Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 2024 MSRP $1,000.00 Score Details The Dell Inspiration 14 Plus is fast and efficient, but its display lacks the luster of close competitors. Pros Solid build quality Fast productivity performance Good battery life Very good IPS display Cons Competitors offer OLED at similar prices Single Thunderbolt 4 port No touch display option I just reviewed two laptops that cost $1,000 or less, the Asus Zenbook 14 Q425 and the Lenovo Slim 7i Gen 9. Theyre excellent machines with very nice OLED displays. Because things often come in threes, I have another $1,000 laptop to review, the 2024 Dell Inspiron 14 Plus, which enters the fray armed only with an IPS display.

Contents Specs and configurationsA good but forgettable designExcellent productivity performanceA very good IPS display, but its not OLEDA good laptop thats hard to recommend Related A few years ago, that was the norm. OLED panels werent nearly as ubiquitous and certainly not common at these prices. So, the Inspiron 14 Plus has a hill to climb. It offers a solid build, fast components, and good battery life, but its display keeps it from being the strongest against equally affordable laptops.

　　Specs and configurations

	Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 2024
Dimensions	12.36 inches x 8.92 inches x 0.63-0.75 inches
Weight	3.53 pounds
Processor	Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
Graphics	Intel Arc graphics
RAM	16GB 32GB
Display	14.0-inch 16:10 2.2K (2240 x 1400) non-touch, 60Hz 14.0-inch 16:10 2.8K (2880 x 1800) non-touch, 90Hz
Storage	512GB SSD 1TB SSD
Touch	No
Ports	1 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 1 x HDMI 2.1 1 x 3.5mm audio jack 1 x microSD card reader
Wireless	Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3
Webcam	1080p with infrared camera for Windows 11 Hello
Operating system	Windows 11
Battery	54 watt-hour 64 watt-hour
Price	$1,000+

The Inspiron 14 Plus starts at $1,000 with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 14.0-inch 2.2K IPS display. Thats the configuration I reviewed. For $200 more, you can upgrade to 32GB of RAM and a sharper 14.0-inch 2.8K display. Dell lists other configuration options, but none are currently on sale.

Thats an attractive enough price for a midrange laptop. Dells challenge is that recent laptops like the Asus Zenbook 14 Q425 and Lenovo Slim 7i Gen 9 are around the same price with OLED displays, albeit lower-res 1920 x 1200 models, and the excellent 2023 Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (with a higher-res 2.8K display) can be purchased for under $800. As well see, the Inspiron 14 Plus is a good laptop with one hand tied behind its back.

　　A good but forgettable design

The Inspiron 14 Plus sports a very conservative design. Its a solid Ice Blue color scheme that runs throughout, giving the laptop a silverish sheen in some lighting and a very pale blue one in others. The lines are smoothed out and have the usual tapered appearance to evoke a slimness thats not really there. Overall, I find the laptop good-looking, but it lacks the Asus Zenbook 14 Q425s sharper angles and the Lenovo Slim 7i Gen 9s more elegant, rounded edges. The more expensive Apple MacBook Air, a tweener that competes in both the 13-inch and 14-inch laptop classes, offers an even more elegant design and comes in more attractive colors.

Speaking of slimness, Dell lists the laptops thickness as ranging from 0.63 inches to 0.75 inches. Thats a bit thicker than the Zenbook and Slim 7i, which claim 0.59 inches. The Inspiron is also heavier at 3.83 pounds versus 2.82 and 3.06 pounds, respectively. The MacBook Air is an insane 0.44 inches thick and weighs 2.7 pounds, which gives it a perceived density that these other laptops lack. Oddly, the Inspiron doesnt seem to weigh close to a full pound more than the others. I have no complaints about Dells build quality. The Inspirons aluminum lid and chassis feel as robust as the others, and the hinge opens easily with one hand, yet another example of todays midrange laptops sporting premium-like builds.

