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Title: Dell Premium 14 review: New name, same great laptop

Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2025 12:00:47 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/de...

Every now and then companies make truly boneheaded decisions, which is
exactly what happened when Dell killed off the name of its most iconic PC
line and replaced it with something generic. It's like if Ford decided to
rebrand Mustang and call it The Prime Sportscar instead. It doesn't make
sense. But now that XPS has become Premium, it's time to see if Dell's latest
flagship 14-inch ultraportable ΓÇö the Dell 14 Premium (you see how dumb that
sounds?) ΓÇö still has the DNA that made its predecessors one of the best
notebook families for more than a decade.

Design and display: How Dell puts the P in Premium

Instead of doing a full redesign to match its updated name, for 2025 Dell
kept the same chassis it used on last year's XPS 14. And I'm not mad at all
because it's still one of the most beautiful and elegant notebooks on the
market today. Its aluminum chassis has clean lines, a Gorilla Glass 3 surface
and just the right amount of ports for a laptop this size: three USB-C slots
with Thunderbolt 4, a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD slot. That's important,
because the 14 Premium's smaller sibling ΓÇö the XPS 13 (which isnΓÇÖt being
renamed yet because it isn't getting updated this year) ΓÇö doesn't have a
headphone jack or a built-in card reader. That said, at between 3.66 and 3.79
pounds depending on which display you pick, the 14 Premium is a touch heavier
than some of its similarly-sized rivals like a 14-inch MacBook Pro (3.4
pounds). The difference is small enough that I'm not bothered, though.

There's also a glass wrist rest with a touchpad that blends invisibly into
the deck, which might make it seem potentially hard to use. However, because
the tracking area is absolutely massive (it spans the entire area below the
spacebar plus the right ALT and Copilot keys), I never felt cramped or like I
needed to actively search for my cursor. I also appreciate how Dell found
room for speakers on either side of the keyboard.

On the other hand, Dell's touch buttons above the number row may be a bit
more contentious. I don't mind the ones for adjusting volume and display
brightness, but replacing the physical keys for Escape and Delete with the
touchscreen options just feels a bit weird. Especially if you ever need to
use the classic Windows CTRL + ALT + DEL shortcut and have to press regular
keys and touch controls in a single motion. The touch keys also don't turn
off when you disable the keyboard's backlight, but at least they're dim
enough that they're not distracting.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

As for its display, by default the 14 Premium comes with a 14.5-inch 2K 120Hz
non-touch IPS display. However, on our review unit, I've been using Dell's
optional 3.2K 120Hz touch OLED panel and I must say, it's definitely worth
the $200 upcharge. That's because while the OLED screen has slightly lower
max brightness (400 nits versus 500 nits for the IPS), its wider color gamut
and improved contrast ratio more than make up for that shortcoming.

Performance: Not the most up-to-date, but still very versatile

A base Dell 14 Premium comes with an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H CPU, 16GB of RAM
and 512GB of M.2 storage. However, our review unit includes extra memory
(32GB), a bigger SSD (1TB) and perhaps most importantly, an optional NVIDIA
RTX 4050 GPU.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

All told, that's a pretty well-rounded package, as Dell's default config has
more than enough performance to handle pretty much any level of regular
productivity. And by adding in support for discrete graphics, suddenly you
have a machine that's significantly better equipped to take care of more
demanding tasks like video editing or even gaming in your off hours. Granted,
the 14 Premium's RTX 4050 card is an entry-level component that recently
became a generation old, but it was strong enough to hit 60 fps in Cyberpunk
2077 at 1080p on high settings (with DLSS set to balanced), which ain't too
shabby considering its portability.

Battery life: Good enough Sam Rutherford for Engadget

The Dell 14 Premium packs good but not outstanding battery life thanks to its
69.5WHr power pack. On PCMark10's Modern Office rundown test, it lasted 8
hours and 30 minutes on the dot ThatΓÇÖs significantly longer than ASUS' ROG
Z Flow 13 (6:54) and last year's Razer Blade 14 (6:46), but still a far cry
from true power-sipping systems like the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (12:43) or even
Dell's own XPS 13 (13:15).

Wrap-up

Even with a new and rather uninspired name, it probably shouldn't come as a
surprise that the Dell 14 Premium remains one of the best Windows laptops on
the market. It has the same sleek design from back when it was still called
the XPS 14 but with some refreshed specs and components for 2025. Its chassis
strikes a brilliant balance between modern minimalism and usability, while
upgrades like its OLED display and discrete graphics give you the ability to
build out a versatile but still very portable device.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Now I admit that our fully loaded review unit is a bit pricey with a retail
price of $2,450, though I'd be remiss to mention that Dell is currently
running a sale that knocks $200 off that cost. Regardless, with the base
model starting at $1,650 (before discounts) or $1,850 when paired with Dell's
optional OLED panel (which everyone should at least consider), the 14 Premium
still feels like a great deal. And when you consider that the XPS 13 isn't
getting any updates this year on top of having fewer ports, the choice
becomes even clearer. If I were going to spend my own money on a traditional
Windows ultraportable laptop, this is the laptop I'd get.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/de...
same-great-laptop-120047563.html?src=rss

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