The Alienware is fine. The XPS look like they got a downgrade. The loss of upgradable parts as well as the loss of actual physical keys for the function row doesn’t seem good at all
NGL the alienware is the better laptop here, but still a downgrade in the sense it went from gaming beast to portable gaming with lower max specs. I'd rather get the R1 personally
@@emmanuelh2304 Nope the SSD hasn't been soldered for 2 years at least on the 15 and 17 that I know. Not sure about the 13 but the normal 13 should have upgradeable storage
Removing physical F keys was a huge mistake on the new XPS laptops. Like someone else said: It’s the TouchBar that does nothing new, while doing the original worse. RIP XPS laptops. Press F to pay respects.
No one liked the apple touchbar and they removed it? No one liked the capacitive buttons of the XPS 13 plus? Let's make it the default on our 14 and 16 models 😇
I believe that Dell's explanation for the touch bar on the XPS 13 plus was that capacitive buttons take up less internal volume than physical keys, freeing up more room for them to pack a cooling solution that can handle the 28W CPU they stuffed in there. I don't really think that excuse flies for the 14 and 16.
You're right on that one. There should have been more ports as well. the 14 and 16 line up main focus shouldn't be on the thin side, but rather a balance of both. They should have made it thicker so they could accomodate everything else. I personally love the keyboard of the xps 14, but fuck why do they have to go to an extra mile to make it so thin???
As Alex showed the fans are larger and there is a vapor chamber inside. Mind you the vapor chamber was only used in the 17 and not the 15 of old. So putting it in the 16 would require more space. That's why the touch bar is justified in the 16, and it just makes sense to leave more room for cooling in the 14
@@RM-el3gw justified actually. No other laptop has the edge to edge bezels of the XPS 14 and 16 so therefore they are not 'small' for their sizes unlike the XPSs. Therefore for these other laptops, there is more space to put the vapor chambers. But if you search, not many 16" laptops have vapor chambers. also keep in mind the size of the battery, and other component arrangements as well as the other things like the chassis specifications, like its thickness feature, the actual design of the chassis and other things that we both don't know of. keep in mind that from our point of view, we just say 'why didn't they just do this or this' but in actuality its much more complicated. We as consumers havn't done R&D so we don't know how to develop things to include what we want.
He didn't mention anything about the god awful 'haptic' trackpad on the plus so I think you're correct. Also Alienware has failed to make a laptop survive more than a year or even months in my experience. For those reasons alone I think you're right.
This isn't a review. It's a showcase or a "first look". The Dell rep is on the set. It's also not sponsored by Dell except that they provided the laptops.
@@SuperchargedShift As an owner of an Alienware laptop, I can agree. He talked about the fans. I have an older Alienware r4 17, and the fans lasted only just out of warranty before one of them blew a bearing, and quality wise the replacements are not much better at all and come from china with poor reviews all around. I have yet still to get around to replacing them. Edit: I have just mostly been using my Steam Deck now when I want to game on the go & a cheap $100 laptop for TH-cam & MS Word/Documents
it's not a review, it's a preview. these are not retail laptops so it's not fair to benchmark them (and the manufacturers do not allow benchmarking because of this). ps, I've used the haptic touchpad and it's fucking awesome. these still aren't for me though. the port selection is still awful.
Been buying (and recommending) XPS laptops for years but that came to an end when they removed the function keys from the Plus. They're clearly doubling down on that stupid design choice so I'm out for good.
Yep same. My XPS 13 has lasted me so many years, but now that I need an upgrade I cannot stay with dell making the capacitive function row standard along with other issues like increases in price. I’ve honestly been looking at the Asus zenbook 14x Oled as a replacement. Seems to have an unbeatable price and a great display that comes standard too.
Odd considering the constant build quality problems that iirc, Alex experienced himself with XPS laptops. Icing on the cake for the overheating 2000+$ laptop....
@@joelconolly5574I have looked at the XPs lines and premium window computer, but objectively they are just as over priced as Apple haters complain about Mac’s. The fact that you can get an M2 Air for less than $1000 and it has better build, web came, processor, and just experience cause windows is not as great anymore is sad. I left windows for Mac and can’t go back.
Well, I would have bought xps15 but, like Alex said, they killed it. Small screen and battery for 14, too heavy for 16. I think 15 was at the best spot. Physical function keys and upgrade ability? I actually don’t mind much. Just hoping they fixed QC problems.
That's his natural speaking level. I prefer people like that than the loud ones that bark at you like you're the other side of a busy highway, when you're standing right next to them.
...who uses that much of MicroSD? Full size SD card is used in camera systems and its pretty big market, but micro? i suppose drones or security cameras are using MicroSD now...
@@raineheartily4580 Got a microSD card? just stick it in an adapter and use it in the full size SD card slot Doesn't work that well the other way around unfortunately
Dell has lost me completely with the XPS now. I think the plus design they have brought over to the normal lineup is horrible. touch buttons are a horrible choice, dropping the fullsize SD to Micro is a big backstep. The hidden touch pad seems annoying and I like to have a physical click not a haptic feedback. I will be buying a laptop this year and was excited to see the refresh for the xps lineup but this has completely put me off now. Will be looking at other brands.
@@azur1o I want to see what Asus Zenbooks are like at ces this year. They caught my eye last year but reviews said battery life was very poor. If they can fix that with the Core ultra chips it might sway me.
Exactly the same situation! I’ve been wanting to buy myself a new laptop either good specifications and decent portability/battery life. The older Dell XPS models had been very good either that but I thought to wait and see if they would up the battery time using new chips and bigger battery and maybe add proper WiFi 6e. However, when I saw this new monstrosity I was extremely disappointed. Looks like I will have to turn to other brands which will be an interesting time for market exploration. I’m a a huge security freak (not afraid to admit it) so Lenovo is a no go after their root kit controversies. Framework is not available in my region and indirect shipping isn’t an option for me. I’m looking to see what ASUS announces this year. A sensible competitor would be the ZenBook line of products however I found myself looking at the ROG Flow X16 which seems to be a happy midpoint of both good performance and portability and decent battery life (from what I read ASUS has good power saving and eco mode features in ROG laptops). Really disappointed in what I saw from dell this year…. The touchpad for function row, the trackpad, the lack of upgradability, worse IO, the copilot button all seem like downgrades to me.
