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Dell XPS 14 (2026) Review: Gorgeous Design, But Keyboard Kills It

Engadget •
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Dell's revamped XPS 14 is lighter and more powerful than ever, but it's hampered by an annoying keyboard. Pros: Gorgeous and light design, powerful Intel chips, lovely OLED screen, fixes previous design mistakes. Cons: Baffling keyboard issues, expensive for beefy configs, mediocre battery life.

There is so much to love about Dell's new XPS 14, it's hard for me to discuss it without sounding like a total fanboy. Its new design makes it incredibly thin and light. And Intel's Panther Lake chips give it a ton of power, even when it comes to games. After reviving the XPS brand from last year's ignominious rebranding, it's as if Dell was laser-focused on fixing all the issues we've had with the XPS 14 so far.

Unfortunately, a shallow, unresponsive and hilariously error-prone keyboard kept me from truly loving the XPS 14. Simply put, it has trouble recognizing keys if you press them too quickly in succession. And for fast and demanding typists like myself, that leads to countless errors that disrupt your flow. In the last sentence alone, I counted ten times where I had to go back and make sure commas appeared before a space, or tweak simple spelling errors. What good is a fast, light and beautiful machine if I can't type a sentence in peace?