Dell - XPS 16 16.3” 120Hz Laptop FHD+ - Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 1 with 16GB Memory – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 - 1TB SSD - Platinum

The Dell XPS 16 is a great computer for individuals who need a good computer to have several programs that need a lot of memory and good graphics open at the same time. I work with Autocad, photoshop, InDesign and Sketchup open at the same time most of the time and it doesn't crash. Great value at a great price

The keyboard is easily among the worst I have ever used. It is phenomenal how a company as big as Dell can think to prioritize aesthetic design over actually usable workspace. The short-sightedness that led to the placement of vents on either side, and the choice to reduce space between the keys, makes for an experience that detracts from the otherwise impressive capabilites of this machine. This device was only available online, so I was not afforded the opportunity to use it before buying. Having been busy, I have passed the return period, so I will have to resort to selling it myself.

The Dell XPS 16 9640 is a thin and sturdy 16” laptop that comes packaged in a beautiful black box with the laptop enclosed in a white fabric pocket. All of the materials scream “High End”, yet recyclable, and the unwrapping experience is premium. The 16” size gives you a full size keyboard so you aren’t cramped. However there is no Number Pad next to the keyboard. The key action feels very positive, they do not have a mushy feeling, and the key travel distance is good for a laptop keyboard. Keys can be backlit, but just one level of lighting is available. Dell has changed the function keys to a back-lit row of touch buttons across the top of the keyboard. The touch panel is made of Gorilla glass with a satin finish just like the palmrest and touchpad area. The “fn” key toggles the function buttons between the usual, mute speaker, volume up, volume down and the actual “F” keys. The function lock on the escape button allows you to keep the “F” keys active for applications that still require “F” keys. There are some things that could be better on the function bar. When mute microphone is enabled, the touch bar shows a small white dot next to the button. However, the mute speaker button does not have an indicator when it is enabled. Now that the delete key and escape keys are touch buttons instead of a physical key, there is no tactile feedback to know you are on the button or have “pressed” a button. The touchpad has haptic feedback so it would have been nice if they included haptic feedback on the function buttons. The touch-pad and palm rests are one continuous piece of Gorilla glass, so you can’t tell where the touch-pad area starts and stops. This didn’t hinder using the touch-pad since the usable area is so large you can always find the touch-pad. Since the touchpad active area goes all the way to the bottom edge of the laptop, I did have issues when resting my hand on the edge of the laptop when using it. It is very easy to accidentally “click” the touchpad with the side of your hand. Other laptops have come with software to configure the usable area of the touch-pad but this Dell does not. It is using the built in controls of Windows 11 which doesn’t allow for configuring the active area. If you could set the bottom edge of the touchpad to inactive it would fix this problem. I’m assuming, and hopeful, Dell will address this with future updates. The touchpad is very responsive and multi-touch gestures work well. When using the touchpad you think that it is physically clicking meaning the haptic feedback is just that good. This laptop has the new Intel Core Ultra 7 processor with Intel’s Neural Processing Unit ( NPU ) for AI acceleration. The processor has up to 16 cores and 22 threads, so this is no regular processor. Yet this processor uses less power than previous generations of Intel laptop processors. Therefore, you get a cooler running laptop and longer battery life. Under my use, I estimated the battery life to be between 13-17 hours. The Evo certificate pretty much assures 10 hours minimum using their standards. This XPS model doesn’t have the cooling vents on the bottom of the laptop like the previous XPS models. There is just the vent at the back of the laptop. I found, when running at full load it doesn’t put out as much heat as other laptops in its class. CONCLUSION: A very powerful, quiet, feature laden laptop with a large SSD Drive, 16 Gb Ram, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 video card for some gaming. The laptop features great battery life and quiet operation. Three Thunderbolt 4 USB-c connections are included for data and charging, along with a 130 watt power supply, a dongle for HDMI and USB-a connections. A Micro SD slot is also included. All in all a very powerful and feature laden laptop packaged in a sharp silver exterior. I would hope Dell will offer some updates to correct some of the oversights I have mentioned. With that said, I would recommend this laptop to a friend.