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Dell XPS 12 Hybrid Laptop / Tablet Review
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May 30, 2025
Not sure if you want a laptop computer, a Surface Pro-like unit or a straight out tablet? Dell's got you covered with the powerful and beautifully designed XPS 12 2-in-1 hybrid. Sporting two different keyboard options and the Dell Pencil stylus, it offers a wide range of alternative configurations. Dave Taylor of http://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ explores the XPS 12 system and shares what he finds in this review.
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hi Dave Taylor here and this time I'm
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going to look at the dell XPS 12 that's
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this and you're thinking dude whoa
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that's a tablet isn't a laptop well the
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dell XPS 12 s actually what they call it
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two and one hybrid so here it is in
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straight tablet mode you see it's a nice
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bright screen and very very fast super
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high resolution and it comes with the
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little holder case that you can use it
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just as a tablet so it's super thin but
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where the XPS 12 gets fun is if we take
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the tablet off of here we'll get rid of
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that one and then it comes with
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keyboards so this is the default
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keyboard this is what they call the
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premier keyboard and you just drop this
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in and now we have a full laptop set up
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so you probably can't see but the mouse
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is working all the keys work and this is
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the premier keyboard this is the default
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and it has it's a standard keyboard so
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it's a one point nine millimeter travel
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so if you're used to regular old keys
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that's pretty much what you're going to
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get with this one it's kind of
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interesting because if you can well look
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a bit close up the way it works is it's
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not actually hinged is as you move it
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you simply move it off the hinge and now
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it just sits connected and it's with a
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magnet so it's not actually going to
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fall apart but you know the thing is is
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that it gives you one viewing angle
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there's not any play for you to change
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the angle so as a trade-off but there's
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a second keyboard so if you don't like
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that one the one that I prefer and a lot
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of people prefer is what they call the
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slim keyboard and let me pop this out as
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we go and this makes the XPS 12 if you
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like Lego this is sort of a lego II sort
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of thing this makes the XPS 12 a little
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more may be competitive with the surface
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pro so now we have it with this is a 1.3
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millimeter travel key and this is a
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really nice keyboard and what's nice
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about this one is it is hinged so now
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I'm holding it and I have my keyboard
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too it's only a very small bit thicker
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than just the regular protective case
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and of course with the way this is
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designed there's a lot of different
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angles you can use so you can get just a
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viewing angle you like yes our laptop
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has fallen out but put it back in is a
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magnetic catch so it makes it really
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easy to work with and either case with
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either keyboard this is a really really
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cool laptop so the screen itself suppose
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I should show it to you the screen
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itself is 12 and a half inches it comes
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in two different versions there's an F
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HD version and that runs at 1920 x 1080
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and this is the 4k screen so this is
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what they call the 4k ultra sharp and it
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runs at 3840 x 2160 now realistically is
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that a huge difference might depend on
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what you're doing but I will say when
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you have a higher resolution screen
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everything's crisper so even if you're
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just working on text even if you're just
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working in a word document or something
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then just all the text is just a little
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bit crisper so it's a little bit better
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on your eyes and stuff the unit comes
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with eight gig of ram and either 128 gig
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or 256 gig SSD drive so actually plenty
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of storage here's the thing is it is a
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USB USB see and what they've done that's
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really cool on the side here there are
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two USBC port so let me give you a close
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up as we go but I really like that
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because a lot of these devices now have
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one us bc and then you're kind of stuck
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if you want to use it for peripherals
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and you want to charge so what Dell's
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done here is that both of them are
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actually running what they call
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thunderbolt three and that means that if
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you want to just use it for charging
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your cool but there's all sorts of
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peripherals including this guy this is
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the dell adapter and this is 79 bucks or
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it comes included depending on your
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configuration and you plug this into one
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of the USB CS and you get USB 3 you
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get Ethernet you get vga vga how old is
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vga now and you get hdmi so super handy
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little gadget to have in your bag the
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other cool thing that comes with the XPS
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12 depending on your configuration is
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the dell active pen and you know it's a
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pen and you can use it for drawing or
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taking notes or doing things I'm not a
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huge fan of using this I have to say I
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haven't yet found a really compelling
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case because I type so fast at this
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point but certainly for a lot of people
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with sketching and stuff this can be
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really terrific and because there's all
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these magnets going on a lot of times
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there are ways you can store it not so
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much with this one maybe but with the
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other keyboard there's ways you can
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actually have this just sitting on the
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keyboard because of a magnet so you
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don't need to have this you can opt to
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get it or not but let's see so the
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screen we've talked about we've talked
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about ram and storage the premiere
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keyboard which is included is this one
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and it's very nice keyboard lights up
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when you plug in the tablet and I'll
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give you a close up there in the middle
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is the magnetic connector and works
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really well not perfectly there are
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times I have to sort of monkey with it a
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little bit to get it to work not really
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a huge problem it also comes slightly
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off the table surface which is nice so
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you can actually have a good angle on
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the keys themselves or or you can use
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the slim keyboard which is this guy and
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what I like about this is it gives you a
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lot of different viewing angles which
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can be very helpful and let's see what I
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was going to tell you about this
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8-megapixel rear-facing camera 5
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megapixel forward facing camera has two
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of the Thunderbolt 3 ports and by the
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way Thunderbolt 3 this is pretty rockin
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stuff this is eight times faster than
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USB 3 0 so whatever you're doing if
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you're pushing a 4k monitor if you're
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trying to do a backup or something using
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those Thunderbolt ports for thunderbolt
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peripherals pretty sweet
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also comes with an SD card reader which
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I don't often see on tablets and such so
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I really like that particular if you're
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a digital photographer popping it out of
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your camera putting it into their very
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nice the whole unit starts at about one
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point seven pounds this is actually it's
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slightly heavier because I have the
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keyboard but it's really eminently light
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this is very very portable comes with
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Windows 10 Home Edition and you can get
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office 365 for two bucks a month if you
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need to add that to it pretty easy I
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don't know if it's the same price after
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the fact but certainly when you're
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configuring your unit that's how much it
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runs active pen 49 bucks the adapter 79
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bucks and here's the thing is if you
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want just the base unit it's 999 and
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then you can add all these devices what
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I have here is I have a little bit of an
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upgrade here so what I have is 1169 and
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that comes with the 4k display comes
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with the 256 gig of SSD comes with the
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adapter comes with the pen so it's very
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nice for 50 extra bucks I actually you
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know went ahead and got the slim
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keyboard too and this is really a honey
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of a laptop so I can run it just as a
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regular windows 10 laptop with touch
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screen and everything and then whenever
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I need to I just pop it right out and
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this thing is ready to roll as a tablet
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so really cool really nice and I have to
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say that I think that dell has done an
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exceptional job with this device it's
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it's really hitting a lot of different
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notes really well and when I use this
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out people always come overnight what is
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that that is so cool so that's kind of
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nice too anyway this is dave taylor this
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is the dell XPS 12 and i'll catch you in
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my next video
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you
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