The best Dell laptop in 2024: top picks for work, school, and gaming

Now is an excellent time to consider one of the best Dell laptops as there are more options than ever before, with plenty of choice regarding the hardware inside and form factors available. Chances are, whether you’re a seasoned gamer, industry professional, student, or more casual web user, that you’ve heard of Dell and for good reason.

We’re at something of a turning point for productivity machines at this time in 2024. We’ve already started to see a trend towards AI computing with Dell embracing Intel Meteor Lake processors featuring a dedicated NPU onboard. Couple this with some of the best graphics cards from both Nvidia and AMD, and there’s a myriad of options to choose from to suit your needs. 

We have worked hard to include the best Dell laptops for gaming, work, and school use, considering pricing as a key factor. That’s why you’ll find not only budget and premium offerings here, but comfortable mid-range machines too, running the gamut of resolutions - from Full HD to 4K - and panel sizes, from smaller 14-inch screens up to a much larger 17-inch displays. 

So let’s get on to our picks for the top Dell laptops, and below you’ll find a quick list which gives you a summary of what we think about the Dell portables in question. The handy links on the left will take you straight to the full mini-review. For those looking for more options beyond Dell, we recommend reading our buying guides on the best laptops overall and the best gaming laptops.

The Quick List

Best Dell laptop overall

The all-new Dell XPS 14 sees a massive shake-up in the hardware for the company’s compact laptop thanks to the utilization of Intel Meteor Lake silicon and a display that’s hard to beat for its size. Under the hood, you’ll find the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H with a staggering 16-cores (22-threads) with a max boost clock of 4.8GHz for far stronger and more consistent performance than previously seen. 

What’s more, the new Dell XPS 14 leads the charge with a staggering 3.2K OLED display which is among the best laptop screens that we’ve ever tested. This self-lit panel tech means you get deep inky blacks combined with bright and vivid colors which are far stronger than the usual IPS LCD that we typically see at this size. The screen is augmented by new up-firing speakers which provide loud and clear audio playback (far better than down-firing offerings).

Everything about the design of the Dell XPS 14 screams premium, including its machined aluminum chassis (in platinum or graphite) which tapers off at the edges. While it’s not going to be for everyone, the touchbar row replacing the function keys, and invisible trackpad, also go a long way to separating this machine from your average run-of-the-mill Ultrabook. 

The main star of the show with Dell’s latest flagship device is the performance though. That’s because the Core Ultra 7 155H does an incredible job of holding its own against Apple’s M3 chip found inside the latest MacBook Pros. The Intel CPU delivers solid gaming performance and fantastic productivity chops bolstered by the NPU on the chip. While the RTX 4050 is the weakest of Nvidia’s Lovelace line-up, it’s still powerful enough to provide a consistent gaming experience at 1080p resolution. 

While the Dell XPS 14 may not have as good battery life as the aforementioned Apple laptop, it does offer up to 10 hours of longevity. For context, that’s a significant lead over the previous model’s average of about seven hours. Meteor Lake is far more efficient than Alder Lake and Raptor Lake, and it shows in spades here. 

Just keep in mind that this laptop doesn’t come cheap even at its base configuration. The starting price for the new Dell XPS 14 is a hefty $1,499 / £1,599 / AU$2,998.60, although this can be maxed out to as much as $3,399 / £3,238.99 / AU$5,999.40 which nets you 64GB of RAM and a 4TB NVMe SSD onboard. Simply put, there’s no better Dell laptop on the market than this one in 2024. 

Read our full Dell XPS 14 (2024) review

Best value Dell laptop

While much fanfare can be made around Dell's XPS 14 market leader, the XPS 13 Plus still confidently punches above its weight performance-wise, combining that with a stellar visual design and a fantastic display. Starting at just $1,249 / £1,198.99 / AU$2,398, this hardware revision outguns its competition with ease and offers dazzling OLED panel tech at a price few can argue with. 

Dell was smart to give consumers the choice of screen resolution, RAM capacity, and total storage ranging from the aforementioned entry-level price to a heftier $1,749 / £2,119.38 / AU$3,880.80 which gets you a UHD+ display and 32GB RAM. Regardless of what you spend, you’ll be getting OLED, giving you a screen far better than the IPS LCDs typically seen on 13-inch Ultrabooks. 

While the CPU inside the Dell XPS 13 Plus, the Intel Core i7-1360P, has since been superseded by the new Intel Meteor Lake range, there’s no faulting the performance capabilities here. In our testing we noticed impressive benchmark results in the likes of 3DMark, GeekBench 6, HandBrake, and CrossMark, meaning you should be all set for demanding creativity and productivity tasks. Sadly, the Iris integrated graphics just aren’t up to the task of gaming.

Where the mid-range pricing of the Dell XPS 13 Plus shows itself the most compared to the flagship options in Dell’s notebook line-up is in terms of battery life. That’s because you can expect about seven hours with moderate use which isn’t exactly top class. However, you won’t be waiting around for the laptop to charge, as it juices up for six hours of longevity in just 20 minutes. While you’ll keep a charger within easy enough reach, this isn’t a laptop you’ll need to keep plugged in by any means.

