Verdict
If you believe a large display notebook is key, to better entertainment or productivity the Dell XPS 16 is among the best there is.
While It's heavy and you are paying a premium price for a device that's packed with the latest PC components and it's worth the investment because you are going to get at least three years out of this laptop.
The keyboard is an acquired feature that you are going to have to get use to but when you do it really fits into the overall uniqueness of the Dell XPS 16.
Battery like was okay but not great considering the size and the quality of the display which itself needs a lot of power which the 6-Cell, 99.5Whr does deliver.
Ideally this is a desktop device for people who either don't have the room or do not want a monitor.
Plug it in and you have an ideal notebook with a big display.
– The 16.3″, Touch, UHD+ 3840×2400, 60Hz, OLED, Anti-Reflect, Anti-Smudge, 400 nit, Infinity Edge Display is among the best we have seen on a notebook this year.
– The minimalistic design and the unique borderless touchpad give the XP 16 a distinct premium look
– I found it heavy when used on the road or when travelling.
– The 358mm x 240mm x 18.7mm specifications are the reason why this device weighs in at 2.3kilo, which is double the weight of my normal day notebook.
The Dell XPS 16 is a 16″ notebook that has all the under bonnet specs to take on the best there is out there.
Sleek and bold it comes with a massive 16.3-inch display that delivers excellent display real estate, the only problem was that I found it heavy when used on the road or when travelling.
As a desktop offering this is an excellent notebook for those who want power and a big screen without the need to move to an attached monitor.
The minimalistic design and the unique borderless touchpad give the XP 16 a distinct premium look that sets it apart from most top end notebooks, even Apple.
Then there is the nearly flat keyboard with little to no spacing between the keys, I found this design a tad different from what I have become use to when pounding the keyboard of my past notebooks.
However, after a few days of use I found the new flat design really comfortable and above all very stylish along with the flat touchpad that blends in seamlessly to the Dell form factor.
Selling for $5,098 on the Dell web site, the configuration at this price consists of the Intel Core™ Ultra 7 155H processor with 24 MB cache, 16 cores, up to 4.8 GHz Turbo engine.
The 16.3″, Touch, UHD+ 3840×2400, 60Hz, OLED, Anti-Reflect, Anti-Smudge, 400 nit, Infinity Edge Display is among the best we have seen on a notebook this year and is up there with the Lenovo premium notebook offering.
I must admit that after testing several notebooks with OLED panels I do not want to go back to what use to constitute a premium display because the screen on the Dell XPS 16 is fantastic when watching a movie, video or when doing video Teams calls.
As we do a lot of graphic processing with large files, videos and high res images the inclusion of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card was equally as good for gaming as it was when throwing a big graphics workload at the machine.
As for sound output it’s always hard irrelevant of the display size to deliver good HD sound from a notebook, which is why I recommend using high quality headphones which when combined with the excellent OLED display makes this machine a perfect entertainment hub as it is a business on steroids notebook.
The device has two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left side and a Thunderbolt 4 port on the right side along with the headphone/mic jack and the microSD card reader slot.
As for footprint and size the 358mm x 240mm x 18.7mm specifications are the reason why this device weighs in at 2.3kilo which is double the weight of my normal day notebook.
Basically, Dell has not scrimped on the build process, and if you want the best you are going to have to accept the weight, as this device is packed with premium components that are packed into a sleek aluminium chassis.
The machined aluminium also has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Victus built in to protect the display.
The Camera is only 1080p at 30 fps, It would have been nice to have got a $K camera to go with the OLED display.
There is also a dual-microphone array optimised with Waves that supports VoIP calling.
Verdict
If you believe a large display notebook is key, to better entertainment or productivity the Dell XPS 16 is among the best there is.
While It's heavy and you are paying a premium price for a device that's packed with the latest PC components and it's worth the investment because you are going to get at least three years out of this laptop.
The keyboard is an acquired feature that you are going to have to get use to but when you do it really fits into the overall uniqueness of the Dell XPS 16.
Battery like was okay but not great considering the size and the quality of the display which itself needs a lot of power which the 6-Cell, 99.5Whr does deliver.
Ideally this is a desktop device for people who either don't have the room or do not want a monitor.
Plug it in and you have an ideal notebook with a big display.
– The 16.3″, Touch, UHD+ 3840×2400, 60Hz, OLED, Anti-Reflect, Anti-Smudge, 400 nit, Infinity Edge Display is among the best we have seen on a notebook this year.
– The minimalistic design and the unique borderless touchpad give the XP 16 a distinct premium look
– I found it heavy when used on the road or when travelling.
– The 358mm x 240mm x 18.7mm specifications are the reason why this device weighs in at 2.3kilo, which is double the weight of my normal day notebook.