Table of Contents
The XPS 13 2-in-1 (2022) is a great product that has been for a while, just like many of Dell’s best laptops. But this year, it was completely redesigned, and it went from being a 360-degree convertible to a tablet. Now that it’s basically a Gen 1 product, it has to give up some things. We’ve seen it a lot of times. We will tell you what Gen 2 will look like if you show me a Windows tablet with a folio keyboard that magnetically props up the screen.
- Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 vs Surface Pro 8 Comparison Table
- Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 vs Surface Pro 8: Design
- Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 vs Surface Pro 8: Display
- Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 vs Surface Pro 8: PERFORMANCE
- Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 vs Surface Pro 8: BATTERY LIFE
- Pricing and availability
- Which one should you buy?
- Surface Pro 8 PROS AND CONS
- Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 PROS AND CONS
- FAQS
When it came out in 2021, the Microsoft Surface Pro 8, which used to start at $1,099, was the newest 2-in-1 Surface Pro tablet from the company. This version has a CPU from Intel’s 11th generation, a 13-inch 120Hz display, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and an SSD that can be removed. Just as important, it comes with Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows 11, right out of the box.
Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 vs Surface Pro 8 Comparison Table
| Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 | Surface Pro 8 | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 13-inch (2880 x 1920) touchscreen | 13-inch screen (2880 x 1920) |
| RAM | 8GB – 16GB (LPDDR4x RAM) | 8GB, 16GB, 32GB LPDDR4x |
| Storage | 512 GB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD | 512GB | 1TB (128GB or 256GB removable SSD options) |
| Camera | 5MP, 1080p at 30 fps, FHD RGB camera | Front-facing 5MP (1080p), rear-facing 10MP (1080p), IR camera |
| Battery | 3 Cell, 49.5 Wh | 6 hours 32 minutes |
| Weight | 1.23 lbs | 1.96 pounds |
| Price | $1,249 | 1,599 |
Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 vs Surface Pro 8: Design
The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 has been a convertible PC with a 360-degree hinge ever since it came out. This year, that will change, for better or worse. It’s hard to say whether a tablet or a convertible is better, but this is what we have. You might think that the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 (2022), which has sharper corners, looks like an iPad Pro. It takes the shape of a metal frame with flat edges and a uniform bezel around the screen.
The dark anodized aluminium case is not only nice to look at, but it also gives the 2-in-1 a strong and durable feel. On the kickstand on the back of the unit is a shiny silver Microsoft logo. The two holes on either side of the unit can be used to lift the kickstand. This is also how you’ll get to the SSD that you can take out. One is on the back, and the other is on the front. The Surface Pro 8 has a connection on the bottom for the Surface Pro Signature or Surface Pro X keyboards, which snap on magnetically.
Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 vs Surface Pro 8: Display
It has a 13-inch 3:2 3K touch screen that can get as bright as 500 nits. The touch-sensitive screen is made of Gorilla Glass Victus and has anti-reflective and anti-smudge properties, which make it less likely that smudges and fingerprints will show up on the screen.
It also has Dolby Vision Eyesafe technology, which helps give accurate colours and keep the brightness level when watching videos. We liked how bright and true to colour the screen was, and how good it looked from different angles. The way people use media shouldn’t be a problem.
The smaller bezels don’t just make the screen look better, though. They also make the screen 11% bigger. The screen on the Surface Pro 8 is now 13 inches and has a resolution of 2,880 x 1,920. That’s in the middle between 1440p and 4K, but for a 13-inch screen, it’s gorgeous.
In addition to being bigger, this display is even better because it has a 120Hz refresh rate. This is definitely not a gaming device, but take it from us: once you use a high-refresh display, even for regular computing, you won’t want to go back. You can buy this laptop from its official website
Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 vs Surface Pro 8: PERFORMANCE
As we already said, our XPS 13 2-in-1 review unit has an Intel Core i5-1230U processor, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. Those specs aren’t anything special, but they’re good enough for regular computing. The XPS 13 2-in-1 got a score of 1,564 on the single-core part of the Geekbench 5.4 test, which measures overall performance, and a score of 7,097 on the multi-core part of the test. The Surface Pro 9 had scores of 1,633 and 8,541 in comparison.
My review unit had a quad-core Intel i7-1185G7 processor from the 11th generation and 16GB of RAM. During my tests, the Surface Pro 8 never slowed down, even when we were surfing the web, watching YouTube videos, or listening to Spotify. All of the programmes ran smoothly. The 2-in-1’s impressive performance is no doubt helped by the fact that it comes with Windows 11. You can buy this laptop from its official website.
Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 vs Surface Pro 8: BATTERY LIFE
The XPS 13 2-in-1 lasted 8 hours and 16 minutes on our battery test, which was continuous web browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. These aren’t good results for a device that you’re supposed to carry with you all day. This is especially true when compared to machines like the Surface Pro 9 (9:10) and iPad Pro 2022.
The Surface Pro 7’s battery life was one of its biggest flaws. In the PCMark 8 battery test, it only lasted 3 hours and 12 minutes. Since then, we’ve moved on to PCMark 10, but the Surface Pro 8 blows that number out of the water with a battery life of 8 hours and 15 minutes. This is a device you can use to work all day without having to plug it in.
Pricing and availability
The Surface Pro 8 came out last year, and you can buy it from the Microsoft store as well as from other stores. The price of the laptop starts at $899.99/£899.99, but it can be set up so that it costs more.
The Dell XPS, on the other hand, will come out sometime this summer, but there is no set date. We don’t know how much it will cost yet, but we’ll make sure to update this article when we do.
Which one should you buy?
Since we haven’t been able to test the Dells XPS 2-in-1, it’s hard to say for sure which device is the best. But from what we’ve seen, it looks like the latest Dell laptop, which has the latest Alder Lake processors, may be more powerful than the Surface Pro 8. It will depend on how each laptop is used, and we can’t wait to put the two up against each other to see which one really wins.
Surface Pro 8 PROS AND CONS
Pros:
- Large, vibrant display
- Tailor-made for Windows 11
Cons:
- Underwhelming gaming performance
Dell XPS 13 2 in 1 PROS AND CONS
Pros:
- Extremely portable
- Snappy, responsive touchscreen
Cons:
- Short battery life
FAQS
Is Microsoft Surface laptop better than Dell?
Should you buy a Surface Laptop 5 or a Dell XPS 13? We think the Surface Laptop 5 is better than the XPS 13 when we compare the two. It might have bigger bezels around the screen than the XPS 13, but the overall power of the CPU, the number of ports, and the screen resolution make it worth getting.
Is the Surface Pro 8 the best 2-in-1?
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 8 is the best 2-in-1 laptop that you can take apart and put back together. It’s also on our list of the best laptops overall.
What is special about Dell XPS 13?
Intel Integrated HD Graphics 520 is in charge of the graphics. It has Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth, and three USB ports (two of which are USB 3.0), an HDMI port, and a multi-card slot.