A powerful, reasonably priced big-screen laptop, the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus is equally capable of rendering graphics-intensive games at 1080p as it is playing a 4K movie on an airplane tray table. The laptop occupies a small slice of the market between Dell’s premium large notebooks (like the XPS 17) and bargain models (like the Inspiron 5000 series). So far, the Inspiron 16 Plus (starts at $940.79; $1,352.39 as tested) has the market mostly to itself, but we expect new entrants over the next year. But with this laptop as good as it is—our new Editors’ Choice award winner for midrange desktop replacements—there’s little reason to wait.
Getting Bigger All the Time
Laptops with 16-inch screens were once rare because of physical design limitations. But just as you can now find plenty of 14-inch models that are no bigger than older 13-inch designs—the HP Spectre x360 14 being an excellent example—so too can you find 16-inch screens in chassis that would once have been limited to 15 inches. Apple jump-started the category with its ultra-high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro; Lenovo recently introduced its Legion 5 Pro gaming laptop; and now we’re starting to see other options. The fact that Dell decided to put its first 16-inch laptop in the wallet-friendly Inspiron family rather than the premium XPS line is a boon to value seekers. But unlike many Inspirons we’ve reviewed before—especially the recent, rather uninspiring Inspiron 15 7000 series—you’d be hard-pressed to tell that even the deluxe configurations of this laptop still cost under $1,500.
One of those up-ticked configurations is the model reviewed here, which combines Intel’s latest 11th Generation H-series Core i7 CPU and the latest GeForce RTX 3000-series graphics processor from Nvidia. The Core H-series and RTX 3000 GPUs are the cream of the laptop crop, and with a few exceptions like the XPS 17 and XPS 15, they’re mostly found in gaming rigs. They’re certainly rare if not nonexistent in budget general-purpose models like the HP Pavilion and Lenovo IdeaPad families.
Our test unit also comes with 16GB of memory and a 512GB solid-state drive, which should meet the needs of most buyers. While 16GB is the memory ceiling, you can upgrade to a 1TB SSD if you need more space, and can even install a second SSD yourself (more on that later). Likewise, the eight-core Core i7-11800H is the flagship CPU option (there’s no Core i9 available), but you can upgrade the GPU from the RTX 3050 in our system to the RTX 3060. Most buyers won’t need the graphics upgrade; you’d only get it if you know you can take advantage of the additional 2GB of video memory (for a total of 6GB) the RTX 3060 offers over the RTX 3050.
Meanwhile, the entry-level Inspiron 16 Plus features a six-core Intel Core i5-11400H, 8GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD. This version lacks a discrete GPU, relying instead on the Intel UHD integrated graphics built into the processor. Still, for less than $1,000, the entry-level config represents excellent value for money.
All Eyes on the 16-Inch, 3K Screen
The 16-inch screen is the main reason why the Inspiron 16 Plus is such a good deal, even if you don’t need the advanced capabilities of the Core i7 and RTX 3050. It’s the sole display option, with a unique resolution of 3,072 by 1,920 pixels. That translates to a 16:10 aspect ratio, which still qualifies as a widescreen for comfortable movie watching and spreadsheet editing but gives you a bit more vertical room than a 16:9 display. That means you can see more of a web page before you need to scroll.
In our testing, the screen displayed 100% of the sRGB color gamut (more on that later), matching its rating. The matte finish does dull colors a bit, but you might prefer it over a glossy screen for its ability to reduce glare from ambient light. As it stands, the Inspiron’s backlight is relatively dim, measured at 298 nits in our testing, but the matte finish helps make up for it. Other large laptops, including the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4, push 400 nits of brightness. Overall, the Dell’s display offers a perfectly enjoyable viewing experience, with the only unequivocal downside being a lack of touch support.
The 16-inch screen is also notable because it essentially fits into the same size chassis. Thanks in part to thinner bezels and the 16:10 aspect ratio, the Inspiron 16 Plus is only 5% bigger than its 15.6-inch stablemate while affording 11% more screen area. The laptop measures 0.75 by 14 by 9.7 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.43 pounds, about average for its class. The 16-inch MacBook Pro, in contrast, is 0.64 by 14.1 by 9.7 inches and weighs 4.3 pounds.
Could We Get a Bit More Color?
To my eyes, the Mist Blue color scheme of the Inspiron 16 Plus looks rather dull. I usually appreciate it when laptop makers branch out from the usual silver or gray, but in this case the blue tint is so faint that it might as well be gray. Bright silver accents on the diamond-cut edges of the base and around the touchpad further contribute to the odd color choices. But aesthetics are, of course, a matter of preference, and the Inspiron 16 Plus is anything but ugly. The aluminum finish also helps set it apart from the usual polycarbonate Inspiron notebooks, and the chassis is reassuringly sturdy, with a stiff display hinge and no hint of flex when you strike the keys forcefully.
The typing experience is also a high point of the Inspiron 16 Plus. The keyboard’s 1.3mm of vertical travel might seem short at first, but the sturdy key switches and the satisfying thud they make when pressed help offset it. Overall, the Inspiron 16 Plus offers a very similar typing experience to what you can expect from the excellent Surface Laptop 4. The main difference is that the Inspiron has a dedicated number pad on the right, which makes the layout a bit more cramped but will appeal to spreadsheet jockeys with small or medium-size fingers.
