First impressions of the colourful Dell 14S from IFA 2026

While Dell doesn’t want to mention the MacBook Neo when discussing the Dell 14S, there’s no disputing the fact that two are rivals. High quality metal chassis? Check. Low price? Yep. Attractive design? Oh yes. Even from my brief time with the laptop at IFA 2026, I could see plenty of reasons why people would choose the Dell 14S over the Neo. Even businesses should take a look.

Extrovert businesses, mind you. This laptop comes in four different colours, and while the Linen is discreet enough I suspect that the Dusty Rose, Washed Denim and Velvet Green finishes will gain plenty of attention. Still, this laptop is aimed at younger buyers, so why not offer them to the Gen Z in your workforce?

Big upsides of the Dell 14S

I chatted at some length with Marc Janus, the Dell 14S laptop’s product manager, at the Dell booth to get a better understanding of what this laptop can do. And the thinking behind it.

One of the first things Marc mentioned was this laptop is built to last. It uses an aluminium chassis that showed no hint of flex, and as the colours are bonded on during the finishing process it shouldn’t suffer from ugly scratches. This laptop is designed to withstand a student’s lifestyle, he added, including when they throw the bag containing the laptop into a corner.

I also like the fact that the keyboard is spill resistant. If anyone knows a student who hasn’t spilt coffee, water or beer on their laptop, please do get in touch.

Dell includes a long-lasting battery, in two senses. The first is most obvious, with Dell promising up to 21 hours of Netflix streaming. But there’s also a dense 750ED PNCM battery, with is – Marc assured me – designed to stay cooler than normal batteries and last for more discharge/recharge cycles.

One final upside, but I’m not sure if it qualifies as big. For there is a 3.5mm jack here. Personally I still find this useful, and it appears that Gen Z are fans of wired headphones too.

Downsides of the Dell 14S

First off, there are no USB-A ports. This may not be an issue for the target market if all their peripherals use USB-C (there are two USB-C ports on the left-hand side), but I suspect it will be annoying at times. One reason, Marc explained, is that the chassis is so slender: there’s only room for an HDMI port before the chassis slims down. Dell could have added a USB-A port on the right, but that would have added other compromises – and to the price.

Optional backlit keyboard. Dell will be offering the backlit keyboard as an option, which is one better than the MacBook Neo which doesn’t have this at all. Still, it would have been nice to have this as standard.

Repairability: it’s not as repairable as it could be. Perhaps not a big issue for now, but only the SSD is easy to replace. At least there are only six crosshead screws, which are easy to remove, while Marc reckons the battery is as easy to replace as the MacBook Neo’s.

Getting the basics right: screen, keyboard, speed

Dell will offer the 14S with two screens. The cheaper option is 1,920 x 1,200 with a 60Hz refresh rate, or a 2,880 x 1,800 display with 120Hz refresh rate. Dell says both are bright and vibrant, but I’ll wait until I put them to the test.

My first impression of the keyboard and trackpad is that these are respectable offerings, but not premium. To be expected for the price.

You also get a 1080p webcam and Wi-Fi 6E, which again match the expected price.

The final inclusion of note: Intel’s Core 5 and Core 7 Series 3 processors. These will whimper if you push the laptop with complex renders, but are perfectly good for everyday tasks. Keep your gaming expectations low, however.

You’ll be able to choose either 8GB or 16GB of RAM (not upgradeable) and either a 256GB, 512GB or 1TB SSD.

How much will the new Dell 14S cost?

Now that’s an interesting question. Dell says that the 14S will be “price adjacent” to the Dell XPS 13, which I translate as “roughly a hundred pounds/dollars less than the base version of the Dell XPS 13 when it goes on sale”.

In the UK that means around £670 (the lowest-spec XPS 13 currently costs £769) and in the US it could be as low as $600 (the XPS 13 starts at $699.99).

Another interesting question? When will the new Dell 14S go on sale? Dell says it will be available in North America “this fall”, but also said it will be available globally. And that’s all we know for now.