like almost every other laptop with an OLED panel, the panel here exhibits flickering or pulse-width modulation. The frequency is set at 227.3 Hz from 0 to 52 percent brightness before changing to 59.5 Hz from 53 to 100 percent brightness. If your eyes are sensitive to flickering, then you may want to consider the IPS SKUs instead.
Performance
Testing Conditions
Processor
Multi-thread performance is about 15 percent faster than the Core i7-1260P configuration or about 25 to 30 percent faster than the Core i5-1240P configuration. However, it's interesting to note that our Core i7-1280P can dip below the Core i7-1260P when subjected to prolonged stress tests. Our CineBench R15 xT loop test results below show the i7-1280P outperforming the i7-1260P for the first several runs before eventually running slower by almost 8 percent.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.2 - 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
Cinebench R20 / CPU (Multi Core) | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P (3283 - 5415, n=8) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 |
Cinebench R20 / CPU (Single Core) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P (615 - 701, n=8) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U |
Cinebench R15 / CPU Single 64Bit | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P (203 - 258, n=7) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 |
Blender / v2.79 BMW27 CPU | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P (259 - 309, n=7) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED |
Geekbench 5.2 - 5.5 / Multi-Core | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P (9623 - 11811, n=7) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p |
Geekbench 5.2 - 5.5 / Single-Core | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P (1571 - 1802, n=7) | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED |
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 / 4k Preset | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P (9.62 - 14.5, n=5) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 |
LibreOffice / 20 Documents To PDF | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P (41 - 61.6, n=8) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED |
R Benchmark 2.5 / Overall mean | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P (0.4505 - 0.512, n=7) |
* ... smaller is better
AIDA64: FP32 Ray-Trace | FPU Julia | CPU SHA3 | CPU Queen | FPU SinJulia | FPU Mandel | CPU AES | CPU ZLib | FP64 Ray-Trace | CPU PhotoWorxx
CrossMark: Overall | Productivity | Creativity | Responsiveness
PCMark 10 / Score | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P, Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (5410 - 5994, n=4) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Average of class Subnotebook (3699 - 6767, n=60, last 2 years) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U |
PCMark 10 / Essentials | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P, Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (9719 - 10920, n=4) | |
Average of class Subnotebook (7331 - 11156, n=60, last 2 years) | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p |
PCMark 10 / Productivity | |
Average of class Subnotebook (5040 - 9657, n=60, last 2 years) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P, Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (6301 - 7453, n=4) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U |
PCMark 10 / Digital Content Creation | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P, Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (6450 - 7180, n=4) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Average of class Subnotebook (3303 - 8855, n=60, last 2 years) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U |
CrossMark / Overall | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P, Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (1677 - 1773, n=4) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Average of class Subnotebook (718 - 1876, n=51, last 2 years) | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U |
CrossMark / Productivity | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P, Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (1585 - 1709, n=4) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Average of class Subnotebook (685 - 1829, n=51, last 2 years) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U |
CrossMark / Creativity | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P, Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (1849 - 1928, n=4) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Average of class Subnotebook (776 - 2080, n=51, last 2 years) | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U |
CrossMark / Responsiveness | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P, Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (1394 - 1746, n=4) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Average of class Subnotebook (652 - 1899, n=51, last 2 years) | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U |
PCMark 10 Score | 5644 points | |
Help |
AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Average Intel Core i7-1280P (93.1 - 153.3, n=6) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U |
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
Dell appears to be sourcing its SSDs from several manufacturers for its XPS 13 Plus series. While our two earlier test units would ship with Micron 3400 or Samsung PM9A1 PCIe4 x4 NVMe SSDs, our i7-1280P test unit would ship with the Western Digital SN810 instead. Unfortunately, this WD drive appears to be inferior to the Samsung or Micron as performance would throttle to just 3000 MB/s when running DiskSpd in a loop as shown by our graph below. In comparison, the Samsung or Micron drives would exhibit steady transfer rates when subjected to the same stress test.
Drive Performance Rating - Percent | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 |
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance
Graphics performance is essentially identical to the Core i7-1260P configuration. When compared to the Core i5-1240P option with 8 GB of RAM and Iris Xe 80 EUs, however, our Iris Xe 96 EUs is approximately 30 to 65 percent faster. You'll want to configure with at least 16 GB of RAM and a Core i7 CPU if you wish to maximize GPU performance.
3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (2867 - 7471, n=176) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U |
3DMark 11 Performance | 7499 points | |
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 16231 points | |
3DMark Fire Strike Score | 5081 points | |
3DMark Time Spy Score | 1986 points | |
Help |
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark | |
1280x720 Lite Quality | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (14.9 - 56.5, n=156) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U | |
1920x1080 Standard Quality | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (10.5 - 28, n=152) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U | |
1920x1080 High Quality | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (8.15 - 27.8, n=145) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 9315, i5-1230U |
Dota 2 Reborn | |
1280x720 min (0/3) fastest | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (36 - 148, n=187) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
1366x768 med (1/3) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (31.6 - 108.5, n=187) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
1920x1080 high (2/3) | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (23.2 - 88.1, n=187) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1 | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED | |
1920x1080 ultra (3/3) best looking | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i5-1240p | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 i7-1280P OLED |