Dell 16 Plus overview: An incredible Copilot+ laptop computer that does not break the financial institution

The Dell 16 Plus is a 16-inch laptop computer that delivers good efficiency and a stable all-around expertise at an inexpensive worth. The Dell 16 Plus is a laptop computer designed for the true world — it’s well-designed, nevertheless it clearly received’t flip any heads or win any awards for costly high-end touches. Should you’re in search of a 16-inch workhorse, it’s a sensible choice.

That’s very true since you’re getting Intel’s newest Lunar Lake processors right here, whereas different laptops at this worth vary will typically have previous-generation CPUs.

In 2025, Dell axed its XPS, Inspiron, and Latitude manufacturers. Now, it’s all consolidated every part beneath a single model. The Dell 16 Plus looks as if it’s the religious successor to final 12 months’s Dell Inspiron 16 Plus.

Dell 16 Plus: Specs

The Dell 16 Plus is a 16-inch laptop computer with an Intel Core Extremely (Sequence 2) processor — Intel’s Lunar Lake {hardware}, in different phrases. Our overview mannequin had an Intel Core Extremely 7 256V processor together with 16 GB of RAM and Intel Arc 140V graphics. Since that is Lunar Lake, you get a neural processing unit (NPU) for AI duties and Copilot+ PC options in Home windows.

Dell says this mannequin retails for $1149, however the Dell on-line retailer is promoting it for $799 as I’m wrapping up this overview. Dell has additionally identified this PC has been on deeper gross sales just lately, going for as little as $699 on Dell’s on-line retailer. That’s a critical worth contemplating this machine has a contemporary Intel Lunar Lake processor, whereas different laptops in that price range vary will often have previous-generation {hardware}.

This machine can also be out there with a wide range of different CPU configurations — from an Intel Core Extremely 5 226V processor up by means of an Intel Core Extremely 9 288V processor. You even have totally different RAM, storage, and show choices. Whereas our overview mannequin didn’t have a contact display screen, this machine can also be out there with a contact display screen.

• Mannequin quantity: DB16250
• CPU: Intel Core Extremely 7 256V
• Reminiscence: 16GB LPDDR5x RAM
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V
• NPU: Intel AI Increase (as much as 48 TOPS)
• Show: 2560×1600 IPS show
• Storage: 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD
• Webcam: 1080p webcam with bodily privateness shutter
• Connectivity: 2x USB Kind-C (One Thunderbolt 4, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2), 1x USB Kind-A (USB 3.2 Gen 1), 1x HDMI 2.1 out, and 1x combo audio jack
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Fingerprint reader and IR digital camera for Home windows Good day
• Battery capability: 64 Watt-hours
• Dimensions: 14.05 x 9.87 x 0.67 inches
• Weight: 4.12 kilos
• MSRP: $1,149 as examined

Dell 16 Plus: Design and construct high quality

The Dell 16 Plus is properly designed and stable. It’s just a little on the heavy facet at 4.12 kilos, nevertheless it’s additionally just a little on the bigger facet at 16 inches, in order that is sensible. The 0.67-inch thickness could be very affordable, and the laptop computer doesn’t really feel notably thick.

The chassis is constituted of a mix of supplies — aluminum on the lid and base and plastic on the palm relaxation and bezel. The plastic feels good — it has a barely matte texture.

The hinge works properly, and it opens to 180 levels so you’ll be able to lie this machine flat. As you rotate the hinge open, the again of the laptop computer (the half close to the hinge) tilts up, and that angle helps you sort comfortably.

The “Ice Blue” colour scheme right here appears so much like silver to me — with a little bit of a blue sheen in the proper lighting.

This machine has good construct high quality — there’s nothing unhealthy about it. However it doesn’t have the high-end touches (all metallic, or tremendous light-weight carbon fiber or ceramic-based “ceraluminum“) that high-end, dearer machines ship.

Dell 16 Plus: Keyboard and trackpad

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Dell 16 Plus has an excellent keyboard. The important thing journey feels good and there’s a crisp “clicky” motion after I press down on them. It’s responsive and nothing feels mushy. There’s additionally a white keyboard backlight you need to use.