Read our full Dell XPS 15 (2023) review

Best Dell laptop for creatives

The Dell XPS 17 (2024) might be the finest iteration of Dell's large-form-factor XPS laptop yet. Packing some mighty internal components including 14th-gen Intel CPUs with Intel's neural processing unit for AI workloads and up to a mighty Nvidia RTX 4080 graphics card, this is a professional laptop that can handle just about anything you throw at it.

All that processing power is wrapped up in a stylish chassis with a beautiful UHD+ display and comfortable keyboard, with Dell's XPS line once again setting the standard for what a good work laptop should be. It powered through our benchmark suite when we reviewed it, and our only real point of criticism is that it lacks a 1080p webcam, opting for a slightly less sharp 720p one instead - well, that and the fact that the high-end configurations of this laptop get expensive rather quickly.

Read our full Dell XPS 17 (2024) review

The best Dell gaming laptop

Dell's Alienware range of gaming laptops is the most recent brand to release an 'AMD Advantage' edition exclusively packing AMD internal components, and it might just be the best one yet. The Radeon RX 6850M XT laptop GPU performs fantastically, offering top-notch gaming performance and a pricey but not unreasonable cost.

It won't melt your thighs either - unlike most gaming laptops, this Alienware model has a nifty cooling solution that really works, keeping your device from getting too toasty during long gaming binges (though the fans can get pretty noisy under heavy system loads).

It's worth noting that this configuration is only available in the US right now, although other models of the Alienware m17 R5 are available in different territories - we raved about the quality of the sturdy, RGB-equipped chassis and large, bright display in our review, so if you're looking for a high-end 17-inch gaming laptop, the m17 R5 is an excellent choice.

Read the full Alienware m17 R5 AMD Advantage review

Best 15-inch Dell laptop

While ultimately more of an iterative upgrade over its predecessor than a sweeping innovator, the Dell XPS 15 still does enough to justify its place on our list as the best 15-inch Dell laptop that money can buy. The most recent version here features either the 13th-gen Core i7 or i9 CPU depending on configuration, and that pairs beautifully with the Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics card for some seriously powerful productivity potential. 

Of course, pairing either a Core i7 or i9 CPU with an RTX 4070 GPU means that the Dell XPS 15 can also be considered quite the fearsome gaming laptop, made all the better by its OLED panel. With a 3.5K resolution, this laptop’s screen looks simply stunning whether you’re consuming media, engaging in some heavy productivity tasks or gaming (even if you’ll need to knock things down to 1440p resolution for the latter). 

In our testing, we found that the Dell XPS 15 delivered strong performance across the board both when gaming and when put under stress in our industry-standard benchmarks. That’s not too surprising given the Intel Raptor Lake CPU and mid-range Nvidia Lovelace GPU combo, but the slight stumbling block is performance could have been improved by including an RTX 4080 instead, which is common in this kind of price bracket. The RTX 4070 is a decent performer with its 8GB VRAM, but you may feel the pinch more compared to the RTX 4080’s 12GB of video RAM. 

As for the battery life of the Dell XPS 15, it might be solid, but it’s unspectacular. Our testing revealed about eight hours of longevity when used for casual working tasks, but you’re going to see that time cut down dramatically to around an hour or two when doing something as intensive as gaming. Fortunately, the laptop charges up from flat in just under an hour, so you shouldn’t need to constantly sit within reach of an AC adapter with this notebook. 

Read our full Dell XPS 15 (2023) review

Best Dell laptop with an Nvidia

If you're looking for a gaming laptop with an Nvidia GPU instead of the AMD model above, the Alienware m15 R7 (2022) is a seriously fast and powerful bit of hardware from Dell. It's a dream machine for esports gamers thanks to a display with a 360Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time at 1080p resolution or a 1440p display at 240Hz and 2ms, letting all your favorite competitive games run buttery smooth and responsive.

The build quality doesn't have as premium a feel as some of its X-series counterparts from the Alienware line, but this also means that it can be slightly more affordable as well, but just remember that this is a relative comparison; as an Alienware gaming laptop, even the starting price for this one is going to price a few people out entirely.

Read the full Alienware M15 R7 (2022) review

Best Dell laptop for business

Busy office workers looking for a flexible work laptop, look no further: Dell's enterprise-grade Latitude series has produced yet another stellar office laptop, this time the versatile Latitude 9330 2-in-1.

With a QHD+ touchscreen and 360-degree hinge, the Latitude 9330 can swap between laptop and tablet modes effortlessly, with a 12th-gen Intel CPU providing strong performance no matter your workload. The 13-inch display also means that this 2-in-1 laptop is eminently lightweight and portable, so you won't end up with a sore back if you want to throw it in your bag to take on your commute.

Lastly, the Latitude 9330 comes bundled with a bunch of virtual meeting software from the go, and has plenty of security and privacy features that will appeal to professionals. We mean plenty, too - it's got everything from a fingerprint scanner and IR camera for facial recognition, to 'onlooker protection', which detects when you've moved away from your laptop and dims the screen automatically to ward off prying eyes. Neat!

