A beautiful laptop that excels at almost everything… except typing

There’s so much to like about Dell’s new XPS 14, it’s hard for me to discuss it without sounding like a complete fan. Its new design makes it incredibly thin and light. And Intel’s Panther Lake chips give it plenty of power, even when it comes to games. After reviving the XPS brand from last year’s disgraceful rebranding, it seems like Dell was focused on fixing all the issues we’ve had so far with the XPS 14.

Unfortunately, a shallow, unresponsive, and hilariously error-prone keyboard kept me from really loving the XPS 14. Simply put, if you press keys too quickly in a row it has trouble recognizing them. And for fast and demanding typists like me, this leads to countless errors that disrupt your flow. In the last sentence alone, I counted ten times where I had to go back and make sure the comma appeared. First Correct a space, or simple spelling errors. What’s the use of a fast, light and beautiful machine if I can’t type even a sentence calmly?

Ditch

Dell’s new XPS 14 is lighter and more powerful than ever, but it’s being hampered by an annoying keyboard.

Pros

• Gorgeous and lightweight design
• powerful intel chips
• lovely oled screen
• Fixes previous design mistakes

Shortcoming

• annoying keyboard problems
• Expensive for powerful configuration
• mediocre battery life

It’s not uncommon for laptop keyboards to require user training. But my problems with the XPS 14 aren’t from lack of practice — it just doesn’t recognize key presses as quickly as every other laptop I’ve tested. As you can see in the video below, quick key presses are almost always recognized in reverse, or sometimes not recognized at all. Those problems mostly go away if you type more slowly and deliberately, but it seems like a ridiculous compromise for a premium machine in 2026.

Dell engineers are currently testing one of the two review samples I received, both of which displayed the exact same keyboard problem. Other reviewers have also noted that they need to type more slowly for the keyboard to work best. Gizmodo’s It seems Kyle Barr is as frustrated with the keyboard as I am, but he thinks it’s due to the Dell’s seamless key design, with no spaces between keys. My brother, who is an IT professional, also noticed input problems when he typed on the XPS 14.

I’m not crazy, I swear!

According to Dell, its engineers say that “a small batch of early XPS units” had the quick typing problem that I encountered. They also say that the issue has been resolved for the time being and shipping of XPS units will no longer be affected. The company plans to release a firmware fix later this month, and I’ll be sure to update this review once I get my hands on it. But given that these laptops have been on the market for several weeks, I decided to review the XPS 14 as is. TL;DR, this is the most beautiful machine I’ve ever used that I hate typing on.

Seriously, this thing is gorgeous. Dell’s designers outdid themselves with the machine’s sleek metal case, which is more MacBook-like than its boxy predecessors. It’s amazing that this system weighs only three pounds, which puts it between the 3.4-pound 14-inch MacBook Pro and the 2.7-pound 13.6-inch MacBook Air. It’s only a third of a pound heavier than the MacBook Neo, Apple’s attempt at a low-powered entry-level laptop.

I’m also glad to see that Dell listened to my complaints about how over-designed the previous XPS line was. For example, the company is sticking with its “invisible” trackpad, which fits with the laptop’s wrist rest. But now there are two blurred lines that indicate where the trackpad actually begins and ends. It’s a solution reminiscent of Apple’s MacBooks, which have all-large glass trackpads separated from their metal cases by light borders. Thanks to these two little lines, which don’t detract from the XPS 14’s minimalist aesthetic, I feel more confident swiping around.

Dell also reversed the wonky capacitive function row compared to previous models – which again looked cool, but had some serious usability issues. It was difficult to type with them, as they did not feel as tactile as normal keys. And most importantly, the capacitive function line completely disappeared in direct sunlight. God forbid you were outside and wanted to change the volume level! The XPS 14 brings back a function row with normal keys, which is easier to type on by touch and actually works in direct sunlight. (I sometimes wonder if Dell’s designers ever went all out with the final XPS 14.)

Our review model’s 2.8K 14-inch OLED touchscreen looked great with bold colors and surprisingly deep black levels. But that’s pretty much what I’m expecting from OLED at this point. I can’t get enough of the extra eye candy the OLED adds to photos and videos, and it makes a huge difference with games too. But keep in mind that OLED is only available for the most expensive XPS 14, with all other models getting a standard non-touch 2K LCD.

When it comes to connectivity, you get three USB-C ports and a headphone jack with the new XPS 14. The previous model’s microSD card slot is gone, and there’s also no HDMI or USB Type A connection as you’ll find on similar systems from ASUS and Acer. Apple’s 14-inch MacBook Pro, in particular, has three USB-C ports, a full-size HDMI slot, a larger SD card reader, and a headphone jack.

Beyond Dell’s redesign, the main star of the XPS 14 is Intel’s new Panther Lake Core Ultra X7 358H chip, which offers some serious graphics upgrades over the previous generation. Our review unit, which features 32GB of RAM and Intel’s built-in Arc B390 GPU, was able to reach 130fps. ark raiders When playing in 1080p with medium graphics settings as well as XeSS upscaling and frame generation. I was able to play a few rounds without any lag — my only distraction was the realization that I was playing so smoothly on the integrated graphics of an ultraportable.

I definitely wouldn’t recommend the XPS 14 for heavy gamers. But if you’re forced to choose a new non-gaming system for work or school, it’s certainly nice that it can play some modern titles well. I also saw 63fps while playing cyberpunk 2077 In 1080p with medium graphics settings and XeSS technology activated. Not bad for one of the most demanding PC games in recent memory!

Benchmarks also point to plenty of power under the hood: the XPS 14 scored the same in PCMark 10 and Geekbench 6 as the MSI Prestige 14 AI+, which also has the Ultra X7 358H chip. I was also surprised to see that its single-core Geekbench 6 score was higher than ASUS’s ProArt PX13 GoPro Edition, a great machine with 128GB of RAM and a powerful AMD. Ryzen AI Max+395 chip. The XPS 14 scored 3,000 points higher than the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI gaming laptop (powered by the last-generation Core Ultra 9 288V chip) in Geekbench’s multi-threaded CPU test.

Clearly, this was a growth year for Intel’s hardware. Just keep in mind that all of our figures come from Dell’s highest-end XPS 14 configuration, which currently starts at $2,250 with 64GB of RAM on the company’s site. The lowest configuration, which starts at $1,450, comes with an Intel Core Ultra 7 355 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. When I briefly tested that system (had to send it back to Dell for that keyboard issue), it scored 2,000 points lower than the Ultra X7 model in PCMark 10. I didn’t get a chance to play the game on the entry-level XPS 14, but I wasn’t expecting much, since Intel’s great Arc graphics are reserved for its pricier X7 and X9 CPUs.

I was also surprised to see that the XPS 14 lasted only 10 hours and 21 minutes on PCMark 10’s Modern Office battery test. The MSI Prestige 14 lasted a full 22 hours and 15 minutes – that’s right in line with Intel’s efficiency claims for Panther Lake systems. I tested both the XPS 14 and the MSI Prestige 14 in Windows’ “Balanced” battery profile, so you can enjoy more life by turning on more battery saving features.

If I were to judge the XPS 14 solely on its specs and design, it would be my favorite Windows laptop available today. But I swear, I can’t live with its keyboard issues. I had to seriously slow down my typing to write this review, and even then I had to back up and make more corrections than usual. Dell is so close to creating a PC that’s a true MacBook Pro competitor, it’s a shame that a simple keyboard issue holds the XPS 14 back from true greatness.

Updated 3/6/26 2:20pm ET: Added more information about the XPS 14’s keyboard issue and possible firmware fixes.