ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Dell’s latest high-performance laptop is currently on sale starting at $1,250.
- It’s superbly designed, with a sleek, modern build and powerful, but accessible, hardware.
- It runs warm, and requires power management from the user to get the most out of the battery.
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Dell’s laptop rebrand may have resulted in some shuffling around of naming conventions, but the new Dell 14 Premium — Dell’s refreshed high-performance line of laptops — looks a whole lot like the Dell XPS upon first glance. If you’re confused about this laptop’s placement in Dell’s product placement hierarchy, it’s in the consumer category, and the highest-tier model in that group. This makes it a premium, but accessible, laptop for pro creatives, designers, and tech enthusiasts.
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From the zero-lattice keyboard to the edge-to-edge OLED display and invisible trackpad, the Dell 14 Premium lives up to its name with a sleek, future-facing build. Because of its clever recessed design, it gives the impression that it’s hovering above the surface when sitting on a table.
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Appearances aside, Dell wants to emphasize that this laptop is not an XPS, but rather an evolution of the line into something new. The idea here was to take what worked on its high-end machines and improve on the things that users saw as pain points, and it does that to some degree, despite obvious comparisons to its predecessor.
In terms of hardware, the Dell 14 Premium comes with the Intel Core Ultra 7 255H “Arrow Lake” processor, up to 32GB of LPDDR5X, 8400MT/s dual-channel RAM, and either an Intel Arc Graphics or Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU.
Opting for the 32GB of RAM and OLED display will bring the price up to $2,250 — the upper limit of what could be considered “accessible” for a premium-tier laptop.
The review unit I tested had a different CPU than the retail version: an Intel Core Ultra 7 265H, available for consumers as a special order, but not standard on the machine. This resulted in a very slight performance boost compared to the retail version (a performance-core base clock speed of 2.2GHz vs the standard 2.0GHz).
The 14-inch OLED touchscreen is as gorgeous as you’d expect, with a 3.2K resolution, 400nit brightness, and a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz. The display’s thin bezels and seamless webcam module result in a clean and crisp design that gives the impression that the screen is bigger than it is.
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All in all, it’s a gorgeous laptop. The keyboard looks fantastic, but there are some usability trade-offs associated with its design. The first being that, while it has good key travel, it doesn’t feel as expressly ergonomic as some other laptops’ keyboards like the HP EliteBook X G1a or even the Acer Swift 16 AI. If you’re a fast typer, you may need some time to acclimate to the key layout here, as some might perceive it as a little cramped.
The LED function key row is also another thing that sacrifices usability for aesthetics. In previous reviews for the XPS, I’ve expressed my lukewarm reception for the feature, and it remains the same here. Personally, I find the always-on lighting a little distracting, but after a week with the laptop, I will say I’ve acclimated to it.
The invisible haptic trackpad is one of the most premium elements of the laptop’s design. The texture is unlike any other laptop I’ve felt, with a smooth, silky texture that feels luxe. The haptic clicks are very subtle, requiring very little finger movement, allowing the user to glide across the surface unhindered by the trackpad’s boundaries. This is a design trick, as the trackpad itself isn’t necessarily larger than standard, but definitely feels as such.
This design does raise some concerns about durability, however, since this single glass sheet looks great, but a scratch or dent would mar the otherwise pristine surface. Luckily, Dell emphasizes its durability, saying it can withstand up to 1,200 drops.
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Compared to the XPS model, port selection is streamlined with a few more options. You get three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports (instead of two), an audio jack, and a microSD card slot. This is a welcome improvement that pushes the device firmly into pro creator territory and adds to the laptop’s longevity, something I’m glad Dell decided to compromise on for the Premium line.
While a competitive GPU, the RTX 4050 is limited to 30 watts of TDP (thermal design power) in the Dell 14 Premium, which limits its performance. The constraints of this laptop’s cooling system are evident during extended, demanding workflows, when the device warms up and stays that way.
That being said, during everyday tasks, the laptop runs cool and quiet, and the 4050’s performance delivers for video editing, photo rendering, and even gaming, but demanding workloads quickly raise the temperature, which is particularly felt on the wrist rest and keyboard.
The GPU here performs well for most games, but it’s not particularly optimized for PC gaming because of said heat generation and the laptop’s design, which gets in the way of some gaming practicality. Specifically, the LED function row, which, if you’re playing a game that uses F1 keys, will need to be reconfigured.
Instead of pounding at the keyboard, it’s better suited toward video editing and graphic design, with multiple ports for connecting to an external monitor, hooking up peripherals, and utilizing the 32GB of RAM for large file transfers with the included microSD slot.
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For that reason, I’d position this laptop more in the realm of pro creators and the business realm than a gaming laptop, despite its ability to run games because of the 32GB of RAM and RTX 4050 GPU. Speaking of, let’s touch on the battery life here. This is a laptop that greatly benefits from active power management, as you’ll want to be mindful of consumption to get the most out of the 69.5Whr battery.
During my testing, I found that the Dell 14 Premium responds to battery life in a way that parallels the heat generation. During everyday use: web browsing, productivity software, and multitasking across applications, battery life is very good, lasting to the eight hour mark and beyond. But once you shift gears to more demanding workflows, that battery life starts to drop off.
You’ll get less than that if you’re working on more power-hungry tasks and five hours or less if you stay in performance mode. For these reasons, I would say this is a laptop that requires some mindfulness of use, as opposed to a light and breezy device you can keep untethered from the charger and forget about.
Lastly, while we’re on the topic, even though this laptop is sleek and compact, it weighs 3.66 pounds for the LCD display and 3.79 pounds for the OLED. This is by no means the heaviest laptop on the block, but a testament to its design for weighing more than it looks.
ZDNET’s buying advice
The Dell 14 Premium lives up to its name as an aesthetic laptop committed to its future-forward design. This isn’t a laptop made for everyone, and that’s fine. Dell has successfully improved elements of its design that don’t compromise its vision, such as the expanded port selection and balance of hardware and cost.
As the highest-performing laptop in Dell’s base tier of laptops, it’s a premium but accessible machine well-suited toward professionals who need a balanced approach to performance. The luxe physical design makes a statement and is a joy to use, but users will need to be mindful of the hardware’s power demands and heat generation.
