"Dell's XPS 13 Ultrabook is tough and easy to use"

The XPS 13 feels a tad heavy in the hand but by no means is it a brick. 

DELL'S XPS 13 is one of the newest Ultrabook computers doing the rounds and one of the most robust.

Ultrabooks are Intel's answer to Apple's Macbook Air - to qualify for the "title", machines must meet size, weight, battery life and processing power standards.

The XPS 13 has a second generation Intel Core i5 1.6GHz processor, 4GB RAM, a 128GB Solid State Drive, Intel HD 3000 graphics and ships with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium.

The XPS 13 has a curved, brushed aluminium top while the underside is black, hard rubberised plastic.

It feels a tad heavy in the hand but by no means is it a brick and the contour is such that the XPS 13 feels perfectly natural tucked under your arm.

The power brick is conveniently small, about the size of a standard mobile phone and the AC plug is compact.

The screen produces clear, sharp text and colours although the image dulls if you are standing above the screen or seated off to the side.

A thin frame surrounds the screen, maximising the available space.

Dell has gone for a simple keyboard design and it works - the keys' elevated plastic is of a size that allows touch typing while providing space on which to rest palms.

The keys are backlit, which is nice when you're working in poor light conditions.

A large touchpad is centred in the palm rest area and you have two USB ports to play with but no SD card reader.

There's no optical drive so you'll need to download or transfer software via USB or portable hard drive in the first instance but it will be full steam ahead from then on thanks to the speedy Solid State Drive.

Among the time-saving features are the options attached to the function keys, activated by holding down Fn and the appropriate key.

You can quickly display remaining battery life, extend the display to another monitor, turn wi-fi on and off and adjust the screen brightness using these keys.

The XPS 13 recorded some good Windows Experience Index scores with a base score of 5.8 out of 7.9.

Disk transfer scored a 7.9 while desktop graphics were 5.8 and the processor returned a 6.3 score.

It's not the fastest Ultrabook out there but the XPS 13 has more than enough power for everyday users who need to surf the web, produce Office documents and even clean up photographs on the run. The XPS 13 retails for $1198.99.