A beautiful laptop that excels at almost everything… except typing

There’s a lot to like about Dell’s new XPS 14, it is arduous for me to debate it with out sounding like a complete fanboy. Its new design makes it extremely skinny and light-weight. And Intel’s Panther Lake chips give it a ton of energy, even in relation to video games. After reviving the XPS model from final yr’s ignominious rebranding, it is as if Dell was laser-focused on fixing all the problems we have had with the XPS 14 thus far.

Sadly, a shallow, unresponsive and hilariously error-prone keyboard saved me from actually loving the XPS 14. Merely put, it has bother recognizing keys for those who press them too shortly in succession. And for quick and demanding typists like myself, that results in numerous errors that disrupt your circulation. Within the final sentence alone, I counted ten instances the place I had to return and ensure commas appeared earlier than an area, or tweak easy spelling errors. What good is a quick, gentle and exquisite machine if I am unable to kind a sentence in peace?

Dell

Dell’s revamped XPS 14 is lighter and extra highly effective than ever, but it surely’s hampered by an annoying keyboard.

Execs

• Attractive and light-weight design
• Highly effective Intel chips
• Pretty OLED display
• Fixes earlier design errors

Cons

• Baffling keyboard points
• Costly for beefy configs
• Mediocre battery life

It is commonplace for laptop computer keyboards to require a little bit of consumer coaching. However my points with the XPS 14 aren’t from an absence of apply — it merely would not acknowledge key presses as shortly as each different laptop computer I’ve examined. As you possibly can see within the video beneath, fast key presses are virtually all the time acknowledged in reverse, or generally aren’t acknowledged in any respect. These points principally go away for those who kind extra slowly and intentionally, however that looks like a ridiculous compromise for a premium machine in 2026.

Dell engineers are at present testing one of many two assessment samples I acquired, each of which exhibited the very same keyboard difficulty. Different reviewers have additionally famous that they should kind extra slowly for the keyboard to work finest. Gizmodo’s Kyle Barr appears to be simply as annoyed with the keyboard as I’m, however he thinks it is because of Dell’s seamless key design, which does not have any areas between keys. My brother, who’s an IT skilled, additionally seen the enter points when he typed on the XPS 14.

I am not loopy, I swear!

In response to Dell, its engineers imagine a firmware repair might remedy my points, but it surely’s unclear when that may truly arrive. Provided that these laptops have been out within the wild for weeks, I made a decision to assessment the XPS 14 as is. TL;DR, it is the prettiest machine I’ve ever used that I hate to kind on.

Significantly, this factor is attractive. Dell’s designers outdid themselves with the machine’s clean steel case, which is extra MacBook-like than its boxy predecessors. It is astonishing this method weighs simply three kilos, placing it proper between the three.4-pound 14-inch MacBook Professional and the two.7-pound 13.6-inch MacBook Air. It is also only a third of a pound heavier than the MacBook Neo, Apple’s try at an underpowered entry-level laptop computer.

I am additionally glad to see that Dell has heard my complaints about how over-designed the final XPS line was. For instance, the corporate has caught with its “invisible” trackpad, which sits flush with the laptop computer’s wrist relaxation. However now there are two faint strains that designate the place, precisely, the trackpad begins and ends. It is a answer harking back to Apple’s MacBooks, which all characteristic giant glass trackpads separated by a light-weight border from their steel circumstances. Thanks to those two small strains, which do not detract from XPS 14’s minimalist aesthetic, I really feel extra assured swiping round.

Dell additionally reversed course on the wonky capacitive operate row from the earlier fashions — which once more, appeared cool, however had some critical usability points. It was powerful to the touch kind with them, since they did not really feel as tactile as regular keys. And most crucially, the capacitive operate row utterly disappeared in direct daylight. God forbid you had been exterior and wished to alter the quantity degree! This XPS 14 brings again a standard keyed operate row, which is less complicated to the touch kind on and truly works in direct daylight. (I generally surprise if Dell’s designers ever went exterior with the final XPS 14.)

