Dell has just unveiled a new range of XPS laptops. The company emphasises a new minimalist design and dedicated AI hardware, marked by a brand new Copilot keyboard button.
Where in previous years Dell only shook up its design language by introducing the XPS 13 Plus, it’s now revamping the entire XPS line. Brand new 14- and 16-inch variants accompany the existing XPS 13 form factor. Each variant has an aluminium frame and an OLED display with Gorilla Glass 3.
Improvements all around
The new laptops seem to resolve a few common complaints. For example, the webcam is now 1080p instead of 720p, and Dell promises better battery life. Also, ExpressCharge should ensure that 80 percent of the battery can be charged in an hour.
Those who opt for the 16-inch version can equip this laptop with various Intel Core Ultra chips and Nvidia GPUs. However, the maximum power consumption is 80W, meaning the graphics card cannot tap its theoretical 115W maximum. Dell recommends this model for consumers who are using demanding apps or testing the latest AI software. Since the latest generation of Intel chips now have dedicated AI hardware on board, that’s a somewhat realistic scenario. Either way, there’s a choice of 1920×1200 resolution or 3840×2400, which are essentially 16:10 versions of Full HD and 4K, respectively.
Also read: Intel Core Ultra: the promise of an AI PC personalized to you
The XPS 14 can be equipped with an RTX 4050 (or just integrated graphics) and should be suitable for high-resolution video editing. Said resolutions are 1920×1200 and 3200×2000. Both the XPS 16 and XPS 14 receive Nvidia Studio support, making them well-suited for professional video-editing tasks with better stability than conventional GeForce drivers.
Meanwhile, the XPS 13 runs solely on Intel’s own Arc GPU, which in the Core Ultra series is packaged in an SoC along with the CPU and NPU (Neural Processing Unit). Regarding resolutions, there are three options: 1920×1200, 2560×1600 and 2880×1800.
AI, AI, AI
As with other manufacturers, AI acceleration is prominent in Dell’s marketing these days. The end result is that, from now on, there’ll be a dedicated Copilot button on the keyboard, which can be used to summon AI assistance at will. Examples of applications that may utilize the AI grunt have been offered by Dell before. In announcing the new XPS laptops, the company cited Adobe Lightroom, which automatically chooses the right hardware to run a workload: CPU, GPU or NPU. The latter is especially suited to doing calculations as efficiently as possible, while a powerful GPU (such as the RTX 4070 that a XPS 16 can be equipped with) can do the heavier lifting. An often-cited example of GPU acceleration being particularly useful is when generating AI images, such as in Photoshop via Generative Fill.
Only North American prices of the XPS laptops have been disclosed beforehand. The XPS 13 will be available starting at $1,299, while the XPS 14 costs a minimum of $1,699 and the XPS 16 starts at $1,899.