Dell XPS 16 (2024) review: Performance nearly smothered in costly style

The Dell XPS 16 is the brand new big-screen productiveness laptop computer for these searching for one thing just a little extra lavish than the standard enterprise machines. It comes operating on Intel’s new Core Ultra processors and gives up discrete GPU choices for individuals who want much more energy. Its smooth design shouldn’t be confused for a light-weight one, although, and the fact of its weight and dear design put it at odds with lighter ultrabooks and extra highly effective workstation and gaming laptops alike. At $3,399, it’ll be a tough promote for anybody vaguely interested by good worth.

Looking for extra laptop computer choices? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops proper now.

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Specs and options

The Dell XPS 16 is available in a wide range of configurations with worth and efficiency capabilities various extensively. At a baseline, it would provide an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, which is a powerful place to begin, however it might go as much as an Ultra 9 185H. Memory is on the market at 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities, whereas storage begins out at 512GB however can go as much as 4TB. The system can run on Intel Arc built-in graphics solely or a discrete GPU will be added with the RTX 4050, 4060, and 4070 as choices. The remaining key affirmation choice is show, with a 1920×1200, non-touch LED show obtainable or the 3840×2400 OLED touchscreen obtainable. The lowest of those configurations begins out at $1,899. Our take a look at unit got here in at $3,399 with storage, reminiscence, GPU, and the show upgraded. 

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
• Memory: 32GB LPDDR5x
• Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 4070 (60-watt TGP, dGPU), Intel Arc (8 Xe cores, iGPU)
• Display: 16.3-inch 4K+ OLED, Touch
• Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD
• Webcam: 1080p
• Connectivity: 3x Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C with Power Delivery and DisplayPort  2.1 Alternate Mode, 1x microSD card reader, 1x 3.5mm combo audio
• Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Windows Hello fingerprint, facial recognition
• Battery capability: 99 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 14.1 x 9.4 x 0.74 inches
• Weight: 5.03 kilos
• MSRP: $3,399 as-tested ($1,899 base)

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Design and construct high quality

Dell has gone all-in on its new design for the XPS collection. Whereas prior fashions had a “Plus” within the identify serving to signify the shift towards a reimagined design of the workhorse collection, now it’s simply the mainline design. While the Dell XPS 16 nonetheless reveals the corporate’s knack for construct high quality with a smooth — albeit easy and albeit just a little MacBook-like — aluminum exterior that feels stable, it additionally boasts a design that’s as contentious for the eyes as it’s for the palms.

The design of the keyboard and trackpad area sees the most important modifications. It has the brand new design, which situates a single piece of glass alongside backside, so there’s no visible indication of the place the trackpad begins and ends. The keyboard has a bunch of completely rectangular keys with a really minor dish and tight gaps between them, and the entire operate row has been became ever-illuminated capacitive contact buttons a la Apple’s Touch Bar however with none of the multi-function magic. 

This identical design appeared fairly trendy on the sooner Dell XPS 13 Plus. But for the XPS 16, Dell was working with a bunch of additional house across the keyboard, the place it determined to wedge two massive speaker grilles which have the subtlest break from the design, however for the reason that complete design is so minimalist, even the subtleties stick out. For this all white mannequin, Dell’s white backlighting for the keyboard additionally finally ends up wanting uneven and soiled beneath the keycaps.

Despite packing a high-power processor and discrete GPU into the system, the XPS 16 depends on simply the slightest little bit of seen venting to maneuver air by means of the system, presumably taking some in by means of slits alongside the perimeters of the laptop computer and pushing it out by means of a strip underneath the sting of the show.

While the entire bundle has that typical, svelte ultrabook enchantment to it, that is no thin-and-light laptop computer. It measures nearly three-quarters of an inch thick and weighs a hair over 5 kilos. 

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Keyboard, trackpad

IDG / Mark Knapp

Dell’s redesign comes with what is perhaps the most important trackpad within the enterprise, however you wouldn’t comprehend it. The all glass chin hides the place it begins and ends utterly. It encompasses the left Alt key and the brand new Windows Copilot key and reaches only a hair shy of the house bar and a half-inch wanting the underside edge. For some perspective, it’s bigger than a Galaxy S24 Plus show. Impressively, even with its monolithic design, the trackpad nonetheless depresses naturally and gives a pleasant haptic click on when it does so. It additionally has nice palm rejection. While all that measurement is beneficial, particularly for multi-finger gestures, it leaves a vagueness for the place sure frequent actions are, like what area may end in a proper click on versus a left click on.

The trackpad isn’t as problematic because the keyboard, although. Just typing, the keys really feel just a little too stiff, making repeated presses of the identical key just a little tougher and error susceptible. The gaps between keys additionally makes it just a little too straightforward to be on the appropriate key however nonetheless catch the neighboring key on the downstroke. While I managed to succeed in a typing velocity of 121 words-per-minute in Monkeytype with 97 p.c accuracy, which is simply shy of my quickest speeds, I used to be extra usually typing round 100 words-per-minute or affected by considerably extra typos because of the keyboard.

