It appears as if Apple will soon need to make some changes to the marketing campaign for their MacBook Pro. Formerly touted as the “world’s highest resolution notebook” (with a whopping 2880x1800 pixel display), according to Dell that statement will hold true for less than two more weeks. This week Dell unveiled several new laptop, tablet and ultrabook options, the most buzzed about being the newly upgraded XPS 15.

 
Packed with jaw-dropping upgrades and equipped with the latest in display and power technology, the XPS 15 is shaping up to be Dell’s new flagship laptop. The most impressive spec so far is the 15.6-inch, 3200x1800 pixel display (for those of you doing the math, that is over 5.7 million pixels – five times the amount of standard HD). Based on that specification alone, Dell can legitimately claim to offer the highest resolution laptop in its class; but they didn’t stop there. The XPS 15 is also the first 15.6-inch laptop in the world to feature a Quad HD+ display, and is available with a touch screen option “based on IGZO technology”.

 
For you purists who still believe “it’s what’s on the inside that counts” – Dell has you guys covered too. The XPS 15 is described as a multimedia powerhouse, and Dell has taken special precautions to perfect the inner workings of this flagship laptop to ensure that it is able to perform up to the high standards of its business and creative consumers. To start with, it packs quad-core i5 or i7 Haswell processors, game-capable next-generation NVIDIA graphics, 16 GB of RAM and up to 1TB of hard drive space accompanying a 32GB SSD. Every XPS 15 boots and resumes within seconds, and is rumored to have a 13-hour battery life.

 
I know what you must be thinking – this machine is going to be a beast to lug around. That is not the case though. Weighing in at a feathery 4.4 pounds and measuring only 18mm thin, Dell took great pains to make their latest laptop not only durable and efficient, but light. First of all, they did away with the DVD drive that was offered in its predecessor, allowing engineers to shave off 5 millimeters from its width while making room for performance-enhancing technology. To make it lighter, the old aluminum band was traded for lighter carbon fiber, magnesium alloy, a thin keyboard and a wedge-shaped design.

 
So how does the XPS 15 stack up against its competitors? Its closest current rival is the MacBook Pro, which offers a similar range of specs for a comparable machine. The most notable differences are of course the increased resolution of the XPS 15, as well as the option of a touch screen display (which Apple does not yet offer on the MacBook Pro). Add in the battery-saving Haswell processors offered by Dell and a starting price of $1,500 (roughly $600 cheaper than its Apple competition) and you are looking at a laptop that is going to be pretty tough to beat. The XPS 15 will be available starting October 18th at www.dell.com.