@@franeknowak6084 whats the lenovo flaw? I just watched Dave 2ds video on the new lenovo yoga 7i and pro 9i, they look pretty good as an alternate options to the xps.
Alex! Blink twice if you'rte being held hostage. I really enjoy your reviews and it was you who made me notice the xps and buy it in 2020. I hope this is just because these aren't officially out yet but I sure hope you give your honest reaction when you're doing a full review on them. This is stuff you wouldn't remark as great if it were different brands/laptops.
Ouch! Lack of physical f keys and soldered ram 😬 The major benefit of an xps, and I've been running the same xps 15 since about 2019, has been their conservative but well thought out design choices. There have always been things lighter, fancier and more feature rich, but they're built like tanks, pleasant to use, and very serviceable to replace batteries, or clean out keyboards. I fully expect several more years of not overly demanding multiple windowed productivity out of this laptop, in between being shoved into a bag, hauled between desks, jammed in an overhead locker on flights etc. with a few fixable things going wrong between now and then. I'm not sure I could expect the same from the latest gen for the same price. As a example, when the barrel plug gave out on mine the motherboard got swapped out and the old ram, mem stick and WiFi card got swapped over to a fresh board that basically only had the processor on it. This cannot happen on the new one.
As someone who owns the last gen Alienware... I am dissapointed in the new verison. Like, this might sound crazy but that chunk on the back had a handle that made the laptop easy to grip that way I can use the laptop while I am standing up. As someone who works in IT that hand grip is so useful that it's pretty much mandatory for any laptop I buy going forward. As for the fitting in your backpack claim? What the hell? I have zero issue fitting mine in my backpack. If you can't fit it in your backpack then your backpack is too small.
I am not a fan of the "streamlined" design here. Sure its shorter, sure it does look less tacky but there was nothing wrong with the older setup aside for the thickness. This change seem pointless.
I foresee a trend this year with laptops. "We had to solder the RAM to make them look so cool and thin and if you don't want soldered RAM then buy the old product." Until the old product is sold out and then they will claim that the market demands soldered RAM... Gonna be a no from me on XPS products this year.
The XPS devices do look very modern, especially the trackpad, but physical buttons would have been well appreciated. If I wanted touch buttons I would get a dial screen laptop like the zen whatever.
Now we can wait a generation or 2 until they bring back function keys, because they are vital to any developers/creators workflow, maybe bring back the full size SD card reader (don't lie that there is no space) and then they will be actually worth buying
@@Dude_truthteller it's a premium laptop for professionals and creators. Guess what type of storage solution most cameras use? And it's not CFExpress just yet
Damn that's laying it on thick. I kept waiting for...but wait, there is more...for a limited time only Dell will include this amazing set of steak knives.
No. I want function keys. I want a touch pad. I want two CTRL keys. I don't want an "AI" key. I don't want a touch bar. I don't want half the things they think I want and I do want them to stop dumping conventions for the sake of it. Until manufacturers get it, I'm stuck with a - very excellent - three-year-old XPS-13.
I hoped the function keys being capacitive was some special for the XPS 13 plus, not happy seeing it on the rest of the lineup. Any idea if the AI key can be returned to function as CTRL in bios? Seems like the whole series is unsuitable for power users now
The new precisions (5680s) are not based on the XPSs and you will be super sad. They're huge in comparison, gain only an HDMI port, and the cooling is so poorly designed and the fans are so poorly tuned for noise that you'll be missing the 5560 when your employer forces you over. I've been buying precisions for so long, and I went HP over it. Not one person likes the 5680 in the office. Oh yeah, the mouse pad is smaller and the keyboard is smaller and the screen bezels are larger. I hate it.
Imagine developing new XPS - apparently a laptop for power users - remembering now people reacted to TouchBar and removal of function keys and then doing the same on your product. What the actual f
Whelp, after my last two laptops being XPS, I think the next one isn't going to be one. They seriously removed everything that made the old XPS special, RIP to the SD Slot, the user replacable ram and of course the function row.
I disagree on new Alienware - the reason the old one was so big was because of that massive heatsink to help it cope with temperatures. It was an appreciated feature absent in most other laptops that instead were power limited and thermal throttled. This is an ongoing issue since GTX 900M series up to this day - it's bad to the point where you can buy laptops with exact same spec with noticeably different performance. All in pursuit of questionable form factor aesthetics. I'm sorry but if I'm buying a high performance laptop, I'd rather compromise on volume rather than performance - I expect every $ of performance to be squeezed out and not choked down because someone wanted to brag about 2mm slimmer chassis in their marketing slides...
If there’s one thing I’m glad Dell changed is moving to haptic trackpads, because those trackpad sizes on the XPS 17 was way too big for a diving board mechanism, but yeah, this generation looks cool, but it feels very form-over-function; a XPS 15/17 with a haptic trackpad would’ve made the chassis relevant for a while
People seem really keen on the full size SD, is is actually the much of a thing? All the new sd cards seem to be micro and adaptors for full size sd. I normally tell people not to use the onboard reader if they are doing lots of photography, only because the SD slots wear out and it's best to keep the internal one as a backup. I told my mother this too, she ignored me then ripped the sd socket off the motherboard lol. She has special skills.
Kudos to Linus Tech Tips for reviving the kitchen set! Even though it looks like a set not an actual kitchen anymore, it's awesome to see it come back. The nostalgia hits hard, and it's incredible how far this channel has come. Looking forward to the creative content that'll come out of this revamped space!
