A radical update to Dell's XPS line of laptops – Dell

Initially the 13-inch Dell XPS remained, but the XPS Plus version with Touch Bar is a thing of the past as it will be replaced by the 14-inch XPS. Plus, there's a new 16-inch XPS that will replace the 15- and 17-inch models.

Dell's XPS line of laptops has been around for more than a decade, offering premium features and a portable design. The company went ahead with refreshing the lineup in 2022 by introducing the Dell XPS 13 Plus that features a new (and somewhat strange) keyboard and trackpad design, as well as a cheaper, lower-performance Dell Processor options at 9 watts.

At CES 2024, Dell is updating its XPS laptops in two major ways. The first is that the company is moving towards a Plus-type design. So all of the company's Dell XPS 2024 laptops feature the new keyboard and touchpad style. The second is screen size: Dell is ditching the XPS 15 and XPS 13 2-in-1 models, but introducing two new screen sizes, with the family including the Dell XPS 13, XPS 14, and XPS 16.

Dell XPS 13 (9340)

This means the Dell XPS 2024 family is now available in three screen sizes. Dell

On the other hand, the new Dell XPS 14 (9440) has a 14.5-inch display, a Core Ultra 7 processor, and weighs 1.67 kg. If the weight seems a bit heavy to you, it's for good reason as this particular model has a larger battery and optional support for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 graphics. The entry-level version of the model starts at $1,700.

Dell XPS 14 (9440)

Finally, the Dell kg and its price is $1,900 and above.

All new Dell laptops are available with a choice of non-touch LCD displays with a 120Hz screen refresh rate or OLED displays (with resolutions and refresh rates varying from model to model).

They all also have quad speakers with two main speakers and two tweeters, Dolby Atmos audio, fingerprint sensors, and 1080p IR cameras with Windows Hello facial recognition support.

Each model has at least two Thunderbolt 4 ports for charging, video and data output… but those are the only two Thunderbolt ports on the new XPS 13. If you want a dedicated headphone jack or microSD card reader, you'll need to opt for one of the larger models. If you want more ports, you'll need an adapter or hub.

Dell XPS 16 (9640)

However, the most controversial thing about Dell's laptops is the company's decision to use an XPS Plus-style keyboard and touchpad, which features wide keys with a “zero-mesh” design and an ambient light sensor that allows for automatic brightness adjustment.

Above the physical keys is a set of capacitive touch Fn keys. The nice thing about creating these keys is that you can press the Fn key to change the labels depending on whether you want to see the F1 – F12 keys or the multimedia control keys.

Laptops also have a glass palm rest, which means the glass-covered touchpad blends in with the rest of the palm rest, which can make it difficult to tell if you're on the edge of the keyboard without looking, although Dell points out that The touchpad supports haptic feedback.