Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

Goodbye , XPS 15andXPS 17 . It was prissy have it off ya .

Just in clip for 2024 andCESabout to make , Dell has unveiled a massive alteration to its XPS line of laptops , which involves swapping out the XPS 15 and 17 with a new XPS 14 and 16 while also completely redesigning the laptops around the factious feature of speech straight from the ( now defunct)XPS 13 Plus .

I can sure as shooting respect the bold new focusing , even if some design determination feel downright impractical . One thing ’s for sure : Having roleplay with these flashy laptops in person , I can safely say that they ’re sure enough some of the most eye - catch laptops I ’ve ever seen .

The XPS 14 and XPS 16 join the party

So , why the fresh sizes ? Well , Dell is really one of the last companies to change to 14 - inch and 16 - inch size , now pair what Apple , Lenovo , Asus , and almost everyone already has . The welfare is obvious – smaller , more compact laptop computer , often with similar specs . The XPS 14 is still 0.71 inches fatheaded but is considerably small and lighter than the XPS 15 used to be .

The difference between the XPS 16 and 17 is even more dramatic , cutting weight , thickness , and overall footprint by a good amount . They ’re all under 5 Ezra Pound now , which is a good thing .

As we ’ll see in the public presentation plane section , the XPS 14 and 16 may not be an exact one - to - one swap with the XPS 15 and 17 .

But there ’s a lot more going on here than just new size . The XPS 14 and XPS 16 embrace the onward - looking and factious elements of the previous XPS 13 Plus , mainstreaming them across the entire lineup . When the XPS 13 Plus come out in 2022,it was controversial . That ’s putting it lightly .

Dell seemed to withstand established thinking at nearly every innovation decision . But it was easy to write off at the metre , particularly since it felt like just an data-based product , keeping the more practical XPS 13 , XPS 15 , and XPS 17 around for good measure . But with the lineup , there ’s no longer a “ secure ” choice . In fact , the XPS 13 2 - in-1 and XPS 13 Plus have also been hit from the lineup in all — at least on the surface . The new XPS 13 is almost identical to the previous XPS 13 Plus , think the simpler baseXPS 13 ( 9315)has been nix .

So , what are these dangerous design choices I ’m referring to ? Well , for one , the XPS 14 and 16 now have the invisible tactile feedback trackpad stretching across the palm rests , and they look as beautiful as ever . That does mean the grippy polycarbonate palm rests have been traded out with a more standard aluminium , still coming in the two colors : granite and platinum .

More controversially , these raw laptop computer also do n’t have a forcible routine row of keys , supplant them with the glowing touch keys have on last class ’s XPS 13 Plus . This time around you may change their smartness at least so they do n’t completely blind you in the dark , but they still operate in the same way .

I do n’t mind the touch buttons , but they may present a larger job on these larger models , which are in spades more oriented toward a “ Pro ” audience . These are people who likely use part keys a raft more than the average person . I can think a programmer , for example , being quite frustrated with this keyboard , in the same manner they were with the Touch Bar on the honest-to-god MacBook Pros .

Now , do n’t get me wrong – there ’s definitely some dependable in this redesign too . I love how the edge - to - edge keyboard looks and how the spacing of these redundant - large keycaps feels . The unlined haptic trackpad really does look futuristic , too , even today , and the XPS 14 and 16 are more compact than last twelvemonth ’s model , evidently due to the smaller screens . These edgy laptop are for certain bear on the gasbag of what people are comfortable with .

Displays

Another big rise this class is the option for mellow refresh rate panels . Specifically , the XPS 14 has a 3200 x 2000 solvent OLED option , which is a touching panel with a 120Hz refresh charge per unit . The XPS 16 has a full 4 grand OLED screenland , but the refresh rate is only 90Hz .

Both strait like great control board options , and I ’m really happy Dell is offering some high refresh rates , especially for those who might desire to game on the side with these devices .

However , I ’d still care to have seen mini - LED offered as an option because of the HDR carrying into action . To really compete with a MacBook Pro , I ’d desire to see some comparable brightness that OLED laptop computer right now just ca n’t produce . In fact , the cheaper IP display options are brighter at 500 nits in SDR , while the OLED venire max out at 400 nits .

The showing option for the XPS 13 have been somewhat tweak , now offering a QHD IPS jury going up to 120Hz while the OLED jury is still cling at 60 . Still , this is the first time the XPS 13 will have a faster 120Hz refresh rate on pass — and the good part is that even the starting configuration come with it . This move to 120Hz as a young banner keep up suit with what Dell is contribute to itsnew UltraSharp monitors this year , too .

