Dell 14S Review: Higher Price, Better Quality
Dell 14S Review: Higher Price, Better Quality
戴尔 14S 评测：价格更高，品质更佳
Fast enough and gets fantastic battery life. OLED display has great colors and contrast. Lots of ports. Large, responsive touchpad. 优点：运行速度快，电池续航表现出色。OLED 显示屏色彩和对比度极佳。接口丰富。触控板宽大且灵敏。
A very glossy, reflective display. Webcam quality is noisy. Only charges from one side. 缺点：屏幕反光严重。网络摄像头画质噪点较多。仅支持单侧充电。
Laptop pricing has never been so newsworthy. MacBooks just got a price hike, just months after the budget-friendly MacBook Neo made its grand debut. It’s a rocky landscape to introduce a new laptop into, especially one that aims to be even slightly “budget-friendly.” Enter the Dell 14S, a new mid-tier laptop that sits below the Dell XPS 14 in the lineup. It aims to walk the delicate balance between high-end features and build quality at a slightly lower cost. I wish the Dell 14S was more affordable, but in 2026, that’s just not the reality. 笔记本电脑的价格从未像现在这样引人关注。在经济实惠的 MacBook Neo 首次亮相仅几个月后，MacBook 系列就迎来了涨价。在这样一个动荡的市场环境下推出一款新笔记本电脑，尤其是还要兼顾“经济实惠”定位的产品，难度可想而知。戴尔 14S 是一款定位介于 Dell XPS 14 之下中端笔记本电脑。它旨在以略低的成本在高端功能和制造质量之间取得微妙的平衡。我希望戴尔 14S 能更便宜一些，但在 2026 年，这显然是不现实的。
Premium Design
高端设计
The Dell 14S is the successor to the Dell 14 Plus, which itself came from the old Inspiron sub-brand. Historically, this has always been the company’s midrange line, but the Dell 14S is certainly the most premium version to ever come out of it. It’s made of aluminum, is fairly thin at 0.61 inches, and can even be configured with an OLED display. But the real indicator is the price. The Dell 14S starts at $1,270, which is hundreds more than its predecessor. Taken on its own, the Dell 14S feels very much like a premium laptop. In terms of size, it shares a lot in common with the 14-inch MacBook Pro. 戴尔 14S 是戴尔 14 Plus 的继任者，而后者源自老牌 Inspiron 子品牌。从历史上看，这一直是该公司的中端产品线，但戴尔 14S 无疑是其中最高端的版本。它采用铝合金材质，机身厚度仅为 0.61 英寸，相当轻薄，甚至可以选配 OLED 显示屏。但真正体现其定位的是价格：戴尔 14S 起售价为 1270 美元，比前代产品高出数百美元。单从产品本身来看，戴尔 14S 的质感非常高端。在尺寸方面，它与 14 英寸 MacBook Pro 有许多相似之处。
There are a few minor hints that this model isn’t quite top-end, though. The edges of the laptop seem to be made with shiny plastic. It only has a pair of 2-watt speakers, and they sound pretty mediocre. The same is true of the webcam. Even in a room with plenty of light, the feed adds lots of noise to the image. It especially feels like a downgrade compared to the 4K webcam in the Dell XPS 14. The keyboard feels fine, though the keys can be a little tiring to type on. I’m not sure if it’s the actuation force or the travel length, but each key requires a bit more effort to press than I prefer. 不过，也有一些细微的迹象表明该型号并非顶级旗舰。笔记本电脑的边缘似乎由亮面塑料制成。它仅配备了一对 2 瓦的扬声器，音质表现平平。网络摄像头也是如此，即使在光线充足的房间里，画面也会产生大量噪点。与 Dell XPS 14 的 4K 摄像头相比，这明显是一种降级。键盘手感尚可，但长时间打字可能会感到疲劳。我不确定是因为触发力度还是键程的原因，每个按键所需的按压力度比我预期的要大一些。
The Dell 14S has more conventional ports than some of the more premium laptops out there too. There are two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, one on each side, as well as HDMI 2.1, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a headphone jack. Lots of people will appreciate this mix of ports, though I was missing an SD card slot. I also wish Dell had placed one of the Thunderbolt 4 ports on the right side, so that the laptop could charge from both sides. 与一些更高端的笔记本电脑相比，戴尔 14S 拥有更传统的接口。它配备了两个 USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 接口（左右各一个）、一个 HDMI 2.1 接口、两个 Thunderbolt 4 接口以及一个耳机插孔。许多用户会喜欢这种接口组合，尽管我个人觉得缺少一个 SD 卡槽。我还希望戴尔能将其中一个 Thunderbolt 4 接口放在右侧，这样笔记本电脑就可以从两侧充电了。
Stiff Competition
激烈的竞争
The higher-end configurations of the Dell 14S don’t make a lot of sense, especially since this laptop bears so much in common with the Dell XPS 14. For $1,469, it comes with an eight-core Intel Core Ultra 7 355 processor, 16 GB of RAM, and 512 GB of storage. Notably, that’s still $170 more than the 13-inch MacBook Air and $30 less than the 15-inch MacBook Air. 戴尔 14S 的高配版本性价比并不高，尤其是考虑到它与 Dell XPS 14 有太多相似之处。售价 1469 美元的版本搭载了八核 Intel Core Ultra 7 355 处理器、16GB 内存和 512GB 存储空间。值得注意的是，这比 13 英寸 MacBook Air 贵了 170 美元，仅比 15 英寸 MacBook Air 便宜 30 美元。
