Dell XPS 14 Review (2026): This Laptop Marks an Incredible Comeback

A perfected mentation of this design. Remarkably bladed and light. GPU show is truthful bully you don’t request discrete graphics. Great physique prime and OLED display. 4K webcam.

Base configuration doesn’t marque overmuch sense. Not the champion show for this chip.

The 2026 Dell XPS 14 has a batch to prove. Dell attempted to termination the “XPS” marque successful 2025, lone to revive it this year. It besides comes with a important change: nary much options for discrete graphics. Instead, the laptop uses Intel’s caller Panther Lake chips, which besides person a batch to prove.

I was capable to trial 2 configurations of the Dell XPS 14 to spot however show scales crossed terms points, and I came distant impressed by what these machines could achieve. They're a spot expensive, but for the archetypal clip successful a while, they whitethorn really beryllium worthy the price.

Dialed Back

This 2026 exemplary conscionable mightiness beryllium the perfected mentation of the Dell XPS 14. XPS has ever been design-forward, but the marque has started pushing the envelope implicit the past fewer years. The 2024 exemplary introduced a stunning but arguable plan that replaced the enactment of relation keys with a enactment of light-up interaction buttons. The buttons were futuristic and neat, but not the easiest to really use. The aforesaid was existent of the invisible haptic feedback trackpad. It was gorgeous and minimalist, but not precise practical.

The caller Dell XPS 14 keeps overmuch of the much adventurous and sleek plan elements, but dials backmost the ones that created the astir uproar. The laptop present has a modular enactment of relation keys (yay!), arsenic good arsenic subtle divider lines for the trackpad. These lines are a peculiarly astute inclusion, arsenic your digit volition bump up against them but they don’t detract from the wide look. It inactive uses a haptic feedback mechanics to artificially make the feeling of a click done vibration, which gives you the astir accordant and customizable trackpad experience. I did acquisition a fewer mis-clicks from clip to time, but overall, it’s precise creaseless and enjoyable to use.

Important to this caller procreation is the size. The Dell XPS 14 is present conscionable 0.58 inch heavy (or 0.60 successful the LCD model). That’s a tenth of an inch thinner than the erstwhile procreation (the Dell 14 Premium), and conscionable truthful happens to beryllium somewhat thinner than the 14-inch MacBook Pro. It besides weighs conscionable 3 pounds, astir a half-pound lighter than the MacBook Pro. This is simply a beauteous immense accomplishment successful its ain right, arsenic galore of the would-be contenders to the MacBook Pro successful presumption of show extremity up being thicker and heavier laptops.

The keyboard inactive uses the aforesaid low-key-travel switches that immoderate volition hatred and immoderate volition love. For me, it’s amusive to benignant on, but I did find it produced a batch much errors successful my typing. That lessened implicit clip arsenic I refamiliarized myself with however the switches feel, but beryllium forewarned: There’s a learning curve. On the positive side, I’ve ever liked the zero-lattice keyboard, which gives it larger keycaps and little wasted abstraction connected the keyboard deck.

One different alteration is successful the ports. You inactive get 3 Thunderbolt 4 ports and a headphone jack, but gone is the microSD paper slot. As idiosyncratic who regularly needs one, I truly privation Dell could person squeezed a full-size SD paper slot successful here, particularly since these laptops are targeted toward creators.

The physique prime is exceptional, arsenic is to beryllium expected, with a hint of flex successful the lid and keyboard. You tin adjacent unfastened the instrumentality with conscionable 1 digit now, thing the XPS laptops of the past person ever struggled with.

Get the OLED

There’s a spot of an contented with however Dell configures the displays connected the XPS 14. The basal configuration comes with conscionable a precise modular 1920 x 1200 LCD display, contempt it costing $1,699. This is simply a beauteous superior downgrade from the mini-LED show offered connected the 14-inch MacBook Pro, which is sharper, much colorful, and importantly brighter. The MBP is adjacent $100 cheaper and comes with an other 8 GB of RAM.

The much costly OLED exemplary comes modular with the Core Ultra X7 configuration with the enactment to upgrade to the X9. This isn't conscionable modular OLED though—it's tandem OLED, which the institution archetypal utilized connected the XPS 13. The effect isn't much brightness (as it's really somewhat dimmer than the LCD model), but alternatively higher ratio for much artillery life.

I tested some the LCD and OLED models, which are some bully for what they are. The OLED exemplary has beautiful, vibrant colors covering sRGB, AdobeRGB, and Display P3 colour spaces astatine 100 percent. Even much importantly, the colour accuracy is fantastic. The LED takes a measurement backmost from determination successful presumption of colour performance, but I bash similar that some options person a dynamic 120-Hz refresh rate.

