Dell XPS 13 vs HP Spectre Folio 13: Which Should You Buy?

This is the comparison between the Dell XPS 13 and HP Spectre folio 13.

DELL XPS 13HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
BUY NOWBUY NOW
PROSPROS
Gorgeous design with a new Frost White colour option.
Class-leading performance
Gorgeous 4K display.
InfinityEdge bezels with properly placed webcam.
LTE capability.
Stylish, premium leather design.
Excellent battery life.
High quality display; >95 percent sRGB.
Both eSIM and nano-SIM.
CONSCONS
Below-average battery life,
No USB-A or HDMI connectivity.
Loaded configs are pricey.
Doesn’t support Windows Hello facial login.
The letterbox screen could have been bigger.
16:9 screen is dated and cramped for productivity work.
Difficult serviceability.
No USB Type-A.
Lacks HDMI and RJ-45.

SPECIFICATIONS

MODELDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
BrandDellHP
SeriesXPSSpectre Folio
Model13
QUICK INFODELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
ColorCarbon Fiber Black,Platinum Silver Brown
Operating SystemWindows 10 Pro Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPUIntel Core i7-8550U 1.80 GHz Intel Core i7-8500Y 1.50 GHz
Screen13.313.3
Memory16 GB LPDDR3 8 GB LPDDR3
Storage1 TB PCIe SSD 256 GB
Graphics CardIntel UHD Graphics 620 Intel UHD Graphics 617
Video MemoryShared memory Shared memory
Dimensions (W x D x H)11.90″ x 7.80″ x 0.30″-0.46″
Weight2.67 lbs.
CPUDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
CPU TypeIntel Core i7 Intel Core i7 8th Gen
CPU Speed8550U (1.80 GHz) 8500Y (1.50 GHz)
Number of CoresQuad-core Processor Dual-core Processor
Core NameKaby Lake R
Turbo Frequency
CPU L3 Cache8 MB
CHIPSETDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
Chipset
DISPLAYDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
Screen Size13.3″ 13.3″
TouchscreenYesYes
Wide Screen SupportYesYes
Display TypeUHDFull HD
Resolution3840 x 2160 1920 x 1080
Panel
Refresh Rate
LCD FeaturesInfinityEdge IPS micro-edge WLED-backlit touch screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 4
OPERATING SYSTEMDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
Operating SystemWindows 10 Home 64-Bit Windows 10 Home 64-bit
GRAPHICSDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
GPU/VPUUHD Graphics 620 Intel UHD Graphics 617
Video MemoryShared system memory Shared system memory
Graphic TypeIntegrated Card Integrated Card
STORAGEDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
SSD1 TB PCIe 256 GB
MEMORYDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
Memory8 GB 8 GB
Memory SpeedLPDDR3 1866 LPDDR3 1866
Memory Spec8 GB onboard
Memory Slot (Total)
Memory Slot (Available)
Max Memory Supported
OPTICAL DRIVEDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
Optical Drive TypeNoNo
COMMUNICATIONSDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
LAN
WLAN802.11ac Wireless LAN 802.11ac Wireless LAN
BluetoothBluetooth 4.1 Bluetooth 4.2
PORTSDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
USB1 x USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1 (Data transfer only, 5 Gb/s signaling rate, Power Delivery, DP1.2, HP Sleep and Charge)
Video Port2 x Thunderbolt 3 (Data transfer up to 40 Gb/s signaling rate, Power Delivery, DP1.2, HP Sleep and Charge)
HDMI
Audio Ports1 x Headphone/Microphone Combo Jack
AUDIODELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
AudioMaxxAudio (Windows) Bang & Olufsen, quad speakers
Speaker
OUTPUT DEVICEDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
Virtual Reality Ready
INPUT DEVICEDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
TouchpadHP Imagepad with multi-touch gesture support
KeyboardFull-size island-style backlit keyboard
Backlit KeyboardBacklit
WebcamHP Wide Vision FHD IR Camera with integrated dual array digital microphone
Card ReaderMicro SD
GENERALDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
StyleThin and Light Convertible
TypeMainstream Mainstream
UsageConsumer Consumer
POWERDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
AC Adapter65-watt AC adapter
Battery6-cell, 54.28 Wh Li-ion
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHTDELL XPS 13 HP SPECTRE FOLIO 13
Dimensions (W x D x H)11.90″ x 7.80″ x 0.30″-0.46″ 12.60″ x 9.23″ x 0.61″
Weight2.71 lb 3.22 lbs.

Experts Reviews for Dell XPS 13:

By HotHardware
The Dell XPS 13 7390 is a premium laptop in every way, from its understated industrial design and razer-sharp 4K IPS touch-enabled display to its excellent performance. While we really miss Dell’s Ice Lake processor options from the 2-in-1 version, we’re still confident in bestowing this machine a HotHardware Recommended award.

