Dell updates popular XPS 13 laptop with 16:10 screen, IR camera

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  The updated XPS 13 laptop with a 16:10 aspect ratio screen. [credit: Valentina Palladino ]

It's time to usher in the new year with a slew of consumer electronics slated for formal introduction at next week's CES 2020, but Dell is already dishing out product news. Today, the company announced the newest version of its popular XPS 13 laptop, an update to last year's model that is currently our favorite Windows ultrabook. Dell didn't change much about the XPS 13, though it did adjust the display aspect ratio to 16:10 and included an infrared camera for Windows Hello.

That first change makes a big difference in the overall look of the XPS 13 9300. Previously, the wide chin at the bottom of the 16:9 display panel took up a lot of space and made the screen area feel smaller than it actually was. Now, Dell has expanded the display and shrunk all of its bezels to fit the new 16:10 panel, and it's a welcome improvement.

I got a few minutes with the new XPS 13, and the experience of using the device—particularly a model with a 4K display—feels much better. When the old and new XPS 13 are placed side by side, it's hard to imagine using the squished panel on the old XPS 13, as the new 16:10 panel looks like it was always meant to sit in its place.

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