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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways
- Dell is bringing backmost the XPS marque name.
- The institution has launched caller Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16 devices.
- The laptops diagnostic form-factor tuning and the latest Intel processors.
When Dell announced it was retiring its fashionable laptop lines for a consolidated "Pro/Plus/Premium" naming normal past year, consumers were much than a small confused. The XPS was a well-respected merchandise enactment with a chiseled individuality -- wouldn't giving that up dilute the marque (especially for thing that sounds similar it came retired of Cupertino)?
Well, Dell whitethorn person recovered the answer. Just a twelvemonth later, the institution is bringing backmost the XPS marque sanction with the caller Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16, positive a 13-inch exemplary that volition beryllium released aboriginal this year.
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During a property league successful New York, Jeff Clarke, COO of Dell Technologies, acknowledged the institution had made a mistake by discarding the XPS sanction and that the flagship lineup would beryllium making a triumphant instrumentality successful 2026.
"This analyzable marque we rolled retired past twelvemonth didn't bash what we said it would do," Clarke explained. While discussing Dell's fiscal show aft the marque restructuring, Clarke confirmed numbers weren't wherever they wanted them to be, starring to a determination to bring backmost the XPS successful Q3 of 2025.
Clarke besides hinted that Microsoft's wide displacement to "AI PCs" hasn't precisely been the deed with consumers it was expected. This, combined with the elimination of trusted marque names, meant little radical are buying.
Now astatine CES 2026, the XPS is back, refined, and, Dell confirmed, present to stay. In fact, the 2026 models adjacent person an "XPS" logo connected the laptop screen for the archetypal time, a motion to the idiosyncratic basal that has been requesting it for years.
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Following successful that vein, the carnal relation enactment is back, ditching the LED lights for carnal keys, a overmuch much practical, nonrecreational prime that prioritizes mundane functionality implicit gimmicks that look bully successful a showroom but complicate semipermanent repairability.
Dell has besides incorporated modular USB-C ports and an easier-to-remove keyboard plan accordant with overarching innovations successful repairability crossed the manufacture this year, with much modular, easy-to-fix parts that widen merchandise lifetimes arsenic consumers go alert of planned obsolescence upgrade cycles.
The caller XPS: What's nether the hood
The 2026 XPS lineup is being refreshed with Intel's latest Series 3 "Panther Lake" processors: Core Ultra 5, 7, X7, oregon X9. Instead of discrete GPUs, the XPS devices diagnostic Intel Arc graphics with 12 Xe cores, providing up to 57% and 78% faster AI show successful the 14 and 16 models, respectively. Both the 14 and 16 volition beryllium disposable successful 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB RAM configurations, with up to 4TB of storage.
With each this hardware, the XPS enactment isn't known for being the astir featherweight of laptops connected the block, but this year's 16-inch exemplary successful peculiar is its thinnest carnal clamshell yet: 14.6mm (0.57 inches) thick. This attack carries implicit to the thinnest (but largest) fans successful an XPS for what Dell said are vastly improved thermals.
Also: Dell's XPS 13 is 1 of the champion laptops I've tested this twelvemonth - here's why
Displays are likewise what you'd expect from a flagship lineup. On the XPS 14, you've got a 2K non-touch oregon 2.8K interaction surface tandem OLED. On the 16, the high-end 3.2K tandem OLED scales to 500 nits highest brightness, with some screens offering 120Hz refresh. The Gorilla Glass 3 and ultra-thin bezels clasp the premium, power-forward look the XPS is known for.
In presumption of battery, some models diagnostic a 70Whr artillery that Dell says volition supply up to 27 hours of streaming artillery beingness connected the 2K display.
The effect is simply a premium laptop that resembles the XPS instrumentality users love. Dell didn't re-invent the instrumentality here, and that's precisely the point. Instead, determination are thoughtful changes that bespeak the ways radical really usage their devices, with invited improvements to repairability, form-factor tuning, and a refresh with the latest Intel processors.
I'm not going to accidental "I told ya so," but determination is thing to beryllium said astir manufacturers taking marque designation seriously. Reputations are not built overnight, and selling executives should cognize amended than anyone that you can't displacement years of user attitudes with 1 idea.
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The caller XPS laptops volition beryllium disposable starting January 6 successful the US and Canada, with the 13-inch exemplary disposable aboriginal successful 2026. As expected, determination are aggregate configurations for some models. Dell has listed the starting terms for the XPS 14 astatine $1,649, portion the XPS 16 volition commencement astatine $1,849.
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