TL;DR: Dell recently released XPS 13 Plus laptop came showing off impressive specs including an NVMe SSD and an OLED display, alongside a less desirable function row of keys using capacitive touch. However, that may be a minor annoyance as early adopters of the new laptop have discovered that their displays have been becoming dislodged from the chassis and falling out of place, sometimes resulting in a dead display.
Dell’s new XPS 13 and XPS 13 Plus laptops were launched a few months ago, equipped with brand new Intel 12th generation processors, NVMe storage, and in the case of the XPS 13 Plus, an impressive OLED display. These were all squeezed into a thin and light design that wowed reviewers who got their hands on it. However, the excitement began to fall off for some reviewers for one specific reason.
The adhesive holding the screen to the main chassis of the laptop has been shown to have issues, sometimes losing its “stickiness,” resulting in the screen simply falling out of place. Unfortunately, some users have experienced significantly worse issues with the screen on their XPS 13 Plus.
On Reddit, XPS 13 Plus owners have claimed the adhesive can actually damage the screen itself, with some reporting loss of touchscreen functionality, color issues, or simply display death. The Verge actually had their XPS 13 Plus review sample’s display die shortly after they completed testing, and Dell later confirmed that their laptop was part of the affected batch.
The video above shows a Best Buy test demo of the XPS 13 Plus (improperly titled as the XPS 15) suffering from the issue of the display falling from the chassis. A Q&A issue like this is definitely a cause for concern, and Dell was quick to contact users who purchased the laptop during the affected production dates, hoping to replace their screen before the adhesive loosens or fails.
While it is a good sign to see Dell move quickly and help potentially affected customers, it is somewhat interesting that this issue was never detected during the manufacturing or testing of the product prior to launch.
Dell has since noted that the production of their XPS 13 Plus no longer uses the adhesive that affected these early models, and that new models of the laptop should have zero issues. Dell also explains that the non-OLED XPS 13 did not have any production issues involving the adhesive, and those who bought the non-Plus XPS 13 should not worry.