Dell’s 14S is trying to be the respectable middle child in Dell’s laptop lineup: nicer than the old Inspiron-derived machines, less expensive than the XPS 14, and polished enough that buyers will notice. WIRED reviewer Luke Larsen says Dell mostly got the hardware right, then priced it into a fight it does not cleanly win.
The Dell 14S starts at $1,270, according to Dell pricing cited by WIRED. Larsen tested a $1,469 configuration with an eight-core Intel Core Ultra 7 355 processor, 16 GB of memory, and 512 GB of storage. That puts it near Apple’s MacBook Air pricing, with WIRED noting it is $170 above the 13-inch MacBook Air and $30 below the 15-inch model.
A more premium midrange Dell
The 14S replaces the Dell 14 Plus, which came out of the old Inspiron line. Larsen describes the new machine as the most upscale version of that family yet, with an aluminum chassis, a 0.61-inch thickness, and an optional OLED panel. WIRED gave the laptop a 7 out of 10.
The spec sheet is not all vanity. The laptop includes two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, HDMI 2.1, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a headphone jack. Larsen liked the port selection, while noting the absence of an SD card slot and the awkward placement of both Thunderbolt ports on one side, which means charging is limited to that side.
Some cost-saving choices still show. WIRED found the two 2-watt speakers mediocre, the webcam noisy even in a well-lit room, and the keyboard more tiring than expected. The touchpad landed better: Larsen called it large and responsive, a weak point on many cheaper laptops that Dell appears to have avoided.
Battery life is the strongest argument
Performance, according to Larsen’s testing, is adequate rather than exciting. WIRED found the Core Ultra 7 355 landed between Apple’s M4 and M5 in multicore performance. The new Dell 14S was 14 percent faster in graphics than the previous Dell 14 Plus with a Core Ultra 7 258V, a gain Larsen said is not especially noticeable in normal use.
Battery life is the part that actually makes the new silicon look useful. In WIRED’s local video playback test, the battery took 20 hours to fall to 50 percent. Standby was weaker: Larsen reported the laptop lost half its charge after sitting unplugged with the lid closed for several days.
Dell also shipped the review unit with Smart Charging enabled, a battery-preservation setting that caps charge at 80 percent. Larsen found that Windows 11 and Dell Optimizer did not expose the switch. Changing it required installing the MyDell app or entering the BIOS, which is exactly the sort of software scavenger hunt laptop buyers did not ask for.
The OLED panel has trade-offs
WIRED liked the OLED screen’s contrast and color coverage, though Larsen said color accuracy needed calibration and the panel was not the right fit for precise color work. The problem is glare. The OLED model uses a glossy surface, and WIRED found the 300-nit maximum brightness left Larsen running the display at full brightness under ordinary overhead lights.
Resolution is another compromise. Both the IPS and OLED versions of the Dell 14S use a 1920 x 1200 panel, according to WIRED. The older Dell 14 Plus offers a sharper 2560 x 1600 screen for less money, while the Dell 16S has a 2880 x 1800 option. Larsen said a QHD+ Dell 14S configuration is reportedly planned, but it was not available on Dell.com.
The buying problem is blunt. Dell still sells the older 14 Plus starting at $860, and WIRED points to the HP OmniBook 5, currently $630, as a cheaper Snapdragon X laptop with similar specs and an OLED display. The XPS 14 costs roughly $400 more than the 14S, leaving Dell some room in the lineup. Larsen’s conclusion is that the Dell 14S is good hardware caught between better-value older machines and Dell’s pricier flagship.
This story draws on original reporting from WIRED.
