Dell XPS 14 9440: Two minute assessment
The Dell XPS 14 is the most recent entrant into an already storied line of laptops, and it’s arguably the best laptop of this latest crop of XPS units due to its highly effective new processor, gorgeous OLED show, and a design that appears higher than simply about another Windows laptop computer in the marketplace.
The XPS 14 9440 begins at a considerably expensive $1,499 / £1,599 / AU$2,998.60, and it lacks the devoted Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU and OLED show, so you will wish to improve these two specs particularly, although it would find yourself costing you rather more for the privilege.
To be clear, Dell XPS laptops have by no means been low cost, however my advisable configuration, the identical because the one I reviewed, will set you again practically $2,400 / £2,650 / AU$4,300. For the {hardware} packed into such a slim 14-inch type issue, it is greater than well worth the funding as this laptop computer will final for years earlier than it turns into out of date.
In phrases of design, the XPS 14 absolutely commits to the design modifications that the Dell XPS 13 Plus launched again in 2022, however introduces a few quality-of-life enhancements on its smaller cousin.
For one, the down-firing audio system have been moved up high alongside the keyboard, producing much better sound in trade for diminishing the XPS 13 Plus’s infinity edge-style keyboard. This is a significantly better design selection, finally, and you do not sacrifice a lot in the best way of key area on the deck itself.
The show is what actually steals the present right here: a stunning 3.2K OLED show with super-slim bezels. This latter function is spectacular as a result of Dell has one way or the other managed to squeeze in a 1080p webcam. There’s no bodily privateness shutter, however that is by no means actually been Dell’s factor, sadly.
The Dell XPS 14’s Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and the Nvidia RTX 4050 ship highly effective efficiency throughout all workloads, and in some circumstances may even match or exceed what you’d get from a MacBook Pro 14-inch, particularly for gaming (although the RTX 4050 is not practically highly effective sufficient to maintain up with the best gaming laptops).
Overall, the Dell XPS 14 9440 is a strong performer for all the pieces from on a regular basis computing use to 1080p gaming to reasonable content material creation. It’s an costly funding, however on stability, it is one of many best Windows laptops you should purchase proper now.
Dell XPS 14 9440: Price and availability
- How a lot does it price? Starting at $1,499 / £1,599 / AU$2,998.60
- When is it out? It’s obtainable proper now
- Where are you able to get it? You can get it within the US, UK, and Australia
The Dell XPS 14 9440 is out there now within the US, UK, and Australia, beginning at $1,499 / £1,599 / AU$2,998.60. For that value, you get an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor with built-in Arc graphics, 16GB LPDDR5x reminiscence, 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD storage, and a 14.5-inch full HD+ (1920x1200p) non-touch show.
My assessment unit, which sells for $900 / £1,050 / AU$1,300 extra, upgrades to discrete graphics with an Nvidia RTX 4050 (30W) GPU, 32GB LPDDR5x reminiscence, 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD, and a 14.5-inch 3.2K (3200x2000p) OLED show.
You can max out your configuration with 64GB LPDDR5x RAM and 4TB M.2 PCIe SSD, along with the above, for $3,399 / £3,238.99 / AU$5,999.40.
Dell XPS 14 9440: Specs
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Base configuration | Review configuration | Max configuration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $1,499 / £1,599 / AU$2,998.60 | $2,399 / £2,649 / AU$4,298.80 | $3,399 / £3,238.99 / AU$5,999.40 |
| CPU | Intel Core Ultra 7 155H | Intel Core Ultra 7 155H | Intel Core Ultra 7 155H |
| GPU | Intel Arc Graphics | Nvidia RTX 4050 (30W) | Nvidia RTX 4050 (30W) |
| Memory | 16GB LPDDR5x | 32GB LPDDR5x | 64GB LPDDR5x |
| Storage | 512GB PCIe SSD | 1TB PCIe SSD | 4TB PCIe SSD |
| Display | 14.5-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) InfinityEdge, 500-nits | 14.5-inch 3.2K 93200 x 2000) OLED Infinity Edge Touch | 14.5-inch 3.2K 93200 x 2000) OLED Infinity Edge Touch |
Dell XPS 14 9440: Design
- Gorgeous design
- OLED show is gorgeous
- Upfiring audio system
The Dell XPS 14 does not shrink back from the design selections that the XPS 13 Plus launched, for higher or for worse, nevertheless it does make some crucial enhancements to the earlier design iterations.
