Verdict
A stylish powerhouse with a great screen , the Dell XPS 16 ( 2024 ) has executed a winning combination . The Intel Core Ultra CPU carrying into action is punt by a bold Nvidia RTX GPU option for strong termination . It ’s ideal for straining work and high - level play . A pauperization for better stamp battery life and a keyboard choice that will split sentiment intend it is n’t thoroughgoing but , overall , the XPS 16 is a victory .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Dell XPS 16 ( 2024 ) is quite the specimen . With the alternative of a 4 K OLED showing , Intel ’s Core Ultra 7 processors and up to an extremely subject RTX 4070 GPU , it pushes the boundaries of what we ’ve seen from the XPS in its far-famed account .
The XPS 16 is the large and , on newspaper publisher , the most subject in the 2024 credit line - up . It carry all the design hallmarks of theDell XPS 14 ( 2024)and theXPS 13 Plus ( 2023 ) , but is a far more expressive model .
It also carries a hefty price tag , with our review model costing £ 3299/$3399 . That hard currency can get you most of the direction towards the 16 - column inch M3 MaxMacBook professional , meaning this Dell has tough contender .
Dell has moved to an online retail model where it now only sells from its own store rather than typical third - party retailers . you could buy the XPS 16 in the UKhere , and the UShere . Here ’s my full Dell XPS 16 ( 2024 ) review .
Design and keyboard
First off , the Dell XPS 16 ( 2024 ) is heavy . It weighs closely to 5lbs for theOLEDconfiguration ( 2.2 kilo , 4.8 lb ) and it ’s not the most comfortable to nibble up with one hand .
That ’s not rare for a 16 - inch laptop , and it ’s still light than something like theRazer Blade 16(2.4 kg , 5.29 lb ) which we retrospect in April 2024 . If you go much lighter with these model you’re able to end up with something that feels a little cheap – like the 1.23 kg , 2.7lbsAsus Swift Edge 16 .
The Dell XPS 16 for sure does n’t feel cheap . The design is very sturdy and the atomic number 78 colouration adds a agiotage luster . The cultivation is less susceptible to fingerprints than the black XPS 14 for instance .
afford the lid ( there ’s no approachable backtalk for some reason ) and the workspace feels very expansive and a little less symmetrical than the XPS 14 .
The speakers are larger on either side of the keyboard – about twice as broad – and there ’s much more room for the base of the palms , on either side of the spacious , unseeable trackpad , which is coat in Gorilla Glass and stretches either side of the Alt keys . The haptic motors give you feedback on trackpad press , in a all-inclusive sweet spot .
It ’s a fair look overall . The keyboard will split sentiment though , largely due to the choice of capacitive touch keys . As with the XPS 14 , I ’m not a fan of this approach . Having on a regular basis used key fruit like Escape and Delete in this row breaks typing round and it feels just awkward .
The chief keyboard is project for touch typers with very soft landings for the fingertips . There is hardly any travel between the keys at just 1 mm . For me , this led to some errors when glide between the keys .
The additional size of it make some of the keys unnecessarily wide . Like the Tab and Caps Locks keys for example . somewhat much every ‘ A ’ I attempted was an inadvertent Caps Lock pat , for example . It was infuriating , but you ’d likely get used to it over time . Despite this growth in keyboard size , the up and down arrow samara are still too small compared to the left and ripe . Notably , this is also the first generation of XPS models with the Windows 11Copilotbutton next to the space cake .
The display feels every turn 16.3 - inches . The bezels are slender too , at just 3 millimetre on the side and more or less larger at the top to accommodate the newfangled 1080p photographic camera – up from 720p on previous XPS generations .
There are a trio ofUSB - C(Thunderbolt 4ports ) , a 3.5 millimetre seafarer and a microSD time slot . Dell kindly includes a dongle that broadens connectivity option to USB - A and full HDMI . It would be nice if Apple did this too .
Screen and sound
The 16.3 - inch 4KOLEDtouch display model of the Dell XPS 16 costs $ 300 more than the FHD+ non - touch , non - OLED configuration and , overall , that feels like money very well spent .
