Choose a laptop for the work it runs
Dell questioned AI-first marketing; practical workloads remain the useful way to compare machines.
Originally posted · Published here · 2 sources · Resume reading
At Dell's CES 2026 briefing, its head of product questioned whether AI messaging helped consumers understand a laptop's value. The company's official announcement also brought back XPS and described changes across its consumer and gaming range. [1][2]
The original post condensed that into AI PCs not influencing purchases. A product executive's assessment of marketing is not a controlled measurement of every buyer's decision.
Compare the work you actually do
For development, list your build, test and container workloads. Consider memory needs, sustained performance, battery life, screen quality and the ports you use. For local AI, check whether the particular application supports the machine's GPU or NPU and whether the model fits available memory.
An AI badge alone does not answer those questions. Neither does one peak performance number without the software and power conditions behind it.
Try a representative project when possible, or look for measurements using comparable workloads. Choose the machine that meets those requirements within your budget. Treat bundled AI features as individual tools to evaluate rather than a reason to replace a working computer by themselves.
Keep this guide
Sources
- Dell CES briefing reported by its attendeetomsguide.com
- Dell CES 2026 announcementinvestors.delltechnologies.com