Our assessment mannequin’s 2.8K 14-inch OLED touchscreen appeared spectacular, with daring colours and splendidly deep black ranges. However that is just about what I’ve come to anticipate from OLED by this level. I am unable to get sufficient of the additional eye sweet OLED provides to photographs and movies, and it makes an enormous distinction with video games as properly. However take be aware that OLED is just out there for the priciest XPS 14, all different fashions get a regular non-touch 2K LCD.

In relation to connectivity, three USB-C ports and a headphone jack are all you get with the brand new XPS 14. The microSD card slot from the earlier mannequin is gone, and there is additionally no HDMI or USB Sort A connections such as you’d discover on comparable techniques from ASUS and Acer. Apple’s 14-inch MacBook Professional, notably, options three USB-C ports, a full-sized HDMI slot, a big SD card reader and a headphone jack.

Past Dell’s redesign, the principle star of the XPS 14 is Intel’s new Panther Lake Core Extremely X7 358H chip, which gives some critical graphics upgrades during the last technology. Our assessment unit, which featured 32GB of RAM and Intel’s built-in Arc B390 GPU, was in a position to attain 130fps in Arc Raiders whereas taking part in in 1080p with medium graphics settings, in addition to XeSS upscaling and body technology. I used to be in a position to play by a couple of rounds with no lag — my solely distraction was the lingering realization I used to be taking part in so easily on an ultraportable’s built-in graphics.

I definitely would not advocate the XPS 14 for heavy players. However for those who’re compelled to decide on a brand new non-gaming system for work or faculty, it is definitely good that it may possibly play some trendy titles properly. I additionally noticed 63fps whereas taking part in Cyberpunk 2077 in 1080p with medium graphics settings and XeSS tech energetic. Not unhealthy for one of the crucial demanding PC video games in latest reminiscence!

Benchmarks additionally level to loads of energy below the hood: The XPS 14 scored equally to the MSI Status 14 AI+, which additionally has the Extremely X7 358H chip, in PCMark 10 and Geekbench 6. I used to be additionally stunned to see that its single-core Geekbench 6 rating was increased than ASUS’s ProArt PX13 GoPro Version, a beastly machine with 128GB of RAM and a strong AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip. The XPS 14 additionally scored 3,000 factors increased than the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI gaming laptop computer (powered by a last-gen Core Extremely 9 288V chip) in Geekbench’s multi-threaded CPU check.

Clearly, this was a progress yr for Intel’s {hardware}. Simply remember the fact that all of our figures come from Dell’s highest-end XPS 14 configuration, which at present begins at $2,250 with 64GB of RAM on the corporate’s web site. The bottom-end configuration, which begins at $1,450, comes with an Intel Core Extremely 7 355 chip, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. After I briefly examined that system (it needed to be despatched again to Dell for that keyboard difficulty), it scored 2,000 factors decrease than the Extremely X7 mannequin in PCMark 10. I did not get to sport on the entry-level XPS 14, however I would not anticipate a lot, since Intel’s beefy Arc graphics are reserved for its pricier X7 and X9 CPUs.

I used to be additionally stunned to see that the XPS 14 lasted simply 10 hours and 21 minutes in PCMark 10’s Fashionable workplace battery check. The MSI Status 14 went for a whopping 22 hours and quarter-hour — that’s much more consistent with Intel’s effectivity claims for Panther Lake techniques. I examined each the XPS 14 and MSI Status 14 in Window’s “balanced” battery profile, so that you could possibly eke out extra life with extra battery saving options turned on.

If I had been to guage the XPS 14 based mostly purely on its specs and design alone, it will be my favourite Home windows laptop computer out there right now. However I swear, I am unable to reside with its keyboard points. I needed to critically decelerate my typing simply to get this assessment written, and even then I nonetheless needed to again up and make extra corrections than standard. Dell is so shut to creating a PC that’s a real MacBook Professional competitor, it is a disgrace a easy keyboard difficulty holds the XPS 14 again from true greatness.