Rating: 4/5
The Dell XPS lineup has been known to sport all the best features of the company’s other models. The lineup got a major overhaul at the 2024 edition of the CES trade show in Las Vegas, USA. Dell introduced new 14- and 16-inch models, showing a radical new design direction for flagship laptops. Dell’s new XPS laptop is claimed to be the poster child for this bold redesign. Dell launched the XPS 14 and 16 laptops in India in April this year. The company says the new laptop is powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra processors with integrated artificial intelligence (AI) for the new device’s performance and power efficiency. We receive a Dell XPS 16 (9640) laptop for review and we’ve been using this powerful machine for quite some time. Here’s what they think about the company’s new premium AI laptop.
Design
The Dell XPS 16 9640 will surely impress you with its design aesthetics. A beautiful and minimalistic premium laptop. The aluminum exterior gives it a strong yet elegant look. The laptop comes with a smooth exterior finish and the lid of the device includes the Dell branding placed in the center. The laptop has multiple Type-C ports, a microSD card reader and a 3.5mm audio jack. The Dell XPS 16 9640 features a 16-inch display surrounded by thin bezels on all sides. Speaker grilles are placed on each side of the keyboard. The carbon fiber palm rest is not only stylish but also functional, providing a comfortable soft touch surface during long typing sessions. The hinge mechanism is smooth and strong, allowing the lid to open easily with one hand. To summarize, the Dell XPS 16 will impress you with its minimalist and premium design.
Display
The premium Dell XPS 16 9640 laptop has a 16.3-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 3840Ă—2400 pixels. The company also offers other variants with FHD displays. The screen on the Dell XPS 16 is surrounded by a thin bezel on all edges that offers an edge-to-edge viewing experience. The display offers a wide range of colors and up to 120Hz variable refresh rate. The laptop automatically adjusts the frame of the content you are viewing for a better user experience.
Moving content is smoother and feels faster, even when browsing the web. This dynamic refresh rate also helps improve battery life when you’re viewing static content such as images or web pages. The 4K OLED display of the Dell XPS 16 9640 produces accurate, detailed and sharp images. The display’s wide color gamut delivers deep blacks, inks that dramatically increase color vibrancy, making photos and videos really pop. The laptop also allows the user to customize the colors and adjust them according to their wishes. The screen is also equipped with Eyesafe technology that reduces harmful blue light and also optimizes eye comfort without changing colors. Dolby Vision support enhances the entire viewing experience here with HDR support added by dynamically optimizing image quality based on the content viewed on the device, and a platform to deliver immersive and impressive visuals every time.
With a peak brightness of 500 nits, the screen remains bright and visible even in bright environments. Dell has also included a touch screen option, which is responsive and smooth, adding another layer of functionality to an already impressive display. The anti-reflective coating helps reduce glare, making it easier to use the laptop outdoors or in bright conditions.
Keyboard and trackpad
The keyboard on the Dell XPS 16 9640 is one of its standout features. It’s innovative and unlike anything we’ve seen so far. The comfortable keyboard on the Dell XPS 16 has a larger keyboard with a deeper plate (0.3mm). The Dell XPS 16 keyboard is a dream to type on. Smooth buttons register direct input. The feedback is excellent and it’s designed to be tactile with no spaces between the keys. The keyboard on the laptop is fast, efficient, and comfortable with every keystroke, so you can type with ease. The keyboard’s standout feature is its innovative line of touch functions, which add to its sleek, modern aesthetic. Capacitive feedback provides a touch experience and allows the user to switch between media and function keys with ease, bringing only the desired icons. You can easily switch between the displayed ones by pressing the function key + escape. Eliminating the physical function line also creates more space for better cooling.
Coming to the trackpad, the Dell XPS 16 9640 features an integrated touchpad with no visible borders. The spacious touchpad occupies the full height of the palm rest and stretches from the center of the left Fn key to the center of the left arrow key. The trackpad works smoothly and registers all clicks quickly. Multi-touch gestures work flawlessly, and the glass surface feels silky smooth, allowing for easy navigation and control. However, there should be a visible border because sometimes it becomes impossible to determine where the trackpad ends. All I want to say is that it’s getting used to the trackpad of the Dell XPS 16 9640.
