Is the New Dell XPS 14 Worth the Hype? A Look at Specs and Performance

The New Dell XPS 14 boasts a sleek new layout shared with the entire XPS lineup this 12 months. While upgrades have been made over the XPS 13 Plus, the 14-inch version still less popular.

Despite the hidden trackpad and capacitive touch function row, the XPS 13 Plus face overheated issue. Additionally, it had poor battery life. Thankfully, the XPS 14 avoids these problems totally. It runs cooler and offers double the battery life (12 hours) compared to the 13 Plus (6 hours), despite an non-obligatory effective pix card and a bigger OLED display. This is an enormous improvement.

The XPS 14 gives greater ports (3 Thunderbolt 4s, an audio jack, and a microSD slot) and magnificent configurability (up to 64GB RAM and 4TB garage). Nonetheless, the starting price of $1,500 makes it expensive, especially considering some comparable laptops that slightly cost less.

However, the improvements come at a fee – a compromised typing enjoy. The shallow keys feel springy and lack the enjoyable tactility of a traditional keyboard. Additionally, the closely spaced keys and the lack of a dedicated feature row disrupt muscle reminiscence, leading to frequent typos and frustration.

The invisible haptic trackpad, at the same time as aesthetically pleasing, requires extra unique actions compared to a conventional one. On several events, the reviewer observed the usage of the touchscreen for navigation to be extra green.

Another usability hiccup – the strength button. It blends seamlessly into the keyboard and does not use a visible distinction, making it easy to miss entirely.

While the elective RTX 4050 GPU complements photographs performance, the XPS 14 isn’t built for hardcore gaming. Other laptops, just like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, provide greater powerful hardware and gaming-particular functions for a lower price.

The XPS 14 struggles to compete with the MacBook Pro as properly. The base version MacBook Pro outperforms it in benchmarks, and even as Apple eliminated its arguable touch bar, Dell implemented a much less intuitive one. The invisible haptic trackpad, despite its glossy appearance, proves barely much less user-pleasant than the MacBook Pro’s conventional trackpad. Additionally, the MacBook Pro keyboard is superior, as was the previous XPS 15 keyboard.

The XPS 14 provides a more potent case against a few Windows laptops just like the Asus Zenbook 14X OLED. However, its rate tag remains a hurdle. If worrying duties like 3D modeling or video enhancing are not for your time table, choosing incorporated pictures can save you $400.

With the imminent release of the $1,300 Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered XPS 13, it’s smart to watch for critiques earlier than committing to buy any Dell XPS. In end, the XPS 14 staggering specs falls short in normal use due to its keyboard and design choices.