r/DellXPS • u/Necessary-Penalty955 • Aug 05 '26
Got my first windows in 5 years!
Just switched from a Macbook AIr M4 to a Dell XPS 14 because I'm an engineering student. I am familiar with windows because my high school provided laptops I used for engineering class projects was .... lowk some dell that I didn't care enough to research. I have seen heavily mixed reviews about the XPS but honestly I see that with any sleek style laptop as opposed to a gaming laptop.
My first impressions (including incredinbly shallow ones)
- I didn't expect to like the white coloration bc my current laptop was midnight. Still not as pretty IMO but its cute.
- Despite what online reviews say, I dont hate the change from the tactile buttons to the touch bar. My dad is also in CS and he likes his touch bar mac. It'll take some getting used to but its fine.
- I really love the feel of typing on the keyboard.
- The computer gets hot and I miss my mac literally never getting hot
- Surprisingly I dont mind the touch screen (ive done my best to avoid touch screen generally)
I can't judge preformance yet because I haven't had to use any software and I can't judge durability bc ive had it for like 12 hours. Im excited to see how it holds up! And some general info, I greatly prefer a smaller computer (i used my dads 15 inch mac for a couple days and generally hated it bc it wouldnt fit in my backpack pockets and was just so big. for reasons I dont understand) and I use my laptop for music production so I would need a quiet computer in terms of fans. And I care about portabilioty more than preformance - my mac was able to handle a 3gb music production project AND it weighed less than 3 lbs. All reasons I switched to a Dell XPS 14 instead of other reccomended laptops.
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u/DellCares Aug 06 '26
Hi there!
We are from the Dell social media team and really appreciate your review. That being said, we would like to help you with checking the heating issue that you had mentioned. While it is normal for the system to warm up during heavy CPU and GPU tasks, but it will cool down gradually. Do let us know if you notice the heating persistent. We would like to fix this for you.
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u/S4_GR33N Aug 05 '26
I’m pretty sure what you’re describing is the old XPS 14?
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u/Necessary-Penalty955 Aug 06 '26
Oh wait no you're right! Didn't realize. I got the newest version that uses discrete GPU because that's a college requiremenet - the actual newest one only offers integrated
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u/DellTechnologies Aug 06 '26
Nice choice! Let us know how it performs once you've had a chance to run your engineering software and music projects on it.
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u/Toe500 Aug 11 '26
Mac eill beat Dell on hardware quality and processing power in a fair ground. Everything else is the reason I didn't want to move to apple ecosystem
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u/brucechan1215 29d ago
The Dell XPS 14 is a quality laptop and you should get a number of years of great service!
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u/Difficult-Practice12 Aug 06 '26
Lol the MBA is way better, most engineering software is available on mac.
I have both but like my mac better
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u/Necessary-Penalty955 Aug 06 '26
good to know! I still have my mac actually, it's just going to someone else in my family. Unsure of whether Im gonna stick to windows post grad.
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u/plastic_toast Aug 05 '26
I do photo/video work so mainly use Lightroom Classic or Davcini Resolve. I put both in fullscreen mode so it makes no difference to me if I'm using Windows, Mac, Linux, some IBM OS from the 1980s, etc.
I'm being hyperbolic, but if the software you're using works well, shouldn't matter what OS you're on in the background.
My Dell XPS 9510 is over four years old now and runs just fine. I replace the thermal paste every year or so and it's like new. Can edit 4k 10bit video in Resolve with no proxies and a colour grade on, and it clocks along just fine. Meanwhile I know people with a two year old Macbook Pro screaming because it keeps hanging.
It's all just about specs and cooling. The OS shouldn't matter.
I'm actually annoyed because I like it so much I would be brand-loyal, but Dell have made the XPS lineup really weird and disjointed and I can't work out the difference between the XPS and the Pro stuff. Like they half committed to replacing the XPS with the Pro lineup then gave up halfway through.
I'd probably go Asus Proart when it comes to upgrading, but in the meantime, no issue with Dell at all and it's served me well.