Following industry trends, the Dell’s touchpad is gigantic, taking up nearly the entire vertical area between the spacebar and the edge of the chassis. It affords plenty of room for cursor movements from one corner of the 16-inch screen to the other, but as with any large mechanical pad, the clicking mechanism tends to be too stiff at the top and too mushy at the bottom.
In the top right corner of the keyboard, you’ll find the power button, which doubles as a fingerprint reader. It’s your only option for signing into your Windows 10 account without typing a password, since the Inspiron 16 Plus lacks a face-recognition webcam. The camera does have an unobtrusive mechanical shutter to thwart snooping. Its video quality is also surprisingly decent for a 720p webcam, with colors that aren’t washed out and only a hint of noise when used in a well-lit room.
Full-Size HDMI, Average-Size Speakers
While upgraded sound quality is often a selling point for premium large-screen laptops like the MacBook Pro and the XPS 17, the Inspiron 16 Plus’s two speakers deliver rather pedestrian audio, more befitting of its price. Don’t be fooled by the giant grille above the keyboard that looks like it’s for speakers; it’s mostly for heat exhaust from the cooling system. The real speakers project from two slits at the bottom of the chassis, with the sound bouncing off your desk or whatever surface the laptop is resting on.
Connectivity options include a full-size HDMI output and two USB ports on the left edge, with an SD card slot, a third USB port, and a headphone jack on the right. Two of the USB ports are of the rectangular Type-A variety and support USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds, while the third is an oval USB-C connector with Thunderbolt 4 speeds. It’s nice to see Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI ports on a laptop at this price, but it would be even better if the Inspiron 16 Plus had at least one more USB-C connector.
Wireless connectivity comprises an Intel Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) module with 2×2 MIMO support, as well as Bluetooth support.
While the Inspiron 16 Plus ships from the factory with a single SSD, the motherboard actually has room for a second drive in another M.2 slot that supports the latest PCI Express 4.0 interface. You can install a drive that you bought yourself fairly easily, as the M.2 slots are accessible as soon as you remove the base cover by loosening its screws. The PCIe 4.0 slot supports drives with capacities of up to 2TB, which means if you order the 1TB configuration from the factory, you can outfit your Inspiron 16 Plus with 3TB of solid-state storage.
Testing the Inspiron 16 Plus: Excellent Everyday Computing Performance
Everyday performance from the Inspiron 16 Plus is first-rate. I experienced no sluggishness while installing apps or browsing the web with multiple tabs open, and the large screen is especially suited to the latter task. Comparatively speaking, the Inspiron also benchmarks well against its competitors, which include gaming rigs like the Alienware m15 R5 as well as general-purpose desktop replacements like the HP Pavilion x360 15 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4. While the 16-inch MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 17 are much more expensive, you might also consider the latter if you have the budget for it, so I’m including it as a comparison system in our benchmark charts.
Let’s take a look at the test results below to see just how well the Inspiron does. On the all-encompassing PCMark 10 test, it easily clears the 4,000-point mark that represents excellent office productivity. In fact, it approaches 6,000 points and is not far behind the XPS 17, which is equipped with the same processor but twice the memory. Our PCMark 10 benchmark simulates different real-world productivity and content creation workflows; we use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet work, web browsing, and videoconferencing.
We also run the Geekbench and PCMark 10 Full System Drive tests, which isolate the contributions of the CPU and SSD respectively. We don’t have complete test results for these new additions to our benchmark suite, but it’s still reassuring to note that the Inspiron came out on top in Geekbench. (See more about how we test laptops.)
To approximate more complex multimedia content creation, we render a 3D image in Cinebench, transcode a 4K video clip in HandBrake, and apply filters and effects in Photoshop using an automated test developed by Puget Systems. The Inspiron 16 Plus proved competitive in all these tests, outpacing the Pavilion x360 15 (which to be fair is several hundred dollars cheaper).
While the Inspiron isn’t a gaming laptop per se, it does feature a gaming-class GPU, so its performance in our 3DMark and GFXBench gaming simulations fell below the Alienware but far surpassed the integrated graphics of the HP and Microsoft laptops. You can even run graphics-intensive games on it and still expect an enjoyable experience; I saw 55 frames per second (fps) playing at 1080p resolution with medium graphics settings in the demanding Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Less demanding games like Rainbow Six: Siege run even more smoothly; the Dell averaged 150fps in that title at 1080p with Ultra quality settings.
Lasting for nearly 13 hours in our video rundown test, the Inspiron 16 Plus offers excellent battery life for a desktop replacement. It wasn’t long ago that large laptops with powerful CPUs and GPUs struggled to break five hours of battery life, but today the Inspiron only finished between the Surface Laptop 4 and XPS 17.
Today’s Top Midrange Desktop Replacement
Sixteen-inch laptops aren’t for everyone, and there are still relatively few alternatives to the Inspiron 16 Plus that share the same screen size. But if you were already in the market for a reasonably priced 15.6-inch notebook, why not spring for a slightly larger screen in roughly the same size? The Inspiron is an obvious affirmative answer to that question, and we especially like that it manages to offer near-gaming-laptop processing and graphics power without draining your wallet or compromising on build quality. If Dell offered the Inspiron 16 Plus in more color options and with a touch-enabled display, it would be nearly flawless. As is, if you want those features you can find them in the also excellent XPS 15 and XPS 17, but will have to pay considerably more. You might also decide to wait a few months, as there are sure to be at least a few more 16-inch laptops on the horizon. For most other situations, though, the Inspiron 16 Plus is a remarkable value play and a well-deserved Editors’ Choice winner among affordable desktop replacement laptops.
