After a controversial brand change that saw the beloved XPS name disappear, Dell has released its replacement. The new Dell 14 Premium and Dell 16 Premium Windows 11 laptops represent the highest tier of Dell‘s business line and offer features such as 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 processors, NVIDIA RTX 5070 graphics processors, and up to 27 hours of battery life.
The XPS name may be gone, but last year’s design is largely intact. Both models retain the simple and elegant wedge shape as before, with slightly larger (16.3 and 14.5 inches), virtually bezel-less displays covered with Gorilla Glass 3. Dell promises top-notch craftsmanship and a new thermal design that ensures a thin and light design, maximum airflow, and minimal noise. Just as with the branding, Dell is mimicking Apple by offering two available colors: Platinum and the darker Graphite.
The new 3.2K and 4K 16:10 120Hz OLED displays are now available in high-end models (14.5 and 16.3-inch, respectively), with 2K LCD at 120Hz (1920 x 1200) in the base models. OLED displays are certified according to the DisplayHDR 500 standard with 400 nits of brightness and 100 percent DCI-P3 coverage, while LED models have an average brightness of about 500 nits. Audio also looks solid: Dolby Atmos, “studio-quality settings,” four speakers, a dual microphone array, and a universal headphone jack with head tracking.
In terms of performance, Dell uses the latest energy-efficient 16-core Intel Core Ultra 7 255H and 256H processors, as well as the 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 285H version only in the Premium 16 version. They provide a performance boost of up to 33% compared to previous XPS models (18% on the 16 Premium), as well as a 2.4x boost in AI performance.
However, the main advantage is the significantly increased battery life: up to 20 hours of Netflix streaming on the 14 Premium and up to 27 hours on the 16 Premium. These figures are for 2K LCD displays and drop to 11 and 9 hours on the higher resolution 3.2K (14.5-inch model) and 4K OLED (16.3-inch model) displays, respectively.
The Premium 14 and Premium 16 differ most in terms of GPU options, with support for the new NVIDIA RTX 5050 GPU, as well as RTX 5060 and RTX 5070 on the 16.3-inch model, but only NVIDIA RTX 4050 on the Premium 14. Choosing one of them, especially the RTX 5070, should make them reliable gaming and graphics machines, but you will pay more and sacrifice some battery life. Otherwise, you’ll get the Intel Arc 140T GPU in the base 14 Premium and 16 Premium models, which are designed primarily for business and entertainment.
Other key features include WiFi 7, additional security for business users, up to 64GB of dual-channel LPDDR5x memory at 8400 Mbps, encrypted SSDs, up to 4TB of storage, and an FHD webcam. They are currently on sale on Dell.com at a price starting at $1,650 for the base 14 Premium model (Core Ultra 7 255H processor, 16 GB of memory, 2K LCD, Intel Arc 140T graphics). The same model with an NVIDIA RTX 4050 GPU, 32 GB of memory, and a 3.2K OLED display costs $2,350.
Meanwhile, the Dell 16 Premium with Core Ultra 7 255H processor, 32 GB of memory, 2K LCD display, and NVIDIA RTX 5060 starts at $2,700, and the version with 4K OLED display and Intel Core Ultra 9 processor costs $3,050. Other options are not yet available in the Dell online store.