Nah, if anything, Nvidia no longer forces them to offer the 4090 as an option, or the pricing gap increased between the models - perhaps because it's now used in both the 4080S and 3070TiS. The unobtainium laptops still have 4090 mobile GPUs. If you listen to the TDP of the 4070 mobile GPUs, you'd figure out that the chassis and cooling systems of those laptops are unfit for a higher class GPU.
why you want 4090 on laptop? power and heat limitation will hampers its performance. not as convenient but GPU external case with proper power and cooler works better for people who absolutely need 4090 in somewhat mobile station.
I think the big issue with the 4090 is it's HUGE. These laptops could easily cool a 4090 at fairly high wattage, as they'll push the 4070 well past 100w, but the physical chip takes up so much space that they can't package it without making massive compromises to the usability of the laptop.
I could deal with the F-keys, but no full size SD-Cardreader is a dealbreaker for me as a photographer. Battery and performance would be so great pressumably.
I do a lot of photo editing on my Dell G5 15 SE laptop, and I love the full-size SD card slot. I don't think laptop manufacturers understand what people actually do with SD cards, but mine go back and forth between my laptop and my mirrorless camera. Sure, I could always use a dongle or put microSD cards in SD adapters and put those in my camera, but I shouldn't have to. MicroSD cards are easy to lose.
If there's one thing that sucks, it's ports on the back of a laptop... I feel like it's fine for someone who's mainly plugged in, but if you're mainly plugged in you're likely better with a desktop.
Between this and the MSI creator laptops I have some options to upgrade around 80 employees from pandemic panic purchased junk latitude laptops. My only hangup is how dell and MSI are handling thunderbolt docks. WD22TB4 does dual display, multi usb and at least 3 1080p or FHD+ displays for dell machines but for ASUS and MSI creator or workstation grade laptops it lacks the ability to power on the laptops from the dock power button. Would love to see the lab test stuff like this to make more informed purchases that give my employees in manufacturing more flexibility with remote work
I like how Dell listened to the problems with the touchbar on the XPS and chose not to fix it in any meaningful way. The issue isn't the fact that the lights arent always on. Its the fact that they arent physical buttons at all. The most annoying part is that Dell has actually already fixed this, but the adjustments are reserved only for their business lineup. You can find the same build and chassis, but with a physical F Row, and parting lines for the haptic touchpad on the Latitude 9000 series. But you also get the additional markup on the already ludicrously priced XPS Models because its a business machine.
Why oh why are so many laptops missing the numpad? The numpad is SO SO important for data entry and just usability in general. What's the point of a bigger laptop if you're just going to shrink the keyboard? Even the XPS 9710 17 inch model does NOT have a numpad! It's a massive behemoth of a laptop but yet the 15 inch Latitude laptops have more ports, a 10key numpad, but for some stupid reason the XPS 17 inch notebooks DON'T have a bigger keyboard, and have far fewer ports? So much wasted space.
Weird question, you choose how the function keys light up in the bios, extremely unintuitive, but how do you get in the bios? What keys do you tap when it's waking up to go to the bios?
I'm actually glad I recently got a 4070 alienware laptop on a big sale. I didn't know new models were coming out, but price mattered most (followed by durability and cooling), and I think the m16 r1 fits my needs better. That trackpad though, my previous laptop was an aliemware r2, and was sad they no longer did anything with the track pad.
2:34 dear oems, please stop using micro SD card slots. A micro SD slot can only accommodate a micro SD card. A full size SD card slot can accommodate regular and micro (when using an adapter card). Full size is just way more useful. I don't use micro SD cards, but I do use full size UHS-II SD cards. This micro SD card slot is completely useless to me.
spectres have hinge issues and if you look at them funny they will break... ppl in my small town are selling a lot of these w hinges broken on fb marketplace. as well as keys popped out and broken usbc ports. was gonna get one but hard pass and also those do not play well w linux either.
what about the screen brightness of the m16? they used to only go upto 350nits. Also theres no point mentioning the 142W powerlimit of the 4070 as it doesnt gain any performance beyond 100W
100% agree, the weak point on the outgoing Alienware models has been display brightness and lack of OLED/Mini-led options. For sure there is no point in pumping 142W through that 4070 for little to no performance gains. They finally have gotten rid of that bulge at the rear which is to be commended, the old form factor never made any sense to me as it made the laptop awkward to carry around.
I don't understand why any laptop would have any less than 2x USB-C and 2x USB-A ports? Especially ones that aren't super thin and lights. Also I don't get why laptops don't all have some combination of USB ports on either side. Sometimes it's just more convenient to plug something in on one side instead of the other.
It sucks that they got rid of the RTX4080 and 4090 options for the M16. I'm glad I decided to go with the M18 last year. I only wish I could have jumped up to the 4090, though the 4080 is no slouch for being a laptop gaming machine. So far, it's been a great computer.
Dell-Alienware should be called "Dalien-ware" by the PC community so that they can't pretend to be different companies. And it's shorter than saying the full combined name.
The 13 Plus XPS has always been for people with small hands. The 14 to 16 inch Dell XPS sizes for 2024 is aligned with most competitors (Apple, Lenovo, Asus, and HP).
We gave up on dell and Lenovo laptops during COVID. The last two variants of XPS's we used at work were awful with overheating issues, inflating batteries and poor driver support for their own thunderbolt docks... I'm assuming most issues were solved in newer laptops but we're not buying anymore from them until reviews are in-depth and with realistic use cases senarios like visio conferences and heavy workloads.
@@RichWithTech Same reason as DELL. We would buy a dozen in bulk for the dev teams every 2-3 years (~18 people) as our projects grew and the number of things running increased (Dev tools, Docker with 4-6 containers, Teams and other internal software). As for recommendations, unfortunately, I don't have any. I left the company last year but I know they were in discussion with different providers and getting the newest Dell's was still the cheapest route despite the past issue. I'll ask some friends still there about that.
@@TheSliderW Thanks for replying! When you say the same reason as Dell you mean overheating, swollen batteries and poor driver support? The reason I'm curious is that kind of thing aligns with my experience of Dell but I'd heard Lenovo had excellent reliability.