Im a bit conflicted about the Inspiron 14 Plus keyboard. It has nicely sized keycaps and plenty of key spacing, and the switches are deep and springy. But I didnt like typing on it as much as I did the Zenbooks or Slim 7is keyboards, not to mention my favorite, Apples Magic Keyboard. Maybe it was the bottoming action, which felt abrupt and fatiguing as I wrote this review. I also wasnt a fan of the mechanical touchpad, which was large enough but required too much force to activate the louder buttons. Haptic touchpads havent yet migrated to laptops costing $1,000 or less, but Im looking forward to it when they do. Theres no touch display option, which is something available on competing laptops, and I missed it here.

Connectivity is a mixed bag. There are plenty of legacy ports, including two USB-A ports and an HDMI connection. However, theres only one USB-C port with Thunderbolt 4 support, and the laptop ships with a USB-C power adapter. That means that by default, youll have to use the sole USB-C port to power the laptop. Theres a proprietary power connector, but youll have to buy the adapter separately. One plus is the microSD card reader, something several recent laptops Ive reviewed did without. Wireless connectivity is also a strength, ranging up to the bleeding-edge Wi-Fi 7, at least once the next version of Windows is released.

The Inspiron 14 Plus boasts a 1080p webcam, a resolution thats becoming the new standard, and its good enough. Theres no infrared camera, but Windows 11 Hello is supported by a fingerprint reader embedded in the power button thats quick and responsive.

　　Excellent productivity performance

The Inspiron 14 Plus uses the 28-watt Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, a Meteor Lake chipset with 16 cores (six Performance, eight Efficient, and two Low Power Efficient) and 22 threads. Its the most popular Meteor Lake chipset, found in most laptops Ive reviewed in 2024. Every laptop maker touts the chipsets Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which powers a few on-device AI tools like Microsofts Studio Effects videoconferencing utility. Mainly, the NPU is good for futureproofing and thus far has little impact on real-world performance.

So, how does the Inspiron 14 Plus perform? In most benchmarks in our review suite, its pretty fast. It was particularly strong in our Handbrake test that encodes a 420MB video in H.265, and it did well in the multi-core test in Cinebench R23. It also led the comparison group in the PCMark 10 Complete benchmark, which mixes up productivity, casual, and creative tasks. Its single-core performance was a bit behind in Cinebench R23 and Geekbench 6, meaning it wont be the speediest in day-to-day computing not that anyone would know the difference. These are all fast laptops for productivity users.

The Intel Arc integrated graphics are faster than the older Intel Iris Xe graphics but slower than an entry-level discrete GPU like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050. So, the Inspiron 14 Plus isnt a great gaming laptop or a creators workstation. Its speedy enough for everything else, though.

	Geekbench 6 (single/multi)	Handbrake (seconds)	Cinebench R23 (single/multi)	PCMark 10 Complete
Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 2024 (Core Ultra 7 155H)	Bal: 2,097 / 11,105 Perf: 2,111 / 11,883	Bal: 72 Perf: 70	Bal: 1,629 / 13,153 Perf: 1,676 / 14,529	6,688
Lenovo Slim 7i Gen 9 (Core Ultra 7 155H)	Bal: 2,260 / 11,777 Perf: 2,259 / 11,738	Bal: 107 Perf: 78	Bal: 1,764 / 11,517 Perf: 1,808 / 13,647	6,658
Asus Zenbook 14 Q425 (Core Ultra 7 155H)	Bal: 2,257 / 11,820 Perf: 2,279 / 11,806	Bal: 94 Perf: 82	Bal: 1,653 / 9,156 Perf: 1,635 / 12,130	6,316
HP Spectre x360 14 (Core Ultra 7 155H)	Bal: 2,234 / 11,878 Perf: 2,246 / 11,821	Bal: 138 Perf: 83	Bal: 1,750 / 9,832 Perf: N/A	6,316
Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 (Core i7-1360P)	Bal: 2,509 / 10,746 Perf: 2,553 / 11,324	N/A	Bal: 1,846 / 8,779 Perf: 1,906 / 9,849	6,102
Asus Zenbook 14X OLED (Core i7-13700H)	Bal: 2,501 / 11,991 Perf: 2,512 / 11,862	N/A	Bal: 1,819 / 11,066 Perf: 1,826 / 12,795	6,020
Apple MacBook Air (M3)	Bal: 3,102 / 12,078 Perf: N/A	Bal: 109 Perf: N/A	N/A	N/A

Ive seen mixed results with the Core Ultra 7 155H in terms of efficiency. Despite Meteor Lakes supposed improved efficiency, most laptops with the chipset havent impressed. However, the Inspiron 14 Plus did relatively well with less battery capacity at 64 watt-hours versus 75 watt-hours in several other 14-inch laptops. I suspect the IPS display helped, although the Zenbook 14 Q425s (lower-res) OLED display didnt hold that laptop back from better longevity. I also wonder if firmware updates havent improved efficiency since Ive reviewed some earlier laptops, something I cant possibly test.

