No one will know until they're released, as Dell doesn't pre-announce.

It's safe to say the next model will likely be slipped in rather than released with major fanfare.  The design of the XPS 9700 is still relatively new, and the 11th generation CPUs are a very modest change from the 10th -- don't expect a major redesign of the system.  That will come with the 12th generation CPUs, which are now slated for release in very late 2021 or early 2022.  

The 11th Gen H Series CPUs finally get a new Intel GPU, namely the Xe, which allows significantly better performance without having to use the discrete GPU and incur a battery life penalty there.  It also means these laptops will be able to run DP 1.4/HBR3 even if Dell continues to wire the display outputs to the Intel GPU rather than the discrete GPU, which could be very useful.  (The XPS 17 9700 is an exception only if you get it with the RTX GPU, in which case you get a BIOS update to control whether the Intel or NVIDIA GPU controls the outputs.)  And they add support for PCIe 4.0, which could be useful for some storage use cases even in a laptop where thermals aren't ideal.  So I wouldn't exactly call the changes very modest, though I agree that the design of the system is unlikely to change significantly.

They're incremental changes to bring the Intel CPUs up to performance with the latest AMD mobile CPUs.  And they still carry a thermal penalty due to the old die design.

That won't change until Intel switches to a smaller die size that AMD has been using for a while now.  It also likely explains why mobile Ryzen CPUs are strongly rumored to be in Alienware's future.  It will be interesting to see if they end up in the XPS designs as well.  With all the other major manufacturers embracing AMD, Dell is now the lone hold-out.  

That could be a short-term solution to the biggest Achilles' heel the XPS models have had for a while - which stems from power consumption by the inefficient die design.

I hope the 2021 XPS series will have gone through a proper quality control check, and not have:

• Rattling speakers
• Light bleeding on matte screens
• The incredibly frustrating auto-dimming feature enabled by default
• Wobbly trackpads

That's the low-power Tiger Lake 11th generation Core CPU - which has been available for quite some time now.  It isn't the 11th Generation full-power CPU that the XPS will use.

Anyone who's seen the CPUs to be used in the XPS 17 models is under NDA now -- until the official release, anyway.

First of all, I should mention that the 11th gen has a Major upgrade from the 10th gen, It's, on average, 25% better (consumption, performance, etc.). This statement is based on the tests and benchmarks, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrxLh6_2uv4 

So the presence of the 11th gen has a decisive role to make a decision.

The ideal XPS 17 2021 for me:

- 120Hz display (switchable option in power saving mode)

- GPU RTX 30 series 

- CPU 11th gen 

- Fixed issues with track pad and other problems that's mentioned in other topics

What about i7 11375H, which can already be foind on the market? Is it also low-power CPU that Dell won't use in xps 17? 

Yes, it is a Tiger Lake low power CPU.

The Tiger Lake H CPUs are the full power ones, due apparently sometime in the next week or so (at least the announcement is).

I will not purchase untill RTX 30 series is available for the XPS ...so waiting as well, the 120hz screen  would be a nice extra

I see that Alienware laptops have the 3080 with 16GB but is to heavy to travel ...