Dell just announced a new laptop to take on Apple's MacBook Neo. The Dell 14S is a colorful laptop designed for college students and young adults, which helps the PC compete with the MacBook Neo's colorful range.

The Dell 14S should be a budget-friendly PC, though Dell has not released pricing for the laptop yet. The laptop has an aluminum body and a nice selection of ports, including two USB 3.2 Type-C ports, an HDMI port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Dell 14S and the Dell XPS 13 released earlier this year both compete with the MacBook Neo, but they do so in different ways. The XPS 13 has a better display, Wi-Fi 7, a backlit keyboard, and is a more premium device.

The Dell 14S promises all-day battery life, is available in several colors, and has a 16:10 display.

People who were intrigued by the low price of the MacBook Neo but want the look of a premium laptop running Windows 11 will likely prefer the newest XPS 13. Those who like the colorful tone of the MacBook Neo but want a lightweight and affordable device running Windows 11 will probably lean toward the Dell 14S.

Dell's confusing naming scheme

Dell is still struggling with naming its products. The company abandoned the XPS lineup and got rid of its entire consumer-focused strategy but has since backtracked and brought back XPS. But the company seems confused on what XPS means to customers.

If you head over to Dell's webpage about the New Dell 14S, you'll see a comparison chart that includes the New Dell 14, New Dell 14S, and Dell 14S. Incredibly, they are quite different from each other.

Listing two laptops side-by-side and having one labeled as "new" is fine. It's somewhat similar to how car companies handle naming, though the automotive industry often just attaches a year within parentheses.

Sticking with that analogy, if you look at a 2025 Honda Civic and a 2026 Honda Civic, they should be somewhat similar vehicles. Barring a complete overhaul, a new version of a model should resemble its predecessor.

If there is an overhaul, it's usually a linear progression, such as when Dell shifted from the old-old XPS to the once-new-but-now-old XPS.

If you did not already know which of the below PCs were XPS laptops, could you easily guess which are in that family of devices?

What is an XPS device in 2026? The new XPS 14 is a premium device featuring an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor or more powerful processor. The not-so-new but still great XPS 14 shares a similar design and also has an Intel Core Ultra 7 chip, albeit an older one.

So, XPS laptops are premium machines with high-end processors and a design resembling the XPS laptops from recent years, correct? Nope. The XPS 13 from this year is a budget-focused PC with options powered by an Intel Core Ultra 3 chip.

Other differences stand out, such as the latest XPS 13 having options with 8GB of RAM compared to the 16GB minimum of the new XPS 14.

Please understand, I think the latest XPS 13 and XPS 14 are excellent laptops. I predict the Dell 14S will also be a solid PC. But I don't understand what Dell is doing with its XPS brand. The company seems to have remembered that consumers value the XPS brand and has chosen to etch the XPS logo onto things willy-nilly.

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It's about time for a new semester, and upgrading your PC can make the process much easier. You don't need anything excessive to access most of the Windows software and cloud apps you'll need in school or college, and Dell's official store has already reduced prices on some of its best hardware.

• Back to school deals up to $900 off PCs and more at Dell

Some of Dell's deals go into the weeds (who knew they sold robot vacuums?), so I've handpicked a collection for practically anyone who needs portable tech for studies or even works from home. We've tested hundreds of processors found in its laptops, and traveled the world with devices just like this.

Is the new Dell XPS 13 a good laptop?

We saw the revival of Dell's XPS 13 laptop appear at Computex earlier this year, and went hands-on while we attended Taiwan's popular technology convention. There's no denying it's the Windows-centric alternative to Apple's MacBook Neo, but as Dell explained to us in person, it was in development before the Neo ever launched. In that, it stands as more of an affordable flagship than a compromise.

After spending some time with the XPS 13, Senior Editor Zac Bowden said it "still feels every bit as premium and nice to use as the $1,000 XPS 13 before it", which tracks, because this used to be placed as a much more expensive laptop. If you pick one up, you'll get a 120Hz display for a smooth refresh rate on a bright, 2.5K touchscreen, in the thinnest and lightest XPS yet.

As the name suggests, the XPS 13 offers a 13.4-inch screen in a 2.2-lb chassis, powered by a relatively standard 65W USB-C AC adapter rather than a proprietary cable-and-brick setup. Yes, it's smaller than the EcoLoop backpack was designed for, but the extra inch leaves space for extras like the Pro 7 mouse and keyboard combo.

However, Zac did make it clear that the XPS 13 has "an amazing keyboard and excellent trackpad", so you'll still be able to rely on it in any situations where an external set of peripherals isn't as viable, and they stay in your backpack instead. Plus, the built-in webcam supports Windows Hello face unlock for faster logins, and its powered USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports support external displays.

You'll need to verify your education status with Dell to be eligible for the XPS 13's $599.99 student pricing, but $699.99 is still a great price if you're looking for a work companion instead. Otherwise, for students heading back to school for a new semester, this portable PC combo for under $740 is a steal.

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One of the best laptop deals of the year is live, though I'm worried stock won't last. The Dell XPS 14 (2025) is up to $1,350 off.

I highlighted Dell's discount on the XPS 14 recently, and the deal has since gotten even better. I didn't think I'd see a laptop with these specs at this price in 2026. 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and 3.2K OLED touch display for $1,549.99 is, quite frankly, ludicrous.

My only concern is that the laptop dropping in price quickly suggests Dell is almost out of stock and wants to clear out 2025 models to push the newer XPS 14 laptops from this year.

Why buy the Dell XPS 14?

The XPS 14 is a pretty laptop built for productivity. At one time, there were a bunch of variations for this PC, but the options have been trimmed down as stock dips. The 3.2K OLED touch display in this model stands out, especially at this price.

The XPS 14 has a zero-lattice keyboard that packs large keys into a relatively small laptop body. The haptic touchpad of the XPS 14 is invisible, creating a clean look when the laptop is open.

That touchpad can take some time to get used to, but it was praised by Tom's Guide in their review:

"The keys have good travel distance and just the right amount of resistance when pressed. Once you get used to how tightly packed they are, typing is a breeze. And now that I’m used to it, the invisible touchpad doesn’t bother me. As before, I like the haptic feedback the touchpad produces, which also helps me know its location."

As a reminder, the Dell XPS 14 (2025) was originally called the Dell 14 Premium. Dell abandoned that naming scheme and resurrected the XPS brand earlier this year and retroactively renamed older models.

While I love the design of the XPS 14, it has battery life that's just OK. Our colleagues at Tom's Guide got 8 hours and 16 minutes in their testing. For context, 10 hours of battery life is considered "pretty good" in that same test.

The discounted XPS 14 model I highlighted retails for $2,899.99, but it is from last year. Many laptops from this year with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage cost well over $2,000. The new XPS 14 with those specs is $2,119.99 right now, and that's after a $630 discount. That version also has a 2K non-touch screen rather than the 3.2K OLED touch screen seen in the XPS 14 (2025) highlighted here.

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