Dell XPS 14 (2026) review: Two steps forward

The Dell XPS 14 is back, and it was badly in need of reinvention. Following a poorly executed name change and some design choices that were made in the name of looks over functionality, the new system is a vast improvement. Starting at $1,599.99, the new Dell XPS 14 (DA14260) is lighter, smaller, and more functional than it has been in years, with a physical function row and tactile bars marking where the touchpad is. You get strong performance from Intel's new Core Ultra Series 3 processors, incredible battery life on the 1920 x 1200p model — arguably enough already to consider it as one of the best ultrabooks — with a screen boasting a variable refresh rate that goes down as low as 1 Hz.

The shallow keyboard remains divisive, but updates to the speakers and an option for a tandem OLED help make the XPS feel fresh.

Design of the Dell XPS 14 (2026)

What a difference a few small changes can make. The Dell XPS 14 is a lovely little machine that, like the Dell XPS 13 Plus and Dell 14 Premium before it, is clearly made in the image of the MacBook Air.

But while it's taken a few years, Dell has finally listened to some of the most glaring criticisms of its previous designs and improved upon most of them. First and foremost, a year after ditching the XPS brand name, Dell has brought it back and slapped it right on the lid. There's no Dell logo on the otherwise spartan aluminum top — it's all XPS. I appreciate the commitment (Dell's logo can be found on the bottom of the system, for those who care to look).

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Our system came in graphite gray. As of this writing, Dell doesn't have a lighter "platinum" version available, though Dell tells me a lighter option, "shimmer," is on the way, which should resemble a champagne shade. When you lift the lid, the XPS 14 is slightly less austere than previous models. While the display still has a minimal InfinityEdge bezel, it doesn't have the same wow factor as it did even a few years ago. Many of Dell's competitors have thinned down their bezels to match.

What is impressive is what Dell brought back and what it added: a function row and subtle barriers on either side of the touchpad. Maybe this looks less like a futuristic device, but it sure looks like a more usable one. The touchpad's barriers are subtle lines that indicate where the haptic touchpad stops. Those light lines are enough to give me more reassurance when using the device, and I never even had a real problem before.

Along the edges of the wrist rest, there is a noticeable edge. It's not sharp, but you'll notice it if you carry your laptop open by the wrist rest (which, yes, people do). However, this also seems to be a major part of how the keyboard is held in, because the deck comes out for upgrades and repairs (see upgradeability, below).

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The sides of the laptop have minimal, but just enough, ports. The left features two Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C ports), while the right features a third Thunderbolt port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Dell claims that each of the USB Type-C ports can also be used as Kensington lock slots, but I didn't have a lock to test with (I left those behind in the first Obama administration), and neither did our parent company's IT department.

The XPS 14 now starts at just 3 pounds and measures 12.19 x 8.26 x 0.58 inches. The MacBook Pro with M5 is 3.4 pounds and 212.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches. Another Core Ultra Series 3 laptop we tested, the Asus Zenbook Duo, is 12.21 x 8.21 x 0.92 inches and weighs 3.64 pounds with the keyboard (it’s heavier because it has two screens).

Dell XPS 14 (2026) Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Dell XPS 14

We tested the XPS 14 in two configurations, providing for two very different sets of benchmark numbers. The high-end model with an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H handily beat out the Intel Core Ultra 7 355. Despite both being "7" models, the X7 has twice as many cores. We also compared them to the Asus Zenbook Duo with the Core Ultra X9 388H and a MacBook Pro with Apple's M5 processor.

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On Geekbench 6, the XPS 14 with Ultra X7 388H achieved a single-core score of 2,867 and a multi-core score of 16,927. That handily beat out the XPS 14 with an Ultra 7 355, at 2,685 and 7,964 (again, that chip has far fewer cores). The Zenbook Duo's Ultra X9 388H beat the XPS 14 laptops, but it was the MacBook Pro with M5 that came out on top (4,288 / 17,926).

The only area where the cheaper Dell came out ahead of the more expensive one was on our file transfer test. Keep in mind they're using different drives; the XPS 14 with Ultra X7 388H has a 1TB Samsung drive, while the XPS 14 with Ultra 7 355 has a 512GB SSD from Sandisk. The 1TB drive copied 25GB of files at a rate of 1,419.76 MBps, while the 512GB drive completed the same task at 1,730.36 MBps.

Video transcoding with Handbrake brought the Ultra X7 chip back to victory, transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in 4 minutes and 30 seconds, while the Ultra 7 version took 6:45.

On our Cinebench 2026 stress test, it was unsurprising to see the 16-core Ultra X7 388H model deliver far higher scores than the 8-core Ultra 7. It seems to have taken a bit of time for the XPS 14's fans to catch up and deliver peak performance on the higher-level chip, however.

The Ultra X7 388H's P-cores ran at an average of 2.12 GHz, with the E-cores at 2.23 GHz, and the low-power E-cores at 1.93 GHz. For the Ultra 7 355, those speeds were 2.77 GHz for the P-cores and 2.81 GHz on the low-power E-cores.

