'God-tier battery life': Dell XPS 14 lasts 43 hours in longevity test that shows the laptop leaves Apple's MacBook Air M5 in the dust

Date:
Thu, 02 Apr 2026 15:05:25 +0000

Description:
Dell XPS 14 lasts 43 hours in battery life test that shows how LG's screen helps to extend longevity massively in some scenarios.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Become a Member in Seconds Unlock instant access to exclusive member
features. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting
your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Join the club Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards. Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Dell's XPS 14 has proved to have over 40 hours of battery life This was in a web browsing test where the laptop's LG Display could flex its VRR muscles That screen has the ability to automatically drop to 1Hz with static
on-screen content, which provides some huge power savings as evidenced here Dell's new XPS laptops have again been in the spotlight due to their impressive battery life, and this time, it's due to a truly eye-opening result.

The XPS 14 was tested by Hardware Canucks as seen on YouTube (as Notebookcheck.net noticed see the video below), and was found to have just a smidge over 43 hours of battery life. Yes 43 hours, you read that correctly, in a test involving web browsing (in Chrome) with the brightness set at 150 nits. And this is for a Windows 11 laptop, whereas huge battery life tends to be the domain of Arm -based notebooks. Indeed, Hardware Canucks compared the XPS 14 to Apple 's MacBook Air M5 (15-inch) which recorded 14.5 hours in the same test, effectively being routed by the Dell laptop. Article continues below You may like Testing shows Dell's XPS 16 just hit 27 hours of battery life LG's world-first LCD laptop display has a battery-saving superpower Apples M5 Pro MacBook Pro offers strong battery life, our tests confirm

Why is there such a difference here? Well, it's due to the type of test the gap between the Apple and Dell devices isn't nearly as large in video
playback and gaming tests (but the XPS 14 still wins by a good margin) and a critical piece of tech Dell has used, namely a panel with a new
implementation of VRR (variable refresh rate). Let's dig into why this
matters next. MacBook Air M5 vs Dell XPS 14 - Closer than you Think? -
YouTube Watch On Analysis: VRR situational advantage with the XPS 14 As I've pointed out before when the XPS 16 made waves due to its battery stamina , though not quite to the same extent as its smaller sibling does here Dell's trump card is the LG panel which uses a new take on VRR .

This innovation means that VRR can adjust the screen's refresh rate down to a paltry 1Hz automatically when there's static content on the display. (Note: this is the LCD version, whereas the OLED on the XPS 14 and 16 can drop low, but only to 20Hz although a 1Hz-capable OLED panel is coming from LG Display next year).

Why this is important is because web pages are static content (well, mostly), and so the XPS 14 is clearly managing to notch down to run at that 1Hz level
a lot in Hardware Canucks' browsing tests, saving a good deal of power. There's not such a great effect seen with content in motion (videos, games), of course, as higher refresh rates are needed there (the LG panel is a 120Hz affair, in case you were wondering). Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals,
and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting
your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Notebookcheck.net itself tested the XPS 14 in web browsing (on Wi-Fi), but without VRR kicking in, so the screen was at its full 120Hz constantly, and saw close to 17 hours of battery life underlining the major difference that 1Hz VRR makes.

As ever, battery life will be variable even given the same type of testing, based on exactly what you might be doing, and laptop configuration aspects as noted but to get over 40 hours of longevity on any test is a truly jaw-dropping result, frankly, especially for a non-Arm Windows laptop. The best laptops for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best laptops 1. Best overall: Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M4 2. Best budget: Asus Chromebook CM14 3. Best Windows 11 laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch 4. Best gaming: Razer Blade 16 5. Best for pros MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro) Today's best Dell XPS 16 (2026) deals No price information Check Amazon We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

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