Dell 14 Premium Overview: Creator Laptop computer That is Rock Strong to a Fault

7.2/ 10
SCORE

Dell 14 Premium

Execs

• Stunning 3.2K OLED show
• Quad audio system produce nice sound
• Haptic touchpad feels vigorous and correct
• Glorious webcam

Cons

• Shockingly heavy for the scale
• Unimpressive battery life
• Kind-over-function touch-sensitive perform row
• Restricted port choice and adapter prices further

Dell should equate “premium” with sturdiness and heft. That is the one cause I can consider as to why the Dell 14 Premium is without doubt one of the hardiest and heaviest 14-inch laptops I’ve ever encountered. On the plus aspect, it is extraordinarily properly constructed to the purpose of feeling like a block of granite. The draw back is being pressured to hold round what appears like a block of granite.

Most 14-inch laptops weigh round 3 kilos, however the Dell 14 Premium is nearer to 4 kilos. Decide it up for the primary time, and its heft will definitely shock you. It is also stunning as a result of there’s actually nothing out of the strange about its make-up. There are RTX graphics choices, however my check system options built-in graphics together with a typical Intel Core Extremely processor, 32GB of RAM and a single M.2 SSD. Even the battery is of a standard dimension. And it is all enclosed in a regular, all-aluminum chassis that is a bit of thicker than standard, however nonetheless properly beneath an inch thick.

I am extra keen to miss a heavier-than-average weight with the Dell 16 Premium as a result of portability is much less of a priority with a 16-inch laptop computer. With a 14-inch laptop computer, I assume most individuals will wish to transfer round with it to a point, and lugging a 3.8-pound brick of a laptop computer will get outdated quick.

The Dell 14 Premium begins at $1,550 however has constantly been on sale for $1,000 since I obtained my check system weeks in the past and began monitoring the value. The bottom mannequin options an Intel Core Extremely 7 255H CPU, 16GB of RAM, built-in Intel Arc 140T graphics, a 512GB SSD and a 14.5-inch 2K non-touch LCD. (The LCD will lighten the load by 0.13 kilos.)

My check system has a full value of $2,050, however is commonly on sale for $1,450. It options three upgrades:

• 32GB of RAM
• 1TB SSD
• 3.2K OLED with contact help

There are a couple of upgrades not included in my check system. You possibly can bump as much as a Core Extremely 7 265H CPU, increase the reminiscence to 64GB and the storage to 2TB and swap the built-in GPU for Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics. That is the lone GPU improve choice; the bigger Dell 16 Premium gives RTX 50 sequence GPUs, however these aren’t supplied right here.

The Dell 14 Premium begins at £1,499 in the UK and AU$2,598 in Australia.

Dell 14 Premium efficiency

Primarily based on Intel Arrow Lake CPUs, the Dell 14 Premium is constructed extra for energy than effectivity. The Core Extremely 7 255H is a higher-powered model of the Core Extremely 200V chips from Lunar Lake that you will discover on extra mainstream laptops just like the Dell 14 Plus. 

As you’ll be able to see within the benchmark charts on the finish of this evaluation, the Dell 14 Premium outpaced the Dell 14 Plus and different Lunar Lake laptops on most assessments. It confirmed particularly sturdy multicore efficiency due to its excessive core rely: 16 bodily cores made up of six efficiency cores, eight effectivity cores and two low-power environment friendly cores. Examine that with the favored Core Extremely 258V, which has a complete of eight cores (4 efficiency and 4 low-power environment friendly cores). Regardless of its lofty standing amongst Home windows laptops, nevertheless, the Dell 14 Premium was no match for the M5 MacBook Pro and M4 MacBook Air on our assessments. 

The Dell 14 Premium prioritizes energy on the expense of battery life. There was a time not too way back when lasting greater than 10 hours on our YouTube streaming battery drain check was a wonderful outcome. Right this moment, that determine is beneath common. You may get battery life that is hours and hours longer with a MacBook Professional or Air, in addition to Home windows laptops primarily based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon X series processor or different Intel fashions with a extra environment friendly Lunar Lake chip.

