Like big brother , the XPS 14z obviously takes much inspiration from Apple's sleek MacBook Pro--with a couple of notable differences. First, there's the larger 14-inch HD (1366 pixels by 768 pixels resolution) display within the 13-inch footprint. This is accomplished, as you can see, by the smaller bevels, so the screen is nearly edge-to-edge on the laptop. This gives you 10 percent more viewing area than typical 13-inch laptops.

Additionally, rather than integrated Intel graphics as on the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the XPS 14z will come with a discrete graphics card option (specifically, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M with 1GB of graphics memory). Although it'll add more to the $999 starting price, the NVIDIA option may make the XPS 14z more attractive if you're a gamer.

Most of the other features are similar between the two thin-and-light competitors, though the XPS 14z edges out the MacBook Pro in thinness and weights by just a hair.

The XPS 14z isn't going after just the MacBook Pro, though. It also wants to claim the title of "thinnest 14-inch fully featured laptop." What the heck does Dell mean with their made-up title? By "fully featured," Dell is referring to dedicated graphics card option and the laptop's slot-loading internal optical drive. It may be a nonsensical claim, but having a rewritable DVD drive in an ultrathin laptop may be important to a few people; are thinner and lighter but won't let you burn that odd disc.

Expect the XPS 14z on November 1st in the US and Canada and other territories starting November 15.