On any typical day, buying the best Windows laptop can be tricky. This is thanks to the dozens of manufacturers using many different chips from multiple brands. However, in 2024, things got even more confusing than usual, thanks to the launches of two brand new families of processors: the Qualcomm Snapdragon X series and the Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) family, the latter codenamed Lunar Lake. The manufacturers of both chips claim that theirs is the most performant processor with the best battery life in the Windows ecosystem. That’s all well and good, but which one is actually the best? And, more importantly, which is the right one for you?
Usually, making an apples-to-apples comparison between two laptop processors is tricky because the individual system’s hardware design and other included specs skew the results. However, we have a unique situation this year: the Dell XPS 13 (9350) and Dell XPS 13 (9345) are the same laptop, with the only significant difference being that the former comes with an Intel Core Ultra 7 (Series 2) and the latter comes with a Snapdragon X Elite. This allows us to truly compare the advantages and disadvantages of each chip without needing to take the chassis and other specs into account.