New sizes, new designs: Dell reimagined its XPS lineup at CES 2024, introducing 14- and 16-inch models that redefine the company’s flagship laptops. The XPS 16 (starts at $1,899; $3,399 as tested) heralds a fresh look for the whole family, with a futuristic seamless touchpad and an LED touch strip replacing the top row of function keys. These changes don’t necessarily enhance functionality, but they do bring design benefits, as well as snazzy styling. Our review unit teams Intel Core Ultra processing and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics power with a gorgeous 4K OLED touch screen. This pricey challenger to Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro is not a great value in our test configuration—the Editors’ Choice-award-winning MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo is a pretty unbeatable deal at under $1,500—but it’s our new go-to recommendation for professionals and creators seeking something a bit more luxurious.Design: Minimalism Meets the New XPS LineupThe XPS series’ super-modern styling debuted in the 2022 XPS 13 Plus and was refined in that ultraportable’s 2023 model. It centers around the flush-fitting keyboard, with an LED function row and seamless haptic touchpad built into the palm rest.
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(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The XPS 16 represents the future of Dell’s premium desktop replacement, with the XPS 17 destined for phase-out; the legendary XPS 15 stays around for now, but it too may fade away. Indeed, 17-inch laptops are becoming scarcer, with thin-bezel 16-inch models (the Dell’s display is actually 16.3 inches diagonally) offering almost the same screen real estate in more compact packages. This new system fits right in, and is offered in platinum (the white-and-silver color scheme of our test unit) or a darker graphite color. You’ll see some of each in our photos from Dell’s reveal event.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The XPS 16 measures 0.74 by 14.1 by 9.4 inches and tips the scales at 4.7 pounds; that’s not exactly light, but reasonable for its size and metal build. The MacBook Pro 16 is a bit thinner but a fraction heavier (4.8 pounds), while the XPS 17 is considerably heftier (0.77 by 14.7 by 9.8 inches and 5.4 pounds). There are lighter options—the LG Gram Pro 17 is a feathery 3.2 pounds—but the Dell is certainly in the ballpark for serious productivity laptops with discrete GPUs rather than integrated graphics.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The screen is gorgeous, particularly the 90Hz touch panel of our 3,840-by-2,400-pixel OLED model. Both this deluxe option and base models’ full HD non-touch screens are sleek edge-to-edge displays with vanishingly thin bezels, giving you plenty of room to work. But OLED displays always look especially vibrant, and this one’s picture quality is bright, sharp, and a joy to behold. Content creators will have no complaints.Features: Haptics, Touch Buttons, Copilot, and MoreNear-frameless screens are an XPS tradition, but the invisible touchpad takes a little getting used to. It conceals the active touch surface in the center of the seamless palm rest beneath the keyboard. You may at first try swiping in the non-sensitive area where the touchpad isn’t, but it’s generally right where you expect it to be, running from the left Alt key to the new Copilot key (more on that in a sec) at right. You can customize the haptic touchpad’s tactile feedback in the system settings; it means there are no buttons to break, either.The pad is quite responsive, though I occasionally found myself mentally uncertain that a press was going to register. (It invariably did.) If I’m being critical, the material used for the palm rest and touchpad—a soft-touch coating over Corning Gorilla Glass—feels a bit denser, with slightly more resistance than a traditional plastic pad, but that doesn’t prevent normal use. It doesn’t exactly qualify as an improvement in usability (though the seamless look is undeniably cool), but it certainly doesn’t spoil the laptop. It does serve an engineering purpose, by saving a millimeter or two of chassis height to allow a larger battery and better thermal solutions.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The same applies to the keyboard and LED function row. The keys are flush against one another, with no Chiclet-style spacing between keycaps. White backlighting shines through, and you’ll notice the abovementioned Copilot key, which summons Windows’ new AI assistant from the right of the screen. The localized, non-browser version of the service is still in early preview mode, but ready to take your text prompt inputs, questions, requests for settings changes, and more.For me, the keyboard layout took more getting used to than the touchpad—the spacing is different, so I would rest or start with my hands on the wrong keys routinely. This is exacerbated by the flat keys, since your fingers can become a bit lost between keycaps. (The home F and J keys do keep their slight physical ridges, at least.) It gets better over time, but expect an adjustment period. The