@@RichWithTech I was writing a big reply but then lost it to a refresh... X ) In short, no, not exactly the same issues. Those ones had a pretty agressive power management that would drop performance in favor of better cooling. Not the best for heavy workloads. Na, the main issue that comes to mind was with one of the yoga models where the wireless module would stop functioning and WiFi would no longer be available even after having it replaced. Not the end of the world but annoying when trying to get into an isolated room for a conference.
But do they all actually sleep properly when you close the lid? I had a lot of issues with Dell and Alienware in 2023 not properly sleeping.. some models even got sent back.
have fun w hp having serious power management issues, thermal throttling, usb ports stop working and poor linux support and also HP loves nickle and diming ppl
Good thing I bought the latest XPS 17 as I must have function keys for my work applications and I use them often. Also I optioned the 4k lcd screen as it doesn’t have PWM like the oled models had. I wonder if these new oled models still have PWM. 🧐
Alex said it (more or less): the new XPS is now called "Alienware". The new Alienware is a good XPS. The new XPS, on the other hand, is a huge step backwards :/.
How much of a difference in weight and size when compared to last year's XPS 15. I understand 15 and 16 inches are different in size but XPS's are brilliantly designed so that they don't feel so big. Hope someone can answer this.
Is this the new LMG video quality control? On the webcam testing you call is the XPS15 2023, which it isn't and then right at the end you call it the XPS14 2024 which it also isn't (but better) it actually is the XPS16 2024. Seems like an easy thing to correct right?
The Alienware is fine. The XPS look like they got a downgrade. The loss of upgradable parts as well as the loss of actual physical keys for the function row doesn’t seem good at all
NGL the alienware is the better laptop here, but still a downgrade in the sense it went from gaming beast to portable gaming with lower max specs. I'd rather get the R1 personally
The new alienware doesnt feel like alienware. And that feel is a major reason why some prefer alienware over other brands. X series is still rocking.
Display is disappointing. Should be OLED on the alienware.
pretty sure xps line hasn't been upgradeable in like 5+ years, ram has been soldered and correct me if I'm wrong even SSD is soldered for 2 years now
@@emmanuelh2304 Nope the SSD hasn't been soldered for 2 years at least on the 15 and 17 that I know. Not sure about the 13 but the normal 13 should have upgradeable storage
Removing physical F keys was a huge mistake on the new XPS laptops. Like someone else said: It’s the TouchBar that does nothing new, while doing the original worse. RIP XPS laptops. Press F to pay respects.
F
No one liked the apple touchbar and they removed it?
No one liked the capacitive buttons of the XPS 13 plus?
Let's make it the default on our 14 and 16 models 😇
F
Touch bars suck... the ones who use fn keys are screwed
F1 - cant do that well on those i guess xD
They actually took almost all the drawbacks from the 13 Plus and brought it to the XPS 14 and 16: Touchbar, no HDMI and USB-A ports, no full size SD.
And soldered RAM
The $500 discount on the 2023 XPS 15 is now starting to look really good. I have the 2022 XPS 15 and I love it.
well to be fair the previous XPS design didn't have USBA or HDMI either lol
The XPS havent had HDMI or USB A for like 4 or 5 years
I didn't even see a 2nd slot for a nvme expanding... I hope it's there and my eyes couldn't catch it. Still, all that you guys said is sadly true
Fuck this new Intel naming scheme
I believe that Dell's explanation for the touch bar on the XPS 13 plus was that capacitive buttons take up less internal volume than physical keys, freeing up more room for them to pack a cooling solution that can handle the 28W CPU they stuffed in there. I don't really think that excuse flies for the 14 and 16.
You're right on that one. There should have been more ports as well. the 14 and 16 line up main focus shouldn't be on the thin side, but rather a balance of both. They should have made it thicker so they could accomodate everything else. I personally love the keyboard of the xps 14, but fuck why do they have to go to an extra mile to make it so thin???
As Alex showed the fans are larger and there is a vapor chamber inside. Mind you the vapor chamber was only used in the 17 and not the 15 of old. So putting it in the 16 would require more space. That's why the touch bar is justified in the 16, and it just makes sense to leave more room for cooling in the 14
not really justified... Plenty of laptops out there use cooling chambers without making these horrible tradeoffs. @@kw1776
@@RM-el3gw justified actually. No other laptop has the edge to edge bezels of the XPS 14 and 16 so therefore they are not 'small' for their sizes unlike the XPSs. Therefore for these other laptops, there is more space to put the vapor chambers. But if you search, not many 16" laptops have vapor chambers. also keep in mind the size of the battery, and other component arrangements as well as the other things like the chassis specifications, like its thickness feature, the actual design of the chassis and other things that we both don't know of. keep in mind that from our point of view, we just say 'why didn't they just do this or this' but in actuality its much more complicated. We as consumers havn't done R&D so we don't know how to develop things to include what we want.
Why it feels like Alex in this video being a sales guy by his body language and words instead of a reviewer?
He didn't mention anything about the god awful 'haptic' trackpad on the plus so I think you're correct. Also Alienware has failed to make a laptop survive more than a year or even months in my experience. For those reasons alone I think you're right.
This isn't a review. It's a showcase or a "first look". The Dell rep is on the set. It's also not sponsored by Dell except that they provided the laptops.
@@SuperchargedShift As an owner of an Alienware laptop, I can agree. He talked about the fans. I have an older Alienware r4 17, and the fans lasted only just out of warranty before one of them blew a bearing, and quality wise the replacements are not much better at all and come from china with poor reviews all around. I have yet still to get around to replacing them. Edit: I have just mostly been using my Steam Deck now when I want to game on the go & a cheap $100 laptop for TH-cam & MS Word/Documents
it's not a review, it's a preview. these are not retail laptops so it's not fair to benchmark them (and the manufacturers do not allow benchmarking because of this).
ps, I've used the haptic touchpad and it's fucking awesome. these still aren't for me though. the port selection is still awful.
@@SuperchargedShiftthe haptic trackpad is awesome, also the new XPS laptops are using a redesigned hapic trackpad
I appreciate him calling out Dell on their soldered ram nonsense.
