Dell XPS 14 (2026) Power Supply
While we are looking over the XPS 14, here is a quick look at Dell’s included power supply for the laptop.
Dell ships the system with a pretty typical USB-C standard power range (SPR) power supply. This specific model is able to hit the full range of the spec, delivering up to 100 Watts of power (20V@5A) and allowing it to quickly charge most any USB-C device.
Final Words
While every product launch is an important one for a major PC OEM, it is also fair to say that the release of Dell’s 2026 XPS lineup is more important than most for the company. Not only is Dell tapping into the new features and performance afforded by Intel’s Panther Lake platform, but the return of the XPS series has given Dell a critical opportunity to recover from their stumbles in 2025 – branding, laptop design, and all. For Dell and the XPS product team, for as rough as the short-lived Dell Premium era went for them, the 2026 XPS 14 is proof positive that Dell has figured out once again how to produce a great premium laptop.
The end result is that the XPS 14 is everything Dell needed it to be. It is everything that Dell’s customers wanted it to be. The company has done a fantastic job on building a complete thin and light laptop around Intel’s Panther Lake platform, putting together a 14-inch laptop that checks all of the boxes for a great premium laptop. Good CPU performance, even better GPU performance, a sturdy-but-light chassis, and a fantastic display, it is all there.
If anything, we were a bit surprised by just how much multiple STH staffers ended up liking the laptop. Even Patrick and Sam, who are normally diehard MacBook Pro users, agreed that it was a nice thin and light laptop. That design, coupled with the extremely vivid OLED display, turned multiple heads in the office.
All of which goes to show that while Dell never truly lost the knack for making a good premium laptop. The latest iteration of the XPS 14 has been designed with a clear concept of how to make a great thin and light laptop, and as a result, it fills that role very well.
Patrick’s Note: This laptop looks and feels premium, it is fast, battery life is super, and the OLED screen looks great. I would go so far as to say that Intel and Dell did a great job on this (but I would love another USB port)
Where To Buy
If you wanted to find the Dell XPS 14 (DA14260) online, here is a Dell affiliate link.
Have they got a keyboard option with full size arrow keys? Anyone doing a lot of text entry (e.g. programmers) need full size arrow keys otherwise you always end up pressing the wrong arrow. At least they haven’t made the mistake of putting Page Up and Page Down right next to the arrows which is another productivity killer.
Having the function keys small is also a pain unless you have tiny fingers. It’s almost like the people who design laptop keyboards don’t use computers for any real work, where you’re heavily relying on function keys, punctuation and special characters, modifiers (ctrl, alt, etc.) and the arrow keys. Why not make the rest of the keys just as small? Oh, you need THOSE keys do you? Well some of us also need the rest of the keys as well.
Until all the keys are present and the same size, it’s not a product aimed at professional computer users, in my opinion.
@malvineous 100% agree, and thought I’d take a quick look at the 16″ XPS to see if it was any better…
It’s even worse – it’s the exact same keyboard in a 16″ chassis, so just has a huge bezel around the keyboard, rather than actually making use of the space to add even a numpad.
I would like to see at least one USB-A port and a fingerprint reader. Chances are the camera won’t work under Linux, so it would be nice to have the option of using a fingerprint reader instead.
Other than that, it does look pretty sleek and I really appreciate the USB-C ports with Thunderbolt on both sides.
Major props for the right-side USB-C port… I cannot believe how rare these are even still
I have to say the keyboard is much better than what I am reading in comments (normally I am accustomed to an MBP keyboard.) I do a lot of writing and Excel, and the arrow keys are very easy to use once you get accustomed to them. Having right and left big, and up/ down half means it is easy for me to quickly tell the difference when I am not looking. I do not think I have missed an arrow key after the first hour or two with it.
Function keys, bigger would be better I agree, but I tend to use those less. My bigger issue is my brain defaulting to another layout. I actually wish there was another USB port and a SD card reader. I know I am in the minority there, but for pulling footage off of cameras, SD cards are much easier.
I brought this one with me to Dell Tech World and plan to use it the entire show. To be clear though, at an overall package level, it is really good.
I understand that Dell is deeply entrenched, but this seems a weak contender against Lenovo’s offerings.
You can get the same 2.8K OLED panel if that’s what floats your boat, substantially more useful IO (e.g. USB A), and a MUCH more user-friendly approach to maintenance and disassembly from anything in the ThinkPad line.
Squarely a consumer offering from Dell, indeed.
@Andrew
Unfortunately, that seems to be par for consumer laptops. Everyone has copied Apple’s strategy of using the same keyboard in both 14 and 16 inch laptops for the sake of consistency. Dell does offer 16 inch laptops with a numpad, but those are on the Pro line.
I can’t immediately think of anyone who offers full-size function row keys, though. Of all of the laptops I’ve reviewed this year, even the DTR laptops used short keys.
@Patrick: Thanks for the informative response re the keyboard. How do you use the arrow keys if you don’t mind me asking? I am typically typing with both hands and reach across with my right pinky to tap an arrow key and in keyboards like this I often end up pressing the shift key as well as the up arrow, highlighting the row and then promptly typing over it deleting it, or I press both up and down at the same time having no effect.
You do get used to it but it requires you to slow down much more than with a normal keyboard layout. I understand what you’re saying about making it easier to find the keys by feel, but a desktop keyboard typically has empty space around the arrow keys which serves the same purpose much more effectively.
My last Lenovo I had to reprogram the X11 keyboard layout to turn page up and page down into dead keys, because I would hit them with my pinky way more often than I’d hit the up arrow, because they put them in the blank space you normally use to locate the arrow keys. It even had a full size numpad so space wasn’t a concern, so I don’t get why they insist on crippling the keyboard layout for people who need to type a lot.