Dell Pro 13 Premium Review: Top-notch Professional

With the Pro 13 Premium, Dell checks off everything you’d want from a business laptop. While the naming may be confusing, the device behaves professionally at all times and in all places.

Laptop manufacturer Dell is taking a different approach this year. Gone are brand names like XPS, Latitude, and Inspiron: from now on, the company’s laptops are simply called ‘Dell’. We’ve already extensively discussed the simplified yet confusing naming convention, so let’s now focus on the devices themselves.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working with two devices from the ‘Dell Pro’ series. According to Dell, the word ‘Pro’ refers to ‘professional productivity’. The Dell Pro 13 Premium, which we examine in this review, could thus be called the spiritual successor to the XPS series. This laptop is undeniably professional, but is it also premium?

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Sober Suit

Dell is rarely the brand of outward display, especially not for its business models. If the Dell Pro 13 Premium were to wear a suit, it would be as dark gray as possible. You can take this literally, as the only form of decoration on the dark gray magnesium chassis is a simple Dell logo. To see that it’s a Pro model, you’d have to turn the device over, and the word ‘Premium’ is nowhere to be found.

The portability of the device is a big plus. Dell doesn’t waste space on screen bezels, and the keyboard is compact but just spacious enough for comfortable typing. The only thing that feels superfluous is the imposed Copilot key. The device weighs just over a kilogram (1.07 kg) and is a perfect companion for business trips.

Screen: Nothing Too Much, Nothing Too Little

Dell extends the ‘sober but solid’ philosophy to the display. The screen doesn’t excel anywhere but also doesn’t fall short anywhere. An IPS panel with a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution: Dell believes you don’t need more for average office work.

We measure a high brightness of up to 400 nits. The screen remains easily readable in various lighting conditions, which is great for the mobile worker. With an average DeltaE value of three, colors are also accurately calibrated, with only slightly higher deviations in red tones.

A minor downside for us is the lack of touch functionality in the screen. The trackpad scrolls more than adequately, but if you’re used to a touchscreen, it takes some getting used to. Also, the limited screen space (13.3 inches) that makes the device so compact can feel confining for those who prefer larger screens. After the publication of this review, Dell has confirmed to us that configurations with touchscreens are available for B2B sales.

However, this is easily solved by connecting an external monitor, and you have plenty of options for this. On the left side, we have an audio port, USB-C, and HDMI for the nostalgic. The right side adds an extra USB-C and a USB-A port.

Intel still got it

The processor of the Dell Pro 13 Premium (and the Plus variant) is an Intel Core Ultra 7 268V, part of the Lunar Lake generation. The conclusion of our extensive analysis was clear: Intel can still do it. After the disappointing Meteor Lake generation, Intel puts itself back on the map with Lunar Lake. This will also feel like a relief for manufacturers: they can once again proudly bring Intel laptops to market, and not because they have to justify marketing budgets.

In the benchmark below, we compare the Dell Pro laptops with the Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro featuring another variant of the Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2 (256V). The only difference is that the P-cores of the 268V are set slightly higher (5 GHz vs 4.8 GHz), but the differences are minimal in practice. The Qualcomm camp is represented by the EliteBook Ultra G1q (Qualcomm Snapdragon X1E-78-100).

Last year, the direct comparisons were painful for Intel, but the Lunar Lake processors are competitive again. Per individual core, the Intel Core Ultra 7 268V is more powerful than Qualcomm’s top chip, but in multi-core workloads, Qualcomm wins by a small margin. What’s notable is how quiet the Dell Pro 13 Premium is: you rarely, if ever, hear the fan running. Smaller, lighter laptops have less space for cooling, but this laptop is unlikely to suffer from overheating.

The trend continues when we simulate commonly used Microsoft applications. No device stands out positively or negatively. The Dell Pro 13 Premium is an excellent laptop for daily office applications.

Long battery life

The Dell Pro 13 Premium has an inherent limitation to overcome: smaller laptops typically have little room for a large battery capacity. Dell provides a 60 Wh battery, whereas a 16-inch laptop can have a 90 Wh battery. Capacity is one thing, but the processor’s efficiency has at least as much impact on battery life.

This is where Intel comes to Dell’s aid. The chip maker has significantly improved the efficiency of its Ultra processors to close the battery gap with Qualcomm laptops. To comply with the Copilot label, the chip includes an NPU to take over the (few) AI workloads that run on-device from the CPU.

The Dell Pro 13 Premium is a battery champion. In our two battery tests, where the processor is lightly and somewhat more heavily loaded, the laptop stands head and shoulders above the rest. It’s even the only Intel device that manages to outperform HP’s Qualcomm laptop.

The Dell Pro 13 Premium can last almost 24 hours straight under continuous load, although we hope you don’t find yourself in a situation where you need to work that long without a break. If you give the processor an occasional rest, two to three workdays without charging is not an exaggeration. Moreover, the laptop recharges quickly: a half-hour charge gives you enough power to keep going for a while.

Professional webcam

To market a laptop as ‘Pro’, a good webcam is no longer just a ‘nice extra’. Hybrid meetings are a staple for many employees, and that’s unlikely to change soon. You don’t want your device’s webcam and/or microphone to be a hindrance during meetings, and Dell has understood this message well.

Dell includes an 8 MP webcam in the laptop that brings you into sharp focus. The webcam contains an infrared sensor for Windows Hello unlocking and a privacy shutter for when you want to turn off the webcam. Background blurring and animated backgrounds are handled by the NPU, which neatly outlines your body’s contours against the background.

Sharp image is accompanied by good sound. Your conversation partners come through clearly in meetings, and a relaxing bit of jazz music while working sounds as it should. The built-in microphone is also of sufficient quality that you don’t feel the need for a professional headset. Garden work or passing cars had no disruptive impact on meetings.

Conclusion: Professional, but also premium?

The Dell Pro 13 Premium marks the beginning of a new era for the laptop manufacturer. The company is now putting its own name in the spotlight. With this device, we can certainly speak of a successful start. The Pro aspect in the name is not up for debate. This laptop ticks all the boxes of what you expect from a business device: a quality screen, a competitive processor, a tireless battery, and a professional webcam.

Does the device also deserve the Premium label? The difference with the Plus variant doesn’t seem that significant. Both devices are available in identical configurations and thus offer equivalent performance, and they also have the same screen. Dell mainly makes the difference in the ‘peripherals’: if you want a good webcam, you need to go for Premium, while this should actually be a standard option for any Pro model.

Dell Pro 13 Premium – Tested configuration: Intel Core Ultra 7 268V, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, 13.3 inch IPS screen (1,920 x 1,200), Windows 11 Pro – 2,332 euros excl. VAT (from 1,796 euros excl. VAT for base model) – 36 months warranty