Dell XPS 13 (2020) vs MacBook Pro 13 (2020). Which is the better value laptop?

Dell has been building fantastic and good looking laptops since 2015. Today they are legitimately a competition for Apple and all the other Windows laptop manufacturers. But since 2015 Dell had been using the same design but finally this year they updated their design and modernize their design by reducing the bezel size on all four corners even further, making it more beautiful than the MacBook Pro 13.

Design:

The design has always been a major factor for many consumers who are looking for a laptop to buy and both Apple and Dell nail this part with their beautiful designs and providing top-notch quality. For years Windows laptops were behind design and quality for years, but all this changed when Dell launched the first XPS in 2015 and their laptop manufacturers have followed. But this time Dell after 5 years revamped its design by reducing the size of the bezel on their infinity edge display even further, thereby giving the display the aspect ratio of 16:10. While the MacBook has had a 16:10 aspect ratio for a while now.

Let's first talk about the Dell XPS 13 in more depth:

Dell has fully revamped its design for the first time in many years having even smaller bezels than before. They have also reduced the bottom bezel which has increased the display size to 13.4 inches and has unified it with the rest of the laptop. The new XPS 13 also has a 16:10 aspect ratio display which allows the users to fit a little more data on their display. Dell also claims that the screen-to-body-ratio is 91.5%.

Dell has made the entire chassis is made out of Aluminum with no flex on the chassis at all along with a Carbon Fiber keyboard deck and this time Dell is even providing a new color option i.e. the new Frost color which is brighter and is actually good at hiding fingerprint on the laptop. The webcam has also been repositioned to the top rather than the nose cam that everyone hated. The trackpad has also seen some improvements, but it is nowhere as near as good as that of the MacBook's. The XPS 13 has a headphone jack, micro SD-Card slot, and 2 Type-C Thunderbolt 3 ports that allow it to connect to various other devices to improve efficiency by connecting it to an external GPU, external display, etc

Overall Dell has made some major modifications to the laptop making it a beautiful 13-inch laptop which only has a chassis that of an 11-inch laptop making it easy to carry.

MacBook Pro 13 2020:

Apple a few days ago announced the new MacBook Pro 13 with some minor updates like gone is the bad butterfly keyboard and like its bigger brother 16-inch MacBook Pro the 13-inch also gets the new Magic keyboard with the scissor mechanism, there is now a physical escape key right beside the touch bar, the fingerprint scanner has also been separated from the touch bar similar to the 16-inch MacBook Pro. The rest of the design remains exactly the same with no changes to the display or the chassis, but that is not a bad thing, Apple still has a world-leading trackpad the huge force-touch trackpad makes the Mac a delight to use, same 2 or 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports which this time allows the MacBook Pro to connect to the Pro Display XDR at its full 6K resolution.

The MacBook Pro is still a very capable machine and has all the power that is needed by an individual to do their daily tasks. Many people who were avoiding the old MacBook Pro are disappointed as they thought that the new 13inch will get an upgrade similar to that of the 16inch and we could get a 14inch MacBook. But nothing like that happened instead we got the same old MacBook with just some minor refreshes.

PERFORMANCE: 

Performance is one of the most important factors to consider while buying a laptop if you are thinking of keeping it for more than 2 years. Both Dell and Apple are using the new Intel 10th Generation chips in their machines. Well almost for Apple, Apple's lineup is a little confusing this time around. 

But let's start with the XPS first:

The Dell XPS 13 starts for $1199 for an Intel Core i5 1035G1 with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD which could be maxed out with a 4K touch display for $2149 with 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and an Intel Core i7 1065G7. And this time Intel has made some major improvements to the graphic size with the intel iris plus graphics(Only the chips ending with G7) providing enough power to do video editing or any other professional work on the laptop even some light gaming. 

All the models of the new XPS 13 come with the WiFi 6 chip.

Now the MacBook Pro 13 2020:

Apple this time has a really confusing lineup they start from $1299 but with an i5 8th Generation, Slower 8GB RAM(upgradable to 16GB), 256GB SSD (Upgradable to 2TB), and of course the new magic keyboard. 

The highest-end model for $1799 starts with an Intel i5 10th Generation, 16GB RAM(Upgradable to 32GB RAM), 512GB storage(Upgradable to 4TB), Intel Iris Plus Graphics, and the new magic keyboard. 

I know using 8th Gen in their base model is very disappointing for Apple, also there is still no support for WiFi6 on any of the Macs.

DISPLAY:

    

Dell has made a large number of improvements to its display by reducing the bezels and also providing more options when compared to display options like FHD+(1920 x 1200) & UHD+(3840 x 2400) with/without touch, all with the new 16:10 aspect ratio and a 91.5% screen-to-body-ratio. I am happy with the options but getting a 4K 13inch laptop is not feasible. The UHD+ display also has HDR 400 certification with a max brightness of 500 nits, a contrast ratio of 1500:1, and 100% SRGB color accuracy, but as compelling as all this may sound it would drain the battery faster than the FHD+ model. 

While the MacBook Pro's display may not be as high resolution as 4K, but it is better than 1080p. It also has a very color accurate display for any type of content creation, it has noticeably better brightness than the XPS 13, it also has a 1200:1 contrast ratio.

Overall both the displays are beautiful and will get your work done properly, but as far as screen-to-body-ratio goes the XPS takes it due to its Infinity edge display and how small it is compared to the MacBook in size.

CONCLUSION:

In the end, I believe that Dell is the better option as it has a modern look, it is plenty powerful and has 10th generation processors with the new iris plus graphics throughout their lineup whereas the MacBook Pro only provides 10th generation processors with iris plus graphics in their top-end model. The dell has a more modern display due to the small bezels and a higher screen-to-body-ratio. Personally, I like the keyboard of the XPS more than the Magic keyboard on the MacBook Pro 13. The MacBook is built with all Aluminium chassis whereas the XPS is built out of Aluminum but its keyboard deck is made of carbon fiber.

But in the end, it all comes to macOS and Windows which of the 2 are you more comfortable to use as they have their own various strengths and weaknesses.