Dell has overhauled the naming scheme for their laptops this year with three basic levels, the everyday play, school and work or “Dell” laptops, the professional-grade productivity or “Dell Pro” laptops and the maximum performance or “Dell Pro Max” laptops.

Within each category, there are three sub-sections: the Base, Plus and Premium.  The laptop Dell sent me to review is the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1, which means it is designed to be an everyday laptop, sitting right in the middle of the power and affordability section of the base models.

Price and config

In Australia, the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 arrives in three different configs, although one of those configs is just Windows Pro instead of Windows Home, so we really shouldn’t count that.

The review laptop arrived sporting an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 Processor which includes Radeon 860M Graphics and 1TB SSD for AU$1,698.

There is also a cheaper version for AU$ 1,498, which downgrades the processor to the AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 and the storage to a 512GB SSD.

Both versions have 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, a 14-inch Touch FHD+ display.

Design + hardware

The design is fairly basic, with the Dell “Icy Blue” colour looking exceptionally silver to me.  There is the simple Dell logo on the lid so there’s nothing earth-shattering or ground-breaking with the design.  I’m not sure what I was hoping for but what can you really do with a simple productivity laptop design anyway?

The best thing about the design of the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 is its size.  At just 16.39mm at its thickest and 1.59kg thick it is very portable so you can easily carry it around for use anywhere.  The other two dimensions of it are its width of 314mm and depth of 226.15mm – these don’t vary much from one 14-inch laptop to another.

Being a 2-in-1 laptop, its hinges bend all the way around, allowing you to use the laptop as a tablet as well as a clamshell laptop.  The hinges are fairly stiff so that you can set the lid at any angle you want – handy for watching movies or one-to-one presentations.  

The problem with having stiff hinges is that you cannot open the laptop with one hand – not a massive issue but something to keep in mind as some folks prefer that.

The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 includes all the ports you may want:

  • 2 USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) with Power Delivery and DisplayPort
  • 1 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
  • 1 HDMI 1.4*
  • 1 Universal Audio Jack

I was able to use both the USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports and the HDMI port to extend the laptop to a 34-inch OLED gaming monitor.  The laptop had the power to easily drive the monitor, including for playing basic games.

The speakers in the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 are dual 2.5W speakers and they aren’t great, but how often do you use laptop speakers.  The only time I can think you might want to use them is for presentations to small groups of people, but for gaming and media consumption, I dare say most will use headphones of some sort.

The speakers are located in the bottom of the laptop and are thus bottom-firing so not only can that interfere with the sound quality but the small 2.5W of each speaker does too.  Do not expect deep bass or a wide range of sound frequencies with these speakers – I cannot think of the last time I wanted better speakers on any laptop I have used, so there is that.

Display + Webcam

The display is a 14.0-inch 16:10 FHD+ (1920×1200) Touch 300 nits WVA Display with ComfortView.  The disappointing part is that it is an IPS display and as such lacks the vibrancy and colours we see on an OLED display.  The display is still quite good, although the colours and view aren’t great when viewed outside or at a slight angle. At this relatively low price though, an OLED display is simply not possible but I would expect and hope for better colours than what is on this one.

The touch is not bad with it reacting fairly consistently to my touch, as it should.

The webcam is also disappointing because it is only a 1080p FHD camera without support for Windows Hello.  How are we in 2025 and 1080p cameras in laptops are still a thing. Dell are far from being alone here, but that doesn’t excuse it.

I really like Windows Hello IR cameras, making logging in a breeze but this laptop does not support that unfortunately.  Instead, you’ll have to use a password or the fingerprint sensor located in the power button at the top right corner of the keyboard.

Let’s not forget about tent mode. This ability to consume media, perform presentations or use it as a tablet is a handy feature that we sholdn’t forget about. The steiff hinges make this possible and you can be confident in the hinges performing well.

Keyboard + touchpad

I love the traditional Dell laptop keyboards and this one has the comfortable amount of travel and soft cushioning that the keyboards have had in the past.  The difference with this keyboard, and others in recent Dell laptops, is that the keycaps are now flat and not concave.  

While this may impact the accuracy of typing for some as there isn’t the usual concavity to guide the finger into the right spot, it did not seem to affect my typing.  Sure, it is different at first, but it did not take long before I was used to it and typing like a pro.  I really like the feel of the Dell keyboards, this one is no different.

The touchpad is not massive but big enough.  You do not need a huge touchpad for this laptop, given that it is limited in its ability to be creative or game, so it is unlikely you will be using it for that.  The clicking of the touchpad is loud and rough, with no haptic feedback, making it feel somewhat cheap.  It is a long way from the nice-feeling, soft-clicking, haptic-feeling touchpads I experienced on the MacBook Air 15 and the HP Zbook more recently.

Battery  

The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 features a 64WHr battery, which is charged by a newly designed 65W AC adapter with a USB-C port.

Dell state that you should get “up to 19 hours of battery life” from a single charge of the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 which is impressive.  We are starting to see where AI can and is making a big difference with battery life, and I love it.

I was able to get around 16 hours of use out of a single charge.  Not once did I think I would struggle to get through my work before the battery ran out.  Even when the battery looked low, there was still normally several hours of use left – and more if you adjusted the settings to be more power friendly.  

Performance

As you may have guessed from the chipset inside the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1, it supports AI onboard. Dell uses AI to control CPU and GPU usage, but you can also use it for Copilot+ functions. I’m not a huge fan of generative AI at this stage, but in my opinion, using it to control and optimise CPU and GPU is the perfect implementation.

General performance, though, is really good.  The laptop was easily able to push a 34-inch ultrawide OLED gaming monitor for productivity and basic gaming.  I was pleasantly surprised with how seamlessly it handled the monitor.  There were no hangups no matter how many Edge tabs I had open (yes, I use Edge).

For more focused tasks, such as using Adobe Photoshop, the laptop had no issues, not that there is really all that much I do in there that would slow down a laptop anyway.  

For an apparent entry-level laptop, the performance of the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 was impressive — as the Procyon benchmark results show. They won’t blow the doors off the more expensive and powerful lap[tops but for what it is and what it costs, the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 Procyon benchmark results are pretty good.

Final Thoughts

The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 is not a bad laptop, in fact its quite good. It is just that it won’t knock your socks off with its performance, display or touchpad but each of these are good and at the price point Dell has positioned it at, they should be considered excellent.

It’s performance for basic productivity tasks and consuming media was seamless and although the display suffered a bit in daylight or from an angle, it is a good display when front on. The keyboard is excellent and comfortable and accurate to type on, making it a great entry-level laptop for productivity purposes.

The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 is available from Dell starting at $1,498. The review laptop with the bump in the chipset to the AMD Ryzen AI 7 and the SSD up to 1TB will set you back $1,698. Bang for your buck, the review config laptop is a great option.