I Switched To The Dell 14 Premium For A Week, And It Makes Even The Xps Feel Outdated

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Dell's latest high-performance laptop is presently connected waste starting astatine $1,500.
• It's superbly designed, pinch a sleek, modern build and powerful, but accessible, hardware.
• It runs warm, and requires powerfulness guidance from nan personification to get nan astir retired of nan battery.

Dell's laptop rebrand whitethorn person resulted successful immoderate shuffling astir of naming conventions, but nan caller Dell 14 Premium -- Dell's refreshed high-performance statement of laptops -- looks a full batch for illustration nan Dell XPS upon first glance.

If you're confused astir this laptop's placement successful Dell's merchandise placement hierarchy, it's successful nan entry-level category, but nan highest-tier exemplary successful that group. This makes it a premium, but accessible, laptop for pro creatives, designers, and tech enthusiasts. 

Also: I tested nan Dell XPS' successor - present are nan biggest upgrades (and what's nan same)

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

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

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

Opting for nan 32GB of RAM and OLED show will bring nan value up to $2,250 -- nan precocious limit of what could beryllium considered "accessible" for a premium-tier laptop. 

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

The reappraisal portion I tested had a different CPU than nan unit version: an Intel Core Ultra 7 265H, disposable for consumers arsenic a typical order, but not modular connected nan machine. This resulted successful a very flimsy capacity boost compared to nan unit type (a performance-core guidelines timepiece velocity of 2.2GHz vs nan modular 2.0GHz). 

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

Also: This 16-inch Acer is simply a full-package worth prime I'd happily switch my main laptop with

All successful all, it's a gorgeous laptop. The keyboard looks fantastic, but location are immoderate usability trade-offs associated pinch its design. The first being that, while it has bully cardinal travel, it doesn't consciousness arsenic expressly ergonomic arsenic immoderate different laptops' keyboards for illustration nan HP EliteBook X G1a aliases moreover nan Acer Swift 16 AI. If you're a accelerated typer, you whitethorn request immoderate clip to acclimate to nan cardinal layout here, arsenic immoderate mightiness comprehend it arsenic a small cramped. 

The LED usability cardinal statement is besides different point that sacrifices usability for aesthetics. In erstwhile reviews for nan XPS, I've expressed my lukewarm reception for nan feature, and it remains nan aforesaid here. Personally, I find nan always-on lighting a small distracting, but aft a week pinch nan laptop, I will opportunity I've acclimated to it. 

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

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

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

Compared to nan XPS, larboard action is streamlined pinch a small 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 nan instrumentality firmly into pro creator territory and adds to nan laptop's longevity, thing I'm gladsome Dell decided to discuss connected for nan Premium line. 

Also: Why I urge this Asus laptop complete nan MacBook Pro to creators and professionals

The RTX 4050, while a competitory GPU, is constricted to 40 watts of TDP (thermal creation power) successful nan Dell 14 Premium, which puts a headdress connected its performance. The constraints of this laptop's cooling strategy is evident during extended, demanding workflows, erstwhile nan instrumentality warms up and stays that way.

That being said, during mundane tasks, nan laptop runs cool and quiet, and nan 4050's capacity delivers for video editing, photograph rendering, and moreover gaming, but demanding workloads quickly raise nan temperature, which is peculiarly felt connected nan wrist remainder and keyboard. 

The GPU present performs good for astir games, but it's not peculiarly optimized for PC gaming because of said power generation, and nan laptop's design, which gets successful nan measurement of immoderate gaming practicality. Specifically nan LED usability row, which, if you're playing a crippled that uses F1 keys, will request to beryllium reconfigured.

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

For that reason, I'd position this laptop much successful nan realm of pro creators and business realm than a gaming laptop, contempt its expertise to tally games because of nan 32GB of RAM and RTX 4050 GPU. 

Speaking of, let's touch connected nan artillery life here. This is simply a laptop that greatly benefits from progressive powerfulness management, arsenic you'll want to beryllium mindful of depletion to get nan astir retired of nan 69.5Whr battery. 

Also: Dell's caller Pro Max lineup offers top-tier laptops for sky-high prices

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

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

Lastly, while we're connected nan topic, moreover though this laptop is sleek and compact, it weighs 3.66 pounds for nan LCD display, and 3.79 for nan OLED. This is by nary intends nan heaviest laptop connected nan block, but a testament to its creation for weighing much than it looks. 

ZDNET's buying advice

The Dell 14 Premium lives up to its sanction arsenic an artistic laptop that's committed to its future-forward design. This isn't a laptop that's made for everyone, and that's fine. Dell has successfully improved connected elements of its creation that don't discuss its imagination pinch nan expanded larboard action and equilibrium of hardware and cost. 

As nan highest-performing laptop successful Dell's guidelines tier of laptops, it's a premium, but accessible, instrumentality that's well-suited toward professionals who request a balanced attack to performance. The luxe beingness creation makes a connection and is simply a joyousness to use, but users will request to beryllium mindful of nan hardware's powerfulness demands and power generation.