If portability and battery life are your top priorities, the ASUS Zenbook 13, being lighter and having a longer battery life, is a strong option, especially if you're looking for a laptop at a lower price point. On the other hand, the Dell XPS 13 Plus offers a higher resolution touchscreen display and substantially more RAM, which makes it better suited for intensive tasks such as engineering, 3D rendering, and machine learning. However, keep in mind that the Dell is more expensive and has a shorter battery life, making it slightly less portable than the ASUS. Give Feedback
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Advantages of the ASUS Zenbook 13
The ASUS Zenbook 13 has no clear advantages over the Dell XPS 13 Plus.
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
Very good overall build quality
Very good battery life
Best in class speakers
Excellent keyboard
Key differences
General Use
7.4/10
8.4/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
378.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
374.0 nits
9.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
10.0 Hours
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
9.2/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
9.1/10
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is very good for general use, while the ASUS Zenbook 13 is good.
The ASUS Zenbook 13 offers a lighter construction and slightly longer battery life than the Dell XPS 13 Plus, making it easily portable and suitable for on-the-go use. However, the Dell XPS 13 Plus comes with a significantly more robust CPU and more RAM, a higher resolution and touchscreen ability, and an overall better build quality, which makes it very good for general use that may require higher performance, but these features do come with a slightly heavier build and a higher price point.
Engineering and Design
7.1/10
8.2/10
5.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.9/10
3.6/10
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 ASUS Zenbook 13 is good.
The ASUS Zenbook 13 is equipped with an AMD Ryzen CPU and Vega 8 GPU, which are decent for engineering and design tasks but may fall short for the most demanding applications compared to the Dell XPS 13 Plus, which boasts a more powerful Intel i7 CPU and Iris Xe graphics, alongside a higher RAM capacity for smoother multitasking. Additionally, the XPS 13 Plus has a superior 4K touchscreen display which offers better detail and color accuracy essential for design work, offsetting its slightly lesser portability due to a higher weight.
Content Creation
7.6/10
8.3/10
5.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.9/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is very good for content creation, while the ASUS Zenbook 13 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
7.3/10
8.3/10
5.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is very good for software development, while the ASUS Zenbook 13 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
7.8/10
8.4/10
13.3in
SIZE
13.4in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
60Hz
378.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
374.0 nits
The Dell XPS 13 Plus has a better screen than the ASUS Zenbook 13 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
For general use, the ASUS Zenbook 13 and Dell XPS 13 Plus both offer high-resolution displays with vibrant colors and ample brightness, making documents, websites, and videos look sharp and clear. In engineering and design, the Dell XPS 13 Plus stands out due to its wider color gamut coverage, providing a richer and more accurate color palette that is vital for precision work. However, for gaming and 3D applications, both laptops fall short because they lack high refresh rates, which means they won't deliver as smooth an experience in fast-paced games or with high frame rate 3D rendering.
Build Quality
7.4/10
8.5/10
The Dell XPS 13 Plus has very good build quality, while the ASUS Zenbook 13 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$890
$1,849
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The ASUS Zenbook 13 has a price of $890 and the Dell XPS 13 Plus costs $1,849.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus and ASUS Zenbook 13 are both only fair for gaming and AI.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus offers better gaming and 3D capabilities primarily due to its superior integrated GPU, the Intel i7-1280P Iris Xe, compared to the ASUS Zenbook 13's AMD Ryzen 7 5700U Vega 8. Both laptops have the same screen refresh rate, which is very important for gaming, but the stronger GPU in the Dell XPS 13 Plus can deliver better performance in graphics-intensive tasks.
Battery
9.0 Hours
10.0 Hours
The ASUS Zenbook 13 has 9 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.
Portability
Excellent
Excellent
13.3in
SIZE
13.4in
2.5 lbs
WEIGHT
2.7 lbs
0.5in
THICKNESS
0.6in
The ASUS Zenbook 13 and Dell XPS 13 Plus both have excellent portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
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How the ASUS Zenbook 13 and the Dell XPS 13 Plus compare to other laptops
"The Asus ZenBook 13 is a compact 13-inch laptop with a fast Ryzen 7 5800U and OLED display. The subnotebook is also light and the modern design is convincing. The selection of high-quality materials make the device not only light, but also very stable. In addition, the visuals and haptics of the device offers a high-quality impression. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800U is a very good fit for the ZenBook 13, ensuring a high performance in the test. However, in terms of the 3D performance, we also notice that the Vega architecture is beginning to hit its limits."
"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 ASUS Zenbook 13 or the Dell XPS 13 Plus
About ASUS
ASUS, a Taiwanese electronics brand, is one of the largest personal computer vendor by market share. The majority of their laptops are targeted towards personal use or gaming. Their most popular product lines include the budget-friendly VivoBook, more premium ZenBook, and their TUF and ROG gaming laptops, the latter of which has a reputation for excellent gaming performance.
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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