When you ab initio power the laptop , the desktop show a purposely chosen aerial simulacrum of the Indonesian archipelagos . The particular within the 4 K display is striking , as is the boldness and richness of the colours of the sea , Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin , and moss - dress cliffs .
However , on the spec bed sheet , it is n’t without caveats . The varying refresh rate of 48 - 90Hz palpate like a via media compare to the 3.2 K OLED jury on the XPS 14 , which offers 48Hz to 120Hz . There is support for Dolby Vision HDR .
The rest of the display specs performed largely as prognosticate . Dell states its display is capable of 400 nits of max cleverness , but using the DisplayCal software , I hit a top luminousness of 424 nits in HDR style and 410 in the stock dynamic reach setting .
Elsewhere the promise of the deepest Shirley Temple Black was delivered upon , while color reproduction was telling too , hitting 100 % on the sRGB , reach 99.8 % of the DCI - P3 color gamut and 88.4 % when it comes to Adobe RGB .
This is a detailed and accurate showing that wo n’t let originative user down . When gaming , the potent GPU ensured I made the most of the display ’s capabilities .
hacker 2077 was made for OLED , with its stunning high contrast world polish , while the faithfully reproduced recondite , blue black of outer space impart itself to Returnal . I was capable to enjoy both in QHD at high systema skeletale rates thanks to the RTX 4070 , although pushing to the full 4 K resolution for Cyberpunk was a piddling beyond the GPU unless DLSS superscaling was enabled .
The speakers are surprisingly powerful . Combined with the large display , it can be a comparatively cinematic experience . The stereophony speakers are Dolby Atmos - enabled so the audio can be pretty immersive , and produces a wide and atmospherical soundscape for a laptop speaker .
However , when push too far it was a less than easy experience . Take Apple TV ’s WWII drama Masters of the Air , for instance . At the high end , the dogfights did n’t give you the sense of IMAX submerging , more a sense of “ turn that down ” .
Music - smart , the speakers are nice at about mid - bulk . stream tracks like Jimmy Eat World ’s The Middle sound falsify even at mid - loudness without much consideration for the low oddment . The playback of Jay - Z ’s Dirt Off Your Shoulder did n’t do the bass any justice . However , there is a little nicety and sonic pleasantness in acoustic tracks like Paul Simon ’s American Tune and Beyoncé ’s Texas Hold ‘ mutton quad .
Performance
The Dell XPS 16 ( 2024 ) has an telling spec sheet . The model I review arrive with the previous generation Intel Ultra 7 155H processor , which has been time at 4.8GHz .
I get a common sense it was a little guarded within the XPS 14 , but I was more impressed by Dell ’s deployment of this powerful chipset in XPS 16 benchmarking tests .
Geekbench 6 measured unmarried - kernel CPU carrying out likewise , nock the XPS 16 at 2262 , compare to the XPS 14 ’s 2241 . Multi - core operation broadened the gap to 13239 vs 12042 . The PCMark 10 tool , which measures the performance for modern office tasks , also favour the XPS 16 , scoring 6853 compared to the XPS 14 ’s 6502 .
Multi - core carrying into action also defeated a key rival execute the same CPU in Geekbench . TheAsus Zenbook 14 OLEDwon at 2334 for single core , but the 12425 multi - core score was behind . PCMark also has Dell ahead 6853 to Asus ’ 6279 .
Neither Dell model touches theAcer Predator Triton 17Xgaming laptop computer , which use last twelvemonth ’s top frank CPU , the Intel Core i9 13900HX . That achieve 2731 undivided - core/17505 multi - nucleus in Geekbench 6 and an telling 8634 scotch in PCMark 10 . The XPS 16 also falls below the MacBook Pro withM3 Max , which Geekbench 6 rates as 2355 ( single ) , a mind - blowing 29980 ( multi ) .
Nevertheless , the Dell XPS 16 still offers terrific performance that was more than speedy enough for my workload , and should ease through more demanding task such as originative production too .
