Updated

Hot on the heels of its new Inspiron notebooks, Dell lifted the veil on its redesigned high-end laptops, the XPS 14 and XPS 15. Like previous models of the XPS line, the new XPS 14 and 15 offer outstanding performance, but are now much thinner--just 0.81 inches thick in the case of the XPS 14--and last a whole lot longer on a charge.

Both systems feature a machined aluminum chassis, a feature we praised in our review of the brand-new XPS 14, as well as a  luxurious soft-touch black magnesium deck and comfortable silicone-based underside. Both notebooks also have high-res displays protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, and employ the latest Intel technology, including Rapid Start, Smart Response and Smart Connect.

The XPS line has always been best known for its powerful hardware, and the XPS 14 and 15 continue that tradition: The XPS 14 starts with a Core i5 Ivy Bridge CPU, 4GB of RAM and 500GB hard drive with a 32GB mSATA SSD cache for $1,099, and caps out at $1,999 with a Core i7 Ivy Bridge CPU, Nvidia GeForce GT 630M GPU, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.

The XPS 15, starting at $1,299, boasts a Core i5 Ivy Bridge CPU, Nvidia GeForce GT 630M GPU, 6GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive with a 32GB mSATA SSD cache and DVD+/- RW optical drive. The most expensive model costs $1,999 and features a Core i7 Ivy Bridge CPU, GeForce GT 640M GPU, 16GB of RAM, 1TB hard drive with a 128GB mSATA SSD cache and Blu-ray optical drive.

Check out our full review of the new XPS 14 to see what we loved (and didn't) about Dell's latest Ultrabook.