M1 MacBook Pro 13 vs. Dell XPS 13

Intel wants to comply with the Apple M1 processor.

Intel’s Get Real Go PC “campaign is designed to show that laptops with Intel’s 11th generation processors work well against M1 MacBooks.

Since I use both a Dell XPS 13 9310 with an 11th processor and a 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro (16 GB) interchangeably, this is my opinion on how Intel compares to the M1.

Battery life: M1 MBP go and go

—M1 MacBook Pro: Full Day: With on and off use during the day, I can get a full day’s battery life on the M1 MacBook Pro. It’s 9-10 o’clock. If I do not lift heavy, more than a day. The only other laptop I have that is close to the endurance of the M1 MBP 13 is my Google Pixelbook Go Chromebook.

—Dell XPS 13 9310 (4K + screen): half day + or 6+ hours. I use the 4K + (also known as UHD +) model for this review. I can stretch it a little more if I stay away from things like long video conferencing (Zoom) sessions, overly active Chrome tabs, and keeping the screen brightness low.

Note that the Dell XPS 13 9310 with a lower resolution FHD + screen has longer battery life than the 4K + XPS 13. More below.

Performance:

There are many benchmarks out there for the M1 MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 13. This video comparing the M1 MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 13 features the Cinebench R23 multicore CPU Stress Test (at 14:40), which puts the M1 above i7 with respectively 7,704 versus 4,816.

Geekbench 5 single-core and multi-core also show a significant advantage for the M1 MacBook. (See these Geekbench scores for M1 MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 13 9310.)

Norms are useful up to a point. For me, the performance of applications is a lot used (like the Chrome browser where I spend a lot of time).

When testing more conventional workloads in the real world, Dell XPS 13 9310 with Intel’s latest 11th generation “Tiger Lake” Intel Core i7 is no problem. I did not notice any significant performance gap using the two systems day in and day out. I found both quickly and had no thermal issues – although the M1 MacBook Pro remains remarkably cool.

(To me, ‘real world’ means Microsoft Office, Google Docs, over 20 Chrome tabs, social media, videos, video conferencing, benchmarking applications, and photo editing.)

Summary:

Apple has redesigned the M1 MacBook to deliver high performance and impressive battery life while staying remarkably cool. Intel will have to work harder than usual to maintain parity.

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COMMENTS:

*Why the difference in battery life between the Dell XPS 13 9310 FHD + and UHD +? The XPS 13’s 4K screen has 4x the number of pixels to push in than the FHD + (1,920 by -1,200), according to Dell.

For the record, here’s what Dell’s product page says about battery life:

‘Up to 14 hours, 11 minutes on a Full HD + model when streaming … or up to 8 hours and 12 minutes of streaming on a 4K + model. ”

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