Cameras and speakers

A camera upgrade is one of the change coming to all three new XPS laptops . They ’ve all been bump from 720p to 1080p , and without growing the heaviness of that top bezel ( at least not from what I could tell ) . This has been an ongoing journey for the graphic designer at Dell , which kicked off the cause to shrink display bezels way back in 2017 . Since then , however , high - calibre webcam have become important again , leave the XPS in a tight touch , lag in webcam caliber .

The XPS 14 and 16 loudspeaker system still use a quadriceps - utterer frame-up , with some tumid , upwards - firing tweeters on the keyboard deck of cards . Much of the XPS 14 and 16 competition has moved to a six - speaker system system , whether the MacBook Pro or the Razer Blade . I was n’t able to examine the utterer out much at the noisy preview event , but I ’ll certainly be queer to pick up how they compare to last twelvemonth ’s models .

The XPS 13 also has four speakers , though the upwards - fire ones are under the keyboard .

Performance

The XPS 13 , XPS 14 , and XPS 16 will all propose various configuration of the fresh Intel Core Ultra Meteor Lake chips . The XPS 14 goes up to a Core Ultra 7 165H chipping alongside an RTX 4050 , while the XPS 16 goes up to a Core Ultra 9 185H with an RTX 4070 . Those make solid equivalence to the MacBook Pro in performance , though place something as potent as the M3 Max in a 14 - inch chassis is still something Windows laptops do n’t have the efficiency to accomplish .

It also should be noted that the XPS 15 used to offer up to a Core i9 and an RTX 4070 , while the XPS 17 could be configure with up to an RTX 4080 . In sizing down its laptop computer strain , Dell will no longer have a top - of - the - line laptop that offer an RTX 4080 . We ’ll have to waitress for our own testing to see how that affects overall performance , but it certainly feel like a downgrade on the graphics front .

The XPS 13 has no discrete graphics option , starting with a Core Ultra 5 125H and topping out at the Core Ultra 7 165H. Interestingly , the XPS 13 and XPS 14 can be configured with nearly identical processors , which was not possible with last yr ’s XPS 13 and XPS 15 .

Dell has always been honest about offering a extensive variety show of configurations ; however , here , you ’ll still be capable to descale these machines up to 64 GB of RAM and 4 TB of reposition if you really need it . The 8 TB storage alternative seems to be go for now , however .

talk of RAM , it ’s nice to see Dell move to all dual - channel memory , something companies like Razer have been doing for a while now .

Ports

port wine have been a point of controversy for years in the XPS ecosystem . The move to only Thunderbolt interface back in the solar day to match what Apple did with the MacBooks was for sure a point of contestation at the time . bring in the full - size of it SD card slot into the mix a few old age ago was a great move , but now that ’s being muddied in this new generation .

The XPS 14 and XPS 16 both have moderately limited port survival , offering just three Thunderbolt 4 ports , a headphone tar , and a micro - SD card slot . You see that right . The micro - SD card slot has replaced the full - size of it selection , which means a severe interruption to the work flow of a lensman or videographer . If your workflow involves load files directly from a television camera , that ’ll likely be a frustrating change , and you already do n’t have HDMI or USB - A , so one less dongle goes a long way .

The XPS 13 has even fewer port wine , with just two Thunderbolt 4 ports and no headphone jack . I ’m a little surprised that this is n’t an area where Dell listened to the negative feedback around take away the headphone jak with the XPS 13 Plus , but maybe I ’m overestimating how much people really want an analog audio jack on their laptops . I know I ’d prefer to keep mine around , that ’s for certain .

Pricing and availability

The new XPS 13 matches the cost of last twelvemonth ’s XPS 13 Plus , start at $ 1,300 . That ’ll get you 8 Gbit of RAM and 512 GB of storage .

I ’m a morsel let down that the low-priced XPS 13 ( 9315 ) has been cut , especially since it proffer such acompelling choice to the MacBook Airat the time . To me , the $ 850 start price stand for an admission that there were some things , like assault and battery life , that Windows laptops have n’t been able to compete with . But now , the XPS 13 will need to go head - to - head with theM2 MacBook Air , which is identical in price when similarly configured . On the other hand , Dell wo n’t have an reply for the$999 M1 MacBook Air that ’s still being sell — unless it continues to sell older variation of its laptops .

On the other hand , the XPS 14 starts at $ 1,700 , with 16 GB of RAM , 512 GB of reposition , and mix Intel Arc graphics . That undercuts theM3 MacBook Proby $ 100 when likewise configured , thoughApple sells a cheaper version with just 8 GB of RAM .

finally , the XPS 16 will depart at a lower $ 1,900 , which is $ 300 cheaper than what the XPS 17 started at . The reason is that the base configuration does n’t amount with discrete graphics . Otherwise , it comes with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage .

All three laptop will be available sometime within the first fourth of 2024 .