Performance
Under the hood, the Dell XPS 16 9640 is a powerhouse. Equipped with the latest Intel Core i9 processor, up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 graphics. This configuration ensures that the laptop can handle demanding tasks with ease, from intensive video editing and 3D rendering to high-end games and multitasking. Equipped with a high-speed SSD, the XPS 16 9640 delivers exceptional performance. Experience fast load times, smooth multitasking, and easy handling of large files. The Dell XPS 16 comes with a dual fan system and vapor chamber cooling that keeps the laptop cool during heavy use. One thing we love about the Dell XPS 16 9640 is that it doesn’t overheat even when fully utilized. The laptop can be an ideal choice for gamers and creators, considering it offers horsepower that can handle image editing, video and play high-resolution videos, like Netflix in 4K, so you don’t experience lags. With additional CPUs, GPUs and AI engines, unlock new AI experiences on the Dell XPS 16 that help boost your productivity. AI acceleration offers optimized performance and power saving. AI-enabled and RTX
AI-enabled creative apps and RTX accelerate creative apps and offer smooth performance.
The laptop also offers four customizable modes that will allow you to use the device the way you want. Optimized Mode enables the best performance and thermal balance. In ultra-performance mode, your system can get warmer, and the fans can get louder. Cool mode will limit the temperature or reduce fan noise, which can affect system performance. Above the display you will find an HD webcam that provides quite decent performance during video calls.
Coming to audio, the Dell XPS 16 9640 is equipped with 3W Woofers + 2W Tweeter for 10W
total audio. High-powered speakers provide louder sound and deeper bass. The presence of Waves MaxxAudio Pro improves the sound quality of the built-in speakers. The software offers detailed customization options, from adjusting bass and treble to enabling surround sound.
Dell XPS 16 runs Windows 11 operating system that offers a taskbar and a sleek user interface. Along with the native Windows applications, the laptop also comes with several pre-installed Dell applications which include Dell Power Manager and Dell Mobile Connect. With Dell Power Manager you can manage power settings and also optimize battery performance. On the other hand, mobile connectivity helps bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops. The pre-installed Alienware Command Center offers performance control, thermal management and fan speed. You can use the AI ​​capabilities of your laptop with the help of Dell optimiser. The software learns your habits and preferences over time, optimizing performance based on how you use your laptop. This includes adjusting power consumption, reducing latency and more.
Battery
The battery is one of the important aspects of the heavy weight Dell XPS 16 9640. The heavy-duty laptop packs a 99-watt hour battery that can last for hours. The Dell XPS 16 9640 comes with fast charging support and has a USB Type-C port for charging. During our daily work tests, the laptop can deliver up to 8 to 9 hours of battery backup on a single charge. We use a Dell XPS 16 9640 with medium brightness and use it for routine activities such as typing in Google Docs and using applications like OneNote, Excel and doing some basic editing in Photoshop. Battery backup drops to 6.5 hours when using the device for binge watching and gaming. Another interesting thing about the Dell XPS 16 9640 is that it offers two charging speeds. Normal mode charges the battery to full capacity in 151 minutes, with 80% charge in 93 minutes. On the other hand, Express mode significantly reduces charging time, reaching full charge in 97 minutes and 80% in 50 minutes.
Verdict
The Dell XPS 16 9640 comes at a price of Rs 2,99,990 which certainly makes it a premium laptop. The XPS 16 9640 laptop justifies its price tag with its stunning design, great display, good battery life and comfortable keyboard. All this includes the smooth performance of the Dell XPS 16 making it an ideal choice for professionals as well as users who need a reliable and powerful machine for their work and don’t mind paying more. The laptop comes with powerful and good specs that make it a strong Windows competitor for Apple MacBooks.
