The Apple MacBook Air (2020) is more affordable and offers good performance for general use with a longer battery life, making it ideal for those who prioritize portability and value for money. On the other hand, the Dell XPS 13 Plus is more expensive and excels in tasks like 3D rendering, machine learning, and engineering due to a more robust processor and significantly more memory, but this comes at the cost of reduced battery life and a higher price point. While both have high-quality displays, the Dell's OLED touchscreen is superior, especially for engineering and premium business use, but its higher resolution could contribute to faster battery consumption. The MacBook Air's strengths lie in its light weight, fanless operation for silent use, and solid build quality, whereas the Dell XPS 13 Plus boasts a backlit keyboard, a fingerprint reader, and facial recognition features for enhanced security. Give Feedback
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Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air (2020)
Best in class overall build quality
Excellent battery life
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the Dell XPS 13 Plus
Very good for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Very good overall display quality
Excellent portability
Key differences
General Use
7.6/10
8.4/10
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
395.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
374.0 nits
15.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
10.0 Hours
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
8.9/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
9.1/10
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is very good for general use, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) is good.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus offers a higher-resolution OLED touchscreen, a more powerful CPU, and more RAM, making it better for demanding tasks and providing a more vibrant display, but these enhancements reduce its battery life compared to the Apple MacBook Air, which is lighter and has longer battery life suitable for on-the-go users, along with a silent, fanless operation that contributes to its general use appeal. While the MacBook Air’s screen is of high quality, the XPS excels with its screen and has superior heat management, but its higher capabilities come at the cost of lower portability score due to slightly increased weight and thickness.
Engineering and Design
7.3/10
8.2/10
6.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.9/10
3.9/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
3.8/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is very good for engineering and design, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) is good.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus offers greater performance for engineering and design tasks with its high-end Intel processor and more RAM, complemented by a higher resolution OLED screen which provides better visual clarity and color accuracy than the Apple MacBook Air's IPS display.
Content Creation
7.8/10
8.3/10
6.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.9/10
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is very good for content creation, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
7.7/10
8.3/10
6.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is very good for software development, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
7.5/10
8.4/10
13.3in
SIZE
13.4in
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
60Hz
395.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
374.0 nits
The Dell XPS 13 Plus has a better screen than the Apple MacBook Air for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
For general use, the MacBook Air's display offers a pleasant visual experience with sharp resolution and sufficient brightness, making it suitable for everyday tasks, while the Dell XPS 13 Plus provides a slightly superior display with higher brightness and clarity. The Dell XPS 13 Plus excels in engineering and design because it boasts a wider range of colors, covering more of the DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB spectrums, crucial for professionals needing color accuracy for their work. However, neither the MacBook Air nor the Dell XPS 13 Plus are ideal for 3D applications or gaming due to their lower refresh rates, which can result in less fluid motion and slower response times compared to displays designed specifically for these purposes.
Battery
15.0 Hours
10.0 Hours
The Apple MacBook Air has 15 hours of battery life. The Dell XPS 13 Plus has 10 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Build Quality
10.0/10
8.5/10
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) has best in class build quality, while the Dell XPS 13 Plus has very good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,000
$1,849
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) has a price of $1,000 and the Dell XPS 13 Plus costs $1,849.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus and Apple MacBook Air (2020) are both only fair for gaming and AI.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is equipped with a stronger GPU and higher screen refresh rate, both crucial for smooth gaming and 3D applications, and it supports a wide array of popular games that are not available on Macs. In comparison, the MacBook Air's GPU and screen capabilities are less suited for these tasks and its operating system limits the selection of games you can play.
Portability
Very Good
Excellent
13.3in
SIZE
13.4in
2.8 lbs
WEIGHT
2.7 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
0.6in
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Dell XPS 13 Plus to have excellent portability, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) has very good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Give feedback
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How the Apple MacBook Air (2020) and the Dell XPS 13 Plus compare to other laptops
"The Apple MacBook Air M2 Entry is a very good, but too expensive daily MacBook. The new MacBook Air M2 is undoubtedly once again a very good mobile companion, but we are still a little bit disappointed on a very high level, which is definitely connected with the increased price point. The new chassis is extremely slim and the front edge is no problem during typing, but the bezels are pretty wide for a modern device and in addition with the vertical space required for the notch, the new Air has larger footprint than some Windows rivals."
"The XPS 13 Plus is powerful, but has its drawbacks. Dell did not only update the processor generation, but also decided to offer two completely different models from now on. The XPS 13 Plus gets the faster Intel Alder Lake-P chips, and the Core i7-1260P in our review unit offers good performance figures. However, the device once again shows the problems of the current Intel CPUs, because the high performance requires a lot of power. This affects the battery runtime as well as temperatures, so the new model (even with the Optimized power profile) is louder than the older model."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Air (2020) or the Dell XPS 13 Plus
About Apple
Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.
About Dell
Dell is a highly recognizable American technology company, and is one of the largest personal computer vendor by market share. Their laptops are very popular for both personal and professional use, and they also own the Alienware brand which makes mid to high end gaming laptops. Their premium XPS range of laptops offer great build quality and portability, while Latitude and Precision laptops are known for reliability, repairability and performance for business users.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
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Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
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Laptops Expert
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