This Dell Laptop Is My Top Choice For Both Work And Travel - And It's On Sale For $420 Off

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Prices for nan Dell 14 Plus presently commencement astatine $1,099
• During a clip of economical turmoil, this laptop is simply a lifeline, providing next-gen capacity astatine an affordable price
• However, don't expect excessively overmuch from its display, arsenic it's nary OLED aliases 4K panel.

Every configuration of nan Dell 14 Plus is connected sale. You tin get nan guidelines exemplary is $680, a $420 discount.

Back successful early 2025, Dell made a bold move. The institution announced that it was going to rebrand its full portfolio. Classic names for illustration "XPS" and "Inspiron" were thrown retired to beryllium replaced pinch much generic-sounding titles. 

These see "Dell," "Dell Pro," and "Dell Premium." I've been anxious to effort retired this procreation to spot if it introduces a caller era for Dell aliases if it's much of nan same. I precocious had that opportunity pinch nan Dell 14 Plus.

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This is nan company's latest midrange laptop and 1 of nan successors to nan Inspiron series. It moreover looks for illustration an Inspiron, sporting nan acquainted operation of gray, rubber keys connected an all-silver body. Although nan creation isn't revolutionary, I still had a awesome clip pinch nan Dell 14 Plus. 

It's this substance of tried-and-true tech pinch next-gen advancements. To repetition what I said successful my old Inspiron 14 Plus review, "the instrumentality has galore of nan hallmark features I bask successful a laptop."

If it ain't broke, don't hole it

The comfortable keyboard from nan Inspiron 14 has returned. Its chiclet-shaped keys stay gentle yet responsive to nan touch. They beryllium wrong a chassis chiefly made retired of aluminum, giving Dell's instrumentality a nice, sturdy feel. Like before, nan edges connected nan bottommost half are rounded for comfort.

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I besides for illustration to deliberation that Dell publication my past reappraisal because I recommended that nan marque proceed utilizing nan aforesaid anti-fingerprint manufacturing method for early products. Sure enough, nan Dell 14 Plus did not person a azygous fingerprint smudge connected it successful each my clip handling it.

Solid performance

Inside my reappraisal was an Intel Core Ultra 256V processor, an integrated Intel Arc graphics card, and 16GB of memory. Below is simply a array highlighting nan Dell 14 Plus' capacity results crossed aggregate benchmark tests. I besides included different laptops pinch akin hardware for comparison.

Looking astatine nan numbers, you'll announcement that Dell's machine did rather good successful nan 3 tests. It outperformed nan Lenovo Yoga 9i Aura Edition successful each metric and is very adjacent to outdoing nan HP EliteBook. 

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This tells maine nan 14 Plus renders high-resolution images quickly and tackles demanding workloads pinch comparative ease. It's not a high-end model, but nan configuration tin present a akin experience.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

This acquisition was reflected by my different capacity test, successful which I ran 50 different tabs connected Google Chrome. My action included respective YouTube unrecorded streams (some successful 4K resolution), 10 ZDNET articles, 5 Amazon merchandise listings, and a bid of randomly chosen GIFs.

Unsurprisingly, nan Dell 14 Plus did great. It handled each of nan unfastened windows pinch conscionable a touch of slowdown; thing excessively debilitating. The 1 awesome downside of nan dense workload was overheating -- nan keyboard became a small lukewarm aft respective minutes.

Let's talk astir that display

So, nan laptop delivers a top-notch capacity successful summation to having a coagulated design. You whitethorn beryllium wondering, "Are location immoderate issues pinch nan Dell 14 Plus?" Yes, I wasn't a large instrumentality of nan display. It isn't bad per se; nan surface conscionable didn't rustle maine away. Perhaps I've been spoiled by different laptops that excel successful these areas.

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My reappraisal portion had a 14-inch 2.5K (2,540 x 1,600) show that delivered awesome image detail. The display's anti-glare coating helps support clarity nether agleam conditions. However, compared to nan Lenovo Yoga 9i mentioned earlier, nan Dell 14 Plus has a noticeably dull screen. 

And it's not without support. Dolby Vision is present, allowing nan show to support a wide scope of colors, but it's still not great.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

Also wrong nan chassis are a brace of 2.5W speakers supported by Waves MaxxAudio Pro and Dolby Atmos Cores. Together, they alteration immersive sound output. However, nan drivers are located astatine nan bottommost of nan laptop, pointing down. I've ne'er been a instrumentality of this placement arsenic it muffles nan sound.

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Fortunately, nan aforementioned audio package pairing allows nan Dell 14 Plus to circumvent this limitation somewhat. Music and speech sound good coming retired of nan speakers. That said, I can't thief but wonderment really amended nan sound output would beryllium if nan drivers were connected top.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

In position of artillery life, nan Dell 14 Plus ran for astir 11 hours and 40 minutes nether Best Power Efficiency earlier draining completely. For nan liking of comparison, nan Lenovo Yoga 9i Aura Edition tin deed a coagulated 12 hours pinch nan correct optimization. I extremity up liking Dell's instrumentality much because it offers a comparable acquisition astatine a little price.

ZDNET's buying advice

Prices for nan Dell 14 Plus start astatine $1,100. My reappraisal unit's configuration is somewhat much costly astatine $1,250. The astir powerful action comes pinch an Intel Core Ultra 9 288V chipset and 32GB of RAM. It is presently connected waste astatine a discounted $1,060. All 3 travel pinch a 1 TB SSD.

Dell's latest instrumentality stands gangly arsenic a awesome affordable action that performs very good amongst a oversea of costly computers. It was specified a bully acquisition that I americium overlooking nan fewer issues I had pinch it. I highly urge it to anyone looking for a next-gen laptop that won't make your wallet cringe astatine nan value tag. For me, it is decidedly a item of 2025.

That said, if you are looking for thing else, I urge nan Lenovo Yoga 9i Aura Edition. It has a importantly amended show and robust AI features, though it is much expensive. 

This article was primitively published connected May 15, 2025, and was updated connected July 14, 2025.