Dell Has Destroyed the XPS - Dell XPS 16 (2024)

Dell... what's going on, bud? Alex usually begs me to cover XPS laptops, but lately, he's felt like the XPS lineup has lost its way. With rising price tags, middling entry specs, and questionable design changes, has Dell destroyed the XPS?

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

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CHAPTERS
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0:00 The XPS 16 is... different
0:21 Unboxing and weight
2:37 Ports
3:46 Sponsor - brand
4:37 Display impression and LABS test results
6:52 Keyboard and trackpad impressions
9:35 Specs
10:49 LABS performance test results and gaming impressions
12:38 Speaker impressions
14:15 Webcam impressions
14:51 Teardown and LABS battery test results
16:59 Pricing and overall thoughts
18:25 Outro

[SalemTechsperts]

It's become a meme at this point that companies adopt the worst part of Apple's products instead of borrowing from the very few GOOD parts (modular USB-C, amazing hinges). I would love to know who ultimately makes these decisions.

[arijitsanyal]

Dell is the definition of not learning from the mistakes of others. Why would you put controversial button layout (or lack thereof) in your laptops after the community has literally proven that its bad? I don't get them, also it weighs as much as a gaming laptop now without being able to game like one in the same price bracket.

[adamprestidge]

Dell: We make Apples bad decisions but 10 years after.

[delta_cosmic]

Literally the XPS are trying to hard to be like a macbook before 2021. Design over functionality comes at a huge cost.

[magicmanchloe]

7:57 if Apple realized how bad the touch bar was and rolled it back. You would think Dell would think twice before making a knock off of it?

[DeviateDefint]

Dell absolutely lost their mind with that keyboard layout. As a programmer reliant on consistent touch-typing, there's zero chance I could buy this.

[SqueamishKeemish]

The amount of times he swore when he realized he didn’t hit the escape key should just tell anyone, especially programmers, to stay the hell away from this device. Especially with a $1, 900 starting price holy crap…

[BlackMercy-itjp]

It looks like I'll be replacing my 2019 XPS 17 with a Zephyrus G16 this year. Seriously Dell needs to rehire those engineers who designed their 2019 - 2020 xps laptops

[jorismak]

OMG.. no function row and physical escape key was the reason to ditch macbooks for a long period. And when the 13plus came out everyone was like "why would you follow that" and they kept it ?!?

[doctahp]

So you're telling me, that you can get a (albeit slightly power limited) 2024 4090 Zephrys G16 with a 240hz oled panel, ultra 9 processor, and usable IO for give or take $100 dollars from this model? And before you say it isn't a gaming laptop, it is literally heavier than the G16.

Dell, what in the actual hell are you thinking.

[TheMachina]

As a programmer the no Esc key is a deal breaker, it's one of the key that I use the most and I won't go with a laptop that's made for professional that somehow didn't think it was necessary for professionals to have an Esc key. Ridiculous

[harsh-wastaken]

Okay, educate me here. It's a "touch bar"... where the buttons stay the same all the time? At least I can understand why Apple went with it for Mac books as they are actual screens that change depending on what the user is doing, but this does not look like it? Am I missing something or is this a colossally bad choice on Dell's part?

[devonward]

I really hate that you have to pay more money for a worse screen than the xps 14 and to get the oled screen it’s like 2800. In 2024 you get 1080 screens at $2000+

[stephan]

I wish you guys included Alex's reaction when he heard the blown speakers for the first time after saying 10watts. I bet it was priceless😂

[TheJamesJingYi]

At work all the developers have had XPS 15s for years because they were ‘the best’, and they really were. Maybe value wise you could get better, but in terms of an overall package, they were worth the money.

Two ‘test’ XPS 13 pluses were bought. One user literally has to have a mouse because they can’t get on with the touchpad at all. Both had audio issues for months until an update. Then Dell drops these new models, with the price increase, and now we’re switching completely to Lenovo. It’s cheaper to replace all the laptops and the Dell Thunderbolt docks if they don’t work, than just buying new XPSes. It’s just crazy.

As the resident Mac user, I was in disbelief when I saw the touch buttons - Apple literally reversed course on the Touch Bar because people didn’t like non-physical buttons, and at least they ‘gave’ us back the physical escape key, and then the rest of them. It was crazy that my M3 Max MBP looked ‘good value’ compared to the new XPS line!

[b_]

By the way: what's up with the proprietary 130w charger. Even Apple is using a normal usb pd 140w brick by now. I get that Dell engineered thier 130w proprietary brick when usb pd went up to 100w, but they went through the effort to redesign the entire laptop, why does it still have this old bs charging brick???

[Xiph]

Wait, what?? At the beginning you hinted at a far too expensive price, so ups and downs during the review, I figured at the end they'd be asking 1500-2000 for it. Which I thought would be grossly overpriced for that toy. I did not expect a 3k+ price! Man, what were they thinking?

[tomshariat]

I work at Best buy and I saw the new Dell XPS the day they came out on our displays, you should have seen me, I was devastated, One thing about the quality control, Best buy's displays models, one of them had a black screen the entire time and the other one had no force feedback on a trackpad, so they're messing something up

[rgp]

Can't believe they dropped the ball so hard, literally not one thing about this laptop appeals to me. I don't think it even looks that nice, its like a toy

[cameronbosch]

Not first, not last, but Dell made three laptops this year that I wouldnt even take for free: The XPS lineup.