Read the full Dell Latitude 9330 2-in-1 review

Best value convertible Dell laptop

It's not the most exciting laptop Dell has ever put out, but if you're looking for a versatile 2-in-1 touchscreen laptop for everyday work that won't cost the world, the Inspiron 16 is a great choice.

We say 'won't cost the world' - this device does still start at $1,000 (£780 / AU$1,600), which is a bit steep for the average 2-in-1 laptop, but this isn't the average 2-in-1: most hybrid laptops pack a 13- or 14-inch display, but this Inspiron's beefy UHD+ display is a whopping 16 inches, bigger than the majority of 2-in-1s around right now.

That means the Inspiron 16 fills a rather unique niche, but is arguably the very best at what it does. The only significant downside is the resultant increase in weight - and the lack of a garaged stylus, which would've been nice to see. If you want a powerful 2-in-1 but don't want to downsize, snap this up.

Read the full Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 review

Best compact Dell laptop

If you like the look of the Inspiron 16 2-in-1 but think it's just a little bit too big (or a little bit too expensive), then perhaps its little sibling might be the right laptop for you.

A very similar hybrid touchscreen laptop, the Inspiron 14 excels in the same areas - good performance, versatility, good value - and falls down in largely the same areas too: once again, the lack of an included stylus is a real shame, since it could've added a lot to the package.

The overall specs of the Inspiron 14 are ever-so-slightly less impressive than its big brother the Inspiron 16; the drive capacity caps out at 512GB, and the i7 processor is a marginally less powerful i7-1255U as opposed to the i7-1260P found in the 16-inch model. Given the lower starting price of $849.99 (£699 / AU$1,278), though, it's still an easy recommendation from us.

Read the full Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 review

Best Dell Chromebook

It's not going to blow anyone away in terms of raw performance, but the Dell Chromebook 3110 is a great little laptop for younger users, whether that's for school projects or just watching YouTube at home.

It's easy to spend a ton of cash on a new laptop, but this Chromebook starts at just $289 (£346.92 / around AU$430), making it an excellent choice for a kid's first laptop. The ruggedized design with rubber edges makes it seriously durable too, so it should be able to stand up to plenty of unintentional abuse from tiny, clumsy hands.

Since it runs Chrome OS, you can also download apps and games from the Google Play Store, and using Google's cloud-based software suite for work is a cinch. The 3110 comes in both touch- and non-touchscreen models, and packs a 720p webcam for Zoom classes (or family video calls) too.

How to choose a Dell laptop

Choosing the best Dell laptop is easy if you've got plenty of funds to throw at it, but it becomes a lot harder if you're trying to purchase within a limited budget and want to know that you're getting the most bang for your buck.

Luckily, the current generation of Intel processors proves that we're currently in a golden age of CPUs that deliver excellent performance without costing the world - thanks for that, Intel. That means you can snap up a perfectly capable laptop without having to spend a ton of cash.

When looking at buying a new laptop, a budget should be the first thing you set. From there, it's all about deciding what features matter most to you: screen size is a good place to start, since everyone has their own preferences for how big a laptop should be.

Next, consider what you'll actually be using the laptop for. If it's just going to be for video meetings and answering emails, you can probably get away with lower specs - think an Intel i5 processor and a minimum of 8GB of RAM. If you're planning to play the best PC games on it, though, make sure you get something with at least 16GB of RAM and a dedicated graphics card - not CPU-integrated graphics like Intel's UHD or Iris Xe offerings.

Keep battery life in mind, too - if you're going to be bereft of access to a wall outlet for long periods, you'll definitely want something with all-day battery longevity. Check out our reviews of the laptops above for a more detailed breakdown of how long a laptop can last on a single charge.

Lastly, be sure to think about how much storage space you'll need: if you plan to use cloud storage (like Google Drive) for your files, you probably won't need to splash out on a 1TB or larger drive for your laptop. In our experience, 512GB is plenty for most users - unless you're planning to install a bunch of games, in which case 1TB should be considered the minimum.

How TechRadar tests the best Dell laptops

TechRadar reviews laptops, including the best Dell laptops, on four different criteria: price, design, performance, and battery life. We make sure to use all laptops throughout the day so we get an accurate reading of how well it performs from the moment it comes out of the box to when its battery finally needs a recharge.

Price may not be an issue for everyone looking for a new laptop, but we make sure to note whether a laptop’s asking price is the going rate compared to the competition or if it’s a bit higher or lower. We also want to help you snag a deal on the newest tech, so we often include a price comparison tool as well.

Design is a crucial part of every laptop, and we don’t just mean how sleek or impressive it looks. We consider if there are enough ports for all your devices and the overall usability of each notebook. For example, if you type all day you wouldn’t want an uncomfortable keyboard - you’d want something that types efficiently and doesn’t hurt your wrist or fingers over time.

Performance and battery life go hand in hand when evaluating laptops, as some laptops are known to have their performance decrease as the battery drains. By running the best Dell laptops all day, we get an accurate feel for how the machine performs at every battery percentage while also making sure it’s got a long-lasting battery for all your computing tasks.

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