M1 MacBook Pro 13 vs. Dell XPS 13

Intel wants to verify the reality of the Apple M1 processor.

Intel’s “Get Real Go PC” campaign is designed to show that laptops with 11th generation Intel processors do very well against MacBook M1s.

Since I’m using both a Dell XPS 13 9310 with an 11th gen processor and a 13in M1 (16GB) MacBook Pro interchangeably, here’s my take on how Intel stacks up against the M1.

Battery life: M1 MBP comes and goes

—M1 MacBook Pro: Full Day: With on and off use throughout the day, I can enjoy a full day of battery life on the MacBook Pro M1. It’s been 9-10 hours. If I don’t do heavy work, more than a day. The only other laptop I have that comes close to the endurance of the M1 MBP 13 is my Google Pixelbook Go Chromebook.

—Dell XPS 13 9310 (4K + display): half day + or more than 6 hours. I am using the 4K + (aka UHD +) model for this review. I can stretch it a bit more if I stay away from things like long video conferencing (Zoom) sessions, excessive active Chrome tabs, and reduced screen brightness.

Note that the Dell XPS 13 9310 with a lower resolution FHD + display has a longer battery life than the 4K + XPS 13. Plus * on that down.

Performance:

There are many benchmarks for the MacBook Pro M1 and the Dell XPS 13. This video comparing the MacBook Pro M1 and the Dell XPS 13 includes the Cinebench R23 multicore processor stress test (at the 14:40 mark), promoting M1 versus i7 with scores of 7,704 versus 4,816 respectively.

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

Benchmarks are useful to a point. For me, performance on widely used apps (like the Chrome browser where I spend a lot of time) is what matters most.

In real-world testing of more conventional workloads, Dell’s XPS 13 9310 with the latest 11th Gen Intel Core i7 “Tiger Lake” is no slouch. I didn’t notice any significant performance difference using the two systems day in and day out. I found both fast and neither had thermal issues – although the MacBook Pro M1 remains remarkably cool.

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

Summary:

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

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NOTES:

*Why the difference in battery life between the Dell XPS 13 9310 FHD + and UHD +? The XPS 13’s 4K display has 4x more pixels to push than the FHD + (1920 x 1200), so it will always consume more power, according to Dell.

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

“Up to 14 hours and 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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