I'm pretty happy with my xps 13 but I think it falls short of the MBP in keyboard and trackpad.
The keyboard is a little too shallow and the flat profile of the keys makes it harder to find the center of each key. I've never used an Air so I don't know how it compares but it is better than the Macbook (not the pro, this guy http://www.apple.com/macbook/).
The touchpad is the single-button kind, it looks like a MBP touchpad but the actuation force is much higher and gets even higher at the top of the pad. The pad is a lever with the fulcrum at the top, clicking on the bottom is easy but much harder at the top. tap-to-click, multifinger gestures and all that work fine.
I've had the laptop for 6 months and I've already seen some physical problems, the screens backlight flickers (black for a millisecond every 5-ish seconds). the touchpad sometimes 'locks' thinking that there is one finger pressed against it, dragging one finger will scroll instead of moving the mouse.
Seconded - I have a Precision M4800 for setting up and doing actual work (real keyboard, big screen, etc.) and an XPS 13 for portability....in theory. In reality, the M4800 has been off for months, and the XPS 13 is the best device I've ever owned (though the first was DOA and I had to get it replaced).
The keyboard is a little too shallow and the flat profile of the keys makes it harder to find the center of each key. I've never used an Air so I don't know how it compares but it is better than the Macbook (not the pro, this guy http://www.apple.com/macbook/).
The touchpad is the single-button kind, it looks like a MBP touchpad but the actuation force is much higher and gets even higher at the top of the pad. The pad is a lever with the fulcrum at the top, clicking on the bottom is easy but much harder at the top. tap-to-click, multifinger gestures and all that work fine.
I've had the laptop for 6 months and I've already seen some physical problems, the screens backlight flickers (black for a millisecond every 5-ish seconds). the touchpad sometimes 'locks' thinking that there is one finger pressed against it, dragging one finger will scroll instead of moving the mouse.