The operate row can be an unlucky change. If you ever have to make use of an precise F key like Alt+F4, the buttons up there’ll do the job, however you’ll need to rely your method to the one you need (or maintain the Function key). Combining them with precise keys on the keyboard, resembling for Ctrl+Shift+Esc can be exceedingly awkward. And a number of faucets are not any higher, making the relegation of the Delete key to that row an annoyance. Then there’s additionally the truth that this can be a 16-inch laptop computer and it doesn’t have any further keys to supply that you simply wouldn’t discover on most 13-inch laptops — no further navigation, no quantity pad, nothing further.

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Display, audio

IDG / Mark Knapp

Things start to take a flip again in Dell’s favor with the show on the XPS 16. It’s a stunning 16.3-inch OLED panel with a Gorilla Glass 3 cowl that doesn’t endure an excessive amount of from glare, so it can save you a little bit of energy by decreasing the brightness ranges. It can fortunately attain 400 nits whereas displaying SDR content material and even exceed 600 nits exhibiting HDR content material. It has a large colour gamut, protecting 100 p.c of the DCI-P3 colour house as nicely, making it great for having fun with content material. It even has Dolby Vision help, which solely makes it all of the extra disappointing that it’s fairly onerous to entry high-quality, HDR streams on a Windows PC in comparison with a telephone or TV. 

The OLED mannequin features a touchscreen, which reveals a small array of dots that’s seen in the event you look very intently however in any other case blends in with the show. Even at a 3840×2400 decision, Dell went for a quick refresh charge, too, reaching as much as 90Hz and supporting Adaptive Sync all the way down to 48Hz. How easy that 90Hz will really really feel varies, although, as I observed clunkier movement whereas operating on built-in graphics and battery energy.

Dell’s audio system are stellar. The system combines two 3-watt foremost drivers and two 2-watt tweeters. There’s occasional high-frequency rattling within the chassis whereas listening at even simply 50% quantity (famous in the course of the intro to The Weeknd’s “I Feel It Coming”). Beyond that, the audio system sound fairly wonderful, with wealthy, full sound that basically challenges what’s on provide from most laptops. The bass doesn’t growth, however it’s extra current than you’d normally discover. There’s even surprisingly compelling stereo separation for a laptop computer. It’s a extremely phenomenal job on Dell’s half right here — perhaps sufficient to assist recover from the actual fact this 16-inch laptop computer successfully has the identical keyboard as a 13-inch mannequin. 

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Webcam, microphone, biometrics

IDG / Mark Knapp

The XPS 16 incorporates a 1080p webcam that provides a bit extra readability than you’d normally see from the run-of-the-mill 720p cams on the market. It nonetheless has that webcam-y high quality, with bland colour and noise in something however one of the best lighting circumstances. The digicam additionally gives snappy facial recognition to unlock the laptop computer. The high proper button on the keyboard has a fingerprint scanner that may additionally deal with unlocking the pc, however I discover the facial recognition normally beats it to the punch. 

The mics do a very good job selecting up my voice, and supply a fullness and readability that you simply received’t get from many Bluetooth headphones or earbuds. But it might sound just a little boxed in in comparison with audio coming by means of a headset’s growth mic or a standalone mic. 

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Connectivity

IDG / Mark Knapp

Prosumer laptops convey it relating to ports, particularly larger fashions, which have extra room to squeeze in additional ports. This helps them make up for his or her further weight by negating the necessity for an exterior dongle. Right? Not for the XPS 16. It gives three totally options Thunderbolt 4 ports that’ll deal with shows, file transfers, and energy supply, however you’re taking a look at exterior dongles if you’d like any HDMI or USB-A ports. Dell features a super-light one within the bundle that provides you a USB-A and an HDMI port. 

While there’s no knocking the capabilities of Thunderbolt 4, even only a single, correct USB-A port may have gone a good distance towards supporting extra peripherals. All Dell’s design work goes out the window as quickly as an unpleasant dongle is plugged in. Dell has included a headphone jack and a microSD card reader as nicely. But the port selection is sort of the letdown, elevating the query of who this laptop computer is de facto purported to be for. Just for a fast comparability, the MSI Prestige 16 has one fewer Thunderbolt 4 port however provides USB-A, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, and a full-size SD Card reader, and that 16-incher is definitely lighter than Dell’s.

At least it has its wi-fi connectivity in level, supporting the brand new Wi-Fi 7 customary and Bluetooth 5.4, so it’s nicely ready for the longer term. 

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Performance

Dell has packed a very good little bit of muscle into the XPS 16, because it nicely ought to have for a laptop computer weighing over 5 kilos. It boasts the brand new Intel core Ultra 7 155H, a 16-core chip we just lately noticed in motion within the MSI Prestige 16. The chip blends six efficiency cores, eight environment friendly cores, and an additional two low-power cores to supply velocity and effectivity because the state of affairs requires. That chip is backed by 32GB of LPDDR5x reminiscence and a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD. While the CPU contains Intel Arc built-in graphics, the XPS 16 additionally matches an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070, albeit a power-limited, 60-watt model. Powerful as it would sound, it’s value making an allowance for that this can be a $3,399 configuration, so upper-tier efficiency ought to be par for the course.

