Last year at CES 2025, Dell surprised everyone by retiring one of its most recognisable laptop brands. The iconic XPS name, long associated with premium design and no-compromise performance, quietly made way for a new naming strategy. For many loyal users and longtime fans, it felt like the end of an era. Fast forward to CES 2026, and Dell has hit rewind. XPS is officially back and not as a nostalgia play, but as a fully reimagined lineup. The new XPS laptops come with a fresh design and upgraded performance. On the other hand, Dell’s gaming arm, Alienware, has also teased a major portfolio expansion that stretches from ultra-slim gaming laptops to new entry-level machines. Together, the announcements focus on two very different audiences: creators and professionals who want refined premium laptops, and gamers who want the best of performance without compromises.
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Dell used CES 2026 to formally reintroduce the XPS lineup, making it clear that XPS remains its benchmark for premium laptops. The newly announced XPS 14 and XPS 16 have been rebuilt from the ground up, with a strong focus on portability, performance, and everyday usability. Both laptops feature a refined unibody design made from CNC-machined aluminium and Gorilla Glass, with fewer parting lines and a calmer, more minimal aesthetic. For the first time, Dell has placed the XPS logo on the front lid, a small but symbolic change that longtime XPS users have been asking for.
Practicality has also made a return. Dell has brought back a traditional function key row, fine-tuned the keyboard for better key travel, and added subtle etching to define the otherwise seamless glass touchpad. Under the hood, both laptops are powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors with Intel Arc graphics, enabling Copilot+ PC features and significant gains in AI and graphics performance over the previous generation. Dell claims up to 57 percent faster AI performance on the XPS 14 and up to 78 percent on the XPS 16, alongside more than 50 percent faster graphics.
In addition to this, there is also a redesigned thermal system with larger, thinner fans promising to enable the device to run cooler and quieter while also improving battery life. At just 14.6mm thick, these are Dell’s thinnest XPS laptops yet. The XPS 14 now weighs around three pounds, while the XPS 16 comes in at 3.6 pounds, making both noticeably lighter than their predecessors.
Coming to the display options, buyers can choose from OLED or 2K LCD panels. Dell is also bringing its tandem OLED technology to the XPS 14 and XPS 16, promising higher brightness, better efficiency, and longer panel lifespan.
As for battery life, the brand is making some tall promises. The new XPS laptops are rated for up to 27 hours of Netflix streaming and over 40 hours of local video playback. This is enabled by a mix of innovations, including variable refresh rate displays that can drop as low as 1Hz for static content and the improved thermal design that reduces overall power draw. Dell is also using new high energy density battery cells, allowing smaller, lighter batteries without sacrificing endurance.
Alienware arrived at CES 2026 with a clear message for gamers – OLED is coming to the famous gaming laptops in a big way. The Alienware 16 Area-51 and Alienware 16X Aurora are the company’s first gaming laptops to feature anti-glare OLED panels, addressing one of the biggest complaints around OLED gaming displays. Alienware claims the new coating reduces gloss by 32 percent while preserving colour accuracy and contrast.
These OLED panels also bring some serious specs with them, including a 0.2ms response time, HDR True Black 500, peak brightness of up to 620 nits, and VESA ClearMR 9000 certification to minimise ghosting. Alienware has also built in AI-driven pixel protection to help maintain panel health over time, along with durability testing designed for long-term use.
Performance across Alienware’s flagship laptops is also getting a boost. The Alienware 16X Aurora, Alienware 16 Area-51, and Alienware 18 Area-51 will all feature Intel Core Ultra 200HX processors paired with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs, pushing Alienware’s laptop performance ceiling even higher.
Beyond its high-end machines, Alienware also teased two entirely new laptop categories launching later this year. The first is an ultra-slim gaming laptop measuring around 17mm thick, designed to balance performance density with portability. Available in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, this system is aimed at users who want a powerful machine that can handle gaming, creative work, and productivity without looking overtly like a gaming laptop.
The second addition is an entry-level Alienware laptop, positioned as the brand’s most accessible gaming machine yet. While it will not match the raw power of the Area-51 series, Alienware says it has avoided cutting corners on build quality, thermals, and core performance, making it a genuine gateway into the Alienware ecosystem.
In India, the Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16 are expected to go on sale from early February 2026, initially in Graphite, with additional colour options arriving later in the year. Dell also confirmed that the XPS portfolio will expand further in 2026, including a new XPS 13 that is expected to be the thinnest and lightest XPS laptop ever.
Coming to the Alienware laptops, the Alienware 16X Aurora and Alienware 16 Area-51 are both scheduled to arrive in Q1 2026, featuring the new anti-glare OLED displays alongside Intel Core Ultra 200HX processors.
The larger Alienware 18 Area-51 is expected to follow in March 2026, bringing the same next-generation Intel Core Ultra 200HX platform to Alienware’s biggest laptop form factor.
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