TL;DR
- If you've just bought an XPS 14, one of the first things you should do is to configure the laptop with the Dell Optimizer software, setting up power management and more
- There are some powerful AI abilities to tap. These can improve video chats with the XPS 14, or drive system-wide Live Captions and real-time translations for any video or audio content
- You can also see just how powerful the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 integrated graphics are by checking out the frame rates achieved in popular games – and try out presence sensing capabilities, too
If you're the proud owner of a new Dell XPS 14, you've likely already put the laptop through its paces with your favorite apps to see how smoothly they run. Or maybe you've dipped into your games library to flex the muscles of the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) processor, which represents a major leap forward in performance for Intel's integrated Arc graphics.
You might well have done all that as soon as you got the laptop up and running. However, beyond those initial tasters of the XPS 14, you're naturally going to want to explore a bit more and get the most out of this laptop. And to that end, this article will cover six things you should know about to elevate your computing experience with Dell's XPS 14.
Those of you thinking about buying a new laptop, and perhaps considering the new XPS 14, will no doubt have their curiosity piqued to see some of the nifty tricks and features available with this Dell laptop, too.
1. Configure Dell Optimizer to ensure the XPS 14 is tailored to your needs
Dell has provided a one-stop-hub for configuring all your power, battery and display-related settings with the XPS 14 – along with additional features – it's called Dell Optimizer.
One of the very first things you should do with the XPS 14 is to run and configure this app to your liking. Be sure to check out the 'Power & Battery' settings in particular. Here, under 'Thermal Management', you can pick the most appropriate setting out of four choices for how you'll use your laptop.
Choose 'Optimized' for a balanced level of performance that's appropriate for your everyday computing needs. This gives you enough power to run everyday apps smoothly without using too much energy or draining the battery more than is strictly necessary.
For scenarios where you do want to exercise all the power under the hood of the Intel Panther Lake processor – such as when running creative apps like Adobe Photoshop, or gaming – pick 'Ultra Performance' but be aware that battery life won't be as good as with 'Optimized'.
Those are the main choices here, but there's also a 'Quiet' setting that minimizes fan noise. This can be useful if you're at work or in a public space where you want the laptop to be as stealthy and lowkey as possible.
Finally, as you might guess, the 'Cool' setting ensures the XPS 14 runs as cool as possible, with the fans spinning up (for extra cooling) as a result. This is handy if you've got the notebook resting in your lap and don't want to feel any heat from the device. It's worth noting that Dell has designed the XPS 14 with no ventilation holes on the bottom of the chassis – there's a side intake and rear exhaust setup instead – so you're not blocking any outlets and interfering with cooling in any way by having the notebook on your lap.
Most folks, however, will use either 'Optimized' or 'Ultra Performance' most of the time, depending on whether they are running basic computing tasks (web browsing, say, or watching a YouTube video) or they need the full power of the XPS 14 to be unleashed.
Note that Dell has additional AI routines running within Optimizer to help fine-tune your XPS 14 experience within the boundaries of the chosen power mode. This AI pulls off tricks such as learning when you run certain apps based on your typical usage patterns, intelligently preloading them in advance to get an even more responsive feel with these apps opening very swiftly.
The Intelligent Battery Extender incorporated within Dell Optimizer also tweaks elements of the hardware to extend the XPS 14's battery longevity. This laptop is built for long-lasting power, and according to Dell, it offers the best battery life of any 14-inch notebook currently on the market.
All in all, the Optimizer suite is a unique way to easily manage your power needs with this notebook, so be sure you don't miss out on the benefits therein.
2. Dell Optimizer does even more – like tuning the XPS 14's display for movie watching
Once you've dealt with those key power management aspects, it's well worth experimenting with all the other features that are within Dell Optimizer – and there are some useful tricks here for film fans.
In the 'Display' section of the Optimizer app, head to the 'Color Profiles' panel and you'll find different settings for watching movies, sports and animations. There are also options to modify contrast, color saturation and temperature here.
Furthermore, for film viewing the Display section also has Dolby Vision modes, letting you pick between 'Bright' and 'Dark' (or 'Vivid' is also an option if you want to go for more oomph in terms of overall brightness). All of this means you can get the best from the Dell laptop's screen, whether that’s the LCD display, or especially the punchy OLED variant with its vivid colors and deep blacks.
