Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024) review: This is what a well-rounded machine looks like

Price When Reviewed

$999

Best Prices Today: Dell Inspiron 14 Plus

$999.99

There’s been a development of mid-tier laptop computer strains getting a glow-up. HP, Acer, and Asus have accomplished it, and with the Inspiron 14 Plus 7440, Dell reveals it has a knack for this as properly. While the Inspiron title would possibly bring to mind drab, plastic work machines, the newest iteration breaks free from its roots in all the best methods. A splash of metallic right here, a extra colourful show there, and unexpectedly robust efficiency and battery life all behind a $1,000 price ticket make this a extremely aggressive wanting machine. And with a little bit of deeper digging, it’s clear that Dell has a large success on its arms. 

Looking for extra choices? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops obtainable proper now.

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024): Specs and options

• CPU: Intel Core 7 Ultra 155H
• Memory: 16GB LPDDR5X-6400
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc Graphics
• Display: 14-inch, 2240×1400, WVA
• Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
• Webcam: 1080p
• Connectivity: 1x Thunderbolt 4, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x HDMI 1.4 (1080p/60 max), 1x microSD card reader, 1x 3.5mm combo audio
• Networking: WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
• Biometrics: Fingerprint reader
• Battery capability: 64 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 12.36 x 8.92 x 0.75 inches
• Weight: 3.49 kilos
• MSRP: $999 as-tested ($999 base)

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024): Design and construct high quality

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus is a smoother workplace machine. Aside from the plastic underside, the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus is constructed with a largely aluminum chassis that seems like a refined stone, providing simply the slightest little bit of friction and that includes smoothed corners and edges. While there are parts of the design that look slightly extra slapped collectively than the polished designs of Apple’s MacBooks or Dell’s personal XPS line — prefer it’s thicker, plastic bezels or fundamental and wiggly show hinges — the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus nonetheless reveals a sleekness that Inspiron’s previously have lacked.

This enchancment to design is probably going the place the Plus within the title is coming from, although the internals definitely have a task to play as properly.

For a compact work machine, the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus makes a present of getting a lot of cooling. While I’m used to seeing a good facet vent on machines like this, I used to be stunned to search out much more vents on the rear. There even look like vents tucked away behind the show hinges. Confoundingly, additional inspection reveals a lot of those vents are simply hunky punk plastic grilles made to appear like vents. So, whereas at first look the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus appears prefer it would possibly supply higher cooling than the Dell XPS 16 did, which runs the identical CPU, the alternative seems to be true.

The body has slightly sponginess to it across the keyboard and on the heart of the show lid, however it feels inflexible sufficient to deal with slightly abuse. That keyboard deck flex can be hardly noticeable whereas typing. 

Dell didn’t handle to make the Inspiron 14 Plus an excellent svelte machine. It’s modestly thick for the standard laptop computer and weighs 3.49 kilos. It’s nonetheless moderately moveable with these measurements although.

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024): Keyboard, trackpad

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

The keyboard you get is a bit on the fundamental facet. The keycaps are only a bland grey with little to no contour. They have slightly pop to them and are fortunately stiffer than some cheaper laptop computer keyboards, so that they don’t undergo from as a lot nook mushiness. The result’s a surprisingly fast keyboard. In a matter of minutes I used to be in a position to get snug sufficient with the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus keyboard to handle a 129-word-per-minute typing pace at 100 % accuracy in Monkeytype — a private finest. 

A great deal of that typing efficiency stems not simply from the keyboard, which simply feels effective, however from the consolation of the laptop computer’s floor. Since I don’t should stretch too far over a big floor or let a pointy edge dig into my wrists, I can comfortably anchor my palms for correct typing. This helps make up for the keys’ lack of contouring. Too dangerous there’s not a lot to make up for the tiny arrow keys on the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus. 

The keyboard contains fundamental white backlighting, obtainable at two brightness ranges, that’s sufficient to get the job accomplished.

The trackpad has modest proportions. It’s made with mylar, which glides easily and seems like an excellent match for the feel of the body. It has a considerably agency click on that doesn’t really feel overly susceptible to misclicks nor mushy in any manner. 

Between the keyboard and trackpad, the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus delivers an altogether good interface that leaves little to be desired. 

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024): Display, audio

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

Perhaps one of the spectacular elements of the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus is its inclusion of an altogether respectable show. This isn’t any dim, drab, low-resolution panel serving solely as a cost-cutting measure. It’s an odd decision, however the 2240×1400 decision gives strong readability on the 14-inch panel. Between the 418-nit peak brightness and efficient anti-glare coating of the show, it’s additionally remarkably straightforward to see even in unfavorable lighting circumstances. Essentially, visibility is splendidly managed on this show.

Dell has topped that off with almost 100 % protection of the sRGB colour house, which doesn’t have fairly the identical vibrant pop as full DCI-P3 protection however nonetheless provides life to visuals throughout your entire expertise in comparison with the various fundamental panels obtainable on price range laptops. I measured a excessive diploma of colour accuracy as properly, with a mean dE of 0.81 with none calibration. The visuals are even enhanced barely by a 1680:1 distinction ratio, which is greater than I’d have anticipated from a easy LED panel. Pixel response is a bit gradual, resulting in some ghosting on transferring objects, however that is no gaming machine. The show is exceedingly properly suited to workplace work and static imagery. 