In our web browsing and video looping tests, the Inspiron 14 Plus was slightly above average. It was well behind the Zenbook and even further behind the M3 MacBook Air, which is the efficiency leader by a massive margin. Depending on your workflow, the Dell may or may not last an entire working day.

	Web browsing	Video
Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 2024 (Core Ultra 7 155H)	10 hours, 24 minutes	14 hours, 30 minutes
Asus Zenbook 14 Q425 (Core Ultra 7 155H)	12 hours, 25 minutes	18 hours, 1 minute
Lenovo Slim 7i Gen 9 (Core Ultra 7 155H)	6 hours, 7 minutes	6 hours, 21 minutes
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 (Core Ultra 7 155H)	7 hours, 4 minutes	10 hours 30 minutes
Asus Zenbook 14 OLED 2024 (Core Ultra 7 155H)	7 hours, 9 minutes	14 hours, 22 minutes
HP Spectre x360 14 (Core Ultra 7 155H)	8 hours, 6 minutes	13 hours, 3 minutes
Asus Zenbook 14 OLED 2023 (Ryzen 5 7530U)	12 hours, 13 minutes	17 hours, 19 minutes
Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 (Core i7-1360P)	7 hours, 41 minutes	13 hours, 25 minutes
Apple MacBook Air M2 (Apple M3)	19 hours, 38 minutes	N/A

　　A very good IPS display, but its not OLED

The biggest difference between the Inspiron 14 Plus and the other $1,000 laptops Ive discussed in this review is its use of an IPS display instead of OLED. Dell chose two higher-resolution displays in the unusual 2.2K (2240 x 1400) and 2.8K (2880 x 1800) resolutions, which are higher than FHD+ (1920 x 1200) OLED displays in the Asus Zenbook 14 Q425 and Lenovo Slim 7i Gen 9. However, the Dells 2.2K IPS display that I reviewed lacked dynamic colors and inky blacks. It was slightly sharper, but it didnt jump out at me in the same way.

According to my colorimeter, its a very good IPS panel. It was bright at 418 nits and had good contrast at 1,690:1. But thats well below the near-infinite contrast of OLED technology, and, by comparison, blacks still leaned toward grey. I suppose Im spoiled by reviewing so many OLED laptops, but theres a reason why the technology has become so popular. Colors were also good for IPS, at 100% of sRGB and 79% of Adobe RGB (IPS is usually around 75% of the latter), but the 79% of DCI-P3 was lower than Ive seen in some recent IPS displays. Accuracy, though, was excellent by any standard at a DeltaE of 0.8 (less than 1.0 is indistinguishable to the human eye).

Overall, I cant help but rate the display as inferior. Standards are changing, with recent laptops adopting technologies like OLED and mini-LED that provide much better colors and contrast. And some IPS panels, like the ones Apple uses on the MacBook Air, also provide better colors. Dells choice puts the Inspiron 14 Plus at a disadvantage. Note that the 2.8K IPS display offers a 90Hz refresh rate, while the 2.2K display I tested is limited to 60Hz.

　　A good laptop thats hard to recommend

If I were reviewing the Inspiron 14 Plus a couple of years ago, I could easily recommend it. Its well-built, very fast, and it has good battery life. Whats not to like? At $1,000, its a very good midrange laptop by most standards.

However, its competing with laptops like the Zenbook 14 Q425, which boasts the same qualities, has even better battery life, and costs around the same price but uses a superior OLED display. The Inspiron also lacks an additional Thunderbolt 4 port, and its keyboard and touchpad arent the best. I suggest that you consider some other midrange laptops instead.