Dell brings back XPS laptops — ditches the capacitive touch bar, adds 1Hz display option, and upgrades 14 and 16-inch models

Dell brings back XPS laptops — ditches the capacitive touch bar, adds 1Hz display option, and upgrades 14 and 16-inch models

There's a 1920 x 1200 non-touch display option, which will surely get you better battery life than OLED. But what's most interesting about it is the 1-120 Hz variable refresh rate, which Dell says is a first to for this model. That extremely low refresh should help save power when static images or text is on the screen.

On the OLED screens (2880 x 1800 on the XPS 14 or 3200 x 2000 on the XPS 16), Dell is using bright tandem OLED touchscreens with VRR from 20 – 120 Hz.

Either way, you still get the tremendously thin InfinityEdge displays that the XPS laptops have made a signature.

Dell is launching the XPS 14 and XPS 16 tomorrow, January 6, in limited configurations. The XPS 14 will start at $2,049.99 while the XPS 16 will launch at $2,199.

New entry-level configurations, which we don't know the price of but will include options under $2,000, will launch in February.

These systems will release in a graphite colorway, with a lighter "shimmer" coming later this year. For those looking for an alternative to Windows 11 , a version of the XPS 14 with Ubuntu 24.04 is set to release later in 2026.

Dell is also teasing that a new XPS 13 is coming later this year. We know very little about it, though Dell says that the laptop is "expected to be our thinnest and lightest XPS laptop ever," measuring in at less than 13.3 mm (no weight was provided).

The company is also promising that this will be the "most accessible" price for an XPS yet. Dell previously started the XPS line at $999 (though often with 4GB of RAM), so we're hoping to see Dell be aggressive here without going too low on the specs. Dell is promising that the InfinityEdge screens and build quality will be the same.

In the one teaser image we've seen, it looks like Dell will put a chiclet keyboard on the XPS 13, and the image shows a single USB-C port on the side of the system in view.

Outside of XPS, Dell is also bringing back the Precision name. Dell Pro Precision is replacing Dell Pro Max for performance workstations. Dell Inspiron is still under the plain "Dell" name, and the Dell Pro name remains in lieu of Latitude, which is fine with me.

For gaming, it's still Alienware, with no sign of the Dell G-series coming back. But with XPS and Precision back, two of Dell's most beloved brands are in play again.

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Andrew E. Freedman Social Links Navigation Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net . You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01

saunupe1911 XPS won't sell based on its size and looks anymore. Too much competition. It needed a dedicated GPU at that price. It will be heavily discounted by summer because no one will buy it. Reply

naryfa I wish they fixed the arrow keys. I had to go with LG this time, because I can never fit my fingers properly on these arrow layouts. I do like the refresh rate wind-down, though – as long as it ramps up seamlessly, no lags. Reply

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