Meet Maggie, PCMag'sDell's 16S ($1,549.99 to start; $1,649.99 as tested) carries a heftier cost than a typical mainstream laptop, but it gives you plenty of bang for the bigger bucks. Sitting below Dell's flagship XPS line, it combines a sturdy metal chassis, a crisp and colorful OLED display, long battery life, and practical connectivity in a very attractive package. While its higher-end configurations are outclassed by Acer’s Swift 16 AI and Asus’ Zenbook A16 (our Editors' Choice pick for big-screen laptops), the lower-cost versions of the 16S deliver a well-rounded laptop for work, school, and entertainment.
The 16S delivers the biggest value at the entry level. The basic packages provide all the performance most of you will need: a choice of Core Ultra 5 322 (six cores, up to 4.4GHz) or Core Ultra 7 355 (eight cores, 4.7GHz) processors, 16GB of LPDDR5X memory, and 512GB or 1TB of solid-state storage.
If you're hungry for more power, you can upgrade to a 16-core Core Ultra X7 358H or Core Ultra 9 386H, both of which boost the memory to 32GB. The X7 model also adds Intel Arc B390 graphics, but gamers shouldn't get too excited: The souped-up laptop remains geared toward content creation and light gaming, not high-fidelity play.
Our test unit carried a $1,649.99 price tag, a palatable total considering the laptop’s OLED display and premium build quality. However, the value proposition becomes a lot muddier when you step up from there: The 16-core CPUs will run you more than $2,000, a price point where competing laptops include even more premium features and performance.
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Also, bear in mind that the 16S carries a big caveat if you're planning to upgrade down the road. The SSD, battery, and wireless card are user-serviceable—so far, so good—but the memory is soldered and can’t be upgraded.
Dell gave the 16S a welcome visual overhaul from the outgoing Dell 16 Plus, selling it in Frost Blue or the darker Celestial Blue finish seen on my review sample. While the design remains conservative, that’s part of the appeal: It looks more premium than a budget laptop but not enough to feel like a luxury purchase.
Our touch-equipped test configuration comes in weighing 4.1 pounds (non-touch models are a trimmer 3.9 pounds), making the model heavier than Acer’s Swift 16 AI. The 16S makes up for that added chunk with a sturdy metal chassis that resists flex impressively well. Yes, a 16-inch laptop isn’t ideal for travel, but the 16S’ 0.61-inch profile and 14-by-9.9-inch footprint are about as compact as laptops this size get.
Dell’s well-rounded connectivity includes two Thunderbolt 4 ports—the 65-watt power adapter connects to either one—two USB-A connections rated for 5Gbps, HDMI 2.1, and an audio jack. Networking includes Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
As an everyday laptop, it’s hard to find fault with this Dell. Its 16-inch display gives you ample room for multitasking, while the keyboard and touchpad come through on comfort, making long work sessions feel effortless. Combined with its lengthy battery life and broad port selection, the laptop works just as well off the plug as it does on a desk.
My unit's 2,880-by-1,800 OLED touch display is easily one of its best features. Its colors look rich, its contrast is deep, and the 120Hz refresh rate lends everyday tasks a smoother feel. Reflections from the glossy touch surface can be distracting outdoors or around overhead lighting, but it’s a worthwhile compromise given the display’s quality. Dell also sells 1,920-by-1,200 and 2,560-by-1,600 IPS panels, but OLED delivers the best visuals.
Dell’s keyboard and touchpad are both comfortable and effective. The board delivers satisfying key travel and cushioning, and throws in a number pad that's especially handy if you're doing spreadsheet work. White backlighting provides easy visibility in the dark. The top-hinged mechanical touchpad is another plus, needing just the right amount of pressure for physical clicks.
The system's full-range speakers and quality webcam provide a further sense of refinement, a clear step above what you’d find in a budget laptop. My only unanswered wish is for a webcam privacy shutter.
I tested the Dell 16S with an eight-core Core Ultra 7 355 processor, integrated Intel Graphics, 16GB of LPDDR5-7467 memory, and a 1TB SSD. This midrange configuration is well-equipped for modern productivity, including office work and streaming. During testing, it kept pleasantly quiet and never became uncomfortably warm.
