Does Dell’s XPS 13 (9300) come with a digital pen or stylus?

Dell’s standard XPS 13 (9300) notebook and its convertible XPS 13 2-in-1 (7390) counterpart both start at about the same price and have a similar premium 13-inch design. These are sibling laptops that have been designed to fulfill different uses. The XPS 13 (9300) sits as a notebook without the ability to change its form, while the XPS 13 2-in-1 can have its lid and display rotated around to tent, stand, and, most importantly for inking, tablet mode.

If you’d like to take advantage of Windows Ink to jot notes, sketch diagrams and drawings, or use any of the awesome active pen apps available, you’ll have to go with the XPS 13 2-in-1. The standard XPS 13 does come with FHD+ (1920×1200) or UHD+ (3840×2400) touch display, but it doesn’t have the same technology behind it that allows for active inking. The XPS 13 2-in-1’s display has the same 16:10 aspect ratio. It’s available in either FHD+ or UHD+ resolutions, and all models are compatible with an active pen.

Both laptops are equipped with 10th Gen Intel Core processors (CPU), available with up to a Core i7 chip. They’re both available with LPDDR4x RAM, M.2 PCIe solid-state drive (SSD), and the same selection of ports. Both are also available with Wi-Fi 6.

Bottom line? If you’d like to use an active pen with your 13-inch XPS laptop, you won’t have to trade performance or design when you opt for the convertible model.

What’s inking like on the XPS 13 2-in-1?

Combined with Dell’s Premium Active Pen, you’ll enjoy 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt support, and a 240Hz report rate for an overall smooth and precise inking experience. To keep your pen close by when not in use, the active pen will magnetically attach to the side of your laptop.

Buttons on the pen can be customized through Windows Ink, allowing you to set up handy shortcuts to expedite the drawing or sketching process. This active pen is quite flexible thanks to MPP 1.51, Wacom AES 1.0, and Wacom AES 2.0 compatibility, allowing you to use it with many other devices that support inking.