On the positive side, the bezels on the framework of the basal XPS 14 look amended than astir LED displays. Many matte LCD displays person a integrative bezel on the sides which marque it look cheap. These super-thin bezels inactive look precise modern and sleek—a hallmark of the XPS brand. The apical bezel remains bladed arsenic good (though not arsenic tiny arsenic it erstwhile was), contempt Dell squeezing an 8-megapixel, 4K camera module up there. I haven’t seen galore 4K-capable laptop webcams, and this 1 is peculiarly great, and there’s nary disfigured notch to woody with either.

The speakers person been improved, going from 8 watts to 10 watts. Not a important change, and they’re inactive a satellite distant from the MacBook Pro, but they bash dependable a spot much full-bodied than the erstwhile generation.

Goodbye Discrete Graphics

Here’s wherever things get genuinely interesting. Part of what allowed Dell to marque the XPS 14 truthful overmuch thinner is the deficiency of a discrete graphics option. That prime came down to whether oregon not you wanted a standard, high-end laptop oregon 1 with immoderate superior show chops down it. With the instauration of Intel Panther Lake chips, though, the prime is present betwixt a much basal spot similar the Core Ultra 7 355 and the souped-up Core Ultra X7 358H.

I tested some versions of the XPS 14, and the quality successful show betwixt these 2 can’t beryllium overstated. We’re talking astir doubly the CPU and GPU performance. The 8 other ratio cores successful the X7 358H truly marque a immense difference, alongside the caller Arc B390 integrated graphics. It’s a $300 terms difference, but that besides includes an other 16 GB of RAM. Dell already charges $300 to lone treble the RAM successful the Ultra 7 configuration, truthful the upgrade is perfectly worthy it. For what it’s worth, Apple charges $400 to spell from 16 GB to 32 GB successful the M5 MacBook Pro.

What’s not truly worthy it, however, are those little almighty configurations. You tin get overmuch much affordable Windows laptops for hundreds of dollars less, and the quality successful show volition beryllium negligible. I wouldn’t beryllium amazed if we spot prices travel down connected these models successful the future, but connected the different hand, Dell (like astir each PC manufacturers) has warned astir higher prices aboriginal successful 2026 owed to the ongoing representation shortage.

The Core Ultra X7 358H and the RTX 4050 discrete GPU of the erstwhile procreation are neck-and-neck successful presumption of gaming performance. The RTX 4050 was lone 3 percent faster successful the 3DMark Steel Nomad benchmark, for example. That’s a immense accomplishment for Intel and Dell, particularly since the caller exemplary is some thinner and longer-lasting successful presumption of artillery life. And yes, that means the caller Dell XPS 14 is simply a decent gaming instrumentality erstwhile it needs to be. It tin tally games similar Cyberpunk 2077 natively astatine 1920 x 1200. At the Medium present, I was capable to mean 56 frames per 2nd successful the game’s built-in benchmark. Again, that’s without upscaling astatine all. Flip connected Intel’s Xe2 upscaling connected the Quality mounting and that is boosted up to 70 fps.

Intel adjacent has a low-latency mode to assistance compensate for the other input lag that’s introduced done upscaling. You’ll person to trust connected upscaling oregon adjacent framework procreation a spot much heavy successful games similar Marvel Rivals, but it’s surely imaginable to person an enjoyable play experience, which feels awesome connected a laptop similar the XPS 14. I’ve been waiting years to accidental this, but for the archetypal time, I tin confidently state successful this case, we’re acold amended disconnected without discrete graphics.

As awesome arsenic the X7 spot is connected its own, however, show is little present than connected different laptops I’ve tested with this aforesaid chip. The MSI Prestige 14 Flip, an adjacent thinner laptop, was 24 percent faster successful CPU and 16 percent faster successful gaming. So the XPS 14 is hardly the pinnacle of show erstwhile it comes to this caller spot (and presumably besides with the X9 that’s disposable to bargain done Best Buy). All this means the Dell XPS 14 isn't rather up to par with the M4 Pro MacBook Pro, which besides costs $1,999.

I already mentioned the artillery life, but it's stellar. This was 1 of the superior downsides of the past Dell XPS 14 (or the antecedently named Dell 14 Premium) laptops, arsenic good arsenic immoderate different Windows-based MacBook Pro competitors. Even arsenic of past year, Intel's higher-powered CPUs conscionable weren't arsenic businesslike arsenic Apple Silicon, and the summation of discrete graphics made things adjacent worse. In contrast, the caller Core Ultra X7 358H mentation of the Dell XPS 14 lasts good implicit doubly arsenic long, reaching 20 hours of section video playback artillery beingness successful my testing. That's adjacent much awesome considering it's utilizing an OLED 2880 x 1800-resolution surface with a 120-Hz refresh rate.

In presumption of price, I inactive deliberation the $1,599 configuration is acold excessively costly for what it is, some successful presumption of the prime of the show and the performance. And if you're comparing the $1,999 to the M4 Pro MacBook Pro, there's inactive a spread successful performance, which makes the XPS 14 pricey by comparison. But if you're hell-bent connected a Windows laptop, this is the champion alternate to the 14-inch MacBook Pro truthful far.