Dell XPS laptops

XPS 13 (2026) with Intel Core 5 320 The pick for students whose course software must run on a standard Intel Windows laptop rather than Arm. Dell launched it at $699, with a 13.4-inch 2560 x 1600 touchscreen at 120Hz, a backlit keyboard and a weight of about 2.3 pounds. Notebookcheck's Wi-Fi browsing test ran it for 18 hours 26 minutes, so it keeps pace with the Snapdragon machines. The catch is the base model's 8GB of memory, which is soldered and can never be upgraded. Notebookcheck recommends the 16GB version, which costs $200 more, and that is the one to buy for a whole degree. The thin chassis flexes more easily than older XPS models, so a padded sleeve is a sensible extra, and the warranty is 12 months.