Dell Dell Pro 13 Premium PA13250 13.3" Touchscreen Review

A premium ultrabook with a workstation's RAM and a toddler's SSD. Only buy this if your job requires vPro and you're obsessed with minimizing carry weight.

The Dell Pro 13 Premium is a weird one. It's a featherweight, magnesium-clad laptop that feels like a premium ultrabook, but it's packed with specs that scream 'business workstation'. The one thing to know? This isn't a laptop for everyone. It's a niche machine built for a specific kind of mobile professional who needs a ton of RAM, AI chops, and vPro management in a tiny package. Everything else, from the middling CPU to the small SSD, feels like a compromise to get there.

Looking at our database, the performance story is mixed. The 32GB of RAM is a standout, putting it among the best for multitasking. But the Intel Core Ultra 7 268V processor is just middle of the pack. It's fast enough for office work, but you won't be blowing through heavy renders. The real surprise is the battery life. They claim up to 20.8 hours, which is impressive for a Windows laptop, but we'd expect real-world use to be closer to 12-14 hours with that 60Wh cell.

At around $2450, this laptop is not worth it for most people. You're paying a premium for the ultra-portable form factor and the 32GB RAM/vPro combo. If you don't need those specific business features, you can get a much more balanced and powerful laptop for less.

The most relevant competitor is the ASUS ProArt PX13. It's also a 13-inch Copilot+ PC, but it packs a much faster AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU and a proper RTX 4050 GPU, plus a gorgeous OLED screen and a 1TB SSD. It'll be heavier, but it's a far more capable creative machine. If you're in the Apple ecosystem, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip is a different beast: better performance, better battery life, and a sublime screen, but you lose touchscreen and Windows. The Dell wins only if your IT department mandates vPro and you absolutely must have a sub-2.5 pound laptop.

If you're looking for a do-it-all laptop for creative work or even light gaming, this isn't it. The integrated graphics and small storage are major bottlenecks. Go get the ASUS ProArt PX13 instead, or a Lenovo Legion if gaming is your focus. Also, if you don't need the vPro business management features, you're paying for a spec you'll never use.

We can't recommend the Dell Pro 13 Premium for general use. It's a specialist's tool. If you are a business user whose company requires vPro management, who travels constantly and needs the lightest possible carry, and who does work that benefits from massive RAM (like data analysis or virtual machines), then this is your laptop. For everyone else—students, creatives, casual users—there are better, more versatile options that don't ask you to compromise on storage and graphics.