- Dell’s XPS 16 has nearly 27 hours of battery life for web browsing over Wi-Fi
- This is done through independent testing by Notebookcheck.net
- Only two other laptops have surpassed this result, and both had a larger battery capacity than the XPS 16.
We all want more battery life from our laptop – it’s universally considered one of the most important features of a laptop – and Dell’s new XPS 16 has proven to really deliver on that front.
We haven’t yet tested the XPS 16 ourselves (nor its little brother, the XPS 14), having only tested these laptops so far (back at CES). However, Notebookcheck.net has run a full set of tests on the larger model (with the LCD screen option, not OLED, and I’ll come back to why that’s important), with results that look very promising.
Dell claims up to 31 hours of battery life, and according to Web browsing tests over Wi-Fi by Notebookcheck.net, the XPS 16 achieved 26.6 hours of battery life, which is pretty close to the laptop maker’s boast.
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The site noted: “We’re able to clock a battery life of almost 27 hours, which is still incredibly impressive given that the 70Wh battery capacity is actually rather small for a 16-inch form factor.”
As noted by The Verge, which reported the review, Notebookcheck.net has only ever had two laptops outperform this result.
One of these laptops was very different in that it had two batteries (totaling 149Wh, so it’s not a fair comparison to a 70Wh single-battery device), and the other was a Qualcomm-powered laptop with a Snapdragon X Plus chip – a Lenovo ThinkBook that barely lasted longer than the Dell laptop.
This Arm silicon is known for its battery life, but the ThinkBook in question also had a larger 84Wh battery – its capacity was 20% larger than the Dell’s, and yet it actually only offered 1% more longevity.
Apple’s MacBooks were left choking in Dell’s dust here, as were other Arm laptops, which is seriously impressive.
Of course, battery longevity varies greatly depending on the situation, and you won’t necessarily get more than 20 hours of battery life on the go in the real world – it depends heavily on what you’re doing.
Analysis: CPU, VRR trickery and energy density – a winning combo
As we’ve already noted, we really need to test the Dell XPS 16 for ourselves, but it’s a remarkable achievement based on this round of independent testing.
What did Dell do to achieve this? First, Intel Panther Lake processors represent a new peak in power efficiency for Team Blue, and that will definitely be a big help. On top of that, a neat trick with LG’s display in the XPS 16 (and 14) means that, for the LCD, the variable refresh rate (VRR) can drop to 1Hz with static content on screen, saving an appreciable amount of power.
Dell’s new XPS 16 with LCD screen sits idle on the Windows 11 desktop, consuming just 1.5W based on Notebookcheck.net measurements. (OLED can only go down to 20Hz with VRR, and isn’t as power efficient, it’s worth noting – but a 1Hz variant will come from LG Display next year).
Third, Dell has used new battery technology, achieving a new high energy density (ED) with 900ED cells, meaning more power can be stored in a smaller battery. Advances in cooling and overall thermals inside the laptop chassis also help.
This is a powerful combination of factors, by all accounts, and we hope to be able to put the new Dell XPS models through our own testing, including battery life, soon enough.
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