I can't dispute Dell's claim of it being 'the smallest 13-inch on the planet.' It's 23% smaller than my MacBook Air, and weighs only 2.6 pounds. Besides the higher resolution, and besides looking stunning, it effectively makes the XPS 13 the overall size of a 'traditional' 11-inch laptop.
It's beautiful, sleek, and gave me the same 'WOW' moment as when I first saw the The XPS 13 has a nearly edge-to-edge display, with an impossibly small 5.2mm bezel on the top and sides. Here, then, is where things get interesting. While Dell's new XPS 13 admittedly wins a few key categories in the RAM and resolution arena, there are two other equally important factors in my book: Aesthetics and battery life. Summary: Double the system memory, a better CPU, and full 1080p display for the same price. Dell's $999 XPS 13? A Broadwell-based Intel Core i5 with slightly improved graphics capabilities, 8GB of RAM, a 128GB solid state drive, and a 1920 x 1080 resolution. Crucially, it has a 1440 x 900 resolution display.
It has a Haswell-based Intel Core i5 clocked at 1.4GHz, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB solid state drive. So let's examine Apple's $999 13-inch model, the one I gleefully purchased last year.