typing feel isn’t as shallow as you’d expect from the flat design, but it’s not as as satisfying as the greater travel of many more traditional keyboards.As mentioned, the top function-key row (including settings keys such as volume and brightness) consists of LED touch inputs rather than physical keycaps. These are also illuminated, and you can swap between shortcut keys and F1 through F12 by holding down the Fn key. (The Escape key is always persistent.) Dell responded to gripes about the XPS 13 Plus’ always-on LED glow with a light sensor that adjusts the touch brightness based on ambient lighting.Some users may simply prefer traditional keys, but the touch strip works just fine, though it does feel a bit unusual for the Escape key to not be the top-left physical key on the board. I’m used to instinctively reaching for it there, but as with the other alterations, you’ll adjust before long. The power button is physical, perched in the top right corner and integrating a fingerprint reader.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
As for ports, the XPS 16 is equipped with three USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support, a microSD card reader, and a headphone jack. That last is very welcome—the XPS 13 Plus had no audio jack, which was one of our main complaints despite the availability of Bluetooth headphones—but we’re never happy to need a USB-C DisplayPort adapter to plug in an external monitor. To compensate, Dell provides a mini dock or USB-A and HDMI adapter in the box.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
More good news: The webcam delivers sharp, clear video with 1080p resolution. We expect no less from a premium laptop nowadays, so it’s a matter of checking the box rather than earning extra credit, but it’s still superior to cheap 720p cameras. Intel Killer Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth take care of wireless connectivity.Other notable design features include side and rear ventilation only; you needn’t worry about blocking any bottom-mounted vents. The XPS 16 has 10-watt stereo speakers, which get quite loud at full volume, fine-tuned by Dolby Atmos software.Configurations and Components Like most Dell PCs, the XPS 16 offers plenty of configuration options. The $1,899 base model combines a Core Ultra 7 155H processor with Intel Arc integrated graphics, 16GB of memory, a 512GB solid-state drive, and a full HD non-touch display. For a more formidable $3,399, our test unit cranks up nearly every component except the CPU. The RAM and storage are doubled to 32GB and 1TB respectively; Nvidia’s speedy GeForce RTX 4070 GPU replaces the integrated graphics; and the screen is upgraded to the 4K OLED touch panel. Obviously, not every user needs such enhancements; the standard storage and memory are fine for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or other everyday productivity apps, and only a subset of image or video editors or gamers need the RTX 4070’s level of 3D rendering muscle. (You can opt for a GeForce RTX 4050 and 4060 instead.)
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Next to the redesign, the new XPS generation’s main attraction is the move to Intel’s “Meteor Lake” processor generation, the first in the Core Ultra line that succeeds the familiar Core i series. The first of these chips were launched at the very end of 2023, and Core Ultra’s calling card is a built-in neural processing unit (NPU) that accelerates AI tasks formerly handled by the primary CPU, the GPU, or a remote cloud platform.This is not the first laptop we’ve reviewed with this fresh silicon—see our coverage of notebooks ranging from Acer to HP to Alienware—so the Core Ultra 7’s performance shouldn’t come as a surprise. But for an all-purpose professional or productivity laptop like the XPS 16, the extra pep and NPU should be welcome resources for Copilot and other coming tasks. The Core Ultra 7 155H sports 16 cores and 22 threads, though the raw count is less crucial than it used to be. (Read more about Intel’s new architecture here.)The XPS 16’s implementation of the GeForce RTX 4070 runs at up to 60 watts, enhanced by vapor-chamber cooling. (Dell’s two lesser discrete GPU options for the XPS 16 use only conventional heat pipes.) The supplied MyDell app offers a choice of power/cooling/fan noise profiles; we ran our benchmarks in Ultra Performance mode, but you can try Optimized, Cool, or Quiet modes as you like. Ultra Performance did increase fan noise under load, but not to an unbearable level.Testing the Dell XPS 16: Core Ultra Keeps Up to SpeedTo gauge the performance of the XPS 16, we put it through our usual suite of benchmark tests and compared the results to those of four other high-end desktop replacements:
Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro is the natural rival of the new Dell flagship, though the top-of-the-line M3 Max version we tested cost a whopping $7,199 loaded with 8TB of storage and 128GB of memory. The Dell XPS 17 ($2,949 as tested) is an obvious previous-generation comparison, while the Alienware m16 R2 is a gaming rig that matches the XPS 16’s CPU and GPU at a lower price ($1,849.99 as tested). Finally, the Gigabyte Aero 16 OLED ($2,199 as tested) is a content-creator alternative with a comparable display.Productivity and Content Creation TestsWe run the same general productivity benchmarks across both mobile and desktop systems. Our first test is UL’s PCMark 10, which simulates a variety of real-world productivity and office workflows to measure overall system performance and also includes a storage subtest for the primary drive.Three other benchmarks focus on the CPU, using all available cores and threads, to rate a PC’s suitability for processor-intensive workloads. Maxon’s Cinebench R23 uses that company’s Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene, while Geekbench 5.4 Pro from Primate Labs simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning. Finally, we use the open-source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to convert a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p resolution (lower times are better).Finally, we run PugetBench for Photoshop by workstation maker Puget Systems, which uses the Creative Cloud version 22 of Adobe’s famous image editor to rate a PC’s performance for content creation and multimedia applications. It’s an automated extension that executes a variety of general and GPU-accelerated Photoshop tasks ranging from opening, rotating, resizing, and saving an image to applying masks, gradient fills, and filters.
The mighty M3 Max dominated our processing tests, but the XPS 16’s Core Ultra 7 155H performed admirably, roughly matching its 13th Generation Core i7 predecessor (a touch behind the Core i9) and proving more than fast enough for office tasks and media editing. Only the most demanding professional workstation apps such as data science or CGI rendering really need another power tier beyond this.Graphics TestsWe test the graphics of all laptops and desktops with two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL’s 3DMark, Night Raid (more modest, suitable for laptops with integrated graphics) and Time Spy (more demanding, suitable for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs).We also run two tests from the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5, which stresses both low-level routines like texturing and high-level, game-like image rendering. The 1440p Aztec Ruins and 1080p Car Chase tests, rendered offscreen to accommodate different display resolutions, exercise graphics and compute shaders using the OpenGL programming interface and hardware tessellation respectively. The more frames per second (fps), the better.
The MacBook Pro’s M3 Max again flexed its muscles in raw graphics horsepower, though the GeForce RTX 4070 laptops held their own. You can see the benefit of the Alienware’s thicker built-for-gaming design and extra cooling, making it perhaps the bargain of the group, though a gaming laptop will be a nonstarter for some design professionals.Battery and Display TestsWe test laptops’ and tablets’ battery life by playing a locally stored 720p video file (the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel) with display brightness at 50% and audio volume at 100%. We make sure the battery is fully charged before the test, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off.To gauge display performance, we also use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and its Windows software to measure a laptop screen’s color saturation—what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can show—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter).
Battery life is a big win for the XPS 16, which outlasted the other Windows notebooks by a considerable margin (though the Alienware’s runtime is great by gaming-laptop standards). Apple’s homebrewed M-series CPUs are in a class by themselves when it comes to power efficiency, so if you can work within the macOS ecosystem there’s a strong case to be made for a MacBook Pro. The XPS 16’s OLED display lived up to its technology’s reputation for superb color coverage and ample brightness. (OLED’s sky-high contrast is worth at least 100 nits compared to IPS screens.)Verdict: Designed for the Top of the MarketDespite a few quibbles, none close to being a deal-breaker, the Dell XPS 16 is an appealing premium package. The screen size, feature set, and components are all great fits for its power-user target buyer, and it will make you look good while being productive. Impressive performance and battery life, plus a better-than-impressive OLED display, don’t hurt, either.To be sure, the XPS 16 is on the pricey side as configured—there are more affordable ways to acquire this processor-and-GPU combo, if you can live without the XPS 16’s seamlessly sexy keyboard and high-end materials. The MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo is a superior value for users okay with integrated graphics, while the Alienware m16 R2 is a more affordable alternative for after-hours gaming. But while the XPS 16 may miss the price/performance balance that wins Editors’ Choice honors, it’s the new go-to option for premium desktop-replacement shoppers.
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