Back in 2022, Dell introduced the XPS 13 Plus 9320 in radically new design with an invisible touchpad and a new keyboard. The XPS 13 Plus coexisted with the regular XPS 13 9315 at that time. In 2023, Dell offered just the XPS 13 Plus 9320 as a minor refresh with Intel Raptor Lake options without an accompanying regular XPS 13.
Now, Dell is having a change of heart once again. At CES 2024, Dell has chosen to combine the XPS 13 Plus and the XPS 13 into the new XPS 13 9340. The new XPS 13 9340 comes with Intel Meteor Lake 28 W processors and offers a dedicated Windows Copilot key.
The new XPS 13 9340 is now lighter at about 1.17-1.19 kg while sporting the same 0.6-inch thickness as before. Dell seems to have heard feedback about the redundant inclusion of 4K resolution in a 13.4-inch screen, so the new XPS 13 9340 is restricted to FHD+, QHD+, and 3K+ options alone.
As is the case with Dell XPS laptops, all panels are InfinityEdge and support Dolby Vision. The FHD+ panel covers 100% sRGB and offers a dynamic 30 Hz to 120 Hz refresh rate. The QHD+ option offers the same dynamic refresh but is rated to cover 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. The top-end 3K+ (2880 x 1800) display is a touch-enabled OLED panel that is also slated to fully cover the DCI-P3 color space but at just a 60 Hz refresh rate.
Dell is also finally upgrading the webcam to a 1080p sensor replete with two digital array microphones. It is compatible with Windows Studio Effects that offer features such as background blur, voice focus, eye contact, and automatic framing.
On the processor front, the new XPS 13 9340 offers Core Ultra 5 125H, Core Ultra 7 155H, and Core Ultra 7 165H options along with up to 64 GB LPDDR5x-7467 RAM and up to 4 TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe storage. Graphics workloads are handled by the integrated Intel Arc GPU.
The XPS 13 continues the trend of an anemic port selection featuring just two Thunderbolt 4 ports that offer DisplayPort 2.1-out and Power Delivery. Networking gets an upgrade to the Intel Killer Wi-Fi 7 1750 (BE200) WLAN card with Bluetooth 5.4.
The Dell XPS 13 9340 will be available in Platinum and Graphite color options in Q1 2024 with prices starting at US$1,299.99 and CA$1,749.99.
Source(s)
Dell Press Release