You can configure the Dell 14S with some of the most exciting silicon in 2026, the Core Ultra X7 or X9, but it’ll cost you mightily. The Core Ultra 7 355 is more modest, though it’ll certainly be plenty powerful for most users. The extra GPU performance in the X7 and X9 is really only needed for gamers or content creators. According to my tests, the Core Ultra 7 355 lands somewhere between the Apple M4 and M5 in multicore performance. It’s fast enough for most people, but so was the previous-gen Core Ultra 7 258V, as found in the Dell 14 Plus. The company still sells that device at a starting price of $860, and that’s the issue. The Dell 14S I tested was 14 percent faster in graphics performance, which isn’t overly noticeable. 你可以为戴尔 14S 配置 2026 年最令人兴奋的芯片——Core Ultra X7 或 X9，但这需要付出高昂的代价。Core Ultra 7 355 相对保守，但对大多数用户来说已经足够强大。X7 和 X9 额外的 GPU 性能实际上只对游戏玩家或内容创作者有意义。根据我的测试，Core Ultra 7 355 的多核性能介于 Apple M4 和 M5 之间。它对大多数人来说速度足够快，但上一代 Dell 14 Plus 中搭载的 Core Ultra 7 258V 表现也同样出色。戴尔目前仍以 860 美元的起售价销售那款设备，这正是问题所在。我测试的戴尔 14S 图形性能仅提升了 14%，这在实际使用中并不明显。
The battery life is incredible, though. That’s thanks to the fact that this laptop uses Intel’s latest, Core Series Ultra Series 3 chips, which are much more efficient than in previous years. In my local video playback test, it took 20 hours for the battery life to drop by 50 percent. It’s standby battery still isn’t quite as good as what’s in Qualcomm-powered laptops. It lost half its battery life when left unplugged with the lid closed for a few days. 不过，电池续航能力令人惊叹。这得益于该笔记本电脑采用了英特尔最新的 Core Ultra Series 3 芯片，其能效比往年高出许多。在我的本地视频播放测试中，电池电量下降 50% 花费了 20 小时。但其待机续航仍不如高通平台的笔记本电脑，在不插电且合盖放置几天后，电量消耗了一半。
Another concern is that the laptop came with a sustainability feature called Smart Charging turned on by default, capping the battery at 80 percent. The idea is to prolong the life of the battery, but as it turns out, this isn’t so easily turned off. It’s not an option within Windows 11 settings, nor is it in the preinstalled Dell Optimizer app. I had to go and download the MyDell app to change the charging mode. The other way to turn this off is by digging into the BIOS. That’s just plain odd, and I can imagine the average person being extremely frustrated by this. 另一个令人担忧的问题是，该笔记本电脑默认开启了一项名为“智能充电”（Smart Charging）的节能功能，将电池充电上限限制在 80%。其初衷是延长电池寿命，但事实证明，这个功能并不容易关闭。Windows 11 设置中没有此选项，预装的 Dell Optimizer 应用中也没有。我不得不专门下载 MyDell 应用来更改充电模式。另一种关闭方法是进入 BIOS 设置，这实在太奇怪了，我可以想象普通用户会因此感到非常沮丧。
As impressive as the battery life is, it’s not immediately clear that it’s worth the extra money. The Dell 14S faces an uphill battle against cheaper laptops running the previous-gen Qualcomm Snapdragon X. The best example is the HP OmniBook 5. It sells for half as much (currently $630), despite coming with similar specs and an OLED display. It’s considerably thinner too. The major advantage the Dell 14S has over cheaper laptops like the OmniBook 5 is the quality of the touchpad, which is something nearly all budget laptops struggle with. The Dell 14S has a responsive and large trackpad. That alone goes a long way toward making this laptop feel more premium. 尽管电池续航令人印象深刻，但它是否值得多花这些钱并不显而易见。戴尔 14S 在面对搭载上一代高通骁龙 X 的廉价笔记本电脑时，面临着严峻的挑战。最好的例子是 HP OmniBook 5，它的售价仅为前者的一半（目前为 630 美元），却拥有相似的规格和 OLED 显示屏，而且机身更薄。戴尔 14S 相比 OmniBook 5 等廉价笔记本电脑的主要优势在于触控板的质量，这是几乎所有预算型笔记本电脑的短板。戴尔 14S 的触控板宽大且灵敏，仅这一点就让这款笔记本电脑显得更加高端。
Glossy Glass
镜面玻璃
The OLED display is a great addition, as it improves not only contrast but also color. It covers the color gamut almost flawlessly. Although the accuracy wasn’t there out of the box, you should be able to get more accurate colors if you calibrate. That said, this probably isn’t the right choice for color grading or any kind of precise color work. OLED 显示屏是一个极佳的升级，它不仅提升了对比度，还改善了色彩表现，几乎完美覆盖了色域。虽然开箱后的色彩准确度一般，但通过校准可以获得更准确的色彩。话虽如此，这可能并不是进行调色或任何精密色彩工作的最佳选择。
I’m not someone who minds a glossy display—in fact, I almost always prefer it. But in this case, the display really could have used some kind of an anti-reflective coating. Under standard overhead lighting, I found that I often had to run… 我个人并不介意镜面屏——事实上，我几乎总是更喜欢它。但在这种情况下，屏幕确实需要某种防反射涂层。在标准的头顶照明下，我发现我经常不得不运行……