The Dell XPS laptop, as we know and love it, is no more

Dell’s XPS laptop lineup has long been my go-to for an easy laptop recommendation. With an accessible starting price, a good amount of display options, and an ultrathin build, it was often a fitting choice for the average consumer seeking something with a premium feel and some clout. With the 2024 laptop lineup announced today, the XPS no longer feels like an obvious recommendation.

Dell has reimagined the XPS laptop lineup in the image of what used to be called the Dell XPS 13 Plus. When it launched in 2022, the XPS 13 Plus was a 13.4-inch XPS laptop that was pricier than its non-Plus alternative. The XPS 13 Plus and its 2023 predecessor took extreme design measures, including a capacitive touch function row, unique keyboard, and borderless haptic touchpad to squeeze more power out of its processor.

Those polarizing features are now mandatory in an XPS laptop. The new XPS 13, 14, and 16 look like the XPS 13 Plus. But Dell is no longer calling that design the "Plus." It's now just the standard design of a standard XPS laptop.

Additionally, the XPS 17 is getting phased out, while the XPS 15 will be available for another six months with limited Nvidia GPU options until it is also phased out. The XPS 2-in-1 detachable is also being discontinued.

The new XPS laptop lineup

With the 2024 changes, the starting price for Dell's popular laptop series is now higher than before. The new XPS 13 will start at $1,300. The last XPS 13, which came out in 2022 with a 13th Gen Intel chip, started at $849. By discontinuing the XPS detachable and committing all XPS laptops to the XPS 13 Plus look, Dell is going from having three 13-inch-class XPS options to one (with various specs configurations available).

Technically, the 2024 XPS lineup has better starting prices for those interested in larger screens. The XPS 14 will start at $1,700, and the XPS 16 will start at $1,900. The 2023 XPS 15 debuted with 13th-gen chips at $2,949, while the XPS 17 (9370) debuted with a $3,399 starting price. However, the new XPS 14 and XPS 16 will be released with Intel Arc-integrated graphics. The XPS 15 started with an Arc A370M discrete GPU, and the XPS 17's starting price got you an RTX 4050 laptop GPU. (Dell hasn't shared pricing for the new laptops beyond starting prices.)

The new laptops have smaller screens than the XPS 15 and XPS 17. For 2024, the biggest XPS laptop will have a 16.3-inch display instead of a 17-inch one, giving it slightly greater pixel density (277.8 pixels per inch versus 266.4 ppi).

But ultimately, the range of sizes remains mildly shrunken. Rather than ranging from 13.4 to 17 inches with a detachable option, the new lineup is set to 13.4 to 16.3 inches without detachables. And while a 14-inch XPS allows Dell to offer a more portable laptop that can still fit a dedicated graphics card (up to an RTX 4050 laptop GPU), moving from a 13-inch to a 15-inch laptop is more noticeable than moving from 13 to 14 inches.