Dell XPS 14 (2026) review

I haven't used the XPS 14. I'm working from Dell's spec page, read on November 7, 2026, and from Pickr's review, published April 17, 2026.

There's a catch, and it's why this review has no score. Pickr tested a Core Ultra X7 358H unit with 32GB of memory, a 1TB drive and a 2880x1800 OLED touch screen. The configuration Dell sells by default has a Core Ultra 5 325, 16GB, 512GB and a 1920x1200 LCD. Different chip, different screen. I'm not going to grade one laptop on another laptop's results.

The money, and the stock

The XPS 14 costs $1,989.99Not verifiedNot verified, checked November 1, 2026. On November 7, 2026, Dell's page also printed Sold Out.

So you may not be able to buy it at all right now. Check Dell's page before you plan around it.

What the base configuration gets you

Per Dell, the default build has:

• Intel Core Ultra 5 325: 8 cores, 12MB cache, up to 4.5 GHz
• Intel Arc graphics
• 16GB LPDDR5x at up to 7467 MT/s
• 512GB M.2 2230 SSD, Gen4x4
• 70 Wh, 3-cell battery
• Windows 11 Home, sold as a Copilot+ PC

The screen is the part I'd look at hardest. It's 14 inches, non-touch, 1920x1200, with a 1-120Hz refresh rate and 500 nits. Dell calls that resolution 2K. That's generous.

Refresh dropping to 1Hz is good news for battery life on paper. 500 nits is bright enough for a window seat. But at this price class I'd want to see the OLED option priced out before settling for the LCD.

One oddity on weight. Dell lists the 2.8K OLED model at 1.36 kg and the 2K LCD at 1.38 kg. The nicer screen is 20 g lighter. Nobody will feel that, but it does mean you aren't paying a weight penalty for the OLED.

Battery: one good number, one bad one

Pickr ran PCMark's battery rundown at 250 nits and got 12:29 on its X7 358H unit. That's a full workday with room left.

Under a heavy workload the same unit lasted 2:28. Pickr also says it couldn't replicate Dell's maximum battery claim. Any laptop drops hard under sustained load, but two and a half hours is short if you render or compile away from a socket.

The Core Ultra 5 325 with the LCD has the same 70 Wh rating on Dell's page. Chip and screen both change the result, and I won't guess in which direction.

Performance, on the unit Pickr had

Pickr's X7 358H unit scored 2664 single-core and 15462 multi-core on CPU, plus 55043 in OpenCL and 63137 in Vulkan on the GPU side. Those belong to the higher-tier chip.

A small naming wrinkle: Pickr calls the chip the Core Ultra X7 358H, and Dell lists a Core Ultra 7 358H among the upgrade options. Same model number either way. If you want Pickr's results, that's the configuration to buy, and it costs more than the base price above.

Where it sits in Dell's line-up

The XPS 13 ($699.99Not verifiedNot verified) sits below it and the XPS 16 (Not verified) above it. If you're split between sizes, compare the screen options on each, because the default XPS 14 panel is the weakest part of this spec sheet.

The rivals I'd price against it

Two laptops I'd open in other tabs:

• Asus Zenbook S14 (UX5406, $1,999.99Not verifiedNot verified): same 14-inch premium Windows class.
• Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M5 Pro, $2,499Not verifiedNot verified): the obvious non-Windows alternative.

Their test results belong in their own reviews.

What I'd do with my own money

Wait. Dell's page says Sold Out anyway, and nobody has published a test of the base configuration. Pickr's 12:29 is promising, but it's for a different chip and a different screen.

If stock comes back and you need a 14-inch Windows laptop this month, I'd buy the OLED version over the 1920x1200 LCD. It's lighter, and the screen is the thing you look at all day.