Head-To-Head: Lenovo Yoga 920 Vs. Dell XPS 13

Face-Off

Not many laptops manage to combine portability and horsepower with a stunning display and user-friendly design. But Lenovo's latest flagship Yoga convertible, the Yoga 920, is one laptop that fit all those criteria during our tryout at the CRN Test Center. And judging by our recent look at Dell's newly redesigned XPS 13, we expect the laptop will fit the bill as well. Which of the two laptops will be a better fit for you? What follows is our comparison of the Lenovo Yoga 920 versus the new Dell XPS 13 on specs and price.

Display

For starters, there's a difference in display size for the two laptops in our comparison. The Yoga 920 has the larger display at 13.9 inches, while the XPS 13 comes in at 13.3 inches.

Another major difference is that the Yoga 920 is a 2-in-1 convertible, sporting Lenovo's signature metallic hinge for using the notebook as a tablet or as a stand. Thus by default, the Yoga 920's display is a touch screen. Dell's new XPS 13 is not a convertible, but it does feature a touch-screen option, with FHD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution. The XPS 13 also has an FHD non-touch model, along with a high-end model featuring a 4K/UHD (3,840 x 2,160) touch display. The Yoga 920 offers identical options to the XPS 13 in terms of resolution for its touch display -- FHD or 4K/UHD. Which means that ultimately, the two laptops are pretty much comparable on display quality -- though not on size or convertibility.

Size And Weight

Both laptops in our comparison rate high on portability, but Dell's new XPS 13 comes out ahead by all measurements. While Lenovo's Yoga 920 is a very respectable 0.55 of an inch thick, the new XPS 13 measures 0.46 of an inch thick -- making it one of the thinnest laptops now on the market. In terms of weight, the XPS 13 is 11 percent lighter at 2.7 pounds, compared with the 3-pound Yoga 920.

Even more noticeable than the thickness or weight, however, is the overall size difference between the two laptops. Dell's minimal bezel around the display of the XPS 13 helps to keep the size down, and the total volume of the XPS 13 is about 43 square inches. While the Yoga 920 also has small bezels compared to many laptops, the larger screen size and greater thickness help to give the laptop a total volume of about 62 square inches -- making it 30 percent larger overall than the XPS 13.

Processor

It's a toss-up in terms of the winner on processing power in our comparison. Both the new XPS 13 and Yoga 920 include the latest top-of-the-line processors from Intel, the eighth-generation Core series. And in the eighth generation, both the Core i5 and the Core i7 come with four cores for an added speed boost. The XPS 13 and Yoga 920 each offer eighth-gen Core i5 or Core i7 -- and in both cases, the top-level processor available is the Core i7-8550U (up to 4GHz).

Battery Life

One advantage for the new XPS 13 over the Yoga 920 is on its battery life, which reaches up to nearly 20 hours for the FHD model, according to Dell. For the FHD model of the Yoga 920, Lenovo promises significantly less -- no more than 13 hours on a charge.

However, it's a closer comparison when you look at the 4K/UHD models of each laptop. Dell says that the UHD version of the XPS 13 provides up to 11 hours and 12 minutes of battery life, while the Yoga 920's UHD model is not far off at 10.5 hours on a charge, according to Lenovo.

Ports

Both of the laptops in our comparison have embraced the movement toward USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports -- which require a dongle for using USB-A or attaching to a display. The new XPS 13 includes three USB-C ports, while the Yoga 920 includes two of the ports. However, the Yoga 920 also includes one USB-A port, and the XPS 13 features a microSD card reader.

Memory And Storage

The laptops in our comparison offer pretty standard configurations for RAM and hard drive space. The main difference is that Dell offers an entry-level model of the XPS 13 with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Beyond that, both the XPS 13 and Yoga 920 offer the same options for RAM (8 GB or 16 GB) and storage (256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB).

Special Features

The XPS 13 and Yoga 920 each feature two color choices for their aluminum enclosures. For the XPS 13, the options are for "platinum silver" or "rose gold." For the Yoga 920, the choice is between "platinum" or "bronze." The XPS 13 stands apart with a new addition to the rose gold model: an "alpine white" colored material for the interior of the laptop. The palm rest, in fact, uses a type of woven glass fiber that was developed for the laptop to be stain- and UV-resistant.

In terms of extra features on the Yoga 920, the laptop supports Lenovo's improved Active Pen 2. That makes it the first Yoga 900 series laptop to work with the pen.

Price

The starting price of the Dell XPS 13 is $1,000, but that's for the lower-end model with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. A more-accurate starting comparison between the two laptops would be the XPS 13 and Yoga 920 models with 8 GB and 256 GB of storage. At that level, the laptops are priced identically -- at $1,200. Both also have the same Intel Core i5 processor, but the XPS 13 at that price does not feature a touch screen while the Yoga 920 has a convertible touch display.

For the models with the UHD/4K touch display, the XPS 13 has a starting price of $1,600 while the Yoga 920 starts a fair amount below that -- $1,400. Lenovo's Yoga 920 may be the better value if you're in the market for a 4K laptop.

Overall, the choice between these two excellent laptops isn't an easy one, due to the similarities in a number of areas, including price. But those looking for the best portability and battery life (as well as a unique color scheme) may want to pick the new XPS 13, while those looking for a larger display and convertibility may be more interested in the Yoga 920.