Dell’s New XPS 13 Is PC’s First Real MacBook Neo Competitor

Dell’s new, smaller, lighter, and nearly portless 2026 XPS 13 isn’t just hoping to compete with Apple’s cheapest MacBook on sleek looks. It also seeks to carve out a niche as the first to enter the PC market with a new Intel chip and a price tag sure to make both college students and Apple fans turn their heads. Here’s the first thing you’ll want to pay attention to: the new version of the XPS 13 starts at $700. Students can nab it for $600. For that price, Dell promises you’ll get an all-CNC aluminum shell that won’t feel nearly as cheap as the traditional PC you’ll find at this price. From the jump, Dell is openly hoping to compete with the $600 MacBook Neo and its high-quality construction. And you know what? It’s been a hot minute since most manufacturers appeared serious about making affordable PCs that don’t feel as flimsy as a frisbee. Dell promises even more amenities. The XPS 13 sports a touchscreen with a respectable 2,560 x 1,600 resolution. The backlit keyboard features a multi-touch trackpad that we can all hope isn’t terrible. The whole laptop weighs in at about 2.2 pounds, slightly less than the MacBook Neo’s 2.7 pounds. Plus, it’s a thin body at 12.7mm. You get two USB-C ports, and that’s it. © Dell Dell’s laptop will feature Intel’s Core Series 3 “Wildcat Lake” chip. We’ve already seen the Intel Core 7 350 beat Apple’s A18 Pro , though only in multicore performance on a China-only Honor X14 model. We’re curious how well this lightweight notebook can run Windows, especially because the base model comes with just 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. You can upgrade to 16GB or 32GB of RAM or push the SSD to 1TB, though don’t expect those configurations to be nearly as cheap. If you want even more performance, you can opt for the Intel Core Ultra 7 355 Panther Lake chip. The one thing you’ll miss from this shell is any extra I/O: it’s two USB-C ports, and that’s it. Acer recently showcased a low-end laptop featuring Qualcom