The Dell XPS 14 (2024) is a premium, thin, and light workstation laptop. The 14-inch model is a new addition to the XPS lineup, replacing the 15-inch Dell XPS 15 (2023). It's available with Intel Meteor Lake CPUs paired with Intel Arc integrated graphics only or with a discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU (6GB GDDR6, 40W /w Dynamic Boost). Display options include an FHD+ IPS panel and a 3.2k OLED panel; both are 120Hz screens with Dynamic Refresh Rate support. It has up-firing speakers, a 1080p webcam, Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity, and a 70Wh battery. Its port selection comprises three USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s and a MicroSD card reader.
See our unit's specifications and the available configuration options in the Differences Between Variants section.
Our Verdict
The Dell XPS 14 is great for school use. Its compact design makes it easy to carry around, and its battery lasts easily through a full day of light use. It provides a good user experience overall, though its edge-to-edge keys and invisible touchpad might take some time to get used to. Its Intel Meteor Lake CPU can easily handle general productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, and video playback, as well as more demanding workloads like programming. You can also perform GPU-intensive tasks like 3D graphics and video editing, as it's available with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU; however, you might not get the best experience if the work is overly complex, as its performance is limited in favor of a compact and sleek design with a smaller cooling system.
- Sleek, compact design.
- Bright display.
- Outstanding webcam.
- CPU can handle some demanding tasks.
- All-day battery life.
- Keyboard and touchpad design requires some adaptation.
- Discrete GPU option limited to a low-power (30W) RTX 4050.
- No USB-A or HDMI port.
The Dell XPS 14 isn't designed for gaming. Although it's available with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, it'll struggle to push over 60 fps at 1080p in highly demanding games, as the RTX 4050 is an entry-level GPU and runs at a low wattage. As for the display options, the FHD+ IPS panel has a slow response time, and none of the displays support FreeSync or G-SYNC to reduce screen tearing. On the upside, it doesn't get hot or loud under load.
- 120Hz display.
- CPU can handle some demanding tasks.
- Doesn't get hot or loud under load.
- Fast, user-replaceable SSD.
- Can only handle light or older titles at 1080p with low settings.
- Soldered RAM.
- IPS panel has slow response time.
- No VRR.
- No USB-A or HDMI port.
The Dell XPS 14 is good for media consumption. It's very portable, thanks to its compact design, and its battery lasts almost 14 hours of video playback, giving you plenty of time to get through multiple movies and TV show episodes. You can get the laptop with an FHD+ IPS or a 3.2k OLED panel. The latter will provide a better viewing experience, as it looks sharper and more colorful, with deeper, inky blacks. Unfortunately, the speakers have almost no bass, and while they get very loud, they sound unpleasant and sibilant at higher volume levels.
- Sleek, compact design.
- Bright display.
- Available with sharper OLED touchscreen.
- Loud speakers.
- All-day battery life.
- IPS panel isn't ideal for dark room viewing.
- Speakers lack bass.
- Speakers sound sibilant at higher volume levels.
The Dell XPS 14 is great for use as a workstation. Its Intel Meteor Lake CPU and NVIDIA discrete GPU have enough processing power to handle intensive tasks like video editing, programming, and 3D animation. However, you might not get the smoothest experience if the work is overly complex, as the RTX 4050 is an entry-level graphics processor, and this variant runs at a low Total Graphics Power (TGP). You can do color work, though you'll have to spend extra to get the nicer 3.2k, 100% DCI P3 OLED display, as the base FHD+ IPS only has full sRGB coverage. Its port selection is okay; you get three USB/Thunderbolt 4s, but it only has a MicroSD card reader instead of a full-size one, and there's no HDMI port. It doesn't get hot or loud under load, and while there's some thermal throttling, it's relatively minimal.
- CPU can handle some demanding tasks.
- Doesn't get hot or loud under load.
- OLED panel is suitable for color-critical work.
- Fast, user-replaceable SSD.
- Thunderbolt 4 support.
- Discrete GPU option limited to a low-power (30W) RTX 4050.
- Soldered RAM.
- CPU throttles under load.
- No USB-A or HDMI port.
