Dell XPS 16 review: Performance nearly smothered in costly style

Value When Reviewed

$3,399

Finest Costs At present: Dell XPS 16 (2024)

$1899

The Dell XPS 16 is the brand new big-screen productiveness laptop computer for these on the lookout for one thing a bit of extra lavish than the standard enterprise machines. It comes operating on Intel’s new Core Extremely processors and provides up discrete GPU choices for many who want much more energy. Its smooth design shouldn’t be confused for a light-weight one, although, and the truth of its weight and expensive 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 fascinated with good worth.

On the lookout for extra laptop computer choices? Take a look at PCWorld’s roundup of one of the best laptops proper now.

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Specs and options

The Dell XPS 16 is available in quite a lot of configurations with value and efficiency capabilities various broadly. At a baseline, it should provide an Intel Core Extremely 7 155H, which is a powerful start line, however it may go as much as an Extremely 9 185H. Reminiscence is offered 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 may be added with the RTX 4050, 4060, and 4070 as choices. The ultimate key affirmation possibility is show, with a 1920×1200, non-touch LED show accessible or the 3840×2400 OLED touchscreen accessible. The bottom 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 Extremely 7 155H
• Reminiscence: 32GB LPDDR5x
• Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 4070 (60-watt TGP, dGPU), Intel Arc (8 Xe cores, iGPU)
• Show: 16.3-inch 4K+ OLED, Contact
• Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD
• Webcam: 1080p
• Connectivity: 3x Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C with Energy Supply and DisplayPort  2.1 Alternate Mode, 1x microSD card reader, 1x 3.5mm combo audio
• Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Home windows Good day 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

IDG / Mark Knapp

Dell has gone all-in on its new design for the XPS sequence. Whereas prior fashions had a “Plus” within the title serving to signify the shift towards a reimagined design of the workhorse sequence, now it’s simply the mainline design. Whereas the Dell XPS 16 nonetheless displays the corporate’s knack for construct high quality with a smooth — albeit easy and albeit a bit of MacBook-like — aluminum exterior that feels strong, 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 largest 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 changed into ever-illuminated capacitive contact buttons a la Apple’s Contact Bar however with none of the multi-function magic. 

This identical design appeared moderately fashionable on the sooner Dell XPS 13 Plus. However for the XPS 16, Dell was working with a bunch of additional area 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 entire 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 trying uneven and soiled beneath the keycaps.

Regardless of 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 way of the system, presumably taking some in by way of slits alongside the edges of the laptop computer and pushing it out by way of a strip beneath the sting of the show.

Whereas the entire package deal 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 may be the largest trackpad within the enterprise, however you wouldn’t comprehend it. The all glass chin hides the place it begins and ends fully. It encompasses the left Alt key and the brand new Home windows Copilot key and reaches only a hair shy of the area bar and a half-inch in need of 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 offers a pleasant haptic click on when it does so. It additionally has nice palm rejection. Whereas all that measurement is helpful, particularly for multi-finger gestures, it leaves a vagueness for the place sure frequent actions are, like what area may lead to a proper click on versus a left click on.

The trackpad isn’t as problematic because the keyboard, although. Simply typing, the keys really feel a bit of too stiff, making repeated presses of the identical key a bit of harder and error susceptible. The gaps between keys additionally makes it a bit of too simple to be on the precise key however nonetheless catch the neighboring key on the downstroke. Whereas I managed to succeed in a typing pace 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 typically typing round 100 words-per-minute or affected by considerably extra typos because of the keyboard.

The operate row can be an unlucky change. When 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 should rely your method to the one you need (or maintain the Perform key). Combining them with precise keys on the keyboard, reminiscent of for Ctrl+Shift+Esc can be exceedingly awkward. And a number of faucets aren’t 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 additional keys to supply that you just wouldn’t discover on most 13-inch laptops — no additional navigation, no quantity pad, nothing additional.

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Show, audio

IDG / Mark Knapp

Issues start to take a flip again in Dell’s favor with the show on the XPS 16. It’s a beautiful 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 may possibly fortunately attain 400 nits whereas displaying SDR content material and even exceed 600 nits displaying HDR content material. It has a large shade gamut, protecting 100% of the DCI-P3 shade area as nicely, making it fantastic for having fun with content material. It even has Dolby Imaginative and prescient help, which solely makes it all of the extra disappointing that it’s fairly arduous to entry high-quality, HDR streams on a Home windows PC in comparison with a telephone or TV. 

