Jeff Geerling reviews the Dell XPS 13 featuring Intel's Core 5 320 (Wildcat Lake) chip, comparing it to the Apple MacBook Neo. The XPS 13 starts at $699 and offers upgradeable NVMe storage, USB-C 10 Gbps ports, and a higher-resolution touchscreen. The standout finding is the Core 5 320's power efficiency: it ranks second in Geerling's HPL FP64 efficiency benchmark, behind only the M4 Mac mini, achieving efficiency levels no x86 chip he's tested has approached before. Idle power draw is 0.5–0.8W with the display off. Geerling expresses hope that Intel will carry this efficiency progress into server and IoT chips, noting that better efficiency means lower cooling needs, better battery life, and more stable chips.
Questions this post answers
How does the Intel Core 5 320 compare to Apple M4 in power efficiency benchmarks?
The Intel Core 5 320 (Wildcat Lake) ranks second in an HPL FP64 efficiency benchmark, behind only the M4 Mac mini. It's the first x86 chip to score in the top 10 of that benchmark. The next-best x86 system tested, using Intel's 265K chip, achieved 2.71 Gflops/W. The XPS 13 idles at 0.5–0.8W with the display off, matching the MacBook Neo. Developers tracking x86 vs ARM efficiency trends for homelab or server decisions follow the benchmarks on daily.dev.
Does the Dell XPS 13 with Intel Core 5 320 support Linux?
Linux is not officially advertised for the Dell XPS 13 with Core 5 320, but all hardware functionality works under Fedora 44, including WiFi 7. A USB Ethernet adapter is needed temporarily to run the initial system upgrade, since the WiFi driver requires the update before it functions out of the box. Developers running Linux on consumer hardware track compatibility findings like these on daily.dev.