Cons;
**Minimal port selection**
3 Thunderbolt ports and an Audio jack. That's it. No USB-A, HDMI or SD Reader.
**FHD display**
Having an FHD LCD display on a cheap 16" laptop would be fine, but this starts at $1750, and is simply unacceptable. FHD would be ok on the 14", but this 16" should have QHD.
**Low TDP**
XPS means Xtreme Performance System (or atleast used to). Some XPS laptops back in the day had 100W+ TDPs. But this has only 35W. At 3.7 lbs it's still a heavy laptop, so the weight doesn't justify the low TDP. How the might have fallen!
**Low End Chip**
That $1750 model comes with the Core Ultra 5 325 (8 core CPU, 4 core GPU), which is one of the entry level Panther Lake chips. You'll have to pay more ($2000+) to upgrade to the higher SKUs.
Simply put, it's bad value. The Macbook Pro 14 can be had for $1599, which is the same price as the entry XPS 14. The MBP has a better port selection (HDMI, Magsafe, SD reader), better screen (High Res Mini LED), and better chip (M5).
Theres no single feature the xps has thats better than an M3 pro from two years ago. From qoL features to actual performance. Embarassing pricing for panther lake.
The main one is the ability to run Windows, Linux, and x86 processes natively without emulation or translation layers.
The Dell XPS is a standard x86-64 laptop. It has direct, full compatibility with the entire legacy and modern Windows software ecosystem, professional CAD/engineering tools, and a vast array of niche Linux packages and drivers that are not yet and may never be optimized or available for ARM.
If your workflow depends on specific x86 Windows applications, proprietary enterprise software, or certain development environments, the XPS (and basically all non apple laptops and desktops and servers) isn't just better, it's the only viable option. The M3's performance is irrelevant if it can't run the software you need without significant compromises in compatibility, performance, or licensing.
>isn't just better, it's the only viable option.
No it's not. Lots of lower priced arrow and lunar lake's and strip points that'll offer much better value.
Oh, so now it's about value?
Your point about lower-priced Lunar Lake and Strix Point laptops is valid, but it's also irrelevant to the XPS's specific market.
Let's be real, a high-end XPS isn't bought for raw performance-per-dollar. It's bought as a status object. The kind of shiny thing you give to executives or high-level client-facing staff. Its job is to look sleek on a desk in a board meeting, open emails, run a PowerPoint, and signal premium to a client. For that niche, the brand and the aesthetic are the features, and the price is part of the branding.
>Let's be real, a high-end XPS isn't bought for raw performance-per-dollar.
**2023 XPS15** has TWO internal ssd slots, a full-size SD card slot, RTX 4070, non-soldered RAM, and hands-down the best laptop screen in the industry for color work (3k OLED).
I don't know what you are smoking but even a 2023 XPS15 was perfectly capable of doing fantastic Graphic Design, Photo work, Video work, and other real big boy tasks. Yes, the cooling sucked dick, and the battery life wasn't great, but that was **because** they were shoehorning fantastic hardware into a body that was too small. I have zero problem with that, and it hardly makes it a powerpoint device.
I mean the same sort of thinking is why I see iMacs on receptionist desks at some offices even though everyone inside are using windows PC, there is merit to their argument
Depends on what company is this. In a company I work in software dev role 80% of all computers are macbooks (way more than a few years ago, dell precisions are absolute trash in comparison).
For my personal CAD use F360 runs well enough on macos but obviously if you need something like solidworks it's a non starter
That is debatable. Generally OLED screens are much better than Apple's miniLED screens, especially because the latter have very slow response times. XPS 16 is also significantly lighter than MBP16. I also don't like MBP keyboards with their shallow key travels.
miniLEDs have slower responses than oled but not of a concern to most people. OLED can also be more fatiguing because of PWM and Macbooks have good antiglare coating a lot of windows oleds lack. MB 15 air still better if you want lighter lol
It’s been near ten years since AR coating was applied to XPS. And generally, most Windows laptops above a certain price range come with AR coating. Samsung’s Galaxy Book series, which produces most of the OLED panels, is a representative example, and many models from Asus, Dell, and HP also feature AR coating.