Don't forget they took away the second ssd slot. These new XPS laptops are trash. I'm so glad I got the last gen.
@@jayrollo1352 My 9570 from 2018 only has one SSD slot. Did they add that between then and now?
I mean idk how they can get those RAM speeds without soldering it, that's been a valid design vs performance constraint for DDR5
Seems lots of manufacturers are doing it for faster speeds
@@Garrettdx1988my 9500 has 2 NVME SSD slots
Been buying (and recommending) XPS laptops for years but that came to an end when they removed the function keys from the Plus. They're clearly doubling down on that stupid design choice so I'm out for good.
Yep same. My XPS 13 has lasted me so many years, but now that I need an upgrade I cannot stay with dell making the capacitive function row standard along with other issues like increases in price. I’ve honestly been looking at the Asus zenbook 14x Oled as a replacement. Seems to have an unbeatable price and a great display that comes standard too.
Not to mention killing off the Right CTRL key for a AI key instead
Nobody is talking about the new HP Spectre x360! I am a fan of XPS, but I truly believe that this is the best alternative.
Okay, but that all pales in comparison to soldered RAM
@@keiz_I hope that "ai key" can be turned back into ctrl in bios. Like how you could switch fn and ctrl a while ago
xps fanboy imagine
Considering several bad review of this new XPS, shrinking keyboard design in particular, i was surprised this got positive review here.
Better than apple fanboy.
@@joelconolly5574
Still acting like a manchild on what people prefers?
Odd considering the constant build quality problems that iirc, Alex experienced himself with XPS laptops. Icing on the cake for the overheating 2000+$ laptop....
@@joelconolly5574I have looked at the XPs lines and premium window computer, but objectively they are just as over priced as Apple haters complain about Mac’s. The fact that you can get an M2 Air for less than $1000 and it has better build, web came, processor, and just experience cause windows is not as great anymore is sad. I left windows for Mac and can’t go back.
I was considering getting a new XPS laptop but without the F1-12 keys it's just a deal breaker.
Well, I would have bought xps15 but, like Alex said, they killed it.
Small screen and battery for 14, too heavy for 16. I think 15 was at the best spot.
Physical function keys and upgrade ability? I actually don’t mind much. Just hoping they fixed QC problems.
Nobody is talking about the new HP Spectre x360! I am a fan of XPS, but I truly believe that this is the best alternative.
@@450_undefined
I highly doubt the QC will ever be fixed if they're still made in china
If it ain't broke, break it further - The touchbar
I feel like Alex is always whispering at us even when he's excited or yelling.
He sure likes yelling lol.
he talks in lowercase 😂
That's his natural speaking level. I prefer people like that than the loud ones that bark at you like you're the other side of a busy highway, when you're standing right next to them.
If the 16" had full size SD card slot, we would make a bulk purchase of 10 XPS laptops.
...who uses that much of MicroSD?
Full size SD card is used in camera systems and its pretty big market, but micro?
i suppose drones or security cameras are using MicroSD now...
@@raineheartily4580 there's always the micro to SD card type card. But it's probably a space saving feature.
@@raineheartily4580
Got a microSD card? just stick it in an adapter and use it in the full size SD card slot
Doesn't work that well the other way around unfortunately
Please no. There are many other problems with Dell XPS laptops.
im sure dell is mourning the loss of your business
They did not improve the x16. They capped it.
Exactly. This is a worse design that goes back to previous Gen designs that had much worse thermal performance.
Previous gen XPS was way better. Better keyboard, physical F keys, full-size SD card reader.
UPGRADEABLE RAM.
I have tried this keyboard, it is miles better. The capacitive thing sucks though
Looks like I'll be hanging onto my 9720 a good while. Also have a 9310. Both fantastic machines. The new lineup was indeed a disappointment.
@@pxevo2418 Yeah, I absolutely love my 9530. The new models are a downgrade in every way. Except the camera I guess but who gives a siht about that?
@@rustler08 i mean . . .it has 7k mt ddr5 ram. . i dont think u will need to upgrade that anyways, ever
Dell has lost me completely with the XPS now.
I think the plus design they have brought over to the normal lineup is horrible.
touch buttons are a horrible choice, dropping the fullsize SD to Micro is a big backstep.
The hidden touch pad seems annoying and I like to have a physical click not a haptic feedback.
I will be buying a laptop this year and was excited to see the refresh for the xps lineup but this has completely put me off now. Will be looking at other brands.
Lenovo or Framework feel like the only viable option, no?
@@azur1o I want to see what Asus Zenbooks are like at ces this year. They caught my eye last year but reviews said battery life was very poor. If they can fix that with the Core ultra chips it might sway me.
Yup completely agree, these new laptops are a big fat no no
Exactly the same situation! I’ve been wanting to buy myself a new laptop either good specifications and decent portability/battery life. The older Dell XPS models had been very good either that but I thought to wait and see if they would up the battery time using new chips and bigger battery and maybe add proper WiFi 6e. However, when I saw this new monstrosity I was extremely disappointed. Looks like I will have to turn to other brands which will be an interesting time for market exploration. I’m a a huge security freak (not afraid to admit it) so Lenovo is a no go after their root kit controversies. Framework is not available in my region and indirect shipping isn’t an option for me. I’m looking to see what ASUS announces this year. A sensible competitor would be the ZenBook line of products however I found myself looking at the ROG Flow X16 which seems to be a happy midpoint of both good performance and portability and decent battery life (from what I read ASUS has good power saving and eco mode features in ROG laptops). Really disappointed in what I saw from dell this year…. The touchpad for function row, the trackpad, the lack of upgradability, worse IO, the copilot button all seem like downgrades to me.
@@franeknowak6084 whats the lenovo flaw? I just watched Dave 2ds video on the new lenovo yoga 7i and pro 9i, they look pretty good as an alternate options to the xps.
