Dell's 2026 XPS 14 is a genuine recovery for a laptop line that had been written off.
The new XPS 14 runs Intel's Core Ultra Series 3 "Panther Lake" chips and restores a physical function row that recent models abandoned. Battery life is reportedly remarkable, speakers are improved, and the build quality is exceptional for how thin the machine is. Dell also retired its "Premium Plus" tier naming, a move that generated no apparent grief.
Last year's XPS 13 was treated by reviewers as the line's probable last gasp, a model that had lost its way against rivals from Apple and Lenovo. A turnaround matters because XPS was once Dell's strongest argument that Windows hardware could compete on design and build quality. If the 2026 model delivers what early reviews suggest, it gives premium Windows buyers a credible option in a segment Apple has dominated for years.
The catch, as ever with Dell's premium tier, is price. A score of 7 is genuine praise from a publication that does not hand out perfect scores freely. But expensive for what you get has followed the XPS line for years, and nothing here suggests that has changed.