Dell XPS 13 9345 now comes in ARM avatar with Snapdragon X1 Elite and China-exclusive X1 Plus options ^↺

The Dell XPS 13 9340 featuring Intel Meteor Lake launched earlier this year at CES and performed admirably in our review. Now, Dell is introducing its ARM variant, the XPS 13 9345. The XPS 13 9345 joins the increasing number of new laptops powered by Qualcomm's much anticipated Snapdragon X1 Elite and Snapdragon X1 Plus SoCs.

The new XPS 13 9345 comes in two SoC variants: the global version is powered by the Snapdragon X1 Elite X1E-80-100 while the one based on the Snapdragon X1 Plus X1P-64-100 is China-exclusive.

The X1E-80-100 sports 12 cores with a dual-core boost up to 4 GHz and all-core boost up to 3.4 GHz. The chip's NPU is rated to offer a 45 TOPS performance. The X1P-64-100, on the other hand, offers 10 cores with boosts up to 3.4 GHz and a 45 TOPS NPU. The integrated Adreno GPU powers the visuals.

Apart from the switch to ARM SoCs, notable albeit minor changes with the XPS 13 9345 are only with respect to the ports and the network adapter. Nothing extra, but it helps to note that the ARM XPS 13 offers 2x USB 4 ports (with DisplayPort 2.1-out and power delivery) instead of Thunderbolt 4 in the XPS 13 9340 (US$1,399.99 on Best Buy).

Qualcomm's FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi 7 WLAN card with Bluetooth 5.4 handles all wireless networking needs. Dell uses Qualcomm Fluence to tune the quad-speaker Dolby Atmos array instead of the usual WavesMaxx Audio Pro.

There is no change in the chassis construction from the XPS 13 9340. You get the same 14.8 mm slim CNC-machined aluminum build weighing 1.17 kg topped with Gorilla Glass 3 for the palm rest.

Display choices remain the same as before with three 13.4-inch Dolby Vision InfinityEdge panels to choose from: FHD+ 120 Hz non-touch, QHD+ 120 Hz touch, and 3K (2880 x 1800) OLED 60 Hz touch. The OLED option also comes with Gorilla Glass Victus protection.

Memory and storage options scale up to 64 GB LPDDR5x-8400 and 4 TB, respectively. The 55 Whr battery and the 60 W power adapter remain unchanged.

Dell claims all-day battery life with the XPS 13 9345, which isn't surprising considering the new architecture. However, a recent leak seems to indicate that Dell could restricting the X1E-80-100's TDP to 17.5 W and 25.5 W in power saving and performance modes, respectively. We will know for sure once we get our hands on the unit, so stay tuned for our detailed review.

The Dell XPS 13 9345 will be available for pre-order today in Graphite and Platinum color options at prices starting from US$1,299 and CA$1,649. The US pricing is the same as the Meteor Lake version, so it will be interesting to see how both variants square off in the coming days.