Alex! Blink twice if you'rte being held hostage. I really enjoy your reviews and it was you who made me notice the xps and buy it in 2020. I hope this is just because these aren't officially out yet but I sure hope you give your honest reaction when you're doing a full review on them. This is stuff you wouldn't remark as great if it were different brands/laptops.
Yeah this felt inauthentic/too positive. Is there some limitation around presenting things at CES that is precluding any critical comments?
Moral of CES 2024: "Yea this is a leap year - as in we are leaping around performance metrics"
Ouch! Lack of physical f keys and soldered ram 😬 The major benefit of an xps, and I've been running the same xps 15 since about 2019, has been their conservative but well thought out design choices. There have always been things lighter, fancier and more feature rich, but they're built like tanks, pleasant to use, and very serviceable to replace batteries, or clean out keyboards. I fully expect several more years of not overly demanding multiple windowed productivity out of this laptop, in between being shoved into a bag, hauled between desks, jammed in an overhead locker on flights etc. with a few fixable things going wrong between now and then. I'm not sure I could expect the same from the latest gen for the same price.
As a example, when the barrel plug gave out on mine the motherboard got swapped out and the old ram, mem stick and WiFi card got swapped over to a fresh board that basically only had the processor on it. This cannot happen on the new one.
As someone who owns the last gen Alienware... I am dissapointed in the new verison. Like, this might sound crazy but that chunk on the back had a handle that made the laptop easy to grip that way I can use the laptop while I am standing up. As someone who works in IT that hand grip is so useful that it's pretty much mandatory for any laptop I buy going forward.
As for the fitting in your backpack claim? What the hell? I have zero issue fitting mine in my backpack. If you can't fit it in your backpack then your backpack is too small.
I am not a fan of the "streamlined" design here. Sure its shorter, sure it does look less tacky but there was nothing wrong with the older setup aside for the thickness. This change seem pointless.
I foresee a trend this year with laptops. "We had to solder the RAM to make them look so cool and thin and if you don't want soldered RAM then buy the old product." Until the old product is sold out and then they will claim that the market demands soldered RAM... Gonna be a no from me on XPS products this year.
The XPS devices do look very modern, especially the trackpad, but physical buttons would have been well appreciated. If I wanted touch buttons I would get a dial screen laptop like the zen whatever.
Now we can wait a generation or 2 until they bring back function keys, because they are vital to any developers/creators workflow, maybe bring back the full size SD card reader (don't lie that there is no space) and then they will be actually worth buying
no one needs a full-size SD card reader, or less than 1% of the world's population needs one
@@Dude_truthteller it's a premium laptop for professionals and creators. Guess what type of storage solution most cameras use? And it's not CFExpress just yet
Sad to see that the user replaceable ram is gone is too bad. I have an old xps from 2017 and I upgraded the ram it’s awesome to change it
Damn that's laying it on thick. I kept waiting for...but wait, there is more...for a limited time only Dell will include this amazing set of steak knives.
No. I want function keys. I want a touch pad. I want two CTRL keys. I don't want an "AI" key. I don't want a touch bar. I don't want half the things they think I want and I do want them to stop dumping conventions for the sake of it. Until manufacturers get it, I'm stuck with a - very excellent - three-year-old XPS-13.
and im stuck with my xps 13 i5 8gen.. lol
I hoped the function keys being capacitive was some special for the XPS 13 plus, not happy seeing it on the rest of the lineup.
Any idea if the AI key can be returned to function as CTRL in bios?
Seems like the whole series is unsuitable for power users now
Did they bother to actually cool them this time? The Precision 5550 (XPS 15 chassis) I have for work is criminally undercooled
Of course not! 😂
The new precisions (5680s) are not based on the XPSs and you will be super sad. They're huge in comparison, gain only an HDMI port, and the cooling is so poorly designed and the fans are so poorly tuned for noise that you'll be missing the 5560 when your employer forces you over. I've been buying precisions for so long, and I went HP over it. Not one person likes the 5680 in the office. Oh yeah, the mouse pad is smaller and the keyboard is smaller and the screen bezels are larger. I hate it.
@@gamebrigada2wow that's great to know.
It's like they said you know what this needs? More suck.
Imagine developing new XPS - apparently a laptop for power users - remembering now people reacted to TouchBar and removal of function keys and then doing the same on your product. What the actual f
Whelp, after my last two laptops being XPS, I think the next one isn't going to be one. They seriously removed everything that made the old XPS special, RIP to the SD Slot, the user replacable ram and of course the function row.
I disagree on new Alienware - the reason the old one was so big was because of that massive heatsink to help it cope with temperatures. It was an appreciated feature absent in most other laptops that instead were power limited and thermal throttled. This is an ongoing issue since GTX 900M series up to this day - it's bad to the point where you can buy laptops with exact same spec with noticeably different performance. All in pursuit of questionable form factor aesthetics. I'm sorry but if I'm buying a high performance laptop, I'd rather compromise on volume rather than performance - I expect every $ of performance to be squeezed out and not choked down because someone wanted to brag about 2mm slimmer chassis in their marketing slides...
RIP Alex’s love for the XPS 15 (2021-2023)
6:55 Correction: the "3.2K OLED" display on the XPS 14 ranges from 48 to 120 Hz, not 90 Hz.
1 positive for the Alienware, is it looks like the motherboard isn’t flipped anymore so it’s easier to work on!
I’m still mad they dropped the XPS 18
3 videos in one day? Love to see it ❤️
2 LTTs and 2 ShortCircuits on the same day? Dayumn!
Alex thanks for the advice yesterday before ces got started! Was great meeting you man, keep up the good work!
If there’s one thing I’m glad Dell changed is moving to haptic trackpads, because those trackpad sizes on the XPS 17 was way too big for a diving board mechanism, but yeah, this generation looks cool, but it feels very form-over-function; a XPS 15/17 with a haptic trackpad would’ve made the chassis relevant for a while
And at least that dumb double click issue will be gone....
Did anybody notice that the XPS appears to not have trackpads?
You’re supposed to use your X-ray vision to see where you can and can’t press. If you really need it you gotta make an outline with duct tape.
