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  1. Table of Contents
  2. Top
  3. Main Differences
  4. Design
    1. Style
    2. Build Quality
    3. Hinge
    4. Portability
    5. Serviceability
    6. In The Box
  5. Display
    1. Screen Specs
    2. Refresh Rate
    3. Contrast
    4. Brightness
    5. Reflections
    6. Black Uniformity
    7. Horizontal Viewing Angle
    8. Vertical Viewing Angle
    9. Out-Of-The-Box Color Accuracy
    10. Color Gamut
    11. Flicker
  6. Interface
    1. Keyboard
    2. Touchpad
    3. Speakers
    4. Webcam & Microphone
  7. Connectivity
    1. Ports
    2. Wireless Communication
  8. Configuration
    1. CPU
    2. GPU
    3. RAM
    4. Storage
  9. Performance
    1. Geekbench 5 (Synthetics)
    2. Cinebench R23 (CPU Rendering)
    3. Blender (3D Rendering)
    4. Basemark GPU (Game Scene)
    5. Storage Drive Performance
    6. Battery
    7. Borderlands 3
    8. Civilization VI
    9. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
    10. Counter-Strike 2
    11. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
    12. Thermals And Noise
    13. Performance Over Time
  10. Additional Features And Software
    1. Software
    2. Extra Features
  11. Comments

Dell XPS 13 (2021) vs Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020)

Side-by-Side Comparison

Products

Dell XPS 13 (2021)
Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020)

Tested using Methodology v0.8.2

Updated Mar 26, 2024 01:44 PM

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Tested using Methodology v0.8.2

Updated Aug 08, 2024 02:46 PM

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Dell XPS 13 (2021) Picture
Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020) Picture

Variants

  • XPS 13 (XPS9310-7412WHT-PUS) (Frost White - OLED/i7-1185G7/16GB/512GB)
  • XPS 13 (XPS9310-7439WHT-PUS) (Frost White - OLED/i7-1185G7/16GB/512GB)
  • XPS 13 (‎XPS9310-5024SLV-SUS) (Platinum Silver - 4K/i5/8GB/512GB)
  • XPS 13 (XPS9310-7375SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - 4K/i7-1185G7/16GB/1TB)
  • XPS 13 (‎XPS9310-7795SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - 4K/i7-1185G7/32GB/2TB)
  • XPS 13 (XPS9310-7085SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - FHD/i7-1165G7/8GB/512GB)
  • XPS 13 (XPS9310-7368SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - FHD/i7-1185G7/16GB/512GB)
  • XPS 13 (XPS9310-7198SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - FHD/i7-1185G7/16GB/512GB)
  • XPS 13 (XPS9310-7825SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - OLED/i7-1185G7/16GB/1TB)
  • XPS 13 (XPS9310-7788SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - OLED/i7-1185G7/32GB/1TB)
  • XPS 13 (XPS9310-7477SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - OLED/i7-1195G7/16GB/1TB)
  • XPS 13 (‎XPS9310) (‎Platinum Silver - FHD/i3/8GB/256GB)
  • XPS 13 (XPS9310-7392SLV-PUS) (‎Platinum Silver - FHD/i7-1165G7/8GB/512GB)
  • XPS 13 (XPS9310-7422SLV-PUS) (‎Platinum Silver - FHD/i7-1195G7/16GB/512GB)
  • MacBook Air 13 (MGND3LL/A) (Gold - 7-core GPU/8GB/256GB)
  • MacBook Air 13 (MGNE3LL/A) (Gold - 7-core GPU/8GB/512GB)
  • MacBook Air 13 (MGN93LL/A) (Silver - 7-core GPU/8GB/256GB)
  • MacBook Air 13 (MGNA3LL/A) (Silver - 7-core GPU/8GB/512GB)
  • MacBook Air 13 (‎MGN63LL/A) (Space Gray - 7-core GPU/8GB/256GB)
  • MacBook Air 13 (MGN73LL/A) (Space Gray - 7-core GPU/8GB/512GB)

Our Verdict

Dell XPS 13 (2021)

Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020)

The Dell XPS 13 (2021) and the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020) are both ultraportable laptops designed for general productivity like web browsing, text formatting, and video playback. The Dell is available with Intel 11th Gen CPUs and runs Windows, while the Apple laptop uses Apple's ARM-based M1 SoC and runs macOS. The Apple has a sharper display, but the Dell's is brighter, and you can also configure the XPS 13 with a 4k IPS or 3.5k OLED panel. The Dell laptop's keyboard feels better to type on; however, the Apple laptop's haptic touchpad is easier to use because you can click anywhere. If you're often on video calls, the Apple laptop's webcam is much better, even though it's the same resolution as the XPS 13's. Performance-wise, Apple's M1 SoC is faster than Intel's 11th Gen processors, even against the top-end i7-1195G7. The Apple laptop has longer battery life, lasting a little over 3 hours more than the Dell in light productivity workloads.

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