Yes you just proved my point that it is "debatable". :)
People have different preferences, I generally find MBP hardware to be mediocre --- garbage screen, shallow keyboard, lack of Dolby software, etc. To me, the only thing it has a clear advantage is the CPU, but otherwise MBPs are quite compromised in many aspects.
Also I'm not saying all mini LEDs are bad --- there are many non-Apple miniLEDs that have acceptable response times --- it is that Apple's mini LEDs specifically have horrendous response times, which makes it terrible for motion. So, it is much worse than OLED for any kind of media consumption. MBA 15 is not a bad machine but obviously a tier below than higher-end Windows laptops --- Windows laptops have much better screen, much better speakers, better keyboards, etc.
So again, it depends on your preferences and your use case.
> Theres no single feature the xps has thats better than an M3 pro from two years ago.
To be fair, isn't that most any windows laptop not being used for some specialised workflow? Unless you desperately need Windows, a macbook is almost always going to be better at this point.
I have had to support windows and Macs (as well as iPhones and androids) in a corporate environment for a while now, and while you are technically correct there is a large subsection of people where the productivity loss of having to learn an operating system they are not comfortable with is not worth whatever other hardware benefits the device may have.
This is not an apples to apples comparison, but one of our clients started making their users use corporate supplied phones, and they picked iPhone to be their company phone. For several months afterwards a significant call driver to our service desk was android users calling to vent frustrations about their company phones. Nothing was wrong with the phones, they hated the OS and were upset they were being forced to use it, and were making our L1s walk them through very tedious tutorials more or less.
That’s an extreme example but illustrative of why a lot of people are waiting around for a viable windows competitor instead of just getting a MacBook. People get very attached to the way they have being doing things for years and don’t want to start from scratch
You're 100% right about this. I've been using Windows since Windows 3.1 came out in 1992. Asking me to start using Apple now would be like asking me to learn Sanskrit and start doing business in that language instead of in English; it would be simpler to just switch jobs than to learn a new operating system. Ditto switching from Android to iOS - there have been times my wife has handed me her phone, and even though I know her PIN to start it, I'll spend a full 60 seconds doing at the screen trying every way I can to get a PIN input screen before just handing it back to her to open it with her facial recognition.
macs are better about this than iphones. I had no issues switching to mac while I'm almost unable to use my work iphone (no idea how people use this crap)
The very first thing I open on my computer every day, the thing i spend more time interacting with than any other application, is File Explorer. My understanding is that Macs don't even have an equivalent to File Explorer for establishing a file tree.
Yeah it's just too little too late. Dell wasted so much time on the failure that is the previous design while the rest of the industry, Apple at the front just leapfrogged them. Now they have to play catch up, at a time when making consumer electronics is more expensive than ever so they can't even compete on pricing.
so if they drop the m5 pro and max in the next few weeks what is supposed to happen with this oled redesign? a refresh? painfully can only get it on M5 Airs for another year or more?
I think they’ll take it slow. This time it’s thinness, but the port selection will remain the same. Next time they’ll do that again and flirt with port removal and see how things go. That’s my guess anyway.
This has been the case for YEARS. Apple finally admitted going thinner at all costs was a bit shit and that everyone hated the Touch Bar. They started making the MacBooks thicker to add back more ports and went back to actual keyboard keys. Everyone rejoiced.
Dell saw this as their chance to replace the whole top row of the keyboard with capacitive touch buttons so they could make the XPS a couple millimeters thinner.
Yeah, like I'm going to carry around a dongle to be able to connect a USB mouse or flash drive to the XPS.
And I'm willing to bet Dell sells said dongles separately for that upcharge.
eh the only really bad one is SD card, i feel like most high end monitors have a usb c port and wired peripherals might aswell use an adapter its wired either way
thats kind of funny. they got a pretty attractive design this time around so they figured they would basically slack off on not just one aspect, not just a few, but ALL of the rest of the specs. And probably still sell a bunch of them just because it looks nice.
