Dell’s new XPS 14 is healthier in virtually each approach

The 2026 XPS 14 is the very best premium laptop computer we’ve seen from Dell shortly, with unimaginable construct high quality in a skinny machine and good efficiency due to Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” chips. A bonus: Dell killed its lame “Premium Plus” naming scheme. XPS is so again!

I can’t imagine how a lot of a turnaround this new mannequin is from the XPS 13 I reviewed final yr, which on the time was set to be the road’s miserable swan tune. The new XPS has improved in nearly each approach, with an precise bodily F-row, higher audio system, and memorable battery life. Too unhealthy it’s wildly costly.

Dell despatched us two XPS 14 laptops to check: A $1,999.99 entry-level mannequin with an 8-core Intel Core Ultra 5 325 chip, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a 1920 x 1200 IPS show, and a $2,899.99 touchscreen OLED model with a 16-core Core Ultra X7 358H, a lot beefier graphics energy, and double the RAM and storage. Each has three Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack.

The construct high quality is spectacular. They’re solely slightly thicker than a MacBook Air, however a few third of a pound heavier, feeling like a stable slab. The subsequent factor that strikes you, particularly if you happen to’re haunted by XPS laptops previous, is that the seamless haptic trackpad has calmly textured boundary traces and the keyboard has a correct operate row. No extra fully invisible trackpad and capacitive contact buttons for Escape and F-keys. Hallelujah!

While these two modifications are purpose sufficient to rejoice, I nonetheless have my quibbles. Boundary traces or not, this haptic trackpad remains to be solely okay. I generally have to press further arduous for a click on to register, and I often get an unintentional double-click even when urgent calmly. I additionally generally get a misclick if my palms relaxation too closely on it whereas typing.

Speaking of typing, I nonetheless can’t get behind this gapless keyboard. It has a paltry 0.8mm key journey, although it doesn’t really feel fairly as shallow because it sounds. This is because of its tactile bump on the prime of every key press, which supplies it a surprisingly stable really feel. Despite that tactility, I don’t like typing on it. I really feel slower, stilted, and extra vulnerable to typos. It’s a serious enchancment to have a bodily operate row, however this keyboard remains to be not for me. At least now it’s extra of a “YMMV” type of factor.

Elsewhere, the 8-megapixel / 4K webcam appears sharp in vivid mild however loses a little bit of its punch and coloration high quality in dimmer lighting or while you’re backlit. The audio system are fairly good for this measurement of laptop computer, producing a well-balanced sound you can crank up with out distortion — though they unsurprisingly don’t have the strongest bass.

But the showstopper on the OLED mannequin is, clearly, the show. The 2880 x 1800 tandem OLED touchscreen will get vivid and is at all times wealthy in deep distinction and vigorous colours. It’s a stunner. The 1920 x 1200 IPS panel on the lower-end configuration is sort of humdrum by comparability. It reaches a barely brighter 500 nits and it controls glare fairly effectively, however subsequent to the OLED it’s slightly boring. However, the IPS display screen has a singular characteristic of its personal: a variable refresh fee that goes from 120Hz all the way in which right down to 1Hz while you’re viewing static content material. The OLED matches that 120Hz, however its lowest refresh fee is 20Hz.

These low-dipping refresh charges assist give each XPS 14s glorious battery life. On the OLED, I might recover from 10 hours of near-continuous blended utilization (the same old boatload of Chrome tabs, occasional music or video streaming, and a video name or two). The similar workload on the IPS mannequin reached over 14 hours, possible due to that lower-res display screen with 1Hz minimal refresh, and you may probably stretch it longer if you happen to’re being cautious. (I used to be not.) The IPS config even smashed our battery rundown check with 26 hours of steady runtime, even beating all of the Arm-based laptops we’ve examined. I hope we see these sorts of panels in additional laptops. Like telephones, dialing the refresh fee approach down while you’re watching paperwork helps protect battery.

The Intel Panther Lake chips in these laptops additionally assist each XPS 14s with energy effectivity, however they’re no slouches within the efficiency division. They’ve bought stable thermals, with the followers staying fairly quiet — even beneath load. And throughout stress exams the underside case bought fairly heat however a lot of the keyboard remained cool. The OLED mannequin with the X7 chip and its built-in 12-core GPU is fairly formidable for graphics-heavy duties like 3D rendering in Blender, and it could possibly even squeak by in enjoying some AAA video games. I ran Battlefield 6 at a good 50fps at 1920 x 1200 decision on the Low preset with XeSS set to Ultra Performance. Not wonderful, however not potato high quality — and in a thin-and-light productiveness laptop computer.

Still, less expensive MacBooks beat the brand new XPS fashions in uncooked efficiency. A fanless 15-inch M5 MacBook Air wipes the ground with the entry-level XPS 14, and it even beats the higher-end OLED mannequin in most non-GPU-heavy benchmarks. Step as much as the 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro, and the scales tip even slightly additional in Apple’s favor — plus you get an HDMI port and SD card slot.

This brings us to the XPS 14’s largest difficulty: value. When it launched, the entry-level IPS mannequin value $1,600. Now it’s $2,000. The OLED mannequin with the X7 chip began at $2,200, and it now prices $2,900. This is in fact all attributable to “ongoing market conditions,” often known as RAMageddon. But it doesn’t change the truth that it is a crap-ton of cash for the efficiency you’re getting. Dell not too long ago introduced a lower-cost XPS 13 priced at $700 ($600 for college students as a short lived low cost). It’s good to see upcoming makes an attempt at competing with the MacBook Neo, however within the meantime Dell’s OLED XPS 14 went up in value by the price of that entire XPS 13.

It’s heartbreaking to see these varieties of costs. $2,200 for the OLED XPS 14 felt justifiable for a high-end pc with improbable construct high quality. But at $2,900? For $200 much less you may get an Asus Zenbook Duo with two 14-inch OLEDs and an excellent higher Intel Panther Lake chip. And for lower than the entry-level XPS 14, the Zenbook A16 gives 3 times the RAM and a 16-inch OLED in a lighter bundle. And while you examine Apple’s choices to the XPS 14 for value to efficiency? It’s a bloodbath.

I commend Dell for righting the ship and revitalizing the XPS line after its rebranding blunder. But even when the brand new XPS laptops are higher than ever, they’re now a troublesome promote for brand spanking new causes.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge