Dell 16 Premium evaluation: A ravishing mistake of a laptop computer

Finest Costs Right now: Dell 16 Premium

The Dell 16 Premium is each spectacular and deeply irritating. Dell has created a high-quality 16-inch laptop computer that appears and feels nice. It has highly effective internals — an Intel Arrow Lake CPU and Nvidia GPU — and a very good OLED display. It is a laptop computer constructed by individuals who actually cared.

However the core design right here was a mistake and good craftsmanship can’t put it aside. For $3,199, you’re getting a keyboard and trackpad expertise that appears flashy in photographs however feels obnoxious to make use of. You’re getting high-end internals with out frequent ports (like USB Kind-A and HDMI) that individuals would need in high-end work-focused laptops. And, if minimalism is your precedence, the 16-inch measurement, 4.65-pound weight, and restricted battery life right here means this machine isn’t very best for portability.

This is likely one of the strangest laptops I’ve ever reviewed. Dell tried so exhausting to make one thing particular and completely different that it made the day-to-day laptop computer expertise worse. The Dell 16 Premium is a fantastic and costly hybrid that doesn’t serve any viewers notably effectively. However it’s so extremely polished. That is the highest-quality misfire I’ve ever reviewed.

Dell 16 Premium: Specs

The Dell 16 Premium is obtainable in a number of completely different configurations beginning at $1,999. These configurations all have Intel Arrow Lake CPUs with discrete Nvidia graphics.

We reviewed the $3,199 mannequin, which got here with an Intel Core Extremely 7 255H CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics, and 32GB of RAM. This high-end mannequin packs a fantastic 4K OLED show with a variable refresh charge as much as 120Hz and a contact display.

As a result of that is an Intel Arrow Lake CPU, it doesn’t have an NPU quick sufficient to run Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC options. Dell says this machine has an “AI-enabled Intel processor” on its net web page, however the “premium” expertise right here doesn’t get you entry to Home windows 11’s newest AI options. Intel’s “Collection 2” CPU naming stays baffling to me.

• Mannequin: Dell 16 Premium (DA16250)
• CPU: Intel Core Extremely 7 255H
• Reminiscence: 32GB LPDDR5X 8400MT/s RAM
• Graphics/GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070, Intel Arc 140T
• NPU: Intel AI Increase
• Show: 16.3-inch 3840×2400 OLED touchscreen with variable refresh charge as much as 120Hz
• Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
• Webcam: 1080p webcam
• Connectivity: 3x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Kind-C), 1x combo audio jack, 1x microSDXC card reader
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: IR digital camera and fingerprint reader for Home windows Whats up
• Battery capability: 99.5 Watt-hours
• Dimensions: 14.10 x 9.40 x 0.75 inches
• Weight: 4.65 kilos
• MSRP: $3,199 as examined

Dell 16 Premium: Design and construct high quality

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

The Dell 16 Premium seems stunning. Our evaluation mannequin’s “Platinum” shade scheme is the spitting picture of a high-quality silver laptop computer. It’s somewhat giant and heavy (this can be a 4.65-pound 16-inch laptop computer) so this isn’t a thin-and-light type machine. The chassis is manufactured from aluminum, and the metallic and weight provides it a pleasant heft. The hinge motion feels nice, too.

While you open it and switch it on for the primary time, there’s a little bit of a “wow” second — at the least there was for me. I evaluation a number of laptops, and this machine seems distinct. It’s a clear, minimalist design: a membrane keyboard framed by audio system on both sides, and that’s it. (Apart from the compulsory sticker Intel forces PC producers to stay onto their laptops.)

While you flip it on, the perform keys mild up and it seems premium. The palm relaxation is one piece of gorilla glass, and it feels easy to the touch and to tug your finger over the trackpad. On this OLED mannequin, the show seems particularly vivid and delightful.

It is a laptop computer designed to look distinctly good in photographs and to really feel premium whenever you contact it in a retailer. And it delivers.

Dell 16 Premium: Keyboard and trackpad

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

When you begin utilizing the laptop computer, issues go downhill quick. The keyboard and trackpad are the worst issues right here.

The keyboard is giant, has good backlighting, and has a singular look. It’s additionally not mushy. That’s about all I can say in its favor.

This keyboard solely has 1.0mm of key journey, and I really feel that low journey with each keypress I make. That’s the sort of extraordinarily low key journey you see on thin-and-light laptops optimized for optimum thinness. It’s not the sort of key journey you see a 4.65-pound machine with a discrete GPU. This implies the typing expertise simply doesn’t really feel nice.

Extra clearly, the capacitive perform row buttons fully lack tactile suggestions. They mild up and present completely different capabilities whenever you maintain down the Fn key on the keyboard, which is a cool-looking trick. However, with none tactile suggestions, you must look down on the key you’re urgent, faucet it, and wait to see if the pc seen your faucet. It feels unhealthy. If PC producers wish to do that, they need to attempt to combine some sort of haptic suggestions, a affirmation you pressed the button. That will make this really feel a bit higher.

The trackpad can be a surreal expertise. There’s a trackpad on the middle of the palm relaxation within the standard place you’d discover one. Nevertheless, its edges are fully invisible. With out a visible or tactile define, you could guess the place the sting is. This makes mousing round together with your finger annoying, and it additionally causes issues when utilizing multi-finger gestures. On the plus aspect, it’s a haptic trackpad, in order that’s good.

The Dell 16 Premium loses the plot right here. It might be higher if Dell had used a typical keyboard and trackpad setup. They’ve invested a number of sources in offering an expertise that feels worse to make use of. And, with the shortage of tactile suggestions, I don’t assume it’s one thing I might adapt and get used to — even when I purchased this machine and used it as my every day driver.

Dell 16 Premium: Show and audio system

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

The Dell 16 Premium mannequin Dell loaned us for this evaluation had a 16.3-inch 4K OLED show with a variable refresh charge as much as 120Hz. It appeared vivid and delightful — like the remainder of this machine, it’s a looker.

The principle downside with the show is its pretty low brightness for an OLED. It maxes out at 400 nits, and whereas that’s affordable sufficient, many laptops with OLEDs are inclined to ship extra brightness. I felt like I needed to maintain the brightness cranked as much as most more often than not, even when utilizing the laptop computer in a reasonably darkish room. Mixed with the shiny show (a mainstay for OLED panels), this machine isn’t very best to be used outdoor in difficult lighting situations. Nevertheless, it did do fairly effectively on a cloudy New England day within the fall, as you’ll be able to see in a few of my photographs.

The Dell 16 Premium boasts a quad speaker setup, and it sounds nice for a laptop computer. There’s loads of quantity. To check laptop computer audio system, I all the time hearth up Spotify and play Steely Dan’s Aja and Daft Punk’s Get Fortunate. The audio system did a surprisingly good job with the crisp instrument separation in Aja, and there was sufficient bass to ship a enjoyable sound in Get Fortunate. These are unusually good laptop computer audio system.

Dell 16 Premium: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

The Dell 16 Premium’s 1080p webcam captures a transparent, sharp image, and it appeared higher than common, even in difficult and dim lighting situations. I used to be impressed with the standard of the picture.

In line with the spirit of minimalism, the Dell 16 Premium doesn’t supply a bodily shutter or change to dam the webcam. That’s a disgrace.

The microphone picks up clear audio with good noise cancellation, and I’d be completely happy to make use of it in video conferences, though I’ll persist with a studio mic for my podcast appearances.

The Dell 16 Premium has each facial recognition {hardware} and a fingerprint reader. You possibly can register together with your face or contact your finger to the fingerprint reader constructed into the ability button on the top-right nook of the laptop computer’s keyboard. Each labored effectively, providing you with a number of methods to signal into your PC with Home windows Whats up.

Dell 16 Premium: Connectivity

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

The Dell 16 Premium cuts approach again on ports in comparison with the typical 16-inch $3,199 laptop computer with a discrete GPU. It supplies three Thunderbolt 4 (USB Kind-C) ports — two on the left, and one on the fitting. It costs by way of one in every of these ports, too.

Then, you get a combo audio jack and a microSDXC card reader slot on the fitting. That’s it. Dell has optimized this machine for a svelte, tapered look, as if a premium laptop computer means one with fewer ports.

That will fly after we’re speaking about thin-and-light minimalist laptops, however I don’t assume this is sensible for a 16-inch laptop computer that’s over 4.5 kilos with discrete graphics. The viewers for this kind of laptop computer will need additional ports — USB Kind-A, HDMI, and possibly even Ethernet. You’ll in all probability wish to pair this machine with a dongle or dock.

The Dell 16 Premium does have each Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. It’s good to see assist for the newest wi-fi requirements.

Dell 16 Premium: Efficiency

The Dell 16 Premium mannequin we reviewed had an Intel Core Extremely 7 255H CPU (Arrow Lake), Nvidia RTX 5070 graphics, 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM working at 8400 MT/s, and a 1 TB PCIe SSD. With specs like that, it’s no shock it ran effectively. These specs are nearer to a gaming laptop computer than the typical productiveness machine.

The followers keep quiet and there isn’t a lot warmth on the keyboard, even when working demanding duties. Dell says this laptop computer has a vapor chamber cooling system, and that’s the sort of high-end contact that does make the {hardware} really feel premium.