By Expert Reviews
Inevitably, every convertible design has its trade-offs but, for my money, the XPS 13 2-in-1 is the most attractive take I’ve seen on the idea. Dell has created a superb, uncompromising laptop, which just happens to also offer the convenient option of…

By The Verge
The six-core XPS 13 is a strange computer. It feels like a holdover until something better is available in both design and internals. That first part probably isn’t too far off, since CES 2020 is just about a month away, but it’s hard to say how long it will be before Intel introduces Ice Lake chips that have six cores, a 10-nanometer die, and the improved Iris Plus Graphics. Once that happens, then we’ll have some real performance jumps in the thin and light category to celebrate.

By  hitechcentury.com
Our review unit’s configuration of the XPS 13 with an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and a 4K touchscreen display is the most powerful available but it also drains the most juice from the provided 52Whr battery. With a normal use case of web browsing,…

By goodhousekeeping.co.uk 
If you are willing to splash out on a reliable laptop then the Dell XPS 13 9380 will be well worth it. Perfect for working on the go, its slim and light design will be comfortable on your lap and it copes well with office software and photo editing. The…

Experts Reviews for HP Spectre Folio 13:

By liveatpc.com
HP’s Spectre Folio is truly for a niche audience, and when I mean niche, I truly mean it. It’s not that it’s lacking in any features, aesthetically, or in performance, but rather the utter ridiculousness at the pinnacle of luxury laptops; one encased in…

By Expert Reviews 
Taken at face value the Spectre Folio is an odd device. For its price, it doesn’t offer much in the way of performance when compared to rival 2-in-1 and ultraportable laptops. Image 3 of 16But devices like the Surface Pro 6 and Razer Blade Stealth 13…

By techadvisor.co.uk
The Spectre Folio is a stunning hybrid, but not one without compromise.It looks the part thanks to its distinctive and attractive leather exterior. Build quality is great, and the machine’s different usage modes are all intuitive. The screen is…

By Stuff 
The HP Spectre Folio is stunning. It looks and feels superb thanks to its leather exterior and careful attention to detail, and its double-hinged mechanism makes it easy to use. It’s light and sturdy, too. When it comes to aesthetics and ergonomics,…

ByThe Verge
There’s nothing really quite like HP’s new Spectre Folio. For the past few years, the concept of a “laptop” has been constant. There are the traditional, clamshell designs, which are largely derivative of Apple’s MacBook Air design. There are the…

DESIGN

Dell XPS 13:

XPS 13 s overall design it’s still built out of smooth aluminum with a subtle aesthetic at 2.7 pounds it’s not the lightest ultraportable around an inlaid Dell logo is the only bit of flash behind the screen while the underside has two rubbery grips air vents and XPS branding the company took another swing at the white woven glass fiber palm rest they introduced last year it’s brighter and smoother than before it also looks great alongside the new arctic white case which feels classier than the rose gold option and don’t worry the traditional silver XPS 13 is still around along with its black carbon fiber wrist dress the XPS 13 screams refinement from just about every angle the days when Dell was just training out boring gray PCs are long gone there.

HP Spectre Folio 13:

Let’s take a look at the design of this it’s incredibly thin the way it’s pretty much standard for a 13-inch ultrabook and you can see that on screen as well but it’s extremely thin the brains are not in the, display section like they would be in something like surface pro 6 for example because this actually is one connected piece like a laptop it has a very unusual innovative hinge at, the bottom and then a hinge halfway up that allows it to swivel into that tent mode and into the tablet mode so any heat that you feel is going to be on the bottom section not on the display section.

WEIGHT & DIMENSIONS

Dell XPS 13:

The Dell laptop weight smallest 33.8cm (13.3).With a bezel only 5.2 mm thin, starting at only 1.22kg and measuring a super slim 9-15 mm, the XPS 13 is exceptionally thin and light.

HP Spectre Folio 13:

For the Folio Spectre a premium and stylish look. At 320 x 234 x 15.2mm (12.60 x 9.21 x 0.60 inches) and weighing 1.50kg (3.3lbs), this is an impressively-compact and light laptop that you can easily carry around with you anywhere.

KEYBOARD AND TOUCHPAD

Dell XPS 13:

Dell didn’t make any major changes to the XPS 13 s keyboard and trackpad which is a great thing they’ve always been among the best we’ve seen on Windows PCs and that remains the case this year typing on the keyboard feels responsive and snappy and the trackpad is wonderfully smooth.