2 vidoes in one day that is a huge w for us
People seem really keen on the full size SD, is is actually the much of a thing? All the new sd cards seem to be micro and adaptors for full size sd.
I normally tell people not to use the onboard reader if they are doing lots of photography, only because the SD slots wear out and it's best to keep the internal one as a backup.
I told my mother this too, she ignored me then ripped the sd socket off the motherboard lol.
She has special skills.
this.. plus phones all use micro sd too..
So XPS is no longer making the 17’ ones? I personally run a 17 and have loved the large screen so it’s a bummer to see it gone
They never made a 17 foot one.
Kudos to Linus Tech Tips for reviving the kitchen set! Even though it looks like a set not an actual kitchen anymore, it's awesome to see it come back. The nostalgia hits hard, and it's incredible how far this channel has come. Looking forward to the creative content that'll come out of this revamped space!
Alex loves XPS laptops so much that he doesn’t even use them himself anymore. Glad he mentioned it in the video!😅
MSI. Dell.
So Nvidia ran out of 4090 mobile chips and now the marketing goal is telling us we never wanted anything more than a 4070 anyway.
Nah, if anything, Nvidia no longer forces them to offer the 4090 as an option, or the pricing gap increased between the models - perhaps because it's now used in both the 4080S and 3070TiS. The unobtainium laptops still have 4090 mobile GPUs. If you listen to the TDP of the 4070 mobile GPUs, you'd figure out that the chassis and cooling systems of those laptops are unfit for a higher class GPU.
why you want 4090 on laptop?
power and heat limitation will hampers its performance.
not as convenient but GPU external case with proper power and cooler works better for people who absolutely need 4090 in somewhat mobile station.
I think the big issue with the 4090 is it's HUGE. These laptops could easily cool a 4090 at fairly high wattage, as they'll push the 4070 well past 100w, but the physical chip takes up so much space that they can't package it without making massive compromises to the usability of the laptop.
@@supersnail5000 it reminds the for showing off technically laptop with 17" screen, thick mechanical keyboard and chassis and 2 adaptors to power it.
Why were people buying 125W 4090s in small machines anyway. It's pointless.
Buy the 18 inch machines with 175W 4090s or the 4070 will be fine.
ignores the missing F keys
I could deal with the F-keys, but no full size SD-Cardreader is a dealbreaker for me as a photographer. Battery and performance would be so great pressumably.
I do a lot of photo editing on my Dell G5 15 SE laptop, and I love the full-size SD card slot. I don't think laptop manufacturers understand what people actually do with SD cards, but mine go back and forth between my laptop and my mirrorless camera.
Sure, I could always use a dongle or put microSD cards in SD adapters and put those in my camera, but I shouldn't have to. MicroSD cards are easy to lose.
Dude I love your enthusiasm! New fav tech channel 🙌
How do you not talk about the removal of the function keys and the escape key???
I guess I'm the only one, but I have a ton of factors I think about with a new laptop and none of them are physical Function keys. The icons are fine.
This year in laptops: Cost cutting but thats good?
If there's one thing that sucks, it's ports on the back of a laptop... I feel like it's fine for someone who's mainly plugged in, but if you're mainly plugged in you're likely better with a desktop.
Bixby button reference were so subtle but so on point!
Between this and the MSI creator laptops I have some options to upgrade around 80 employees from pandemic panic purchased junk latitude laptops. My only hangup is how dell and MSI are handling thunderbolt docks. WD22TB4 does dual display, multi usb and at least 3 1080p or FHD+ displays for dell machines but for ASUS and MSI creator or workstation grade laptops it lacks the ability to power on the laptops from the dock power button. Would love to see the lab test stuff like this to make more informed purchases that give my employees in manufacturing more flexibility with remote work
I'm really hoping for an OLED M16, and maybe they could somehow bring back the beautiful white Lunar Light 🤩
I like how Dell listened to the problems with the touchbar on the XPS and chose not to fix it in any meaningful way. The issue isn't the fact that the lights arent always on. Its the fact that they arent physical buttons at all.
The most annoying part is that Dell has actually already fixed this, but the adjustments are reserved only for their business lineup. You can find the same build and chassis, but with a physical F Row, and parting lines for the haptic touchpad on the Latitude 9000 series. But you also get the additional markup on the already ludicrously priced XPS Models because its a business machine.
Why oh why are so many laptops missing the numpad? The numpad is SO SO important for data entry and just usability in general. What's the point of a bigger laptop if you're just going to shrink the keyboard? Even the XPS 9710 17 inch model does NOT have a numpad! It's a massive behemoth of a laptop but yet the 15 inch Latitude laptops have more ports, a 10key numpad, but for some stupid reason the XPS 17 inch notebooks DON'T have a bigger keyboard, and have far fewer ports?
So much wasted space.
Meanwhile, the new G14 has a 90watt 4070 and is really compact as well.
Weird question, you choose how the function keys light up in the bios, extremely unintuitive, but how do you get in the bios? What keys do you tap when it's waking up to go to the bios?
LOL I just bought the xps 13 9315 about a month ago for about $900.00 cant lie though, this 32GB ram 1TB SSD config was totally worth it
This is really appealing. I like this one quite a bit... thanks for the video!!
I'm actually glad I recently got a 4070 alienware laptop on a big sale. I didn't know new models were coming out, but price mattered most (followed by durability and cooling), and I think the m16 r1 fits my needs better.
That trackpad though, my previous laptop was an aliemware r2, and was sad they no longer did anything with the track pad.
Any word on how Modern Standby is working now? Do the new laptops wake from sleep and overheat?
2:34 dear oems, please stop using micro SD card slots. A micro SD slot can only accommodate a micro SD card. A full size SD card slot can accommodate regular and micro (when using an adapter card). Full size is just way more useful. I don't use micro SD cards, but I do use full size UHS-II SD cards. This micro SD card slot is completely useless to me.
No function keys on a professional-targeted laptop. Next up remove the keyboard I guess? Apple's got it so easy man...
