The Dell XPS 14 is back with a vengeance – but is this high-end laptop worth the premium price tag?

Dell's culling of the XPS moniker in 2025 as part of a massive product refresh underscored one of the most befuddling branding decisions in hardware history. The name recognition alone is worth its weight in gold, not to mention the XPS' history of elite performance and exquisite design. More than a year on, and here we are. Dell's mea culpa is clear and contrite, evidenced by the choice to scrap the iconic 'DELL' logo from the chassis of three new models and instead brandish them with 'XPS' alone.

We've got our hands on a mid-powered XPS 14 (fitted with an Intel Core Ultra 5 300 Series processor), a laptop that feels just as premium as you'd expect but perhaps a bit friendlier on your budget given the toned-down configuration. Dell's high-end enterprise lineup was a little lost in the XPS' absence, with the Dell 14 Premium (its spiritual successor) proving a pale imitation of the once great enterprise laptop. Can the new XPS 14 show that it's more than just a change of logo, and once again transcend the ordinary for a new generation?

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Dell XPS 14 review: Design and display

You should look at an XPS laptop and be overcome with an immediate feeling that it's a premium machine that's a cut above the rest. Dell failed to capture that exact mood with the most recent handful of generations of XPS machines – but absolutely achieves that with this resurrected model.

The graphite-shaded Storm-colored chassis adopts a new unibody structure that combines premium CNC aluminum with a Gorilla Glass 3 layer atop the palm rests for a cool and comfortable touch. There are several lovely touches to its overall design, including minimalist parting lines to denote the touchpad, as well as an outer raised lining to the chassis so that the pristine gapless keyboard doesn't make contact with the outer fabric of the display. The display is baked into the lid, and the bezels are as minimal as you'd expect, barring a little extra room atop the lid to make way for a webcam. Given how robust it feels too, this is a phenomenal effort and one worthy of the XPS moniker.

The machine's dimensions are compact, and a touch smaller than many 14-inch laptops out there. Our model, which has an IPS display, had a 15.2mm thickness – but the OLED version is even thinner at 14.6mm, with uniform height across the entire chassis. Its 1.36kg weight is also slightly lighter than many others, but doesn't hold a candle to the sub-1kg featherweights.

The display is easily the machine's poorest quality, however. While we imagine the 2880 x 1800-pixel OLED version offers a level of crispness and clarity, the 1,920 x 1,200-pixel non-touch IPS display does not. Although it still has a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, its 162 pixels-per-inch ratio is definitely on the low side. You don't get the sharpness that you'd want from a premium laptop. This feeling extends to the results we obtained with our display calibrator. A brightness of 320cd/m2 is certainly below average – but the screen also has an overly yellow tint by default, with the white balance way off. Further examination revealed a relatively poor base color accuracy of 90.7% of the sRGB spectrum. We say this because so many machines on the market can now hit 99-100% without difficulty. The Adobe RGB result was 66.2% (average around 75-80%), and DCI P3 color accuracy was 70% (average roughly 80-85%). It also had a middling black level of 0.3cd/m2 and contrast ratio of 1,178:1.

The IPS version of the XPS is certainly far from the best quality screen you'll find out there. There are no major red flags – and you can tweak the color balance to your liking – but for the amount you're paying, if screen quality is important, then you may be tempted to either upgrade to the OLED version or look at similarly-priced machines with much better displays.

Dell XPS 14 review: Performance and battery life

Our review unit is the entry-level XPS 14, with an eight-core Intel Core Ultra 5 325 processor and an Intel Graphics card with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and a 512GB SSD.

This configuration packs a punch for what it has, with Geekbench 6 benchmarking producing a strong 2,552 single-threaded score and a multi-threaded result of 10,470, which is about in line with the previous-generation Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 200 mobile processors. In a similar vein, the Intel Graphics chip is slightly under par if you compare it with the Intel Arc Graphics chip – registering 23,208 in OpenCL testing versus between 25,000 and 30,000. Disappointingly, despite very fast read speeds of 6,989MB/s, the 512GB SSD has very slow writes of 1,813MB/s – we had to run the test several times, given it's approximately two to three times slower than average.

One highlight that we need to stress is just how incredible the battery life is. The XPS 14 lasted 28hrs 13mins in our looped video playback test – which is simply a phenomenal result. Dell has a reputation for building laptops with incredibly long battery life, and this is the longest we have recorded yet. Most comparable machines will last between 12 and 18 hours in the same test.

Dell XPS 14 review: Features

The gapless zero-lattice keyboard in the XPS 14 is simply outstanding, and looks just as well as good as it feels to use. Unlike the keyboard in the Dell 14 Premium, the travel distance is slightly shorter – 0.8mm vs 1mm – and it's significantly less than the roughly 1.5mm travel distance you'll normally find. However, a huge bite with every key push means your fingers bounce right off, offering a deeply satisfying experience while touch typing. The touchbar is also gone, thankfully, meaning physical buttons are back – and the overall look and functionality of this machine is all better for it.

Unlike the faux-infinite touchpad in the XPS 14's predecessor, this one has a couple of parallel grooves to outline very subtly where the sensitivity ends. It's a very nice design touch and incredibly helpful when you're attempting to navigate or click without looking, as you can feel exactly where the limits are without undermining the sophisticated design principles that led to the removal of the touchpad in the first place. The engineers have learned from the user feedback, refined on their design, and produced something truly stellar. The glass surface is a touch smoother than we'd like, but not as slippery as we've seen in other models. Clicking, too, feels a little lighter and hollower than we would have liked – lacking the punch you get while typing. It's not too bad overall, though.

Connectivity is, as usual, limited in Dell's 14in machine – with just three USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support as well as a 3.5mm audio jack. You do also get Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 support. The machine is somewhat light on software features, but it does come with a healthy amount of built-in security features, including Dell SafeBIOS, hardware-level BIOS protection, and Dell SafeID with a discrete TPM – a dedicated security chip that keeps credentials hidden from malware. ProSupport also uses AI to give you a heads-up on issues that may unfold, letting you anticipate issues that users may encounter. You'll also benefit from both facial recognition and a fingerprint scanner baked into the power button.

Dell XPS 14 review: Is it worth it?

Dell has finally brought back the XPS 14, and it's the best version of this machine that it's manufactured in years – but with several important caveats. In some ways, using this specific configuration feels like buying a Ferrari and finding a Toyota engine inside. Sure, it's incredibly reliable, but the internals don't quite match up with the high-end exterior.

We loved the refined design and highly sophisticated build quality, but the screen was disappointing, and while the performance is reasonable – when you pay nearly £2,000, you really do want something that blows you away. Given how much the entry price is, we would struggle to recommend this particular unit given the value-for-money factor.

Paying a little extra, however, means massively upgrading your processor, doubling the memory you can use, and transforming your display from an underwhelming IPS screen to a 2.8K OLED touchscreen. The battery life on this machine, however, is extraordinary and could be worth the price alone if that's your main priority.

For those looking to buy a fleet of high-end, premium machines with a reasonable display, outstanding battery life, and extremely satisfying overall user experience, the XPS 14 is a great choice. We would, however, recommend considering the upgraded versions to maximize that premium factor.

Dell XPS 14 review specifications