In our PCMark 10 take a look at, which measures normal efficiency of the system as an entire throughout a broad vary of workplace duties, the Dell XPS 16 exhibits respectable efficiency. It falls wanting the MSI Prestige 16 operating comparable {hardware}, however it plainly exceeds programs operating on earlier Intel processors and even the Acer Swift Edge 16 operating on an AMD CPU. This is an efficient indication that the Dell XPS 16 is as much as the duty of on a regular basis computing in an workplace setting. In equity to different machines, all of them are considerably lighter than the XPS 16, in order that they’re capacity to maintain cool underneath laid could also be decreased.

When it involves uncooked CPU efficiency, the Dell XPS 16 exhibits its strengths. Encoding a 32GB video file, it blew previous the competitors to complete the job in 951 seconds impressively beating the MSI Prestige 16 that had given it such a very good run for its cash in PCMark 10. We see that efficiency additional exhibited in Cinebench — a CPU-focused take a look at — the place the Dell XPS 16 stayed on the entrance of the pack by a very good margin. That went for Cinebench R15, R20, and R23. The Intel Core Ultra 7 clearly has some may and the XPS 16 is letting it run exceptionally nicely. This is all excellent news in the event you want CPU energy for tasks, because the Dell XPS 16 delivers.

The Dell XPS 16 tops that distinctive CPU efficiency off with the additional advantage of a discrete GPU. With an RTX 4070 inside, even one restricted to only 60 watts of energy, the Dell XPS 16 obliterates the built-in graphics of those opponents. In each 3DMark Time Spy, a modestly demanding 3D rendering benchmark, the XPS 16 supplied greater than double the efficiency of the MSI Prestige 16’s Arc graphics and left Intel Iris Xe and AMD Radeon 780M graphics nicely behind. For gaming, video enhancing, 3D modeling, and extra, that massive GPU benefit can be particularly helpful.

Dell’s in opposition to these ultrabook opponents being what it’s, slim designs nonetheless include compromises. For occasion, the RTX 4070 operating within the XPS 16 may blow away the built-in graphics of those competing programs, however in the event you have a look at a discrete GPU operating in a system that places a bit extra emphasis on airflow, you’ll see a distinct story. For occasion, I ran the identical Time Spy benchmark on a Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14APH8 — a compact gaming laptop computer with an RTX 4060 in it — and it scored 9,238 factors general, narrowly edging out the Dell XPS 16 though it makes use of a higher-tier GPU. It’s an identical story for the bigger Lenovo Legion 5 Pro, which additionally runs its RTX 4060 sooner than the XPS 16’s RTX 4070.

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Battery life

One profit to Dell constructing a considerably thick and heavy XPS 16 is that it may slot in a 99-watt-hour battery — as massive as they get if you wish to take them on an airplane, that comines with spectacular effectivity for severe battery life. 

In our customary battery take a look at, looping a 4K copy of the Tears of Steel quick movie with the laptop computer’s show set to 250 nits and all keyboard backlighting and wi-fi radios disabled, the Dell XPS 16 ran for a median of 975 minutes — over 15 hours. Since the XPS 16 has an OLED show, it advantages from the black letterboxing across the video on this take a look at, as these grow to be pixels the show doesn’t need to illuminate — that’s free actual property. It’s nonetheless a powerful outcome for an OLED, as LED-backlit shows are likely to have the benefit in battery life, and Dell even charges its non-OLED fashions for considerably longer battery life.

Curiously, Dell works in opposition to itself a bit. The laptop computer has a light-weight sensor that’s on by default and can alter the display brightness. In testing with this sensor enabled, our recorded battery life was solely just a little over 600 minutes (10 hours). 

While this video playback runtime is spectacular, it ought to be regarded as the excessive level for battery life. Working on the laptop computer will seemingly see much less of the show occupied by black pixels (and much more of it occupied by white pixels in spreadsheets and paperwork), growing the facility draw of the show over all. Most laptops are fairly nicely optimized for video playback as nicely, whereas work is extra prone to see the CPU and GPU ramp up and suck down loads of energy themselves. In observe, I may nonetheless simply make it by means of a workday on battery energy with the XPS 16.

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Conclusion

The Dell XPS 16 has so much to supply, however it’s a little bit of a combined up machine. It gives wonderful CPU efficiency that may rival most different ultrabooks and it packs in a discrete GPU to spice up graphical workloads. However, it comes at a excessive worth for the mix of elements and the GPU isn’t even in a position to attain its full potential within the XPS 16 chassis, which emphasis operate over type a bit an excessive amount of.

The {hardware} could also be a marvel to have a look at, however it’s rather less of a pleasure to make use of. The show and audio system come collectively splendidly, however that is no media consumption machine. Ultimately, there are some premium components packed into the XPS 16 after which an extra premium slapped on high for the elegant design and invoice of supplies. This will put the machine at odds with consumers in search of any form of worth. For anybody who doesn’t want the discrete GPU, the MSI Prestige 16 is essentially aggressive and almost half the value. And for individuals who do want actual GPU energy, they is perhaps higher served by a gaming laptop computer just like the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro that’s less expensive and, consider it or not, lower than half of a pound heavier.