The inclusion of a full-size quantity pad on the proper facet of this 16-inch laptop computer keyboard at all times feels just a little divisive. On the one hand, many individuals select 16-inch laptops to allow them to have a full-size keyboard with a quantity pad, and that enter technique is especially helpful for sure workflows — for those who spend a variety of time utilizing spreadsheets or in any other case getting into numbers. However, some folks aren’t followers of the quantity pad and will choose a laptop computer with out one. Personally, I wish to see a quantity pad on a 16-inch laptop computer the place there’s room for one.

The touchpad is sweet and huge, and it feels responsive. I do suppose a pleasant glass-surface touchpad feels smoother to glide your finger over — it is a plastic floor — nevertheless it’s a big and responsive touchpad.

The mannequin we acquired doesn’t have a touchscreen, so maintain that in thoughts — if you’d like that, you’ll need to search out a Dell 16 Plus mannequin that does have one or select a special laptop computer. I do choose having a contact display screen — simply as an choice — however I do know many individuals don’t care.

Dell 16 Plus: Show and audio system

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The Dell 16 Plus we reviewed has a 16-inch 2560×1600 IPS show with an anti-glare coating and as much as 300 nits of brightness together with a 120Hz refresh fee. That’s an excellent decision and I used to be happy to see a higher-than-60Hz refresh fee right here.

The anti-glare coating works fairly properly, and it helps make up for the marginally dim show. However it’s completely readable inside. Even with harsh daylight, the anti-glare coating does an excellent job and ensures you don’t must crank up the brightness simply to see the display screen.

The show appears high-quality — it’s a wonderfully serviceable show. However it’s an entry-level show. For this overview, Dell additionally offered me with a Dell 16 Plus mannequin with a higher-end show so I may evaluate the choices. Particularly, they loaned me a mannequin with a touchscreen and a mini-LED show with 600 nits of minimal brightness — mannequin quantity DB16250. This mannequin appears nice: The colours have been noticeably extra vivid, and it was noticeable even on the default desktop background. Nonetheless, that’s a pricier show, and it additionally has a shiny coating that produces extra reflections.

The Dell 16 Plus has a dual-speaker setup that produces clear, clear audio with a reasonably loud most quantity. I don’t hear any distortion on the most quantity, so it is a good speaker setup. It isn’t a high-end speaker configuration, naturally: I take a look at all of the laptops I overview with each Steely Dan’s Aja and Daft Punk’s Get Fortunate. The instrument separation in Aja wasn’t as crisp as you’d hear on the type of audio system audiophiles love, and the punchy bass in Get Fortunate was missing. However that’s commonplace for laptop computer audio system, and these are stable audio system for the worth vary. I at all times need to pair an excellent pair of headphones or exterior audio system with my laptops.

Dell 16 Plus: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Dell 16 Plus has a 1080p webcam with a bodily webcam shutter, and that’s at all times an incredible privateness characteristic to see! The webcam itself is evident sufficient — there’s extra visible noise than I’d anticipate to see on the type of high-end webcam you typically see on enterprise laptops, nevertheless it’s greater than ok for on-line conferences and video calls.

Dell says the dual-array microphone setup right here has AI noise discount. In follow, the microphone sounds unexpectedly good, with clear audio and stable noise cancellation of PC followers whirring away in my workplace.

The Dell 16 Plus mannequin we reviewed has each a fingerprint reader on the top-right nook of the keyboard and an IR digital camera for facial recognition. Gaining access to each forms of biometrics is especially spectacular at this worth vary.

Dell 16 Plus: Connectivity

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Dell 16 Plus’s connectivity is respectable however just a little missing. On the proper facet, this machine has a combo audio jack together with a USB Kind-A (USB 3.2 Gen 1) port.

On the left facet, it has an HDMI 2.1 out port together with two USB Kind-C ports — one among them helps Thunderbolt 4 and one helps USB 3.2 Gen 2speeds. Whereas the ports are clearly labeled and it’s good to have Thunderbolt 4 as an choice, it might be good in the event that they have been each Thunderbolt 4 ports.

This machine expenses by way of USB-C. Since that’s the case, you’ll at all times need to plug the charger right into a port on the left facet. That’s just a little annoying. You’d have extra flexibility if Dell had put a USB Kind-C port on all sides.

