Two major reasons to choose the Dell 16 Premium over the latest XPS 16

When compared to last year's Dell 16 Premium, the 2026 XPS 16 is indubitably the lighter, quieter, longer-lasting, and significantly more efficient model that caters better to a wider generalist audience. However, more demanding performance-hunters may still want to consider the older Dell 16 Premium for a couple of reasons as the model carries some notable features not available on its successor.

1. Dell 16 Premium features a larger, higher resolution display

While the new XPS 16 can be configured with up to a 16.0-inch 120 Hz 3.2K OLED touchscreen, the Dell 16 Premium can go all the way up to 16.3-inch 120 Hz 4K OLED for more screen real estate. The denser pixels and slightly larger screen size should especially benefit users who open multiple windows simultaneously or have large spreadsheets to work with.

For the small subset of users sensitive to flickering, PWM also behaves differently between the two models. The flickering averages 240 Hz on the XPS 16 OLED versus 491 Hz on the Dell 16 Premium OLED meaning eye strain is slightly more likely on the newer model.

2. Dell 16 Premium still offers faster CPU and GPU performance

Panther Lake X7 is definitely impressive from a performance-per-watt perspective, but it lags behind Arrow Lake in raw CPU horsepower. Multi-thread performance with the Core Ultra 7 255H in the Dell 16 Premium is up to 20 percent faster than the Core Ultra X7 358H in the new XPS 16 which may attract some power users.

On the GPU side, the Dell 16 Premium is perhaps most notable for its optional GeForce RTX 5070 GPU which absolutely trounces the Arc B390 in the latest XPS 16. This isn't to say that the new Intel solution is slow, but the integrated GPU doesn't stand a chance to the discrete RTX solution. Hardcore content creators or gamers may therefore find more value from the outgoing Dell 16 Premium in this regard.

Keep in mind that the above comparison is between the top-specced Dell 16 Premium and XPS 16. If you're in the majority who prefer middle-tier specifications without discrete graphics, then the newer and lighter XPS 16 is likely the smarter option out of the two.