As someone who has reviewed nearly every laptop imaginable, I would say that the Dell XPS has been my favourite. The XPS has always been the crème de la crème of premium notebooks, a gold standard in the Windows laptop domain. However, I was disheartened when Dell abandoned the XPS branding last year in favour of the “Pro” and “Pro Max” monikers in the name of simplification. That step was a massive mistake, and Dell executives later admitted the blunder. The good news is that the XPS branding is back, and so is the notebook that once refined the idea of a flagship. At CES in Las Vegas earlier this year, I was one of the first journalists to get my hands on the new XPS lineup. Over the past few days, I have been using the XPS 16, and it reminded me of Tiger Woods, who made a comeback in 2019 and won The Masters, one of the most celebrated moments in sports history.
Here is my review of the Dell XPS 16.
What: Dell XPS 16| Price: Rs 2,78,550 onwards
Exquisite design
The XPS 16 has a very polished design, like a fine Cartier watch. It’s the kind of device you have to look at again, or more closely, for its subtle details to truly emerge. The entire laptop features a mix of aluminium and glass, which gives it a premium feel. Unlike previous XPS notebooks, this one is less sharp, with a more squared front edge and soft, rounded corners.
The XPS 16 looks and feels like a real laptop, and I am glad Dell didn’t make it a tablet-computer hybrid. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)
The notebook is astonishingly lightweight and sleek. After all, we are talking about a 16-inch notebook, which has typically been on the heavier side. The XPS 16 weighs 1.6 kg and is 14.6 mm thick, making it easy to slip into a backpack. I always feared that a notebook of this size would be too cumbersome to carry. In fact, I lugged it around press events without noticing any significant heft.
The aluminium lid is smooth and can be opened with one hand. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)
Honestly, the XPS 16 is the most beautiful 16-inch notebook I have ever used. Dell loaned me a review unit in Graphite, which is a dark grey tone. However, I do miss notebooks that had plenty of ports, which sadly is not the case here. The XPS 16 has only three ports, all USB-C jacks that support Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort 2.1, and power delivery, along with a headphone jack. I remember when I was in college, a friend of mine bought the XPS mainly because it came with a microSD card reader, and he was into animation and video editing.
A big, beautiful OLED display
For those getting a Dell XPS for the first time, or moving from a MacBook, the biggest selling point of the XPS 16 is its large, gorgeous OLED screen. It makes a huge difference when moving from a 13-inch LCD screen on my MacBook Neo to the 16-inch Tandem OLED display on the XPS 16. Whether I am reading long-form essays, editing a document, or splitting the screen between two apps while working, the extra real estate comes in handy. The benefits of a 16-inch screen are instantly visible.
I would also like to highlight the near bezel-less display. Thankfully, Dell still managed to leave enough space for a proper webcam: an 8-megapixel 4K HDR model that delivers minimal noise and accurate colours in live images.
The screen is very bright and colourful. Yes, it does support touch. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)
The XPS 16’s excellent 16-inch display, with a sharp 3200×2000 resolution and responsive touch input, makes the MacBook Air’s display feel a bit dull. What I like about the XPS’s Tandem OLED panel is that it delivers vibrant colours, strong contrast, and high brightness, along with excellent colour accuracy, something creative professionals can’t ignore. On top of that, the 120Hz refresh rate (similar to what you get on the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Nintendo Switch 2) provides smooth visuals, while the ability to drop to 20Hz helps conserve battery during static use.
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The biggest surprise and delight of the 16-inch XPS are the speakers. I have been using them far more than I ever have with any laptop before. Whether for podcasts or music, the speakers never felt distracting, nor did I feel the need to use my headphones.
A reworked keyboard and touchpad take time to adjust to
For me, though, the biggest adjustment has been getting used to the keyboard and touchpad on the XPS 16. They have been redesigned, which is why I mentioned it took me some time to adapt.
First things first, Dell went with a zero-gap key layout, which is different from the more traditional chiclet-style design commonly used on most notebook keyboards. That being said, although I liked the stability of the keys, the zero-lattice design still provides very little tactile feedback. Despite that, I was able to reach 96 words per minute with 94 percent accuracy, but beyond that, it would be a struggle for me, as I spend the majority of my time in front of a keyboard and have a profession that demands a lot of writing.
Another change Dell made to the keyboard is replacing the top row of function and media keys capacitive touch controls with regular, physical keys. I never liked capacitive touch keys, anyway.
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The XPS 16’s large, smooth glass trackpad is excellent for moving the cursor, but clicking is less satisfying. Somehow I felt the physical click is bit hard.
Big leaps in performance and battery life
The 16-inch XPS is powered by the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H processor (latest one), alongside 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. It’s no wonder that the reason you see such a thin chassis on a 16-inch notebook is why Dell opted for an integrated Intel Arc graphics card instead of a discrete GPU.
This is not the first time I have reviewed a laptop with a Core Ultra “Panther Lake” processor. Intel has staged a comeback with this new generation of Panther Lake chips, which offer increased efficiency, enhanced AI capabilities, and more graphics power.
As I have found, Intel’s latest chip has been quite powerful during my usual multitasking workload, which includes using WhatsApp, running YouTube in the background, keeping dozens of Chrome tabs open, using split-screen mode, and streaming Netflix. It is also capable of handling video and photo editing, as well as AI workloads, without any trouble. That being said, modern laptops have been fast for generations, so the question really is: what would you do with a newer processor, and how would you take advantage of it? I will let my readers decide.
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My review unit lasted about 13 hours on a single charge, thanks to its 70Wh battery, which I think is solid for a laptop with desktop-class performance. You can easily get through an entire workday on this device. Dell also sells a lower-end model that can last up to 31 hours before needing a recharge- go for that one if battery life is your priority.
Dell has abandoned the capacitive-touch LED-based row of function keys (F1 to F12) and returned to traditional keysI (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)
So, should you buy the Dell XPS 16?
The Dell XPS 16 is not for everyone; it specifically targets high-flying executives and partners at financial firms who value craftsmanship and have always wanted an ultra-portable Windows notebook with a bigger screen than the typical 13-inch form factor. I don’t think that type of audience will be disappointed. Sure, the retail price of the XPS 16 is very high, but as a product, Dell seems to have done a fairly good job of keeping it in the league of “something special.” The XPS 16, as a high-end notebook, is absolutely otherworldly. What’s even more impressive is that, if you have been paying attention, there is something genuinely and undeniably great coming from Dell lately.
The XPS 16 looks and feels like a real laptop, and I am glad Dell didn’t make it a tablet-computer hybrid. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)
The aluminium lid is smooth and can be opened with one hand. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)
The screen is very bright and colourful. Yes, it does support touch. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)
These new keys are too close together. Some may not like it at all. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)
Dell has abandoned the capacitive-touch LED-based row of function keys (F1 to F12) and returned to traditional keysI (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)