In fairness, this is the absolute entry-level model you're talking about, and entry-level XPS have always been kind of garbage. I got an $800 XPS13 in 2019 and it was a 35W TPD model with a 1080p LCD screen and 8 GB RAM. It could do basic tasks and that was about it. Then I got a $2,500 XPS15 in 2023 with an i9-13900h, 130W TPD, an RTX 4060, 32 GB RAM, and a 4k-ish OLED touchscreen, and it's still amazing.
The top level of the XPS 16 range sounds like it's essentially the same as my 2023 XPS 15 except with a more powerful CPU and an integrated GPU more powerful than my dedicated GPU, even at a lower power draw.
Your RTX 4060 is significantly faster than the iGPU in this new model.
The gap is closing of course but yeah, not there yet. Particularly with the silly low TDP Dell have configured for this model.
The advantage the iGPU has is being able to access more memory of course but in terms of power it doesn't match a 4060M.
>Your RTX 4060 is significantly faster than the iGPU in this new model.
would a piddly [40W RTX 4060 that XPSes always have](https://www.rtings.com/laptop/reviews/dell/xps-15-2023) really be any faster than the B390 tho?
> Your RTX 4060 is significantly faster than the iGPU in this new model.The gap is closing of course but yeah, not there yet.
The gap is not close at all here because it’s only the 4EU version and not B390.
Honestly I've had a 2021 XPS for 4 years I use a lot of things but I don't understand why we still need USB-A ports?
The HDMI port is a bit annoying but now you can just have HDMI over USB-C anyway
But I agree that the old ledge should be standard
Because of the mountain of legacy devices already in the world. 95% of my peripherals are Type A. There is no point in replacing dozens of gadgets and gizmos that work perfectly fine just to get a "new" version that does the same thing but has a Type-C end. It would be a massive, wasteful expense and a pointless drain on resources.
For perspective I have at least seven different hubs at home, in the office, and in two studios, all built around Type-A. Am I supposed to change out close to 60 devices now? And for what benefit? To say I did?
Take USB flash drives as an example. I have around £300 worth of Type-A drives. I could replace them, but why? While my laptop has Type-C, virtually every desktop in our office, which are all less than a year old from a recent Windows 11 refresh has maybe one Type-C port (some have none), but they all have 4-8 Type-A ports. Giving a Type-C drive to a colleague would be an immediate problem. The same goes for smart screens, projectors, TVs, and almost every other device from the last 10 years.
As for me, I do like Type-C for charging and some data transfer. I actualy dont even use type C for my phone I have the magnetic ones. But for anything permanent or semi-permanent, I vastly prefer Type-A on the host side. It’s a much stronger, more robust connector that can take years of plugging and unplugging. I also prefer the old, solid full-size Type B and USB 3.0 Type B plugs for static devices like printers, scanners, audio interfaces, and docks they lock in and don't feel like they'll snap.
I genuinely dislike how nothing feels solid anymore. Thunderbolt and Type-C connectors are, in my experience, flimsy. The benefit of them being reversible does not, in any way, make up for their lack of physical durability for me.
I went the opposite direction everything is USBC because that way it's universal I can charge from anything in my house even if it's slow charge is my laptop.
I love the convenience of one connector to rule them all
Well yeah, okay. For a simple home where you just charge your phone and laptop, that’s a nice convenience.
But that’s a personal choice, not a realistic solution for any actual professional environment.
That's why, outside of consumer tech blogs, the one connector utopia is treated as a total pipe dream. It ignores the physical and economic reality of every functioning business.
> Because of the mountain of legacy devices already in the world. 95% of my peripherals are Type A.
i don't think this adequately demonstrates how many legacy peripherals use USB-A, and its not just "legacy" items
you could contently fill the grand canyon with stuff that still uses A and will likely never swap over to C that people use on a daily basis
> Honestly I've had a 2021 XPS for 4 years I use a lot of things but I don't understand why we still need USB-A ports?
On corporate laptops, it's for everyone who keeps the dongle for their wireless mouse at all times, and those are USB-A 99% of the time.
> The HDMI port is a bit annoying but now you can just have HDMI over USB-C anyway
More than annoying. It's funny how my workplace saw a proliferation of Macbook laptops once the HDMI port reappeared.
