Dell Inspiron 2 In 1 14

At a glance

Good's Rating

Pros

Sturdy construction and keyboard
Peachy performance for the cost
Loud, punchy speakers

Cons

Display doesn't get very bright
Stiff, poorly-congenital touchpad
Middling microphone quality

Our Verdict

Dell'southward convertible Inspiron has high-end laptop features for roughly $i,000, merely with a few notable downsides.

The Dell Inspiron 14 two-in-1 occupies an unusual spot in the visitor'south laptop lineup.

While Dell tends to reserve the Inspiron line for its cheapest and clunkiest consumer-course computers, the Inspiron 14 two-in-i borrows a handful of elements from college-terminate laptops, including a metallic lid, a fingerprint reader, surprisingly not bad speakers, and a precipitous touchscreen that flips effectually into tablet mode. However, further inspection reveals where the compromises lie.

The display is on the dim side, the chassis is role-plastic, the trackpad has a chintzy click mechanism, and the laptop is heavier than loftier-end computers with similar specs. But, if you tin snag the Inspiron 14 two-in-ane for less than its $1,049 list price, those trade-offs may be worthwhile.

Tech specs

Our detail Dell Inspiron fourteen 2-in-i review unit costs $1,049 from Dell but has frequently been on sale for $800 and it includes the post-obit specs:

AMD Ryzen 7 5700U CPU
14-inch, 1920 x 1080 IPS touchscreen
sixteen GB DD4-3200 RAM
512 GB M.2 PCIe NVMe solid country storage
720p webcam
Fingerprint reader
Left side: HDMI i.4b, USB-A 3.1 Gen i, USB-C 3.2 Gen 1
Correct side: Headphone jack, USB-A 3.1 Gen i, MicroSD card slot
Weight: iii.43 lbs. (Power brick adds 0.58 lbs.)
Dimensions: 12.66 x 8.32 x 0.71 inches

Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 right side — The Dell Inspiron fourteen ii-in-1 has both a USB-A port and a MicroSD card slot.

Jared Newman / IDG

Meanwhile, an $849 selection (or $600 on saleas of this writing) leaves you with a Ryzen 5 5500U processor, 256 GB of storage, and 8GB of RAM. Unfortunately, yous can't mix and friction match tech specs, then your merely pick if y'all want more storage or RAM is to purchase the higher-end model for $200 more than. (Dell also offers other configurations with Intel processors, which we're non reviewing hither.)

Port selection is solid with both HDMI and MicroSD ports and ii USB-A ports, simply be aware that the HDMI one.4b spec only supports 4K at xxx Hz, so you'll be limited to 1080p on external monitors or TVs if want smooth sixty frames per 2d video. Also, the laptop's charger occupies the sole USB-C port, leaving no room for USB-C accessories.

Pattern and display

The Inspiron 14 2-in-1 comes in a single color scheme called "Mist Blue," but it'south a subtle hue that only covers the aluminum lid and it's barely distinguishable from the gray matte plastic chassis underneath. Despite the use of plastic, this is a sturdy machine. You'll hear nary a creak when grabbing the laptop by its corners and the keyboard barely flexes at all under pressure level.

Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 left side — A drop hinge gives the Inspiron fourteen 2-in-1 a raised surface on which to blazon.

Jared Newman / IDG

The 1080p touchscreen has a glossy finish with edge-to-edge glass that helps reinforce the laptop'southward premium expect. The bottom of the screen drops down below the keyboard section in clamshell mode, providing a raised surface for typing. The screen tin also flip effectually 360-degrees into tablet mode and has stylus support, though no pen is included in the box.

Nonetheless, with a peak brightness of 250 nits, this is a screen whose brightness y'all'll want to keep cranked up all the way in well-lit environments and you'll likely wish information technology could get a flake brighter. I too noticed a slight fading in brightness around the upper edge of the screen—the mark of a mediocre display.

Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 tent mode — Every bit the name suggests, the Inspiron fourteen two-in-1 can fold around into a tablet—or prop itself up in tent mode.

Jared Newman / IDG

Trackpad and keyboard

Dell put a pretty nice keyboard into the Inspiron xiv 2-in-i. While the keys keep a low profile and don't offer a huge amount of travel, they depress with a satisfying bump and I detected none of the squishiness or wobbliness y'all find on cheaper keyboards. They likewise barely give off any noise and support ii levels of backlighting.

Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 keyboard — Dell equipped this laptop with a spacious keyboard and trackpad, merely the former is better than the latter.

Jared Newman / IDG

The trackpad is more of an issue, particularly for users who prefer to click down instead of tapping. The click machinery starts to go pretty potent about halfway upwards the trackpad and it wobbles just slightly under your finger before you lot click downwards the whole style. While the touchpad surface is fairly smooth, it nonetheless has a chip more friction than what you'd find in higher-end laptops.

Webcam, security, audio

Like well-nigh Windows laptops, the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1'southward 720p webcam is zilch special. It'south passable for videoconferencing in well-lit rooms, but it shoots grainy video in lower lighting conditions. Microphone quality isn't swell either, resulting in thin-sounding vocals.

The photographic camera does include a privacy shutter, which is another nice touch typically found on higher-end laptops. While it lacks confront recognition support, there is a fingerprint reader built into the power button on the keyboard.

Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 privacy shutter — A slim switch above the webcam lets you cover information technology up—no tape necessary.

Jared Newman / IDG

Speaker quality is too a pleasant surprise, equally the Inspiron xiv 2-in-1 produces some of the loudest and punchiest audio you'll notice on a Windows laptop. Although the sound does distort a chip at maximum volume, y'all'll never strain to hear what's happening while watching videos or tuning into briefing calls.

Operation

For a laptop with an AMD Ryzen vii 5700U processor on lath, the Dell Inspiron fourteen 2-in-1's performance is just about what you'd expect. It tears through multi-threaded tasks such as video encoding and information technology feels sufficiently zippy for web browsing and document editing. The laptop also remained comfortably absurd and serenity while juggling multiple apps, browser tabs, and downloads.

The Inspiron 14 2-in-1's productivity prowess was on brandish in Futuremark's PCMark x test, which simulates a gamut of role work, spider web browsing, and artistic tasks. Information technology edged out several other 2-in-1 laptops we've tested lately, including the similarly-priced HP Envy x360 15 with the same processor.

Jared Newman / IDG

HP's laptop did retake the lead in our Handbrake examination, which involves encoding a big video file, just both laptops maintain a commanding atomic number 82 over comparable 2-in-1s with Intel processors. More cores are about always amend for this test and Intel'due south quad-core i7-1165G7 CPU is no lucifer for the eight cores in AMD's Ryzen vii 5700U.

Jared Newman / IDG

Similarly, the Inspiron 14 2-in-1'due south multi-threaded functioning excelled in the quick functioning stress test of Cinebench, merely note that Intel-powered laptops take an edge in single-threaded performance, which covers most basic productivity tasks. The difference isn't something you'd necessarily find, but it is there.

Jared Newman / IDG

Every bit for battery life, the Inspiron xiv two-in-1 has a 54,000 Whr battery, which puts it in the centre of the road for thin-and-light laptops. That's clearly reflected in our battery rundown examination, which loops a video in offline mode at a consistent brightness level. Dell'south laptop lasted for xi hours and 17 minutes, which is neither bad nor great. Outside of test weather condition, you may be able to squeeze a full workday out of this laptop, but you'll likely want to pack the charger just in case.

Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 battery life benchmarks

Jared Newman / IDG

Meanwhile, AMD's integrated Radeon graphics still aren't made for serious gaming, but I was able to eke out a session of Fortnite at medium graphics settings and 50% display scaling. And, of grade, less demanding games similar the 2D platformer Precept Verge 2 worked just fine. Still, I've had amend gaming experiences with the Iris Xe graphics in Intel Core i7-powered laptops and our 3DMark Time Spy test shows that these laptops tend to fare amend in gaming benchmarks as well.

Jared Newman / IDG

Overall, this Dell Inspiron xiv 2-in-1 offers a lot to similar, specially at its frequently-discounted price of $800. It's a sturdy laptop with strong performance, a convertible touchscreen, loud speakers, and a convenient fingerprint reader. But the trade-offs you'll make in pursuit of that lower cost—near notably the dim display and stiff trackpad—might just continue you from outright loving information technology.