It's a bold claim -- refreshingly so -- and the first time a PC maker has so openly positioned a flagship product in opposition to Apple's wildly successful budget laptop that's disrupted the PC market. The XPS 13 will cost $599 for students and $699 for the general market, a very aggressive price point for its feature set, especially with the iconic XPS name.

As the cost of memory soars (and consumer laptops with it), the Dell 2026 XPS 13 comes at just the right time, taking aim at students, young professionals, and budget-conscious consumers looking for a high performance laptop with premium features.

Intel's new "Wildcat Lake" Core Series 3 chips, announced earlier this year, trade in raw power for a much more affordable package. They use the same 18A process as Intel's "Panther Lake" Core Ultra Series 3 CPUs, with similar battery longevity.

This includes the Intel Core 5 (6-core) or Intel Core 7 (8-core) chip, with an integrated Intel GPU with 2xe cores or 4xe cores respectively, offer less horsepower but still achieve up to 17 hours of battery life, according to Dell.