It’s still only $699 (or $599 for students). The XPS 13 does the same business as the MacBook Neo. First, it starts with just 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. It also starts with a slower Intel Core 5 processor (note: not Intel Core Ultra). I’ll be interested to know how performance and battery life stack up against the MacBook Neo, but Dell is clearly taking a cue from Apple, which used a slower iPhone chip in the Neo instead of a laptop-class M-series processor.
What’s great about the Dell XPS 13, though, is that you can scale it accordingly. The MacBook Neo is limited in storage and memory, but the XPS 13 can be configured with up to 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage.
I have been trying so hard $500 to $600 laptops most recently from companies like Acer, Lenovo, and HP, many of which take a traditional Windows approach to compete with the MacBook Neo by offering better specs at a lower price. They all have 16 GB of RAM and use more powerful chips, too. But there is no challenge to the MacBook Neo in the quality of the display and the material of the chassis. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for something like that HP OmniBook 3but it doesn’t play to the same audience as the Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Neo.
Bad Direction
Of course there would be a company that thinks it can drive the success of the MacBook Neo without understanding what makes it right. Last week, Microsoft announced two versions of its Surface Laptop for Business PCs: a high-end 13.8-inch model and an affordable 13-inch device. The 13.8-inch model is a more mainstream refresh, running Intel’s new Core Ultra X7 368H Panther Lake chip– and more specifically, it still starts with 16 GB of RAM.
The smaller 13-inch model is where things get tricky. Despite its starting price of $1,200, the configuration only comes with 8 GB of RAM. Don’t get too carried away by the price, as business PCs always come with a premium. Starting RAM is an eyebrow-raising model. Unlike the new Dell XPS 13, Microsoft isn’t faking this with a thinner chassis and improved screen—it’s giving you a little more computing power and calling it good.
And to be fair, this “optional” 8 GB model is coming later this year, unlike the 16 GB and 24 GB versions. But it’s hard to imagine Microsoft being ready to sell an 8GB laptop in 2026 if Apple hadn’t paved the way. While there is no Surface Laptop 13 2025 Business for direct comparison, the consumer version of the Surface Laptop 13 started with 16 GB of RAM. This feels like a downright generational decline.