Nobody is talking about the new HP Spectre x360! I am a fan of XPS, but I truly believe that this is the best alternative.
spectres have hinge issues and if you look at them funny they will break... ppl in my small town are selling a lot of these w hinges broken on fb marketplace. as well as keys popped out and broken usbc ports. was gonna get one but hard pass and also those do not play well w linux either.
Did he really miss talking about the trackpad in the newer XPSs?
What kind of shortsightedness do you need to have to put a microSD reader instead of a full sized one in the largest model?
insane how they made a set in the concention center for youtuber reviews
what about the screen brightness of the m16? they used to only go upto 350nits. Also theres no point mentioning the 142W powerlimit of the 4070 as it doesnt gain any performance beyond 100W
100% agree, the weak point on the outgoing Alienware models has been display brightness and lack of OLED/Mini-led options. For sure there is no point in pumping 142W through that 4070 for little to no performance gains. They finally have gotten rid of that bulge at the rear which is to be commended, the old form factor never made any sense to me as it made the laptop awkward to carry around.
@@rossdev agreed, i just feel like these videos gloss over actual issues in favor of "talking points" ascribed to them by their sponsors.
Alex is noticeably less excited about this years xps compared to previous years lol
I don't understand why any laptop would have any less than 2x USB-C and 2x USB-A ports? Especially ones that aren't super thin and lights. Also I don't get why laptops don't all have some combination of USB ports on either side. Sometimes it's just more convenient to plug something in on one side instead of the other.
I had the 2022 XPS 15 and sent it back to Dell. Build quality was REALLY bad somehow. I hated it. So this is a great day for me! :P
I like the old one more
It sucks that they got rid of the RTX4080 and 4090 options for the M16. I'm glad I decided to go with the M18 last year. I only wish I could have jumped up to the 4090, though the 4080 is no slouch for being a laptop gaming machine. So far, it's been a great computer.
Dell-Alienware should be called "Dalien-ware" by the PC community so that they can't pretend to be different companies. And it's shorter than saying the full combined name.
This music takes me back to 2015
SONNY'S DEATH IN THE GODFATHER IS MEGA CRUNCHY
So the MacBook Pro has more ports than the XPS now? WTF
I hope they keep the 2 in 1 going. I love mine even if the keyboard isn't the best at times.
The 13 Plus XPS has always been for people with small hands. The 14 to 16 inch Dell XPS sizes for 2024 is aligned with most competitors (Apple, Lenovo, Asus, and HP).
I cannot fully express my disdain for the new naming scheme for intel laptop cpus.....
Lack of physical function keys is a no go. Plus the windows ai button. Making any keyboard OS specific like that is so stupid.
So Dell essentially make their versions of MacBook Pro 14/16 but worse, good job dell
We gave up on dell and Lenovo laptops during COVID. The last two variants of XPS's we used at work were awful with overheating issues, inflating batteries and poor driver support for their own thunderbolt docks... I'm assuming most issues were solved in newer laptops but we're not buying anymore from them until reviews are in-depth and with realistic use cases senarios like visio conferences and heavy workloads.
Interesting but why give up on LENOVO and what did/ will you replace them with?
@@RichWithTech Same reason as DELL.
We would buy a dozen in bulk for the dev teams every 2-3 years (~18 people) as our projects grew and the number of things running increased (Dev tools, Docker with 4-6 containers, Teams and other internal software).
As for recommendations, unfortunately, I don't have any. I left the company last year but I know they were in discussion with different providers and getting the newest Dell's was still the cheapest route despite the past issue. I'll ask some friends still there about that.
@@TheSliderW Thanks for replying! When you say the same reason as Dell you mean overheating, swollen batteries and poor driver support?
The reason I'm curious is that kind of thing aligns with my experience of Dell but I'd heard Lenovo had excellent reliability.
@@RichWithTech I was writing a big reply but then lost it to a refresh... X )
In short, no, not exactly the same issues. Those ones had a pretty agressive power management that would drop performance in favor of better cooling. Not the best for heavy workloads.
Na, the main issue that comes to mind was with one of the yoga models where the wireless module would stop functioning and WiFi would no longer be available even after having it replaced. Not the end of the world but annoying when trying to get into an isolated room for a conference.
But do they all actually sleep properly when you close the lid? I had a lot of issues with Dell and Alienware in 2023 not properly sleeping.. some models even got sent back.
my dell inspiron 15 3525, and latitude 5400 sleep properly w linux. no issues at all
This is great laptop marketing. For HP ZBooks that is. How can you run out of space for both the F keys and a full size SD slot on a 16 inch laptop?
have fun w hp having serious power management issues, thermal throttling, usb ports stop working and poor linux support and also HP loves nickle and diming ppl
Good thing I bought the latest XPS 17 as I must have function keys for my work applications and I use them often. Also I optioned the 4k lcd screen as it doesn’t have PWM like the oled models had. I wonder if these new oled models still have PWM. 🧐
M11X was my favorite laptop I ever owned
I'm going to make Alex an XPS he can't refuse
How is the heat coming out of the laptop. I had the xps 15 and boy because of the metal frame did that laptop get toasty
If I was interested in gaming laptops that would be a serious contender. I love it when the design is sensible.
the kitchen is back... bigger building indeed
Alex said it (more or less): the new XPS is now called "Alienware". The new Alienware is a good XPS. The new XPS, on the other hand, is a huge step backwards :/.
How much of a difference in weight and size when compared to last year's XPS 15. I understand 15 and 16 inches are different in size but XPS's are brilliantly designed so that they don't feel so big. Hope someone can answer this.
Is this the new LMG video quality control? On the webcam testing you call is the XPS15 2023, which it isn't and then right at the end you call it the XPS14 2024 which it also isn't (but better) it actually is the XPS16 2024. Seems like an easy thing to correct right?
You get a vid! You get a vid! You get a VID!
Removing the F-Key row pretty much made this computer useless for developers which is probably a huge part of the userbase today.