Despite its flashy Snapdragon efficiency, the Inspiron 14 Plus is a bit too expensive for what it offers.
Microsoft’s Copilot+ PCs continue to roll out, and so far are built around Windows on Arm running on Qualcomm Snapdragon X chipsets. Most have used the faster Snapdragon X Elite, but there’s also the Snapdragon X Plus that’s the entry-level chipset presumably aimed at less expensive machines.
The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7441 is the first laptop we’ve reviewed using that chipset, which hasn’t been as commonly used as the Snapdragon X Elite. Unfortunately, the combination of this chip and this laptop at this price doesn’t offer quite enough to beat its competitors.Specs and configurations
The Inspiron 14 Plus 7441 has several configurations, starting at $1,000 for a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 14.0-inch QHD+ IPS display. With this chipset, you can upgrade to a 512GB SSD for $100 more. If you choose the faster Snapdragon X Elite chipset, then you’re automatically upgraded to 1TB of storage for a price of $1,200.
These are similar prices to some other Microsoft Copilot+ laptops, including the HP OmniBook X that’s $1,250 for the same high-end configuration, but with a lower-resolution 2.2K IPS display, and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x that’s $1,244 with a 2.8K OLED display.
The Inspiron 14 Plus 7441 has a lower entry-level price, however, only matched by the Surface Laptop 7th Edition and Surface Pro 11th Edition.
The Apple MacBook Air M3, perhaps the main competition for the new platform, starts at $1,099 with an M3 chipset, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 13.6-inch 2560 x 1664 IPS display. When configured the same as the Inspiron 14 Plus, the MacBook Air M3 is $1,699, making it considerably more expensive.Design
Technically speaking, the Inspiron 14 Plus 7441 belongs to Dell’s midrange lineup. That means it’s aimed at a different crowd than the Dell XPS 13 (7345) that’s a lot more expensive. And you can tell, especially with both laptops sitting side by side. The XPS 13 feels a lot more rigid, especially in the lid. Both are made of aluminum, but the Inspiron 14 Plus 7441 just doesn’t have the same kind of solid feel. It’s a little less solid than the HP OmniBook X, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, and the MacBook Air M3 — although the latter has some of the same kind of flexing in the lid.
The Inspiron is also the simpler and, frankly, less attractive of these competitive laptops. It has rather mundane lines and minimalist color scheme. It’s a little hard to quantify, but the Inspiron 14 Plus 7441 just seems like the outlier among a bunch of more modern-looking machines. I’ll write part of that off to the large top and bottom display bezels, not to mention that the bezels are plastic all around. That by itself makes the Inspiron seem very much like a midrange machine. It might not be entirely fair, but that’s just the way it seemed to me.
Another nod to its midrange status is the Inspiron 14 Plus 7441’s dimensions. It’s around the same width and depth as the OmniBook X, which also has a 14-inch display and similar-sized bezels, but it’s considerably thicker at 0.66 inches versus 0.57 inches. It’s also heavier at 3.17 pounds versus 2.97 pounds. The Yoga Slim 7x beats them both at 0.51 inches and 2.82 inches, while the MacBook Air 13 with a smaller 13.6-inch display is just 0.44 inches thick and 2.7 pounds.
There’s not a lot to fault in the Inspiron’s design, but it also doesn’t stand out to me among its peers. It’s a safe design, but not an impressive one.Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard is the typical island style with large keycaps and plenty of spacing.