Graphics on the Dell XPS 14 (2026)

With two different processors to test in the XPS 14, we're getting our first direct look at comparing Intel's Core Ultra Series 3 processors with 12 Xe cores (Intel Arc B390) to just 4 Xe cores (Intel Graphics). Take a guess which one won.

On 3DMark Steel Nomad, the X7 388H earned a score of 1,446, with the Ultra 7 355 reaching just 532 points. The X9 in the Zenbook Duo hit 1,483 points.

Some will be disappointed that Dell no longer offers an option with a discrete GPU from Nvidia. Personally, I'm fine with Dell keeping the XPS thin, with the powerful Arc B390 as an option.

Display on the Dell XPS 14 (2026)

We tested two different display options on the Dell XPS 14. The first was the company's new tandem OLED touchscreen with a 2880 x 1800 resolution; the other was a less colorful 1920 x 1200 non-touch option that can drop down to a 1 Hz refresh rate.

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the OLED screen is more impressive. It has more vivid colors and deeper, darker blacks. The 1200p screen is fine for spreadsheets, but as soon as I turned to watch some videos, I couldn't tear myself away from the OLED version. When I watched a trailer for The Odyssey, the sky behind Odysseus' ships didn't have the same red and orange hue on the LCD screen, and the water wasn't as dark in the foreground. Having seen them together, the LCD version just didn't look great, and that's without any regard to resolution.

While the LCD model measured brighter than the OLED model (466 nits compared to 365 nits), it mostly seemed washed out. The MacBook Pro's mini LED screen was the brightest of the bunch at 558 nits, while the Zenbook Duo's OLED screen was tested at 456 nits.

Dell's tandem OLED panel put up the best color gamut coverage numbers of the group, reaching 89.7% of the DCI-P3 space by volume and 126.6% of the sRGB gamut. The 1200p LCD screen was on the bottom, at 71.4% DCI-P3/100.8% sRGB, making it better for emails and spreadsheets than watching videos or editing photos.

Depending on how you use the device, the 1200p screen's 1 Hz refresh rate could be a boon to battery life, as it won't refresh as often when static text or images are on the screen.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Dell XPS 14

Huzzah! Dell has brought back the function row! The touch-based function keys on previous models might have looked cool, but they were functional nightmares. Once again, I can change the volume, adjust brightness, and use the home and end keys without looking — or at least know it will press the first time.

The company has still kept its lattice-free design, so there isn't any space between the keys. It's not my preferred design — I like a bit of room to help me differentiate between the keys. This also forces Dell to go with crowded arrow keys.

The lack of spacing has had an effect on my typing before, and it did with this keyboard, too. I pride myself on my touch typing, but the XPS 14 dampened it. At my fastest, I hit 105 words per minute on the monkeytype.com typing test, (I got as low as the low 90's), and my accuracy rate dropped to 95% from my usual 98-ish percent. I could feel myself missing keys.Dell is claiming just 0.8 mm of key travel, so there's not as much feedback as I’d like. It has a nice, bouncy feel, but there's not enough feedback.

The haptic touchpad, on the other hand, feels improved over prior models. It's responsive, and the addition of borders to the sides meant I never had to guess whether or not I was still in the trackpad zone. Those little raised lines in the glass deck don't take away from an otherwise clean look.

I did end up going into Windows 11's touchpad settings to increase the click intensity to match my preferences, but that's a pretty easy change.

Audio on the Dell XPS 14 (2026)

The new XPS 14 boasts a 10-watt quad speaker system, comprised of two 3W main speakers and two 2W tweeters. Dell calls this a "hidden" system because you can't see any speaker grilles. The tweeters fire out the top, and the main speakers fire out of the bottom.I was pleasantly surprised by how loud and clear these speakers were. They easily filled my apartment with Noah Kahan's "The Great Divide," with clear vocals and guitars and some crisp drum snaps in the background. There's very little low-end, though, which isn't shocking in a system of this size.

Upgradeability on the Dell XPS 14 (2026)

The good news is that despite the thin, light design, you can still open the Dell XPS 14 for select repairs and upgrades. The bad news is that it's kind of a pain, and Dell's new approach is likely partially responsible for the laptop's shallow key travel.Dell's new procedure is somewhat similar to the procedure on a Framework Laptop 13, just far trickier. On the bottom of the XPS, there are four Torx T5H screws, which are all the same size and can be removed easily enough.

Then, you have to flip the laptop, while open, onto its side, and use a spudger to poke through the two holes nearest to the hinge to dislodge the keyboard deck. In my case, my spudger was slightly too thick to get the job done. Dell's own maintenance manual suggests using a SIM removal tool or a paperclip to push it out.

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From there, you'll need to use a flat spudger or prying tool to displace three clips on each side of the keyboard deck. Then, you can carefully remove the palm rest assembly, but keep it close, as it's connected by a cable to both the battery and the motherboard. This is much like the Framework, except that the design is much easier to disassemble.Once you disconnect those cables carefully (again, I recommend the maintenance manual), you can remove the SSD heatsink if you want to swap that out. The system we opened — the OLED model — was using an M.2 2230 SSD and a bracket to fill the rest of the space, but there's room for a 2280 drive.