Learn extra: Laptop CPUs in 2025 Explained: What to Know Before Buying Your Next Laptop

Daring seems to be however heavyweight

The Dell 14 Premium has the identical placing design because the Dell 16 Premium. It is an ultra-sparse look with a borderless touchpad, latticeless keyboard and performance row consisting of touch-sensitive icons. You possibly can learn in additional element about my ideas on the general design in my Dell 16 Premium review, however the fast of it’s this: I like the haptic touchpad and the dearth of borders is not a problem, and I appreciated typing on the latticeless keyboard greater than I believed I’d. However I would actually prefer to commerce the slick perform row for a standard row of bodily keys.

I would additionally just like the Dell 14 Premium to shed some weight. At 3.8 kilos, it shortly turns into a burden to hold round. A 14-inch laptop computer must be lighter, particularly one marketed as “superb for creators on the go.” Even the 14-inch MacBook Professional, which is constructed extra for energy than portability, just like the Dell 14 Premium, is sort of half a pound lighter at 3.4 kilos. In the event you drop right down to the three.3-pound Dell 14 Plus, you may shave off half a pound. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a gaming/content material creation hybrid and can also be a half-pound lighter than the Dell 14 Premium. And plenty of 14-inch laptops are a lot lighter and weigh lower than 3 kilos, together with the HP OmniBook X 14 and Acer Swift 14. After which there’s the Asus Zenbook A14, which is not a content material creation laptop computer however weighs simply 2.2 kilos.

Just like the bigger Premium laptop computer, the Dell 14 Premium serves up an OLED show. It is not the 4K panel of the Dell 16 Premium, however that is overkill for a 14.5-inch show anyway (and would solely shorten battery life.) The OLED right here has a 3.2K decision — that is 3,200×2,000 pixels — and it is a magnificence. Photographs and textual content appeared tremendous sharp, and also you get the standard OLED advantages of vivid, correct colours and glorious distinction with deep black ranges.

As with many OLEDs, the Dell 14 Premium is not the brightest panel round. However OLEDs needn’t get as vivid as IPS panels as a result of their efficient zero-nit black ranges and superior distinction enable them to provide a wonderful picture without having to get as vivid. On my show assessments with a Spyder X Elite colorimeter, the Dell 14 Premium got here up a bit quick towards its 400-nit ranking, hitting a peak brightness of 359 nits. Its colour efficiency was sturdy, overlaying 100% of sRGB, 87% of AdobeRGB and 99% of P3.

I had the show brightness set to its most practically the whole time I used the Dell 14 Premium, together with on overcast days and at evening. However I hardly ever needed to go larger, partially as a result of the shiny display screen coating is not overly reflective, permitting me to obviously see what’s on the display screen except I had the brightest of backdrops behind me. In the event you’re keen to forego contact help, the non-touch show choice is rated for 500 nits.

I actually appreciated the complete sound of the quad audio system on the Dell 16 Premium and was excited to see that Dell discovered room for 4 audio system right here. The audio output sounds dynamic and full, with even a touch of bass response — a rarity in a laptop computer.

The picture from the 1080p webcam seems to be so good that I believed it was from a 1440p digital camera. It produces a clear, well-balanced picture that may have you ever trying your greatest on video calls. And it additionally has an IR sensor for facial recognition logins, along with an influence button that doubles as a fingerprint reader, supplying you with a second safe biometric choice.

I would describe the port choice as restricted however quick. You get three Thunderbolt 4 ports, which is nice, however there aren’t any USB Kind-A ports. And Dell does not embody an adapter however makes you pay $35 for it, which I discover offensive. There’s additionally a microSD card slot, which you would possibly discover helpful, however much more creators would discover a full-size SD card slot much more helpful.

Is the Dell 14 Premium value shopping for?

As a lot as I just like the smooth seems to be, OLED show, quad audio system and webcam, I am unable to supply a lot of a suggestion for this 14-inch block of granite of a laptop computer. Positive, the chassis feels rock strong, but it surely’s a shoulder killer. Until you completely love its minimalistic look, I would steer you as a substitute towards the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 for a extra transportable 14-inch laptop computer that also delivers the products for creators.