For performance comparison, I included Acer’s Swift 16 AI ($1,799.99 as tested), our $1,999.99 Asus Zenbook A16 review configuration, the Framework Laptop 16 ($3,198 as tested), and our $969.99 Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 test build. Most of those systems will likely outclass the Dell’s CPU, particularly the Asus’ Snapdragon X2 Elite silicon, but 16S should at least prove competitive with the Snapdragon Plus-equipped IdeaPad.
Our primary overall benchmark, UL's PCMark 10, puts a system through its paces in productivity apps ranging from web browsing to word processing and spreadsheet work. Its Full System Drive subtest measures a PC's storage throughput. Three more tests are CPU-centric or processor-intensive: Maxon's Cinebench 2024 uses that company's Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene; Primate Labs' Geekbench 6.3 Pro simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning; and we see how long it takes the video transcoder HandBrake 1.8 to convert a 12-minute clip from 4K to 1080p resolution. Finally, workstation maker Puget Systems' PugetBench for Creators rates a PC's image-editing prowess through a variety of automated operations in the seminal photo editor Adobe Photoshop 25.
The 16S showed its limits on these benchmarks. Intel’s mainstream Core Ultra chip posted a respectable PCMark 10 score, easily clearing our 4,000-point baseline for productivity-focused laptops, but it trailed the others in the CPU-focused tests. The 16S proved competitive, if just, with the IdeaPad’s Snapdragon X2 Plus, but lagged several steps behind the rest of the field, especially the Asus’ Snapdragon X2 Elite.
As noted, if you want more performance, you can purchase the 16S with Core Ultra H-class CPUs, though even with a Core Ultra 9, the 16S isn't likely to outrun the Zenbook A16.
We challenge all systems’ graphics with a quintet of animations or gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark test suite. The first two, Wild Life (1440p) and Wild Life Extreme (4K), use the Vulkan graphics API to measure GPU speeds. The next pair, Steel Nomad's regular and Light subtests, focuses on APIs more commonly used for game development to assess gaming geometry and particle effects. Last up, we turn to 3DMark Solar Bay to measure ray-tracing performance.
Graphics performance followed a similar pattern, with the 16S clearing the fast-enough bar and then some. It won't replace a gaming laptop, but it's not intended to be one. Framework’s dedicated Nvidia GPU outperformed on these benchmarks, but its base configurations also rely on integrated graphics.
We test each laptop and tablet's battery life by playing a locally stored 720p video file (the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel) with display brightness at 50% and audio volume at 100%. We make sure the battery is fully charged before the test, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off.
To gauge display performance, we also use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and its software to measure a laptop screen's color saturation—what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can show—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter).
While it didn't set any endurance records, the 16S delivers top-notch battery life, lasting 18 hours in our rundown. The Zenbook A16 and Swift 16 AI outpaced it by less than an hour each, which isn’t enough of a margin to seriously ding the Dell’s time. The 16S should have the stamina to handle a full workday plus overtime without worrying about its charge.
Display quality also proved to be one of the 16S’s biggest strengths. Its OLED panel showed near-complete coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut and notably high brightness for its technology. The top-notch screen, in fact, cleanly separates the 16S from more affordable alternatives.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Dell 16S
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
Dell’s 16S stands out for getting far more right than wrong, pairing a premium-feeling chassis with an outstanding OLED display, practical ports, and long battery life. Excitement isn’t its forte, but it remains a smart choice for daily use, entertainment, and schoolwork. Just be careful not to overspend: While the base and midrange models present genuine value, higher-end CPU options push the 16S into a price bracket where Acer’s Swift 16 AI and Asus’ Zenbook A16 present more compelling packages. The latter of those alternatives, the Zenbook A16, holds our Editors' Choice award among big-screen laptops.
About Our Expert
Computers are my lifelong obsession. I wrote my first laptop review in 2005 for NotebookReview.com, continued with a consistent PC-reviewing gig at Computer Shopper in 2014, and moved to PCMag in 2018. Here, I test and review the latest high-performance laptops and desktops, and sometimes a key core PC component or two. I also review enterprise computing solutions for StorageReview.
I work full-time as a technical analyst for a business software and services company. My hobbies are digital photography, fitness, two-stroke engines, and reading. I’m a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology.
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