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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways
- Dell's Inspiron 16 Plus 7640 varies importantly depending connected the configuration, but the Intel Core Ultra 7, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, 16GB, 1TB configuration is connected merchantability for $1,199.
- It's an incredibly well-rounded laptop that tin swap betwixt tasks with ease, and comes with a fistful of antithetic configurations to lucifer its versatility.
- It's connected the dense side, weighing astir 5 pounds
Dell's Inspiron 16 Plus (7640) is connected merchantability astatine Amazon for $1,199 for the mentation with the Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, 16GB of memory, and Nvidia RTX 4050 graphics card. That's $200 disconnected the regular price.
The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7640 (2024) is an precocious mid-tier laptop for users looking for a large surface and respectable show but who privation to enactment comfortably beneath that $2,000 terms point. Versatility is the sanction of the crippled here, with jack-of-all-trades vigor that gives the Inspiron 16 a estimation for being well-rounded and up for anything.
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Last year, my workfellow Cesar Cadenas went hands-on with the Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 -- the 2023 mentation of this laptop. This year's mentation is simply a subtle follow-up with immoderate upgraded hardware and much AI readiness, but it's comparable successful performance.
The biggest upgrade is the "Meteor Lake" Intel Core Ultra 7 155H oregon Ultra 9 185H processors, with timepiece speeds up to 4.8GHz and 5.1GHz, and an integrated NPU for AI tasks.
AI readiness is an overarching taxable crossed each laptops released this year, and the Inspiron 16 Plus 7640 is nary exception. Of course, this year's mentation besides features the dedicated Copilot cardinal connected its keyboard arsenic portion of Microsoft's propulsion to integrate AI-related tasks into Windows.
Aside from the processors, however, not a batch other has changed. Both versions of the Inspiron 16 Plus travel successful 1 "ice blue" colorway, Dell's chiseled round-edged clamshell design, and the spacious keyboard.
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This laptop's starting value is 4.94 lbs, which decidedly puts it connected the heavier extremity of the spectrum, albeit acceptable for 16 inches (although hardly -- I commuted with this instrumentality for a week, and I tin accidental that it would not beryllium my archetypal prime for a portable laptop).
This year's Inspiron Plus 16 besides has the aforesaid dedicated graphics paper options arsenic past year's: the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 oregon 4060, with 6GB and 8GB of memory, respectively. The integrated Intel UHD oregon Arc GPUs that travel with the lower-end configurations are good for mundane users, but superior creators volition privation to outpouring for the boost successful show imaginable with the Nvidia cards.
Speaking of creators, however, this laptop's show mightiness permission you wanting more. Last year's mentation had a 2.5K solution (2560 x 1600 pixel) surface with a creaseless 120Hz refresh rate, which we noted looked stunning with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060.
This year's exemplary features the aforesaid GPU, resolution, and 120GHz refresh rate. The max 300-nit brightness is fine, but a brighter show with an OLED enactment would person been a bully summation for a mid-range creator-focused laptop. I accidental that's the gully for springing for Dell's XPS 16, from its OLED-equipped enactment of creator-focused laptops.
If you privation an OLED, the XPS 16 starts astatine $2,199 with the aforesaid graphics paper and processor. This suggests Dell is gearing the Inspiron Plus 16 toward mid-range creators who enactment with video and photograph editing, animation, oregon graphic design, but don't request the apical of the enactment successful hardware.
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In that aforesaid vein, Dell told maine that this laptop, portion surely susceptible of moving games, is not intended to beryllium a gaming-first machine. I ran a fewer games connected Steam with my reappraisal unit's GeForce 4060 and 16GB of RAM, and it really performed amended than I thought it would. It is, however, held backmost by the mean brightness.
As with antecedently mentioned use-cases, the Inspiron Plus 16's gaming show aligns with the illustration of idiosyncratic who isn't an avid oregon superior gamer, but does similar to get into immoderate gaming present and again.
The different drawback with this laptop's gaming imaginable is the alternatively large instrumentality that kicks successful erstwhile the hardware starts to vigor up. The grade to which it heats up successful the archetypal spot besides supports the information that it's not peculiarly well-optimized for gaming, particularly for agelong periods of time.
Another betterment from past year's exemplary is the artillery life. During my testing, I got astir 12 hours retired of a azygous charge, which is rather good, fixed the equilibrium struck with the show and performant hardware. Essentially, this is simply a laptop that volition person nary occupation moving an full time and past some.
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Adding to the configuration options, the Inspiron 16 Plus 7640 offers 16GB oregon 32GB of RAM and 512GB to 2TB of storage. It's decidedly bully to spot a 2TB option, but if you opt for that configuration, it'll bring the starting terms up to $1,700, which is lone $100 little than Dell's brand-new XPS 13 with the Snapdragon X Elite processor.
Such is the paradox with versatile, jack-of-all-trades laptops: they surely tin bash it all, but if you opt for the astir souped-up mentation possible, you extremity up paying somewhat much than if you conscionable went for a instrumentality optimized for that usage lawsuit successful the archetypal place.
The Inspiron 16 Plus 7640 shines erstwhile it's taken for what it is: a versatile laptop that isn't the flashiest portion of cogwheel connected the block, but 1 that is reliable and capable. I'm a peculiar instrumentality of Dell laptops due to the fact that of their understated reliability, and this laptop fits that measure well.
ZDNET's buying advice
Dell's Inspiron 16 Plus 7640 is simply a large enactment for consumers who privation a well-rounded laptop with plentifulness of retention and a respectable acceptable of hardware that volition past but don't request a specialized instrumentality oregon necessitate a top-tier display.
The laptop's operation of an Intel Core Ultra 7 oregon Core Ultra 9 processor, the prime of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 oregon 4060 graphics card, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of retention makes for a almighty suite of hardware that is much than well-suited for the needs of the mean consumer, arsenic good arsenic those who dabble successful originative tasks.
If you similar this laptop but don't caput opting for past year's Inspiron 16 Plus (2023), it's importantly marked down, which is little than fractional of this year's exemplary that I reviewed.
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