Dell is bringing the sleek design of last year’s XPS 13 Plus to the rest of the XPS product line in time for CES 2024 in Las Vegas. The “Plus” naming is gone completely – the new models are simply called the XPS 13, XPS 14, and XPS 16. They all feature the key design elements that defined the XPS 13 Plus: a seamless glass palm rest hiding an invisible haptic touchpad in the middle, touch-sensitive function keys above the keyboard, and large keycaps for comfortable typing.
Importantly, the two larger models address some of my major complaints about the XPS 13 Plus. As usual for Dell, minimalism is front and center with these laptops – polished aluminum and glass exteriors dominate at first glance. The screens take center stage too – Dell’s signature ultra-thin “Infinity Edge” bezels let the display fill practically the entire lid. These are also among the first laptops to have dedicated keys for Windows Copilot.
In my view, Dell went too minimal with the XPS 13 Plus last year – it had only two USB-C ports and lacked a headphone jack. That’s still true of the latest XPS 13, but the XPS 14 and 16 add back the headphone jack plus three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports and a microSD card reader. (Dell thoughtfully includes both a USB-C to USB-A adapter and an HDMI adapter in the box too, neither of which comes with the XPS 13).
All the new models feature Intel’s latest Core i9 processors, which means they have integrated NPUs to handle AI workloads. So even without a discrete GPU, they have more creative potential than Dell’s last generation, or can at least deliver some sweet Windows Studio Effects backgrounds on video calls! But you can still configure the XPS 14 and 16 with NVIDIA’s newest RTX 40-series GPUs if you need more graphics horsepower.
