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
- 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.
- Updated May 27, 2024: Added mention of the Dell XPS 16 (2024) as an alternative with a larger display in the Screen Specs 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 ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 (2023) and Dell XPS 14 (2024) are similar high-end 14-inch ultraportable Windows laptops. They excel at general productivity tasks but can each handle the occasional demanding workload. The Dell outperforms the Lenovo model for productivity tasks as its discrete GPU provides more versatility for tasks like video rendering. Both laptops come with displays suitable for color correction work and offer outstanding build quality. The Lenovo ultimately provides a superior user experience, as its keyboard and trackpad are much easier to use; the edge-to-edge keys and invisible touchpad on the Dell require a fair amount of adaptation to use properly.
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022) and Dell XPS 14 (2024) are 14-inch laptops designed for different purposes. The ASUS is a gaming laptop whose powerful hardware makes it suitable for demanding workloads like 3D rendering or video editing. The ASUS has multiple IPS high refresh rate display options with variable refresh rate support, AMD Ryzen 7 or 9 6000 series CPUS, and a few Radeon 6000-series GPU options. By contrast, the Dell is an ultraportable laptop designed for general productivity tasks; however, depending on your chosen configuration, it can tackle the occasional demanding workload or gaming session. The Dell features Intel's new Meteor Lake CPUs, up to an NVIDIA RTX 4050 GPU, and an FHD+ 120Hz IPS panel or 3.2K 120Hz OLED display with dynamic refresh rate support. This isn't the same as variable refresh rate, so you'll likely see some tearing when playing games with an uncapped frame rate.
Although both are 14-inch Windows laptops available with Intel Meteor Lake CPUs, the Dell XPS 14 (2024) and the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) are quite different. The XPS 14 is more of a thin and light workstation designed to handle more demanding workloads like programming and video editing on the go, while the Spectre x360 is a 2-in-1 ultraportable designed for light, general productivity tasks. In other words, you can get more performance out of the XPS 14. However, the Spectre x360 provides a better user experience, as its keyboard and touchpad are easier to use. The XPS 14 has a slightly sharper OLED panel option, but you have to pay extra for it, as the base display option is an FHD+ IPS panel, whereas the Spectre x360 comes with a 2.8k OLED at no additional cost.
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.
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