For one, let’s discuss top-firing audio system. Down-firing audio system are genuinely horrible. They may be essential, however they’re horrible, and any time we will get top-firing audio system on a laptop computer, your audio expertise is routinely going to enhance considerably.
The exterior end is available in two colours: Platinum or Graphite. The end is a CNC machined aluminum with a glass palm relaxation, and all the pieces about it feels premium. The chasis itself is not all that heavy, nevertheless it’s not as gentle as one thing just like the LG Gram or a few of the greatest ultrabooks that prioritize portability over efficiency.
For ports, you may have three Thunderbolt 4 ports with energy supply and DisplayPort output, a 3.5mm combo jack, and a microSD slot. Given its measurement, I’m not anticipating all that a lot on the ports entrance, nevertheless it’s good to see the microSD slot included since this not less than offers some flexibility for artistic professionals or those that might need a tool that saves to microSD, like one of many best drone fashions.
As for the keyboard, that is one space that is not so nice, for the reason that practically flat floor of the keys makes it troublesome for contact typers who’re used to a bit extra definition to seek out their place among the many keys. You’ll get used to it, nevertheless it’s not one of the best typing expertise I’ve ever had on a keyboard out of the field.
Another main concern is the trackpad, in that it is invisible. This does give the laptop computer a little bit of a ‘future’ really feel to it, however at the price of accessibility. Likewise, the touchbar alongside the highest is rather than precise operate keys. All of those options work superb sufficient for me, however I can see somebody with diminished imaginative and prescient battling this keyboard and trackpad.
Next, you may have the webcam. Somehow, Dell managed to suit a 1080p webcam into the slender high bezel of the show panel, and it is a welcome addition. Too many laptops skip the 1080p webcam with the intention to retain the skinny bezels, and that was superb within the pre-work-from-home period, however these days, you want a top quality webcam, there’s simply no getting round it.
Finally, the air consumption on the Dell XPS 14 is available in from the aspect and bleeds out the again although a vent beneath the show hinge. The warmth administration is okay, however given its skinny type issue, the underside can get sizzling underneath load.
As far as Windows laptops go, that is probably one of many best-looking laptops going. There are some who will not love—and even like—the planar-leveled keyboard and lack of bodily operate keys or clearly outlined trackpad, however general, there’s far more to love right here than to nitpick, particularly when you’re choosing the OLED show.
Dell XPS 14 9440: Performance
- Excellent all-around efficiency
- Surprisingly aggressive in opposition to the MacBook Pro for artistic work
- Fantastic productiveness and stable gaming efficiency
Finally we come right down to the efficiency of the Dell XPS 14, and I can undoubtedly say that it’s among the many greatest you are going to get on a laptop computer proper now.
The direct rival of the Dell XPS 14 is the Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch with M3 Pro, and the XPS 14 holds its personal in opposition to one of the best Apple has to supply by way of basic efficiency, options superior gaming efficiency, and likewise manages to battle the MacBook Pro 14 to a draw for some typical artistic workloads.
While the MacBook Pro 14-inch finally affords higher single-core efficiency and barely higher multicore efficiency, the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H paired with an Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU does an admirable job in opposition to one in all Apple’s best processors.
In phrases of general system efficiency, the MacBook Pro 14 with M3 Pro (11-core) does handle to attain about 23% higher in our Crossmark benchmark, in addition to scoring about 12% higher in Geekbench 6.2’s multicore efficiency check.
The two laptops are evenly matched for SSD efficiency, and the MacBook Pro 14-inch scores higher in 3DMark’s Wildlife Extreme and Wildlife Extreme Unlimited. The RTX 4050 within the XPS 14, in the meantime, pulls forward of the M3 Pro’s GPU in Solar Bay and Solar Bay Unlimited, that are ray-tracing workloads, so this should not be shocking as Nvidia’s {hardware} can deal with ray tracing much better than Apple’s chips proper now.
