Dell Revamps XPS Laptops With Fresh Looks, AI Smarts And New Display Sizes
We've long been enamored with the overall design language of Dell's premium XPS laptops, which are generally understated with super-clean lines, and highly capable systems with powerful hardware options. Going forward, Dell is unifying the design that it introduced with its XPS 13 Plus that we reviewed last year, and we had a chance to see its refreshed XPS lineup in person at CES 2024.
In case you missed it, the XPS 13 Plus debuted at last year's CES and was billed as Dell's "vision of the future" for the XPS family. As we embark into 2024, Dell is dropping the "Plus" moniker but keeping the same design language, while also introducing new sizes including the XPS 16 and XPS 14.
"The new XPS designs take a minimalistic approach that elevates the brand. The portfolio is made of CNC machined aluminum and Gorilla Glass 3, and tone-on-tone colors (available in Graphite and Platinum). The striking, unconventional look has key components that amplify the laptop experience. They feature a touch function row to switch between media and function keys easily, a seamless glass touchpad with haptic feedback and larger keycaps that provide a comfortable and smooth typing experience with every keystroke," Dell explains in a blog post.
Dell's refreshed laptops also give us a first look at Microsoft's dedicated Copilot key that is coming to Windows keyboards. It's the first new button to the standard Windows keyboard in almost 30 years and it sits on the opposite side of the keyboard as the dedicated Windows key (it sits in between the right Alt key and left arrow keys).
Meanwhile, above is an in-person shot of the keyboard with the LED backlighting turned on and, notably, the aforementioned touch function row that can easily toggle between function and media keys.
Beyond the minimalist physical design, Dell is embracing the latest-generation hardware and sticking with premium display panels. Starting with the XPS 13 (9340), it features up to a 13.4-inch OLED screen with a 2880x1800 resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, and touch support (1920x1200 and 2560x1600 non-touch IPS display are options as well).
It also features up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 165H processor based on Meteor Lake, integrated Arc graphics, up to 64GB of LPDDR5x-7467 RAM, up to 4TB of PCIe 4.0 storage, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 wireless connectivity, two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports with DisplayPort 2.1 and power delivery, and a 55Whr battery.
The XPS 14 (9440) comes with a 14.5-inch non-touch IPS (1920x1200) or an OLED (3200x12000) screen with touch support. Both up the ante with a 120Hz refresh rate.
Other specs include up to a Core Ultra 7 165H processor, up to 64GB of LPDDR5x-7467 RAM, up to 4TB of PCIe 4.0 storage, integrated Arc graphics or a discrete GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, Killer Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity (no Wi-Fi 7 for whatever reason), three Thunderbolt 4 ports, microSD card reader, 3.5mm audio jack, and a 69.5Whr battery.
Finally, the XPS 16 (9640) offers a 16.3-inch non-touch IPS (1920x1200, 120Hz) or touch-supported OLED display (3840x2400, 90Hz), powered by up to a Core Ultra 9 185H processor, up to 64GB of LPDDR5x-7467 RAM, up to 4TB of PCIe 4.0 storage, up to a GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, Killer Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 4.2 wireless connectivity, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, microSD card reader, 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack, and a 99.5Whr battery.
Being based on Intel's latest-generation CPU hardware with dedicated neural processing units (NPUs), AI is a big focus with the refreshed XPS laptop family.
"This means the PC no longer needs to rely solely on the CPU or GPU for processing and performance. Imagine you are a creator who is always on the go and editing photos in Adobe Lightroom. The addition of the NPU automatically leverages the right compute engine for your workload—in this case letting you edit images faster than before while preserving battery life," Dell says.
You can check out Dell's XPS blog post for more details. As for pricing and availability, Dell says all three models will be available "soon" starting at $1,299 for the XPS 13, $1,699 for the XPS 14, and $1,899 for the XPS 16.