The audio expertise is just like the show in that it has some admirable qualities with out being distinctive. The audio system blast out audio at a formidable degree with out rare, insubstantial distortion. They generally is a little grating at max quantity, particularly for those who’re sitting shut, however they’re crisp and clear. That stated, bass is widespread weak spot for machines like this, and there’s no denying that it’s considerably missing. Thankfully, it’s not utterly AWOL. Whether in Vulpeck’s “Fugue State” or Miike Snow’s “My Trigger” the bass is clearly current, however it’s skinny, with a number of the power sucked out by the upper registers. The bass additionally has a propensity for distortion. 

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024): Webcam, microphone, biometrics

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

The webcam on the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus appears OK, providing moderately easy video however not at significantly excessive readability. Even with a 1080p sensor, it doesn’t find yourself impressively sharp. The high quality is extra held again by its dealing with of brightness. It tends to both blow out highlights or seem too darkish. Still, there are a lot worse webcams on the market.

The mics do an excellent job selecting up my voice even when there’s a giant of background noise, such because the droning of a fan. Typing on the laptop computer whereas recording breaks by way of the noise suppression although, so it’s finest averted throughout conferences. 

While the webcam doesn’t supply facial recognition, there’s a fingerprint scanner on the high proper of the keyboard. This gives a handy technique to sign-in, although it usually requires just a few retries to register the fingerprint.

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024): Connectivity

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus could also be small, however it’s not overly sparing on ports. The proper edge gives up a 3.5mm headset jack, a microSD card reader, and a 5Gbps USB-A port. Much of that edge is occupied by venting, so it’s good to see Dell nonetheless supply up some ports. The left edge has much more on supply with one other 5Gbps USB-A port, a Thunderbolt 4 port, a DC charging port, and a full-size HDMI port. That’s solely an HDMI 1.4 connection although, topping out at 1080p/60Hz. Thankfully, Thunderbolt 4 gives much more flexibility for exterior show connections. 

Wireless connectivity has been constant in my expertise with the laptop computer. Connected to a Wi-Fi 6 router on a Gigabit connection, I had no points, even with just a few plaster partitions blocking the sign. Bluetooth additionally labored admirably, conserving the laptop computer piping audio out to my headphones in a busy café for a number of days with out concern.

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024): Performance

So far, issues are wanting fairly shiny for the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus, and it largely stays shiny within the efficiency division. That stated, Dell’s cooling selections do come again to chunk it slightly bit. 

The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus carried out exceptionally in PCMark 10’s benchmark, which analyzes total system efficiency in quite a lot of workplace use circumstances, and that speaks properly to the laptop computer’s total viability. It beats out comparable 14-inch laptops, just like the Acer Swift Go 14 and even the a lot pricier Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, each of which use the identical Intel Core i7 155H chip. Impressively, it even beat the Dell XPS 16 I lately examined, which fell behind with a rating of 6,392. 

However, in relation to sustained CPU efficiency, the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus takes a little bit of successful. It nonetheless comes out forward of its thin-and-light competitors right here, however doesn’t fare almost in addition to it may need if any of the false cooling vents have been really providing cooling. Compared to the Dell XPS 16’s 17,641 factors in Cinebench R23’s multi-threaded take a look at, the Inspiron 14 Plus fell manner behind. A fast take a look at HWInfo64 was all it took to see that the take a look at shortly had CPU core temps spiking to 110 levels Celsius, leading to thermal throttling. Back to again assessments solely noticed efficiency sink decrease and decrease. To the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus’s credit score, it nonetheless pushed out higher efficiency even with the throttling than its primary competitors right here.

In spite of its thermal points, the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus refused to cede floor to its nearer opponents. It’s not in the identical ballpark because the Dell XPS 16 in spite of everything, nor can it sustain with trendy discrete GPUs in relation to graphics efficiency, however the Intel Arc Graphics contained in the system nonetheless outperformed the built-in graphics in the remainder of these rigs. 

While these efficiency outcomes are partly a narrative of thermal throttling, a few of these benchmarks are designed to emphasize a system a bit greater than the on a regular basis duties. It’s pretty outstanding that the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus performs in addition to it does, and barring prolonged durations with heavy workloads on the CPU, the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus manages to be exceptionally fast and snappy. 

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024): Battery life

One factor may have ruined all of it for the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus. If it had a weak battery, it will be a a lot more durable promote. As luck would have it, the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus gives actually outstanding battery life. In our battery take a look at, which performs a 4K video on repeat with the show set between 250 and 260 nits, the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus lasted for a staggering 1,021 minutes (simply over 17 hours). This beats the competitors simply, and even beat the Dell XPS 16 (which did have the drawback of utilizing OLED). I even ran the take a look at each with and with out the My Dell software program’s clever battery extender characteristic enabled to make sure it wasn’t fudging the outcomes, and in each circumstances the system ran over 17 hours. This is efficiency that may rival even Apple’s finest MacBooks, which we take a look at at a notably dimmer 150 nits.

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024): Conclusion

If Dell had added one other warmth pipe and used the additional rear grille as an precise exhaust port to maintain the CPU thermals in verify, this most likely would have been the rise of a brand new king of on a regular basis PCs. Even with out that concession, the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus is a remarkably properly rounded system. In nearly each class, it’s respectable at worst. And in most departments, it’s higher than the competitors. It might not be as fairly as a ZenBook or Pavilion Plus, however it’s quicker and lasts longer. And even when it’s no ThinkPad or XPS, it’s a lot cheaper. Even with the Acer Swift Go 14 providing lots of the identical elements, I’d by no means commerce the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus’s keyboard for one from Acer. 

The truth that you could get a system this properly rounded for $1,000 (and I’ve even seen it for $850 already) is a large boon for PC consumers in search of a no-nonsense, machine that’s all collectively glorious.