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

Dell’s audio system are stellar. The system combines two 3-watt predominant drivers and two 2-watt tweeters. There’s occasional high-frequency rattling within the chassis whereas listening at even simply 50% quantity (famous through the intro to The Weeknd’s “I Really feel It Coming”). Past that, the audio system sound fairly glorious, with wealthy, full sound that basically challenges what’s on provide from most laptops. The bass doesn’t growth, nevertheless it’s extra current than you’d often discover. There’s even surprisingly compelling stereo separation for a laptop computer. It’s a very 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 often see from the run-of-the-mill 720p cams on the market. It nonetheless has that webcam-y high quality, with bland shade and noise in something however one of the best lighting circumstances. The digital camera additionally offers snappy facial recognition to unlock the laptop computer. The highest proper button on the keyboard has a fingerprint scanner that may additionally deal with unlocking the pc, however I discover the facial recognition often beats it to the punch. 

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

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Connectivity

IDG / Mark Knapp

Prosumer laptops convey it in terms of ports, particularly greater fashions, which have extra room to squeeze in additional ports. This helps them make up for his or her additional weight by negating the necessity for an exterior dongle. Proper? Not for the XPS 16. It provides three absolutely 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 package deal that offers you a USB-A and an HDMI port. 

Whereas there’s no knocking the capabilities of Thunderbolt 4, even only a single, correct USB-A port might 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. However the port selection is kind of the letdown, elevating the query of who this laptop computer is actually alleged to be for. Only for a fast comparability, the MSI Status 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 the least it has its wi-fi connectivity in level, supporting the brand new Wi-Fi 7 normal and Bluetooth 5.4, so it’s nicely ready for the long run. 

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Efficiency

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 Extremely 7 155H, a 16-core chip we just lately noticed in motion within the MSI Status 16. The chip blends six efficiency cores, eight environment friendly cores, and an additional two low-power cores to supply pace and effectivity because the scenario requires. That chip is backed by 32GB of LPDDR5x reminiscence and a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD. Whereas the CPU consists of Intel Arc built-in graphics, the XPS 16 additionally matches an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070, albeit a power-limited, 60-watt model. Highly effective as it’d sound, it’s value taking into consideration 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 in need of the MSI Status 16 operating related {hardware}, nevertheless it plainly exceeds programs operating on earlier Intel processors and even the Acer Swift Edge 16 operating on an AMD CPU. It is a good indication that the Dell XPS 16 is as much as the duty of on a regular basis computing in an workplace surroundings. In equity to different machines, all of them are considerably lighter than the XPS 16, in order that they’re skill to maintain cool beneath laid could also be diminished.

With regards to 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 Status 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 Extremely 7 clearly has some may and the XPS 16 is letting it run exceptionally nicely. That is all excellent news in case you want CPU energy for initiatives, because the Dell XPS 16 delivers.

The Dell XPS 16 tops that distinctive CPU efficiency off with the additional benefit 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 rivals. In each 3DMark Time Spy, a modestly demanding 3D rendering benchmark, the XPS 16 supplied greater than double the efficiency of the MSI Status 16’s Arc graphics and left Intel Iris Xe and AMD Radeon 780M graphics nicely behind. For gaming, video modifying, 3D modeling, and extra, that massive GPU benefit will likely be particularly helpful.

Dell’s in opposition to these ultrabook rivals being what it’s, slim designs nonetheless include compromises. For example, the RTX 4070 operating within the XPS 16 may blow away the built-in graphics of those competing programs, however in case 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 example, 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 Professional, 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 might slot in a 99-watt-hour battery — as huge as they get if you wish to take them on an airplane, that comines with spectacular effectivity for critical battery life. 

In our normal battery take a look at, looping a 4K copy of the Tears of Metal 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. For the reason that XPS 16 has an OLED show, it advantages from the black letterboxing across the video on this take a look at, as these develop into pixels the show doesn’t should illuminate — that’s free actual property. It’s nonetheless a powerful outcome for an OLED, as LED-backlit shows are inclined 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 lightweight sensor that’s on by default and can alter the display brightness. In testing with this sensor enabled, our recorded battery life was solely a bit of over 600 minutes (10 hours). 

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

Dell XPS 16 (2024): Conclusion

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

The {hardware} could also be a marvel to have a look at, nevertheless 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. Finally, there are some premium elements packed into the XPS 16 after which an additional premium slapped on prime for the elegant design and invoice of supplies. This may put the machine at odds with consumers in search of any type of worth. For anybody who doesn’t want the discrete GPU, the MSI Status 16 is essentially aggressive and almost half the worth. And for many who do want actual GPU energy, they may be higher served by a gaming laptop computer just like the Lenovo Legion 5 Professional that’s less expensive and, imagine it or not, lower than half of a pound heavier.