Last year, Dell announced it was ditching many of its storied brand names, including its high-end XPS label. This year, the company has realized that mistake, and is bringing XPS back in a redesigned chassis with Intel's Panther Lake chips.
Swipe to scroll horizontally Row 0 - Cell 0 Dell XPS 14 Dell XPS 16 CPU Up to Intel Core X9 388H Up to Intel Core X9 388H GPU Up to Intel Arc graphics (integrated) Up to Intel Arc graphics (integrated) RAM Up to 64GB-9600 LPDDR5X Up to 64GB-9600 LPDDR5X Storage Up to 4TB PCIe SSD (Gen 5, SED ready) Up to 4TB PCIe SSD (Gen 5, SED ready) Display 14-inch, 1920 x 1200 non-touch or 2880 x 1800 OLED touch, 120 Hz, Dolby Vision 16-inch, 1920 x 1200 non-touch of 3200 x 2000 OLED touch, 120 Hz, Dolby Vision Ports 3x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C), 3.5 mm headphone jack 3x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C), 3.5 mm headphone jack Networking Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE211 + Bluetooth 6.0 Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE211 + Bluetooth 6.0 Battery 70 WHr 70 WHr Availability January 2026 January 2026 Starting Price at Launch $2,049.99 $2,199.99
This is also the first major change in design to the XPS since the release of the Dell XPS 13 Plus in 2022 (that design evolved to fit the 14- and 16-inch models). The XPS logo is on the lid for the first time (it was on the bottom for several years), replacing the Dell logo. The new CNC aluminum and glass chassis are just 14.62 mm thin, assuming you get an OLED screen — they bump up to just over 15 mm. The XPS 14 weighs 3 pounds,while the XPS 16 weighs 3.5 pounds, marking notedly lighter designs than their predecessors.
Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
Perhaps the best part of the redesign, however, is that the XPS 14 and 16 will get full, traditional function rows, replacing the capacitive touch row that Dell has been using since 2022.
Dell has hidden the speaker lines (I'm curious what that does to audio quality) for the 10W quad-speaker system. The 8-megapixel webcam is a new, thinner module that Dell claims to be the first to market with, reducing the space it takes up.
Each system has three Thunderbolt 4 ports over USB Type-C, along with a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Thunderbolt 4 ports work with Kensington locks, so you can use USB-C to secure your laptop to a desk.
Image 1 of 2 (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
What remains from the previous formula is a lattice-free keyboard, without spaces between the keys. This has always been divisive, but has also been adopted by HP in its OmniBook X line . Additionally, Dell is keeping the haptic touchpad to keep the wrist area an unbroken sheet of glass. This time, though, there are some faint tactile etchings outlining the boundaries on the sides. The touchpad uses the same piezo motors as before, but with enhanced force detection for better accuracy and responsiveness.
While we only had a few minutes of hands-on time at Dell’s pre-CES event, the touchpad felt excellent, and the our fingers easily oriented to the useable cursor control space, thanks to those new boundary lines.
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