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 Dell XPS 14 (2024) and ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (2024) are similar premium ultraportable laptops. They both feature outstanding build quality with an all-aluminum chassis. The Dell offers far superior battery life, webcam performance, and microphone performance, making it a better choice for those who need to use their laptop on the go. By contrast, the ASUS comes standard with an OLED display, which is a big upgrade over the Dell's FHD+ IPS display. The ASUS also offers much better connectivity options, including an HDMI output, which makes it better for at-home or office use.
The Dell XPS 14 (2024) is a new addition to the XPS lineup and replaces the Dell XPS 15 (2023). While the 14-inch model is more compact and easier to carry, its new design may not be to everyone's liking. For example, its edge-to-edge keys and invisible touchpad both require a fair amount of adaptation to use properly. The 14-inch model also takes a step back in its port selection, ditching the 15-inch's full-size SD card reader for a MicroSD reader. Performance-wise, you can get more performance out of the older 15-inch model if you go with the higher-end configurations. That said, the 14-inch model's Intel Meteor Lake CPUs are more efficient, resulting in much longer battery life and better thermals.
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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