We ran the Dell 16 Premium by means of our customary benchmarks to see the way it performs.

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

First, we run PCMark 10 to get an thought of total system efficiency. With an total PCMark rating of 8,204, the Dell 16 Premium delivered glorious efficiency. It’s nearer to what you’d anticipate to see from a gaming laptop computer, and that’s no shock given the high-end {hardware} and cooling system on this machine.

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

Subsequent, we run Cinebench R20. It is a closely multithreaded benchmark that focuses on total CPU efficiency. It’s a fast benchmark, so cooling underneath prolonged workloads isn’t an element. However, because it’s closely multithreaded, CPUs with extra cores have an enormous benefit.

With an total Cinebench R20 rating of 9,137, the 16-core Intel Core Extremely 7 255H CPU within the Dell 16 Premium delivered nice efficiency — far exceeding the eight core Intel Lunar Lake CPUs in another 16-inch laptops. These slower CPUs are the one Intel CPUs that supply an NPU quick sufficient for Copilot+ PC AI options. With Intel, you must compromise a technique or one other. This machine was neck-and-neck with an AMD-powered system that does ship an NPU that hits Microsoft’s minimal requirements, nevertheless.

Laptop computer patrons ought to significantly take into account whether or not they wish to purchase $3,199 machines that aren’t suitable with the newest options in Home windows. An AMD chip might have delivered the perfect of each worlds.

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

We additionally run an encode with Handbrake. That is one other closely multithreaded benchmark, nevertheless it runs over an prolonged interval. This calls for the laptop computer’s cooling kick in, and plenty of laptops will throttle and decelerate underneath load.

The Dell 16 Premium accomplished the encode course of in 699 seconds — that’s simply over eleven and a half minutes. It’s a terrific consequence that exhibits this machine’s cooling works effectively. You’d should go as much as an Intel Core Extremely 9 CPU with extra cores for noticeably higher efficiency.

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

Subsequent, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop computer, nevertheless it does have a devoted Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU. We run 3DMark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU efficiency.

With a 3DMark Time Spy rating of 11,016, the Dell 16 Premium was somewhat behind the Alienware 16X Aurora, which coincidentally has the identical mannequin of GPU. However the GPU’s identify isn’t the one factor that issues.

The Alienware 16X Aurora is a gaming laptop computer that runs the GPU with extra energy. The Dell 16 Premium runs its RTX 5070 GPU at 65W TGP, whereas the Alienware 16X Aurora runs its GPU at 115W TGP. So, regardless of the Nvidia graphics on this PC, you aren’t essentially getting graphics horsepower on par with a gaming laptop computer.

General, the Dell 16 Premium delivered glorious efficiency. Until you propose on upgrading to a Core Extremely 9 CPU or switching to a beefier gaming laptop computer, you’re not going to do noticeably higher.

Dell 16 Premium: Battery life

The Dell 16 Premium has an enormous 99.5 Watt-hour battery. That goes proper as much as the road — the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration received’t enable a battery onto an airplane if it’s over 100 Watt hours in measurement.

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Metal on repeat on Home windows 11 with airplane mode enabled till the laptop computer suspends itself. We set the display to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks. It is a best-case situation for any laptop computer since native video playback is so environment friendly, and actual battery life in day-to-day use is all the time going to be lower than this.

The Dell 16 Premium lasted 844 minutes on common, which is about 14 hours. That’s affordable. However, in the true world, that doesn’t essentially imply you’ll make it by means of an eight hour workday, particularly not should you’re working the demanding software program this machine feels prefer it was constructed for.

The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Professional 360, with its slower Intel Lunar Lake processor, lasted over 23 hours in our benchmarks. In case you’re eyeing this machine for its sleekness and minimalism, a machine like that Galaxy E book could also be extra up your alley.

Dell 16 Premium: Conclusion

The Dell 16 Premium is a wonderful, well-built machine with severe care and craftsmanship put into it. It’s additionally a confused hybrid that feels designed by committee. By attempting to marry high-end {hardware} with a svelte laptop computer expertise, Dell has created a compromised expertise.

However the largest downside is the keyboard and trackpad. The dearth of tactile suggestions and the very low 1.0mm of key journey means this laptop computer isn’t nice to sort on for lengthy durations of time. At $3,199, that simply feels unacceptable.

For what it’s value, a Dell consultant famous this explicit configuration has already been on sale for as a lot as $400 off the retail worth. The PC market is all about gross sales, and costs are exhausting to pin down.

Nonetheless, I really feel somewhat unhealthy knocking this laptop computer. The Dell 16 Premium is constructed on a imaginative and prescient that doesn’t actually make sense. However, after the concept stage, everybody concerned knocked it out of the park and did an unbelievable job of bringing that imaginative and prescient to life.