Inexpensive laptops aren’t all that new, but inexpensive with a splash of premium? That’s something you might want to thank Apple for, with its MacBook Neo giving budget laptops the shot in the arm the category needed.
Granted, the price of the MacBook Neo went up a bit thanks to the world of AI (as did every other computer and tablet Apple makes), but the result is still compelling: the MacBook Neo is a slightly more premium take on a budget laptop that doesn’t cost the proverbial limb.
Dell was quick to jump on that with its XPS 13, and while we’re actually putting it through its paces right now, the 13 inch laptop will end up being one of two Dell has for the market.
Announced at IFA 2026, the Dell 14S isn’t quite an XPS, but is designed to offer something similar, with an aluminium-cased laptop sporting a 14 inch screen, slim build, up to 21 hours of battery life, and a processor that should be good enough for work and school without costing too much.
The Dell 14S will see Intel inside, using either Series 3 Core 5 or Core 7 processors depending on how much is spent, while the 14 inch screen will also come in two variants: a less premium 2K 60Hz panel and a more premium 2.8K 120Hz offering.
There’s no word on an Australian price just yet, but the expectation is it should be close to the thousand dollar mark locally, fitting into that premium but still budget part of the market when it launches in October.
That won’t necessarily be what Dell’s other IFA additions fit into.
Dell’s gaming brand Alienware is introducing two new monitors for the year, both of which use the organic pixels that are OLED, but with tweaks and improvements depending on the model.
In the Alienware 32 4K OLED, the tech sees a version of OLED called “RGB Stripe Tandem OLED”, a real mouthful of a name that stacks the order of pixels in a way to improve brightness and lifespan, both of which will be issues for gamers. Focused on 4K gaming, it’s an October release for Australians, albeit without a price.
Next year will see an even more complex screen, with Alienware’s 560Hz QD-OLED announced at IFA, but not expected until the first quarter of 2027.
This is a very different screen, offering a 24.5 inch OLED panel honed using quantum dots for improved colour, and a staggering 560Hz refresh rate, making it one of the fastest displays around.
While the 24.5 inch QD-OLED Alienware is fast, it is not high resolution, sporting a 1920×1080 Full HD resolution, rather than the much bigger desktop sizes you can find on other screens. This one is meant to be fast, but doesn’t offer tremendous screen real estate.
Gamers may not care, however, with competitive gamers in esports the real focus, delivering a change to the Twisted Nematic TN panels many game-focused monitors offer.
No word on pricing on this model yet either, but given the technology, the guess is it won’t be cheap when it does arrive next year.