The battery is also removable, though it's held in by another seven screws. The Wi-Fi module is soldered to the board, as is the RAM.

The USB Type-C connectors are held in with screws, so if those break, you should be able to replace them. That's a nice touch.

Battery Life on the Dell XPS 14 (2026)

The LCD version of the XPS 14 delivered excellent battery life. It's the longest-running laptop we've seen on an x86 chip, and the highest number we've seen since 2024. That version of the system ran for 20 hours and 41 minutes on our battery test, browsing the web, streaming video, and running OpenGL tests at 150 nits of brightness.

If you get the tandem OLED display, with a higher 2880 x 1800 resolution, expect less time away from the wall. That one ran for 12 hours and 23 minutes. There, the MacBook Pro with M5 beat it at 18:14.

One note on the testing: we tested battery life from 100% charge, as is standard. However, Dell ships the XPS 14 with a default "adaptive" charge mode that can potentially lead to the battery ceasing to charge at 80% if plugged in for more than 12 hours.

To make any changes to this feature, you have to go into the BIOS. In general, this is actually good for the longevity of your battery, and there are plenty of devices out there that do this, but Dell should probably make this an opt-in feature that is easier to change via software within Windows.

Yes, it's better for your battery, but most people who plug laptops in expect them to charge to 100%.

Heat on the Dell XPS 14 (2026)

While we ran our Cinebench 2026 stress test on the XPS 14 laptops, we measured both surface temperatures (with a laser thermometer) and processor temperatures (via internal censors) to get an idea how toasty the systems could get.

The system with the Intel Core Ultra X7 388H hit 91.5 degrees Fahrenheit on the keyboard, a cool 83.5 F on the touchpad, and 104.5 on the hottest point on the bottom. The processor measured 63.57 degrees Celsius.

The cheaper Core Ultra 7 355 system hit 91.5 F on the keyboard, 84.5 F on the touchpad, and 103.5 F on the bottom. This processor actually got hotter, at 72.14 C.

Webcam on the Dell XPS 14 (2026)

Dell's XPS 14 redesign includes a new, slimmer 8-megapixel webcam that still fits above the screen, but still maintains strong image quality. In my testing, I found that the new webcam produces, sharp, clear, color-accurate images.

The webcam didn't struggle at all with our office's fluorescent lighting, reproducing the exact shades of red and navy blue in my checkered shirt. I could make out the hairs on my head and even see the stitches in my office chair.

The laptop also features IR capabilities to log in with Windows Hello facial recognition.

Software and Warranty on the Dell XPS 14 (2026)

The software preloaded on our XPS 14 review unit consisted largely of Dell's own programs. The most important is Dell Optimizer, which provides quick access to device information, thermal management, and charging options.

Dell Trusted Device gives you a security score based on firmware verification and vulnerability indicators. Dell Command checks for BIOS, driver, and firmware updates, while Dell SupportAssist duplicates those update features, and also has options for hardware scans and technical support.

Dell sells the XPS 14 (DA14260) with a one-year Dell Care Plus warranty. An upgrade to Dell Care Premium is $89 for 24/7 support and proactive software monitoring of your system.

Dell XPS 14 (2026) Configurations

We tested two of Dell's XPS 14 configurations. The first one is a high-end model with an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H feature Intel's Arc B390 integrated graphics, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB PCIe SSD, and a 2880 x 1800 tandem OLED display. That system retails for $2,199.99.

The second system is a more entry-level unit, with an Intel Core Ultra 7 355, standard Intel graphics, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 1920 x 1200p display. That one is set to launch on February 19 for $1,699.99.

As of this writing, the cheapest XPS 14 is $1,599.99 with a Core Ultra 5 325, but is otherwise identical to our cheaper review unit. There's a clear impact from the RAM crisis on these systems, which are more expensive than they have been in similar past models.

Moving from 32GB to 64GB in our Ultra X7 review unit would cost $400 in Dell's configurator. The entry-level configuration only comes with 16GB of RAM, and trying to bump up to 32GB changes several other options as well.

Bottom Line

The Dell XPS 14 is a minimalist, lightweight workhorse that has reversed most of Dell's worst sins on the premium PC line from the last few years (including restoring the XPS name where it belongs). By adding a function row and putting a border around the touchpad, the XPS feels like a more practical machine. It really is about the little things, which also include a solid webcam and speakers.

If you're going for a battery life champ, the 1200p option may be for you, lasting over 20 hours on our test. Dell's VRR screen that goes down to 1 Hz is impressive, and while I'm sure we'll see more of it, it certainly must have helped here.

Dell still has some refining to do: The lattice-free keyboard can use some work, with its exceptionally shallow keys that take time to get used to. And thanks at least in part to the ongoing RAM crisis, its starting price at $1,599.99 is tough to swallow.

But Dell is making so many of the right steps here, and it's back to making the XPS a Windows PC I can recommend for someone who wants something portable and lightweight. The XPS line still faces stiff competition from Apple's MacBooks and other high-end Windows notebooks, but it's headed in the correct direction.