My review poser also included the excellent Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU ( 8 GB GDDR6 , 60W ) , which offer admirable play chop shot . I was able to love Cyberpunk 2077 at a respectable 34 frames per s in QHD . However , without any artificial assistance from DLSS , the frame charge per unit shin to get above 15fps when fight to 4K.
When taking on less demanding secret plan like Ubisoft ’s Rainbow Six Extraction , frame rate got as high as 143fps in FHD and a healthy 59fps in 4K. For Sony ’s Returnal , QHD 1440p was a seraphic blot with a really smooth 59fps .
recollect , this is an XPS laptop computer not something like Dell ’s offshootAlienware M16 R2 gaming laptop computer , so the laptop computer is n’t designed for prioritising gaming carrying into action above all else . Yet it can still do a great job here whenever you want to dunk into a game during your breach .
SSD performance is excellent too , show a 6989MB / s read fastness and 5227MB / s write upper . These are supremely speedy results , which means the Dell XPS 17 kicking up in a photoflash , and is rapid when loading up applications and installing with child single file . Storage options are very flexible , ranging from 512 GB all the way up to 4 TB .
Software
Thankfully , I do n’t have a lot to say here . Dell deploys a clean version of the Windows 11 operating system , go along usage skins and bloatware to an absolute minimum . As such the OS feels lightweight and very rapid .
This is , of course of action , the first XPS update to proffer the consecrate Microsoft Copilot experience on the keyboard . Tapping that samara quickly brings up the sidebar , allowing you to enquire questions or make requests of Microsoft ’s AI chat bot .
However , it still feels like the experience needs study from a serviceableness perspective . As ream of text roll up the screen , it ’s an unsettling experience .
Battery life
The Dell XPS 14 ’s 66.9Wh battery let me down somewhat , clocking in at just under eight hr in productivity tests . The Dell XPS 16 has a much tumid cellular telephone , at 99.5Wh , utilising the extra place within the chassis to eke out more stamina .
We use the personal computer Mark 10 Modern Office battery life story trial run , which model a working day , accessing video recording , papers , spreadsheets , World Wide Web browse , video calls and more . The XPS 16 managed just over 10 hours , which is a middling just result for a Windows laptop of this ilk with a dedicated computer graphic chip , but lags far behind the MacBook Pro .
There ’s a wad - in 130W battery charger , providing a boost over the 60W charger you get with the XPS 14 . However , the much larger battery offsets any charge time amplification and I was back to 100 % from 3 % in 2 hours and 9 transactions . It ’s very similar to the XPS 14 overall .
Should you buy it?
With a pro design , a large and marvellous screen , a muscular mainframe and a more - than - capable gaming GPU , the Dell XPS 16 can be all thing for every side of you .
The Dell XPS 16 has a fortune of power under the exhaust hood , which is meditate by the damage . If you only ask a laptop computer for basic task , then the more affordableDell XPS 14is a serious option .
Final Thoughts
The Dell XPS 16 ( 2024 ) excels beyond theXPS 14by getting more from Intel ’s Meteor Lake CPU and including a in high spirits - end graphics poker chip . The 4 K OLED display helps you draw out the most from the chipset . It is really telling and excels in content creation , video and gaming . The latter is a real bonus with the RTX 4070 survive up to its billing in this configuration .
The revamp XPS design is a unattackable cause , with a sleek political machine that ’ll be at home in the office while rock your favourite PC games in the evening . The keyboard wo n’t be for everyone though , and while the battery life is very unspoilt , it ’s still not long enough to match theMacBook Pro .
There may also be greater value from other manufacturers propose interchangeable configurations . Nevertheless , this is a brave manifestation and expansion of the XPS range from Dell that constitute it in the conversation for thebest laptopsaround as well as a strongMacBook alternative .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every laptop we look back goes through a series of uniform checks designed to gauge key constituent , including figure quality , operation , filmdom quality and battery animation .
These let in courtly synthetic benchmarks and written exam , plus a series of real - world check mark , such as how well it runs popular apps .
FAQs
The 4 K OLED configuration we reviewed here does have a touchscreen by the FHD+ version is non - touch
In our tests , the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU do laudably , enabling you to play 4 K game at a restrained and , in some case , higher skeletal system rate .
