Dell's Studio line of products is a breath of fresh air to anyone who remembers the company's tendency toward the "beige boxes" from days gone by. The hip, modern look embodied by the Studio moniker has rubbed off on the new Studio XPS 13, a tight-fitting ultraportable notebook with loads of style and plenty of power to go around, including a hybrid SLI graphics engine. Without question, Dell has gone its own way with the Studio XPS 13. It's not trying to compete with the MacBook Airs and MSI X-Slim X340s of the world; instead, it's hoping to spark another trend and lead the way.

Typically, users gunning for a 13" machine have to sacrifice extra power to get a machine that's thin, or they have to sacrifice style for a machine's that widely available at a reasonable price. Dell's attempting to do an awful lot within a single 13" notebook. We're going to explain just how well we feel they've succeeded, in the pages to come.