Dude anyone is still uses a wireless withf dongle is crazy...
Dell literally sells a Bluetooth rechargeable USB-C mouse that is a great mouse I've had it for years It's even responsive and fast
Only 3 Thunderbolt ports plus an audio jack on a 16 inch laptop? And here I thought my Framework 13 with its 4 Thunderbolt ports and the audio jack is a bit limiting if I wanted to avoid dongles completely lol.
this is utterly embarrassing. they f’d it up so bad for several years straight by cloning mac’s long-deprecated touchbar to replace the function key row, then replacing the beloved xps branding in order to copy apple’s branding scheme. after the slew of blunders, they now crippled this model which is supposedly to compete with the macbook pro line, by giving it even fewer I/O options (mbp has TB5, HDMI, SD), and underpowered specs
what the actual f is wrong with the top execs at dell
>what the actual f is wrong with the top execs at dell
My theory is that if you get too rich then you become accustomed to an easy life. You become complacent and your brain's thought process gets altered so much that you cannot comprehend what an average person wants or likes. They get so into their whole A/B testing on simple stuff like how the public will receive things based on branding/logo etc and lose sight of what really matters.
Not all super wealthy people are affected this way but a significant portion are. Their ego gets puffed up so much that they can't even accept the fact that their idea was a failure and they'll keep on doubling down. You would think that it would eventually lead to their ruin but society has been so numbed to this due to complacent news, politicians and social media (also owned by rich assholes) that most of these just keep failing upwards
Bad value but for those of us that want a thin light low noise laptop that’s not oled and premium build what other option is there besides the 14. I ordered mine today and while I feel like the price is ridiculous there is no other laptop that I can find that will play my games quietly for 2.5 hours on battery and not give me motion sickness with a oled panel.
The gaming situation on Snapdragon X is surprisingly good.
[https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtStgcR51D\_rYGJpvPAWjlaklDcY8slTv&si=KTIz5GFF9UEuviLh](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtStgcR51D_rYGJpvPAWjlaklDcY8slTv&si=KTIz5GFF9UEuviLh)
I have no doubt that snapdragon X2 generation is better than X1. However, that doesn't necessarily mean it will sell better than the first gen. Apart from some devoted circles, the enthusiasm is quite muted this time, and rivals are offering compelling products (Panther Lake, M5).
Everybody hates WoA. The whole realm hates it from Dorne to the Wall. Old men hate it with their death rattle and unborn children hate it in their mothers' wombs. No one wants WoA for their laptop.
i didnt say sell at all, idk how it will sell. Also, it's muted until we get actual devices and reviews, let's see. Lunar Lake was launched alongside the X1
I think the amount of power they're packing in the 35W might still make it Xtreme Performance System worthy. Reviews of these Intel Processors are encouraging, but it is odd that when the reviews compare processors that they're using the top Intel mobile processor against Apple's bottom of the line M5 though.
With ports, that's what Apple did with their first M-series processor Macbook Pros and I didn't mind it too much. Just get a Thunderbolt or USB-C port replicator. It's a bit painful still, but it works. I do that with my current MacBook anyway out of convenience. I'm guessing that Dell will add the desired ports to a future version of the laptop.
Apple puts high resolution displays even on their low end offerings, so the FHD display is a very valid complaint. Hopefully, it's at least a good brightness and color space.
>but this 16" should have QHD.
Doing that would tank the battery life because the 16" has the same 70 Wh battery size as the 14". They put themselves into a corner by going for those exclusive silicon carbon batteries.
U reckon? 1.65kg for 16" and 1.36kg for 14" is not bad at all. The 14" is definitely heavier than a lot of competitors, but the amount they dropped the 16" weight (the previous model was 2.13kg) is quite impressive.
Yeah that's fair enough! Like they talked about how small and compact the 14" was, but really haven't done as much as they should have with the weight.
But I suppose maybe their commercial customer base does not care about that too much and so they choose not to bother. Who knows
You are objectively wrong. His reviews have a nice homely vibe (honarary mention to Lisa from MobileTechReview), which is a breath of fresh air compared to all the other flashy and shouty youtubers.
