Just over a year on from its summary shuttering of the iconic XPS brand, Dell has brought it back, and ditched any kind of AI labeling to market it as a next-generation laptop in all the classic senses. There are physical buttons for the function row, comfortable borders on the touchpad, and the kind of lightweight, high-performance laptop design XPS is so well known for.
Most PC makers went a bit mad in 2025, jumping on the AI hype train to release “AI PCs” and “Copilot+ PCs,” despite consumers’ relative lack of appetite for them. Now in 2026, we’re starting to see a reversal of that trend, and Dell might be the first major company to go public with that endeavor.
“We’re getting back to our roots with a renewed focus on consumer and gaming,” said Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and COO at Dell Technologies (via Ars Technica). “It was obvious we needed to change.”
The new XPS 14 has one small nod to its Copilot+ status, but that’s it.
Credit: Dell
Following the rebranding of Dell’s laptop ranges last year, it’s lost many of its iconic names: Latitude, Inspiron, and Precision. While XPS is back, those others will remain in the dustbin of history, with Dell still leveraging its newer Dell Pro, Pro Precision, Pro Rugged, Pro Education, and Pro Essential branding. But Dell XPS will live alongside them as its own distinct category of laptop.
The new XPS 14 starts at $2,050 and features an Intel Core Ultra x7 358H CPU, 32GB of LPDDR5X, and a 14-inch 2K LCD display. That’s pricey compared to its predecessors, but this is 2026 where memory and storage are ridiculous. The XPS 16 model starts at $2,200 with the same hardware configuration, with both offering the option of higher-resolution and quality OLED displays. Intriguingly, however, Dell isn’t offering any different configurations for storage, memory, or CPU.
The 14-inch design weighs in at 3 pounds, while the larger model hits 3.6 pounds. Battery life is said to reach as high as 27 hours, with the onboard graphics allegedly plenty powerful for lightweight gaming.
These new laptops are available right now. Let’s see if they become popular enough to encourage further separation from the major AI initiatives.