All in all, it is a restricted port choice for a 16-inch laptop computer. It’s not exhausting to think about that many individuals would need extra ports — for instance, a second USB Kind-A port or perhaps a microSD card reader. You’ll be able to at all times get a dongle or dock, however remember that you might have to for those who want a variety of peripherals.

Due to Lunar Lake, this machine is future-proof with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 help, which is nice to see.

Dell 16 Plus: Efficiency

The Dell 16 Plus offered good efficiency in desktop productiveness apps — Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Phrase, Slack, and all the standard apps I discover myself utilizing all day. Lunar Lake programs ship good efficiency in real-world desktop utilization.

As at all times, although we ran the Dell 16 Plus by means of our commonplace benchmarks to see the way it performs.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

First, we run PCMark 10 to get an concept of general system efficiency. With an general PCMark 10 rating of seven,229, the Dell 16 Plus delivered stable efficiency — decrease solely than programs with sooner CPUs.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Subsequent, we run Cinebench R20. It is a closely multithreaded benchmark that focuses on general CPU efficiency. Because it’s closely multithreaded, CPUs with extra cores have an enormous benefit. That’s what we noticed right here — programs with Lunar Lake CPUs are available in behind. Sadly, that is considerably decrease multithreaded efficiency than final 12 months’s Dell Inspiron 16 Plus with its Meteor Lake CPU.

IDG / 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 beneath load. Which may be what occurred right here — the encode course of took 1,773 seconds (practically half-hour) to finish the encode course of. It lags behind different Lunar Lake-powered programs we’ve examined.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Subsequent, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop computer, nevertheless it’s nonetheless good to examine how the GPU performs. We run 3Dmark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU efficiency. With a rating of three,978, the Intel Arc 140V graphics right here delivered wonderful graphics efficiency for built-in graphics.

General, the Dell 16 Plus delivered completely usable desktop productiveness efficiency because of Lunar Lake. However Lunar Lake’s massive draw back — low multithreaded efficiency in heavy multithreaded workloads — is on full show right here. This machine appears to be a bit behind different Lunar Lake-powered programs, and it’s far behind final 12 months’s mannequin on this benchmark.

Dell 16 Plus: Battery life

The Dell 16 Plus has a 64 Watt-hour battery, which is on the smaller facet for a 16-inch laptop computer. Nonetheless, since this machine packs power-efficient Lunar Lake {hardware}, we’d anticipate to see it ship some critical battery life.

IDG / 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 screen 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 at all times going to be lower than this.

The Dell 16 Plus lasted 856 minutes, or simply over 14 hours. That’s on the decrease facet for a Lunar Lake-powered machine, nevertheless it’s doubtless that the mixture of a smaller battery and maybe a show that’s sucking extra energy is contributing to that — it’s robust to say. When you’ll get decrease battery life than this in the true world, I don’t suppose it is a critical subject — a 16-inch laptop computer that’s over 4 kilos feels designed for use at a desk a variety of the time. You may get loads of time away from an outlet.

Dell 16 Plus: Conclusion

I just like the Dell 16 Plus so much. However on the subject of worth, the worth is an enormous issue: At $1,149 retail, I’m so much much less excited than the $799 or much less worth I see proper now! It’s not simply concerning the internals: Selections like together with each a fingerprint reader and an IR digital camera present Dell going above and past what it must at this worth vary.

Trying over the benchmarks, I wasn’t as thrilled as I anticipated to be: Lunar Lake is all about battery life enhancements, however the base Dell 16 Plus makes use of that effectivity improve to drop the battery dimension. I reviewed final 12 months’s Dell Inspiron 16 Plus with Meteor Lake, which was packing a bigger 90 Watt-hour battery, and that machine delivered longer battery life together with stronger multithreaded efficiency. (After all, final 12 months’s mannequin is heavier and this new Lunar Lake-powered system has higher graphics efficiency.)

It’s true that this technique does have an NPU for Copilot+ PC AI options, however Microsoft hasn’t made these essential improve but. I want Intel’s Lunar Lake was extra of a no brainer improve.

Nonetheless, it is a stable PC. At a sale worth of $799 or so, none of those issues really feel like they matter.