How is Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 battery life?

Good battery life with the right expectations

Dell's claims are fairly loose, but that's not really a surprise. Every version of the new XPS 13 2-in-1 comes with the same capacity four-cell 51Wh battery, but when you're marketing to customers that number only tells you how big it is, not what kind of life you can actually expect. It's also an absolute best case number under pretty carefully controlled conditions.

In reality, you can expect to take a few hours off of Dell's claim for everyday use. All models now use Intel's latest 10th Gen processors and don't have dedicated graphics. What you do with the laptop will have an impact on how close you get to Dell's claimed 16 hours, though. Web browsing will reduce your battery life less than video editing, for example.

But for most people in most use cases, the XPS 13 2-in-1 is a laptop that will be able to last a day away from the charger.

Expect less from the higher spec versions

One of the biggest power drains on the XPS 13 2-in-1 is the display, and for the best battery life you'll want to get the Full HD version. If you spring for one of the more expensive specs with the Core i7 and the G7 Iris Plus graphics as well as the UHD+ display, you'll get much less than the entry-level model.

The display in particular makes a big difference. More pixels means more power to push them, and you'll see a sharp drop compared to the lower resolution display. It's a choice to make when you buy, whether you prioritise battery life or you need 4K.