HP Spectre Folio 13:

For the keyboard and the trackpad on this well it is a normal laptop and that respect with a very normal keyboard it’s very comfortable about 1.4 millimeters to travel really nice keyboard to type on with 2 stages of white backlighting so no small size here it’s 13-inch Ultrabook. No weird cramped design like this, Sony Vaio duo evolved and the trackpad is a synaptic trackpad it’s wonderful it behaves very well and unlike some of HP Spectre humongous strangely large tract as this one is kind of a normal size is sufficient for my use is certainly is enough room to do some pinch zooming and all that sort of thing so they’ve done a very good job here there’s no compromise.

PORT SELECTION

Dell XPS 13:

In total three USB C ports two of which support, Thunderbolt 3 as well as a micro SD card reader and a headphone jack the XPS 13 starts at $900 with a slow core i3 CPU and a measly 4 gigabytes of RAM and 128 gigabyte SSD don’t get that one you’re better off bumping up to the second tier model with a Core i5 and double the amount of RAM and storage for $1200.

HP Spectre Folio 13:

The USB C port it doesn’t use removable batteries so how does this perform it the palm rejection, on this is actually very good I’m pretty impressed with this left-handed person who rests her hand on the glass lock I would say it beats surface pro six even for that kind of thing where it falls behind is tilt so this, is the the Windows sketching program and there’s like they call it a tilt pen.

DISPLAY

Dell XPS 13:

I’ve wanted in a thin and light Windows laptop you can’t go wrong with it especially if you’re playing to take advantage of that gorgeous dolby vision display but it’s also clear that as great as this computer is competitors are catching up quickly so the pressure is on for Dell to really change things up next year.

HP Spectre Folio 13:

It is the fact thing of a full HD display instead of something much higher resolution also helps with this it has a 54 watt hour battery inside the six cell battery it’s probably lots of little cells in there typical of these kind of products.

BATTERY

Dell XPS 13:

For the battery life can’t keep pace based on our test which involves looping an HD video until the juice runs out it lasted around 12 and a half hours two and a half hours longer than last year basically you can count it lasting you through a typical workdayand when it comes to connectivity you’ve got and of course you can also pick and choose individual components to your liking adding a touchscreen to the base 1080p monitor is an additional $100 while the 4k touch display.

HP Spectre Folio 13:

65 watt charger so that’s good for fast charging battery life on this is excellent it easily goes eight and a half hours on the charge with light to moderate news with brightness set to about 115 it switches just below the halfway mark at about forty percent brightness which is certainly usable that’s pretty good. battery life if you really wanted to be aggressive about it obviously you get more if you are playing sieve six unplug obviously you’re gonna get less, I was using this unplugged using Photoshop on doing some photo editing and doing some artwork with images with multiple layers on this and that did not kill battery life and will shorten.

PERFORMANCE

Dell XPS 13:

The performance is on par with other modern ultra portables but that’s not a huge surprise since most of them are running, the same low power Intel CPUs when the ex mr. keen was under load I noticed they felt a bit cooler than last year’s model Dell says it doubled the amount of heat pipes and fans to shop heat more efficiently, well it’s great for overall system stability on occasion of the fans tended to spin up very loudly it wasn’t enough to bother me much but if you’re looking for a truly silent experience it’s worth looking into fanless laptops like the XPS 13 2 and 1 just be aware that you’ll sacrifice..

HP Spectre Folio 13:

For the performance on this again it’s more like an Intel 7th generation the last generation laptop so that Intel Y series CPU, gets you better battery life and that’s the nice part but if you’re looking for the utmost in performance like you’re doing, video editing on an ultrabook kind of thing you know this wouldn’t be my top pick for it because again 2 quarts not 4 cores but that said the performance of most Intel seventh-generation ultrabooks was fine for a lot of people.

CONCLUSION

Dell XPS 13:

So to conclude that the touchscreen for browsing through long articles since this year’s model isn’t a massive improvement over the last one you could also find, some great deals as stores clear out little stock just make sure you won’t need to use that under screen webcam for a slightly more capable alternatives.Zen book s13 which will start at 13 99 it’s lighter than the XPS has thinner bezels and dedicated graphics unfortunately asus has been given us an exact release date for that model yet of course there’s also the HP spectre 13 a usual competitor as well so the leather-clad Spectre folio the folios good option if you’re looking for something more than just a traditional looking laptop.

HP Spectre Folio 13:

To conclude that the HP Spectre folio 13 aptly named because it has a built-in Leather Folio permanently so yeah when, I first heard about this, I had my doubts and as you can see it’s really it’s it’s ticking all the right boxes. I have to say the leather seems like it’s pretty durable and will hold up granted you know 10 years maybe like your leather car seats at it might be ok you don’t usually keep a laptop for that long it probably will hold up it probably will get a patina with age but in terms of the what it adds structurally to the design of this to make a perfectly usable laptop that becomes a 2 and 1 that also happens to look beautiful.