Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1: Nice features on a budget

This Inspiron has high-end laptop aspirations, but with a few downsides.

- JARED NEWMAN

The Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 occupies an unusual spot in the company’s laptop lineup.

While Dell tends to reserve the Inspiron line for its cheapest and clunkiest consumer-grade computers, the Inspiron 14 2-in-1 borrows a handful of elements from higher-end laptops, including a metal lid, a fingerprint reader, surprisingly great speakers, and a sharp touchscreen that flips around into tablet mode. However, further inspection reveals where the compromises lie.

The display is on the dim side, the chassis is part plastic, the trackpad has a chintzy click mechanism, and the laptop is heavier than high-end computers with similar specs. But if you can snag the Inspiron 14 2-in-1 for less than its $1,049 list price, those trade-offs may be worthwhile.

TECH SPECS

Our particular Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 review unit costs $1,049 from Dell (fave.co/3p2ZX9i) but has frequently been on sale for $800 and it includes the following specs:

• AMD Ryzen 7 5700U CPU

• 14-inch, 1920×1080 IPS touchscreen

• 16GB DD4-3200 RAM

• 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe solid state storage

• 720p webcam

• Fingerprint reader

• Left side: HDMI 1.4b, USB-A 3.1 Gen 1, USB-C 3.2 Gen 1

• Right side: Headphone jack, USB-A 3.1 Gen 1, MicroSD card slot