Dell XPS 14 (2026) Internal Hardware Overview
With a focus on size and portability, the 2026 XPS 14 is not an easy laptop to break into. Officially, there are no customer-replaceable parts inside the laptop. The bulk of the components in the laptop, such as the LPDDR5X memory, are soldered down, and even the M.2 SSD technically requires professional service. So the common user has little need (and even less ability) to get into the laptop, but the good news is that it is not a sealed system, and it is possible for an experienced hand to open it up.
The long and short of matters is that the XPS 14 does not open from the bottom: it opens from the top. Specifically, the top deck of the laptop needs to be removed to access the machine’s silicon internals, with the deck being held in place with a combination of screws (which are what you see on the bottom) as well as multiple clips. This makes cracking open the laptop a tricky affair that will require some rather small spudgers to get at the clips. It is not for the faint of heart. You are absolutely going to want to read the service manual, but with some time and effort, it can be done.
After removing the deck and detaching the cable that connects the keyboard and trackpad to the rest of the system, we can finally see the guts of the XPS 14.
Even with access to the internals of the system, most components within the laptop are either soldered down or, like the Wi-Fi radio, located on the back side of the system board. There are two components in particular, and by far the most important components, that can be easily reached from here: the SSD and the battery.
The XPS 14 contains a single M.2 2280 drive bay. Interestingly, even with the space for a full-size SSD, Dell routinely ships the XPS 14 with smaller M.2 2230 SSDs, which are readily available in the 512GB and 1TB capacities that Dell uses for its default configurations.
The SSD bay itself is covered with a basic metal thermal shield. Undeath is the SSD, as well as an adapter bracket for an M.2 2230 SSD. Dell does not make any specific performance or vendor claims with the XPS 14 on their user-facing website. Digging into the company’s brochures, there looks to be two classes of SSDs. Systems with 512GB or 1TB SSDs seem to be largely shipping with Phison E27T-based drives, which is a DRAM-less PCIe Gen4 controller. Meanwhile, build-to-order configurations with 2TB and 4TB drives are using a PCIe Gen5 controller, which also confirms that Dell has wired up the Core Ultra processor’s PCIe Gen5 lanes to the lone SSD bay.
SSD matters aside, the system’s battery is also accessible from here. At 70Wh, the battery still takes up a good bit of space in the laptop. Though from what I understand, the XPS 14 and sibling XPS 16 are the first Dell laptops to use higher energy density (900ED) cells, which cuts down on the amount of space the battery takes up.
In any case, the battery is only held in place with screws. There is no adhesive or the like. So if the time comes to replace the battery and you can get inside the system, then it is an easy swap (assuming you can find one down the line).
On a final note, while it is not visible or accessible from the front of the laptop, Dell is employing Intel’s BE211 Wi-Fi 7 + Bluetooth 6.0 adapter here for wireless connectivity. This is the latest and greatest from Intel, but it also leverages Intel’s CNVio3 tech, which goes hand-in-hand with the Panther Lake platform. So this is effectively an un-upgradeable part, especially since Dell is using the BGA version of the radio, soldered into a larger (and very hard to access) wireless module.
Now, let us see what the laptop’s full performance is like.