In phrases of artistic efficiency, the Nvidia RTX GPU within the XPS 14 will outperform just about any comparable Apple gadget with regards to 3D modeling, since nearly each 3D modeling device depends on Nvidia’s CUDA instruction set, so Apple, AMD, and Intel will all the time be at a drawback.
When it involves video encoding, the XPS 14 manages to encode a 4K video into 1080p about 7% sooner in Handbrake 1.7, although relying on the app you are utilizing, Apple’s specialised encoding engine may be determinative. If you are a artistic professional working in movie and video, you will know which instruments play greatest with Apple and which lean in the direction of Nvidia, so which is healthier will come right down to the instruments you will finally want to make use of.
Finally, taking the common 1200p gaming efficiency on Max settings, the Dell XPS 14 does a greater job than the MacBook Pro 14 throughout the board. The XPS 14 does about 62% higher with Civilization VI, getting practically 90 fps at 1200p with efficiency and reminiscence impression set to max. In Total War: Warhammer III’s battle benchmark, the XPS 14 will get round 40 fps, which is about 25% increased than the MacBook Pro 14-inch’s 32 fps. It’s solely in Shadow of the Tomb Raider that the MacBook Pro 14-inch scores a win, getting 48 fps at 1200p on highest settings, whereas the Dell XPS 14 manages to get 47 fps, however there’s an enormous caveat there.
This does not issue within the RTX 4050’s DLSS upscaler, which may push the XPS 14’s fps a lot increased than that, relying on the settings you choose. This is a large benefit for the XPS 14 that, for proper now not less than, Apple’s best MacBook struggles to counter since its upscaler, Apple MetalFX, is developer-dependent, and never numerous video games embrace it as an possibility.
In the top, then, the Dell XPS 14 manages to go toe-to-toe with the venerable MacBook Pro 14 and comes out with some crucial wins within the course of.
Dell XPS 14 9440: Battery life
- Intel Evo is again, child!
- Charges to full in lower than 90 minutes
Intel chips haven’t had good battery life for years. Back in 2020, Intel Evo was an enormous deal, and one in all its largest qualifiers was attaining greater than 9 hours of battery life on a normal battery check. With the 12th-gen Intel Alder Lake laptop computer processors launched in 2021, battery life on Intel laptops completely tanked, and Intel Evo light away for a number of years as Intel went by way of Alder Lake, Raptor Lake, and Raptor Lake Refresh, all of which had usually horrible battery life (even on an ultrabook!).
Now, with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, Intel appears to have refocused itself on extra battery effectivity somewhat than dumping electrons into most efficiency.
The Dell XPS 14 advantages with a nine-hour 35-minute battery life on our proprietary net browsing check, which is much better than the six or seven hours these laptops have been getting only a 12 months or two in the past.
Under heavier load, the XPS 14 nonetheless struggles to get greater than seven hours of battery life on PCMark 10’s Modern Office battery check, and the PCMark 10 Gaming battery check solely ran for about one hour 50 minutes earlier than shutting down.
These are a far cry from what Apple is ready to pull off with the MacBook Pro 14-inch with M3 Pro, which lasted about 17 hours 32 minutes in our battery assessments, however realizing the place Windows laptops have been up to now couple of years, I’ll gladly take a laptop computer that may final a full workday with out a cost.
Should you purchase a Dell XPS 14 9440?
Buy the Dell XPS 14 9440 if…
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Dell XPS 14 9440: Report card
| Value | While it may well get very costly, the Dell XPS 14 begins at a reasonably cheap value and provides you good specs for the funding. | 4 / 5 |
| Design | This is well among the best trying Windows laptops you should purchase, even when a few of its design quirks will irk some and will likely be a deal breaker for a number of individuals. | 4.5 / 5 |
| Performance | The XPS 14 goes toe-to-toe with the MacBook Pro 14-inch with M3 Pro and manages to stroll away with its head held excessive. | 5 / 5 |
| Battery Life | While not practically as long-lasting because the MacBook Pro 14-inch, the Dell XPS 14 will get respectable battery life for a Windows laptop computer. | 4 / 5 |
| Total | The Dell XPS 14 is without doubt one of the greatest laptops I’ve examined this 12 months, and whereas it is an funding, it will pay dividends for a few years to come back. | 4.38 / 5 |
- First reviewed April 2024
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