3. Run like a Panther – check the speed of your gaming frame rates
Want to know how that Intel Panther Lake integrated GPU is really performing with a game? If you're a keen Fortnite player, for example, you might want to see exactly what frame rate the XPS 14 is achieving in-game, and that's easily done in Windows 11.
Simply open the Game Bar – press the Windows key + G – and the 'Performance' panel will show you the current frame rate under where it says FPS (for Frames Per Second). With the Dell XPS 14 in Fortnite, you should be getting a smooth frame rate averaging over 60 FPS, and you'll see that with this counter. The panel also shows your current CPU and GPU usage, or in other words, how hard these components are being pushed in terms of a percentage, which is always interesting to see.
While the XPS 14 is great with mainstream games like Fortnite or Minecraft, bear in mind that demanding titles require a dedicated gaming portable such as an Alienware notebook. Using these Game Bar stats can always help you judge how well the XPS 14 is running any given game, so you can adjust the resolution or tone down the graphics details appropriately to get a better, smoother experience.
4. Better video chatting through AI
Dell's XPS 14 is a Copilot+ PC and that means there are quite a number of exclusive AI-powered tricks in this laptop's repertoire. One that's definitely worth knowing about is getting AI to make your video chats better.
This is achieved using the Windows Studio Effects suite of tools which offers a whole library of features that can help improve both the video and audio when you're chatting via the XPS 14's webcam.
The highlights here include background blur (with two effects available here) and auto-framing plus lighting adjustment, to ensure you always look your best – and that any clutter in the room behind you is hidden.
However, the really clever touch is AI-powered eye contact. This feature means the person you're talking to will see you appear to be making direct eye contact with them, even if you aren't (if, for example, you're busy scanning your eyes around the screen while reading out presentation material).
On the audio side of the equation, there's a voice focus feature that eliminates any background noise intruding on the video chat, ensuring your voice comes through cleanly. The XPS 14 already has an impressive mic array, and a high-quality 4K webcam (with a first-to-market ultranarrow design), and AI helps to make these hardware components perform even better.
5. Benefit from system-wide Live Captions and AI-powered translations
You can turn on captions with YouTube, of course (most of the time), but wouldn't it be great if you could have them anywhere in Windows 11? Well, you can, and even if you knew that already, what you may not realize is that with a Copilot+ PC like the Dell XPS 14, you can get translated captions automatically provided with any content you're watching.
This is another AI-powered ability leveraging the NPU in the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chip, meaning all this is processed directly on the XPS 14, so it's highly responsive. Live Captions can be invoked by pressing the Windows key + Control + L and this will give you captions for any video, or indeed audio content.
Moreover, if that content is in a different language, a Copilot+ laptop can translate it on-the-fly. So, if you don't understand German, but you're watching a German language video with no translation provided, you can easily get one.
Note that this capability currently only works to translate a language to English or Chinese (simplified), but there are a lot of languages covered for translation: over 40 for English, and 27 for Chinese.
6. Presence sensing, for added security
This is a smart security feature in Windows 11 which is supported by the hardware on board the Dell XPS 14. Presence sensing allows the laptop to automatically sleep when you leave the device – and it detects that you've gone – then it'll automatically wake up when you return.
To enable this, head to the Settings app in Windows 11, and go to 'System', then 'Power & battery'. Under 'Screen, sleep and hibernate timeouts' you'll find two options, which you need to turn on for the respective features to work. These are:
- Automatically turn off my screen when I leave
- Automatically wake up my device when I approach
If you click on the little arrows next to these options, you can access further settings to fine-tune this presence sensing functionality. That includes specifying the distance you need to be from your laptop for Windows 11 to consider that you've left the device, so it'll sleep.
It's pretty cool to have your laptop automatically do this, and you can also enable the 'Dim my screen when I look away' feature. In this case, if you're not using the screen, the XPS 14 will detect that you're not looking at the display and drop the brightness right down to save a bit of power.
If you think a Dell XPS 14 is for you, find out more on the Dell website: US readers click here, CA readers here and UK readers here.
And there’s one more thing to know before you buy: Dell offers a price match guarantee. To learn more about the Dell price match and price guarantee, including the terms, exclusions and restrictions, US readers can click here, CA readers here and UK readers here.