{"id":651077,"date":"2026-06-01T10:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T08:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=651077"},"modified":"2026-06-01T10:54:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T08:54:06","slug":"dell-launches-affordable-new-laptop-to-battle-apple-macbook-neo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/gadgets\/651077-dell-launches-affordable-new-laptop-to-battle-apple-macbook-neo.html","title":{"rendered":"Dell launches affordable new laptop to battle Apple MacBook Neo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dell Technologies introduced a redesigned XPS 13 laptop, positioning the device as a direct answer to Apple\u2019s popular\u00a0MacBook Neo<\/a>, which stunned the budget PC market upon its\u00a0debut in March<\/a>\u00a0with its features and price.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new Dell machine, hitting the market in time for back-to-school shopping, offers a premium design that includes a\u00a0high-resolution\u00a0touch display and a backlit keyboard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those advantages mean Dell hasn\u2019t been able to fully match Apple when it comes to price: The XPS 13 begins at $699 (R11,355) \u2014 students can purchase it for $599 (R9,734) \u2014 while the MacBook Neo costs $599 (R9,734) and drops to $499 (R8,106) for education buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Dell\u2019s laptop\u00a0includes 512 gigabytes of storage in the base model, which matches\u00a0the stepped-up $699 (R11,355) MacBook Neo with Touch ID. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It measures 12.7 millimetres thick and weighs 1kg, lighter than the 1.2kg Neo. Like Apple\u2019s device, the XPS 13 has an aluminum outer shell that looks and feels sleeker than many other laptops in its segment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll give them credit. It\u2019s a good product, and it validates the market we\u2019ve been talking about,\u201d Jeff Clarke, Dell\u2019s chief operating officer, said of the Neo in a media webcast announcing his company\u2019s latest hardware. \u201cThe difference is we\u2019ve built something better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dell\u2019s product allows for more configuration, with up to 32GB of memory compared with the Neo\u2019s non-upgradeable\u00a08GB of unified memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its display can also produce a wider spectrum of colors\u00a0and supports refresh rates up to 120Hz, while\u00a0Apple reserves its best screens for the pricier MacBook Pro line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inclusion of a backlit keyboard should allow for easier typing in dark conditions. Dell has also tossed in other nice-to-have upgrades over the Neo like more robust Wi-Fi 7 wireless networking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for battery life, Dell is touting \u201cup to 17 hours of streaming\u201d versus a comparable 16 hours on the Neo.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the XPS comes with compromises of its own: Unlike the Neo, there\u2019s no built-in headphone jack, which means owners will need to rely on its quad-speaker audio system, use Bluetooth earbuds or plug a headphone adapter into one of the two USB-C ports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dell isn\u2019t the only Windows PC maker trying to leapfrog\u00a0Apple\u2019s wallet-friendly laptop. Last week,\u00a0Acer\u00a0introduced the\u00a0Swift Air 14<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0also priced at $699 \u2014\u00a0with an aluminum exterior and the same Intel chip as Dell\u2019s machine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also has a 120 hertz display, though Acer surpasses both the Dell and MacBook Neo by including\u00a0Thunderbolt 4 connectivity for speedy transfers of large files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook described enthusiasm around\u00a0the MacBook Neo as \u201coff the charts\u201d during the company\u2019s most recent earnings call, adding that Apple \u201cundercalled\u201d consumer demand for the machine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe could not be happier with how things are going at the moment,\u201d\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dell positioned the redesigned XPS 13 as a direct answer to Apple\u2019s popular MacBook Neo, which stunned the budget PC market upon its debut in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":651116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[66026,605,105637,70281,225,52093,11233,95057,22711,103591,76742,4082],"class_list":["post-651077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gadgets","tag-affordable-laptops","tag-apple","tag-apple-macbook-neo","tag-budget-laptops","tag-dell","tag-dell-technologies","tag-dell-xps-13","tag-jeff-clarke","tag-laptops","tag-macbook-neo","tag-macbooks","tag-tim-cook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651077"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651117,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651077\/revisions\/651117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}