Dell’s new Inspiron 16 Plus is a big laptop that is positioned at creators. It’s powerful, performance-focused laptop capable of replacing a desktop PC, yet still something you can pack in your bag to go places with. Here’s my review of the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630.
Despite packing NVIDIA GeForce discrete graphics, 120 Hz 16-inch display, and other performance features, the Inspiron 16 Plus remains surprisingly affordable. There are certainly some places where Dell had to cut some corners, but these may not be deal-breakers for many people.
Dell hasn’t changed the Inspiron design much over the years. The Inspiron 16 Plus’ design is perhaps starting to feel a bit old, yet at the same time, this simple, utilitarian, look is both functional and elegant in a minimalist way.
The huge 16-inch display is offered in two variants: a beautiful 2.5K (2560 x 1600) resolution, 120 Hz, WVA display; or a Full HD+ (1920 x 1200) resolution, WVA display. Both are anti-glare, non-touch, support ComfortView Plus, and boasts 300 nits of brightness.
The 16:10 aspect ratio is in-line with more common laptop setups these days, and it’s a nice layout to work with. The larger screen size benefits from the higher 2.5K resolution, enabling elements on the display to remain sharp and clear.
ComfortView Plus, in case you are not familiar, is Dell’s TÜV Rheinland certified hardware solution that helps keep your eyes comfortable by reducing blue light emissions while preserving true-to-life colour. I don’t detect any tinting in the colours with my naked eyes, though I don’t find colour reproduction to be spectacular anyway.
Testing with my Sypder5PRO colourimeter, the Inspiron 16 Plus’ display scores 98%, 68%, 73%, and 75% coverage in sRGB, NTSC, AdobeRGB, and P3 respectively. This seems rather run-of-the-mill, and while it is not bad at all, I think creative professionals may expect a bit more.
There’s a Full HD webcam that sits centred atop the display. It comes with a manual privacy shutter, good for anyone who is concerned with webcams being activated unintentionally. This webcam does not do Windows Hello logins. Sitting beside the camera are dual microphones and AI background noise reduction.
The keyboard deck of the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus is truly expansive. In some ways, it reminds me of the big old MacBook Pros.
The keys are backlit and spaced out nicely, so the keyboard does not feel crammed at all. All the keys are in their usual spaces. I would have preferred an inverted-T navigation arrow keys, but the arrangement on this laptop is not uncommon. Typing is comfortable, and given the huge keyboard deck, there’s plenty of space to rest your palms on.
The touchpad is big, though given the size of the keyboard deck, it seems a missed opportunity for Dell to make it even bigger. It is, however, perfectly functional, and I’ve no trouble using it to navigate and getting all the Windows Precision gestures to work.
The power button at the top right corner of the keyboard also serves as a fingerprint reader. Windows Hello works with this.
For sound, the Inspiron 16 Plus is fitted with quad speakers for one of the better, fuller, sound experiences you’d find in a laptop. The bass is just a touch weak in comparison to other frequencies, but overall, the audio is very enjoyable to listen to. They are really good for online meetings, or podcasts.
There aren’t a whole lot of ports on the Inspiron 16 Plus, but the few you get will probably suffice. Starting on the left side, you’ll find the power barrel jack, HDMI 2.0 port, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port, and Thunderbolt 4.0 port.
Around on the right side, you’ll get a second USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port, 3,5 mm audio jack, and a microSD slot (RTX 4060 models only, a standard SD card slot replaces the microSD slot on other models).
The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus is powered by either 13th generation Intel Core i5-13500H or i7-13700H processors. For discrete graphics options, there are NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050, RTX 4050, or RTX 4060, all with 8 GB GDDR6 memory. You can also get the Inspiron 16 Plus with only just the integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics.
Memory options range 8 GB DDR5 to 64 GB DDR5 memory.
For storage, the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus offers 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, or 2 TB PCIe NVMe solid state storage.
The Inspiron 16 Plus is provided with a 130 Watt AC adapter. Integrated graphics SKUs get a 130 Watt USB Type-C adapter. The built-in battery has 86 Whr capacity.
Dell claims a battery life of 6 hrs 20 mins on MobileMark 2018 based on this review unit’s configuration. You’ll get an hour extra with the RTX 3050 configuration, or double the battery life with the integrated graphics SKU.
My review unit was configured with an i7-13700 with RTX 4060 GPU, 16 GB of RAM, and 1 TB of storage.
The Geekbench 6 benchmark scores are:
- Single: 2598
- Multi: 13070
- Compute: 15667 (integrated), 93857 (discrete)
Cinebench R23 score is 12086.
The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus is a capable laptop that, despite the inclusion of NVIDIA GPUs, remain affordably priced. The large 16-inch 2.5K display is nice, though it may perhaps fall short of the expectations of creative professionals. Nevertheless, the size is great for those who need all the screen space they can get.
There’s enough performance to handle more demanding workloads. You can likely get by with a couple of hours of productive work on the go, but you’ll need to forgo the discrete graphics options if you want to work untethered to a power outlet all day.
The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus as configured in this review (i7-13700H, RTX 4060, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB storage) retails at $1,999 from Dell’s website. This is quite an awesome deal because SKUs with lesser-capable specifications is selling for more!
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