Are high-end Windows laptops worth buying in 2025? This Dell made the answer clear to me

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Dell's latest high-performance laptop is presently connected merchantability starting astatine $1,250.
• It's superbly designed, with a sleek, modern physique and powerful, but accessible, hardware.
• It runs warm, and requires powerfulness absorption from the idiosyncratic to get the astir retired of the battery.

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Dell's laptop rebrand whitethorn person resulted successful immoderate shuffling astir of naming conventions, but the caller Dell 14 Premium -- Dell's refreshed high-performance enactment of laptops -- looks a full batch similar the Dell XPS upon archetypal glance. If you're confused astir this laptop's placement successful Dell's merchandise placement hierarchy, it's successful the user category, and the highest-tier exemplary successful that group. This makes it a premium, but accessible, laptop for pro creatives, designers, and tech enthusiasts. 

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From the zero-lattice keyboard to the edge-to-edge OLED show and invisible trackpad, the Dell 14 Premium lives up to its sanction with a sleek, future-facing build. Because of its clever recessed design, it gives the content that it's hovering supra the aboveground erstwhile sitting connected a table. 

Appearances aside, Dell wants to stress that this laptop is not an XPS, but alternatively an improvement of the enactment into thing new. The thought present was to instrumentality what worked connected its high-end machines and amended connected the things that users saw arsenic symptom points, and it does that to immoderate degree, contempt evident comparisons to its predecessor. 

In presumption of hardware, the Dell 14 Premium comes with the Intel Core Ultra 7 255H "Arrow Lake" processor, up to 32GB of LPDDR5X, 8400MT/s dual-channel RAM, and either an Intel Arc Graphics oregon Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU. 

Opting for the 32GB of RAM and OLED show volition bring the terms up to $2,250 -- the precocious bounds of what could beryllium considered "accessible" for a premium-tier laptop. 

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

The reappraisal portion I tested had a antithetic CPU than the retail version: an Intel Core Ultra 7 265H, disposable for consumers arsenic a peculiar order, but not modular connected the machine. This resulted successful a precise flimsy show boost compared to the retail mentation (a performance-core basal timepiece velocity of 2.2GHz vs the modular 2.0GHz). 

The 14-inch OLED touchscreen is arsenic gorgeous arsenic you'd expect, with a 3.2K resolution, 400nit brightness, and a adaptable refresh complaint up to 120Hz. The display's bladed bezels and seamless webcam module effect successful a cleanable and crisp plan that gives the content that the surface is bigger than it is. 

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All successful all, it's a gorgeous laptop. The keyboard looks fantastic, but determination are immoderate usability trade-offs associated with its design. The archetypal being that, portion it has bully cardinal travel, it doesn't consciousness arsenic expressly ergonomic arsenic immoderate different laptops' keyboards similar the HP EliteBook X G1a oregon adjacent the Acer Swift 16 AI. If you're a accelerated typer, you whitethorn request immoderate clip to acclimate to the cardinal layout here, arsenic immoderate mightiness comprehend it arsenic a small cramped. 

The LED relation cardinal enactment is besides different happening that sacrifices usability for aesthetics. In erstwhile reviews for the XPS, I've expressed my lukewarm reception for the feature, and it remains the aforesaid here. Personally, I find the always-on lighting a small distracting, but aft a week with the laptop, I volition accidental I've acclimated to it. 

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

The invisible haptic trackpad is 1 of the astir premium elements of the laptop's design. The texture is dissimilar immoderate different laptop I've felt, with a smooth, silky texture that feels luxe. The haptic clicks are precise subtle, requiring precise small digit movement, allowing the idiosyncratic to glide crossed the aboveground unhindered by the trackpad's boundaries. This is simply a plan trick, arsenic the trackpad itself isn't needfully larger than standard, but decidedly feels arsenic such. 

This plan does rise immoderate concerns astir durability, however, since this azygous solid expanse looks great, but a scratch oregon dent would mar the different pristine surface. Luckily, Dell emphasizes its durability, saying it tin withstand up to 1,200 drops.

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Compared to the XPS model, larboard enactment is streamlined with a fewer much options. You get 3 Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports (instead of two), an audio jack, and a microSD paper slot. This is simply a invited betterment that pushes the instrumentality firmly into pro creator territory and adds to the laptop's longevity, thing I'm gladsome Dell decided to compromise connected for the Premium line. 

While a competitory GPU, the RTX 4050 is constricted to 30 watts of TDP (thermal plan power) successful the Dell 14 Premium, which limits its performance. The constraints of this laptop's cooling strategy are evident during extended, demanding workflows, erstwhile the instrumentality warms up and stays that way.

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

That being said, during mundane tasks, the laptop runs chill and quiet, and the 4050's show delivers for video editing, photograph rendering, and adjacent gaming, but demanding workloads rapidly rise the temperature, which is peculiarly felt connected the wrist remainder and keyboard. 

The GPU present performs good for astir games, but it's not peculiarly optimized for PC gaming due to the fact that of said vigor procreation and the laptop's design, which gets successful the mode of immoderate gaming practicality. Specifically, the LED relation row, which, if you're playing a crippled that uses F1 keys, volition request to beryllium reconfigured.

Instead of pounding astatine the keyboard, it's amended suited toward video editing and graphic design, with aggregate ports for connecting to an outer monitor, hooking up peripherals, and utilizing the 32GB of RAM for ample record transfers with the included microSD slot.

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For that reason, I'd presumption this laptop much successful the realm of pro creators and the concern realm than a gaming laptop, contempt its quality to tally games due to the fact that of the 32GB of RAM and RTX 4050 GPU. Speaking of, let's interaction connected the artillery beingness here. This is simply a laptop that greatly benefits from progressive powerfulness management, arsenic you'll privation to beryllium mindful of depletion to get the astir retired of the 69.5Whr battery. 

During my testing, I recovered that the Dell 14 Premium responds to artillery beingness successful a mode that parallels the vigor generation. During mundane use: web browsing, productivity software, and multitasking crossed applications, artillery beingness is precise good, lasting to the 8 hr people and beyond. But erstwhile you displacement gears to much demanding workflows, that artillery beingness starts to driblet off. 

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

You'll get little than that if you're moving connected much power-hungry tasks and 5 hours oregon little if you enactment successful show mode. For these reasons, I would accidental this is simply a laptop that requires immoderate mindfulness of use, arsenic opposed to a airy and breezy instrumentality you tin support untethered from the charger and hide about. 

Lastly, portion we're connected the topic, adjacent though this laptop is sleek and compact, it weighs 3.66 pounds for the LCD show and 3.79 pounds for the OLED. This is by nary means the heaviest laptop connected the block, but a testament to its plan for weighing much than it looks. 

ZDNET's buying advice

The Dell 14 Premium lives up to its sanction arsenic an aesthetic laptop committed to its future-forward design. This isn't a laptop made for everyone, and that's fine. Dell has successfully improved elements of its plan that don't compromise its vision, specified arsenic the expanded larboard enactment and equilibrium of hardware and cost. 

As the highest-performing laptop successful Dell's basal tier of laptops, it's a premium but accessible instrumentality well-suited toward professionals who request a balanced attack to performance. The luxe carnal plan makes a connection and is simply a joyousness to use, but users volition request to beryllium mindful of the hardware's powerfulness demands and vigor generation.