He plays it too safe. Never has any strong criticism of a product. Never extensively tests flaws, always uses mild language and is never rigorous in his testing.. His reviews are very unuseful if you really want to guage a product which everyone does.
Well I bought best buy open box Dell XPS 14 OLED 32gb 2024 model for 650 usd. Probably the best value ever. Can't complain, first time having a real premium device
Once upon a time, the Dell XPS was one of the few laptops that could equal the Macbook Pro, particularly in build quality and speakers.
However, since the debut of the Apple Silicon and the Macbook Pro redesign, their dates have diverged. It's not just about chips. Dell did a redesign copying the worst aspects of the *old* Macbooks such as the Touch Bar and minimal port selection. Also the invisible glass trackpad, which isn't objectively bad (now that they seemed to have fixed the reliability issues and etched a line to indicate the touch sensitive area).
It runs hot, its extremely expensive especially for 16gb of ram, the GPU isn't fully powered so it wont out perform any laptops with the same GPU, plus you have to know how to actually gimp the CPU to actually get good battery life becuase its not good out of the box.
It's a good laptop for what it is: thin-and-light gaming. However it's not perfect and has it's flaws; Runs hot and loud due to the thin chassis, the build quality is not the best (plastic hinge- really?)...
An overhyped, overpriced, f\*ing stupid laptop. No USB A or HDMI on a 13 inch machine is bad enough. On a 16 inch it is just disgusting. Then they slap in a tiny 70Wh battery like it is a MacBook Air. Who the hell is buying this garbage?
When?
I say this because I have been surprised that LTT have completely ignored the Panther Lake laptop releases, either they're working on some big review or are just going to ignore it.
Yeah, they blew the bill of materials on useless things such as the exclusive 70 Wh silicon-carbon battery, which is why both the XPS 14 and 16 have the same battery capacity. A normal but bigger 99 Wh battery would have cost as much, but would be more useful.
A 99wh that takes 1000+ cycles to drop to 70% of its original capacity, and you’ll still have more juice for each and every one of those 1000 cycles you use it before it reaches the day 1 level of this garbage.
I own a 2K USD promax, and I own an even more expensive XPS before it . the pro max has so much better build quality than the xps and its not even funny.
I agree with half of it...but there are almost no instances where I need either a USB-A or an HDMI, so none of that matters to me. If I'm using an external monitor, I'm using a docking station or can use a Thunderbolt->HDMI adapter if necessary.
I believe this is them just mindlessly copying Apple. It was a really stupid Apple Idea and its 10x worse when using in on PC. Dont give them excuses. there is zero downsides of including essential ports on large laptops.
Apple users suffer from dongle embarrassment when working so hard in Star Bucks, fact is all USB ports are becoming type C, it’s only old and cheap devices/gadgets that still ship with A and thus holding back innovation
While I don't care about having it, it's noteworthy that every asus laptop that competes with this XPS (various zenbooks and the zephyrus g16) all have USB-A ports.
So it clearly matters to some people.
Can I also complain about something? This is a 16" laptop with reasonable specs, you could say products like this are positioned to appeal to creators, professionals etc - it's not ideal but conceivably it could be used for video, 3D work etc on the go.
But where is the numpad? There is acres of space around the keyboard, many 15.6" laptops in the past included one. Using certain software without one is pain.
Man, I loved the Dell XPS range. Solid machines that just ran and ran. Years later they looked as good as the day you got it.
I gave my last one to a colleague who had it stolen on a night out. Sad times.
Dell sucks. I found that out nearly 10 years ago after owning an alienware. They continue to suck. Their xps laptops are better than their other offerings but the pricing sucks. Add to this the way they push that shitty mcafee add-on and their extended warranty just makes you wanna skip whatever products they make
wtf happened to the xps line?
I have an old xps laptop that isn’t even compatible with windows 11 because it’s so old (only because of the arbitrary processor cut off date), but I slapped Linux on it and I still use it every week.
An overhyped, overpriced, @&\*ing stupid laptop. No USB-A or HDMI on a 13 inch machine is a deal breaker. On a 16 inch machine it is disgusting. Seriously who the hell is buying this crap?
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