Dell 16S (2026) Review

Design and Keyboard

• Stylish, but quite heavy
• Solid port selection
• Reasonably snappy keyboard and tactile trackpad

Dell has carried the same aluminium construction over from the smaller 14S (2026), and it serves the 16S (2026) just as well, lending it a premium, sturdy feel that belies its mid-range price.

That premium feel does come with a weight penalty in this larger model, though, as this laptop tips the scales at 1.77kg. That’s on the heavier side for a 16-inch machine, and it’s worth factoring in if you’re planning on carrying this one around a lot rather than leaving it parked on a desk.

Port selection is a strong point, with a pair of Thunderbolt 4-capable USB-C ports and a USB-A port alongside a full-size HDMI on the left edge, plus a further USB-A and a headphone jack on the right. It’s a well-rounded selection that should cover most peripherals and displays without reaching for a dongle.

The keyboard benefits from the extra width of this larger chassis, adding a number pad alongside the usual function row and arrow keys. The typing feel here is generally good, with a satisfying amount of travel and tactility, though the slimmer Enter key isn’t my favourite thing in the world. The white backlighting here is perfectly serviceable, although it lacks in overall vividness against other laptops I’ve tested.

The trackpad continues that positive impression, offering plenty of room to navigate and buttons with a satisfyingly mechanical press.

Display and Sound

• Solid resolution, although lower refresh rate
• Okay black level and contrast, and higher peak brightness
• Middling speakers

My sample of the 16S (2026) features a 16-inch 2560×1600 screen for strong detail, although it is marred by a more basic 60Hz refresh rate. It also uses a WVA panel type, similar to IPS, rather than opting for an OLED, which is a decision made to keep cost down, I suppose.

In my testing, it’s a generally solid screen with okay blacks and contrast out of the box for its panel type, with my colorimeter measuring 0.14 black level and 1120:1 contrast at 50% brightness.

At peak brightness, the black level turns a little greyer to 0.36, while the needle isn’t too moved on contrast at 1360:1. The 7100K colour temperature is okay, while the 488.2 nits of peak SDR brightness give images some real vibrancy.

As for colour accuracy, the 16S (2026) afforded decent results for the panel type. 97% sRGB coverage means mainstream colours for productivity are very well-represented, although 73% DCI-P3 coverage alongside 74% Adobe RGB means this panel isn’t as strong for more colour-sensitive workloads.

As for the speakers, this Dell laptop comes with a pair of 2W units that are just fine for casual listening, with some okay volume and body, although they lack the bass and substance you’ll find on other ultrabooks I’ve tested.

Performance

• New Panther Lake chip inside
• Meagre graphical performance
• More basic RAM and storage configuration

Depending on the region, the 16S (2026) can be kitted out with up to the Intel Core X7 358H chip, which is one of the brand’s new Panther Lake chips that comes kitted out with the Arc B390 iGPU and beefy performance.

However, the sample I have is one of the mid-range models in the UK and the base model in the USA that features the eight-core Core Ultra 7 355. It is technically a current-gen Intel chip, but doesn’t look to move the needle too much from last year’s Core Ultra 7 255. 

As with other non-X-prefixed Panther Lake chips I’ve tried in other laptops, performance has only moved a handful of percentage points in the Geekbench 6 and Cinebench R23 tests, although it remains decently strong in single- and multi-threaded workloads.

General performance here is fine, although for a similar price, the Snapdragon X2 Elite chips inside the Asus Zenbook A14 (2026) and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Gen 11 have much brisker single-core performance, which can lead to them feeling more responsive for everyday productivity tasks. Multi-threaded workloads are also likely to be stronger, too.

The 3D performance here is fine for more casual use, and if you can opt for a Panther Lake X chip, then it’ll yield even beefier integrated graphics that make this a more suitable laptop for more graphically intensive workloads.

My sample of the 16S (2026) comes with a standard-issue 16GB of RAM, which is more a sign of the times than anything else, plus a slightly more meagre 512GB SSD on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s nonetheless a brisk PCIe Gen 4 drive in terms of reads with 6041.96MB/s, although the writes were weirdly much slower at 3942.12 /MB/s.

Software

• Especially clean Windows 11 install
• Not much in the way of Dell-specific software
• Copilot+ PC functionality is present

The 16S (2026) comes running Windows 11 with very little additional software, be it from Dell itself or from a third party.

The most useful pieces of Dell-specific software are Dell Optimizer, which is an app for checking on your system’s vitals and allowing for changing power modes and similar settings to get your machine running how you wish. There is also Dell SupportAssist, which is where you can conveniently update software, perform a full system scan, and have one-click access to utilities for boosting performance or optimising network performance.

Otherwise, most of the other system apps come in the form of Microsoft’s AI features, as the 16S (2026) has enough AI horsepower (or TOPS) to be considered a Copilot+ PC. This gives you access to features such as the clever Windows Studio webcam effects for auto-framing and background blur, as well as generative AI capabilities in Photos and Microsoft Paint.

Battery Life

• Lasted for 18 hours 10 minutes in the battery test
• Capable of lasting for two working days

Dell has put a large 70Whr cell into the 16S (2026), which, combined with its efficient Panther Lake internals, meant I had high hopes for its endurance. These smaller Dell machines have traditionally done very well in our battery tests, so it would make sense to expect a lot out of this new one.

In running the PCMark 10 Modern Office battery test at the requisite 150 nits of brightness, this Dell laptop lasted for 18 hours and 10 minutes before conking out, meaning you’ll get comfortably two working days out of it away from the mains. It also puts it right towards the top end against rivals, meaning hypermiling into a third day is a distinct possibility.

The 16S (2026) also comes with a more standard 65W charger in a surprisingly hefty brick, although it was surprisingly slow at putting go-juice back into the laptop. It took 55 minutes to get it back to 50%, while a full charge took the best part of two hours. 

A point worth noting – by default, this laptop has ‘smart charging’ enabled, which only charges the cell to 80% or thereabouts. To get the 16S (2026) to 100%, you’ll need to go into the BIOS and enable ‘Standard’ charging behaviour.

Should you buy it?