Dell's XPS 13 arrives with a claimed 26 hours of battery life — here's why I can believe it

Dell is one of the first companies out of the gate with a laptop powered by the Intel Lunar Lake CPUs announced on Tuesday ahead of IFA 2024 in Berlin, Germany.

At just 14.8mm thin and 2.6 pounds, this is an ultra thin-and-light laptop that, according to Dell, could also challenge the very best when it comes to battery life. Dell's claiming 26 hours of battery life! I would have laughed that off as bravado earlier this year, but after seeing the Dell XPS 9345 surpass 19 hours in our testing, I'm not so sure.

The new Dell XPS 13 9350 is available for pre-order starting at $1,399 , so let's take a closer look at what it offers before you spend your hard-earned money.

Dell XPS 13 9350: An all-day favorite (and then some)

The Intel Core Ultra Series 2 CPU inside is the star of the show. If it manages to hit that lofty battery life claim, the new Core Ultra will claim a lot of credit.

I haven't gotten my hands on this Dell XPS 13 yet, but we have spent some time with the Intel Core Ultra Series 2 and even saw some gaming tests. You won't replace your dedicated gaming laptop anytime soon, but Intel's Arc solution is improving.

The Dell XPS 13 9350 is also a Copilot+ PC, thanks to the new and improved NPU in the Series 2. While we are still waiting for AI's definitive "killer app," there are some contenders, with Dell showing off some photo, video, and audio editing software that leverages the new chipsets AI power.

Even if you don't make full use of it today, buying a laptop without a capable NPU right now feels like a mistake with all of the effort being poured into AI functionality in Windows and by numerous 3rd party developers.

The Dell XPS 13 also comes with WiFi 7, again you probably don't have a WiFi 7 router yet, but given that it offers up to a 4.8x boost over WiFi 6, the siren song of those supersonic streaming speeds is going to be calling soon.

Finally, the display matches its sibling, the XPS 13 9345, as the first Tandem OLED display in a laptop, allowing for a brighter display with lower power consumption (there's the other key to that endless battery life).

Our reviewer's only complaint with the XPS 13 9345's display was that it could be more colorful, so we'll have to get this one in the lab and see if Dell's made any improvements.

If Dell delivers another battery life beast with the XPS 13 9350 using the Intel Core Ultra Series 2, a Tandem OLED display may challenge Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD's new AI chips as my favorite laptop innovation of the year in 2024.

Laptop Mag 's IFA Berlin 2024 Issue celebrates one of the world's longest-running consumer tech expos, Germany's own Internationale FunkAusstellung Berlin.

Our on-the-ground team will bring you all the news emerging from the showroom floor of Messe Berlin and highlight the best in consumer tech as we announce our inaugural Laptop Laurel winners for best-in-show products.

Head over to Laptop Mag 's IFA Berlin 2024 Issue for more coverage.