Computer Hardware Laptop
Rank 10
Dell XPS 16 (2026, Core Ultra X7 OLED)
Tom’s Guide’s ‘Windows laptop to beat’: a pound lighter than last year’s 16 Premium, with Panther Lake endurance and a tandem OLED, at the cost of discrete graphics and an SD reader.
Why it is here
Tom’s Guide (12 Apr 2026) tested the Core Ultra X7 358H / 32 GB / 1 TB / 16-inch 2.8K 120 Hz tandem OLED SKU ($2349) and measured Geekbench 6 2839/16927, Handbrake 4:32, Blackmagic 3570/4600 MB/s, and 13 h 08 min Wi-Fi at 150 nits — nearly 2× the outgoing Dell 16 Premium’s 7h14. Display lab: 355 nits SDR, ΔE 0.21, oversaturated 212% sRGB / 150% DCI-P3 (vivid OLED look). Weight 3.6 lb vs 4.6 lb last year. Engadget independently called the 2026 redesign ‘return of the king,’ citing the same physical F-keys, haptic pad, and Panther Lake efficiency, with a keyboard anti-ghosting bug on early units that Dell said was patched. Notebookcheck’s 20 Mar 2026 review of the cheap Ultra 5 325 FHD+ SKU is useful as a warning, not as the pick: that chip is only ~10% faster than Lunar Lake ULV and the Xe3 4 iGPU is far behind Arc B390. The X7 OLED config is the one that clears the world-elite bar. Trade-off vs MacBook Pro 16: no Mini-LED brightness (Tom’s 355 vs 558 nits SDR) and no dGPU.
Who it is for
Windows users who want a 16-inch MacBook Pro-class travel laptop and do not need CUDA or an SD slot.
Sources
- Dell XPS 16 (2026) review‘The Windows laptop to beat.’ GB6 2839/16927, 13h08 battery, 355 nits SDR OLED, $2349 as tested.
- Dell XPS 16 (2026) review: Return of the kingRedesign restores physical keys and practical chassis; early keyboard ghosting bug; $2349 review unit, ~$1900 on promo.
- Dell XPS 16 review: Two steps forward, one step backConfirms 600 g weight cut and Panther Lake efficiency; Ultra 5 325 SKU is not the elite config (CB2024 Multi 629).