The Dell XPS 14 is great for business use. It has a remarkably sturdy build, a compact design, and all-day battery life, making it well-suited for those who travel a lot for work. Its Intel Meteor Lake CPU can easily handle general productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, and presentations. You can also get an optional NVIDIA RTX 4050 discrete GPU, which will give you enough processing power to do some video editing for your business. The overall user experience is good, though it may take some time to get used to its edge-to-edge keys and invisible touchpad. It has an excellent 1080p webcam for video calls, as well as a fingerprint sensor and facial recognition for quick logins.
- Sleek, compact design.
- Bright display.
- Outstanding webcam.
- All-day battery life.
- Keyboard and touchpad design requires some adaptation.
- No USB-A or HDMI port.
Changelog
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Updated Aug 04, 2026:
We've added a link to the Dell XPS 14 (2026) in the Keyboard section.
- Updated May 07, 2025: We've updated this review to Test Bench 0.8.3, which removes the viewing angle tests and adds a GPU Total Graphics Power comparison in the GPU section. The Pen Input test in the Extra Features section has also changed, as it now shows whether the laptop supports pen input rather than the inclusion of a stylus in the box. See the changelog for more details.
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Updated Dec 06, 2024:
Added mention of the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2024) as an alternative with a wider port selection in the Ports section.
- Updated Jun 05, 2024: Added mention of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) as an alternative with faster GPU options in the GPU section.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Dell XPS 14 (model 9440) with an Intel Ultra Core 7 155H CPU, integrated Intel Arc graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. The CPU, GPU, memory, and storage are configurable; the available options are in the table below.
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See our unit's label here.
Popular Laptop Comparisons
The Dell XPS 14 2024 is a good laptop overall. It feels remarkably well-built, and it's arguably one of the sleekest laptops on the market design-wise. However, its design comes at the cost of usability and performance. Also worth noting is the base FHD+ display configuration option. While there are benefits to the lower resolution IPS panel (easier to drive, lower power consumption), it feels rather cheap on such a premium device, especially when competitors are offering higher quality OLED panels at no additional cost.
See our recommendations for the best workstation laptops, the best video editing laptops, and the best laptops for photo editing.
The Lenovo LOQ 15 (2023) and Dell XPS 14 (2024) are very different devices. The Lenovo is a budget 15-inch gaming laptop, while the Dell is a premium 14-inch thin and light workstation. Depending on how you configure the Lenovo, its performance and user experience will drastically change. Its base 60Hz 1080p IPS isn't suited for gaming, and its entry-level RTX 3050 is fine for light or esports titles but can't deliver consistent performance for modern AAA games without significantly tweaking the settings. By contrast, the Dell model offers powerful hardware, outstanding build quality, and a 3.2k OLED display option with DCI P3 coverage; it's suited for performing workstation tasks on the go.
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M4, 2024) is better than the Dell XPS 14 (2024) for most uses. The MacBook Pro has a lot more processing power, allowing it to tackle significantly more demanding tasks. It also provides a superior user experience overall, sporting a brighter display, a wider port selection, and better-sounding speakers. While both laptops have a tactile keyboard and a haptic touchpad, the XPS 14 requires more adaptation, as its edge-to-edge keys can cause more typos, and its invisible touchpad is hard to locate at times. Though neither is ideal for gaming, you can play some games on these machines, and each has its advantage; the MacBook Pro 14 has more processing power to deliver smoother gameplay, especially if you go with one of the higher-end configurations, but far more games run on Windows than macOS.
The Dell XPS 16 (2024) and the Dell XPS 14 (2024) are very similar design-wise and provide a similar user experience overall. Other than size, the main differences between these two laptops are the configuration options and the amount of processing power you can get. The XPS 16 is a larger device with a superior cooling system, so it's available with a faster Core Ultra 9 CPU and higher-end NVIDIA discrete GPUs, like the RTX 4060 and 4070.
The Dell XPS 13 (2024) and the Dell XPS 14 (2024) are premium ultraportables nearly identical in design but offer vastly different performance. Whereas the 14-inch model is capable of handling some demanding workloads, the 13-inch model is only suited to light productivity tasks. While both laptops offer the same Intel Ultra Core processors under the hood, Dell's cooling solution for the XPS 13 is inadequate, resulting in significant thermal throttling. Dell also offers additional dedicated GPU options on the XPS 14 for those whose workflow includes video editing, programming, and 3D animation. Other niceties on the 14-inch include up-firing speakers and superior battery life (on the IPS panel, the OLED option will likely drain the battery faster).
Test Results
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