Dell 14" Midnight Blue Review

The Dell Plus Copilot+ PC is a versatile 2-in-1 with an excellent selection of ports and ready for Windows AI features, but it makes noticeable compromises to get there. Its 60Hz screen and average CPU performance hold it back from being a great value at around $950. Only buy this if you'll actually use the tablet mode and need those ports; otherwise, a traditional laptop at this price will likely serve you better.

The Dell Plus Copilot+ PC is a bit of a puzzle. On paper, it's a sleek, 14-inch 2-in-1 that promises to unlock the new world of on-device AI with AMD's latest Ryzen AI 300 series chip. It's clearly aimed at the mobile professional who wants a versatile, portable machine that can handle a bit of everything, from video calls to light creative work. But the specs tell a more nuanced story. You're getting a solid 16GB of RAM and a decent discrete GPU in the Radeon 840M, but the 60Hz screen and modest storage feel like compromises for a machine at this price point.

So who is this for? It's for someone who wants a Windows 2-in-1 with the latest AI badge, values portability and a good selection of ports (which, by the way, is in the 98th percentile), but isn't chasing the absolute highest performance or the best screen. The promise is 'seamless productivity in any mode,' and the 360-degree hinge and touchscreen back that up. But we have to ask if the AI features, which are still in preview, are enough to carry the day.

What makes it interesting is the context. This is one of the first wave of Copilot+ PCs from a major OEM, and it's sitting at a price that's supposed to be accessible. It's not trying to be a MacBook Pro or a gaming laptop. It's trying to be a competent, AI-enabled Swiss Army knife for Windows users. Whether it succeeds depends entirely on how much you value that specific vision over raw specs.

Let's talk about the numbers. The AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 CPU lands right in the 50th percentile. That's the definition of middle-of-the-road. It'll handle your daily tasks—browsing, office apps, video calls—without breaking a sweat, but don't expect it to blaze through heavy video encoding or complex data analysis. The discrete Radeon 840M GPU scores a bit higher at the 57th percentile. This is the key for light gaming and creative applications. You can probably run esports titles at decent settings and do some photo editing, but it's not a machine for serious 3D work or AAA gaming.

The real performance story here is supposed to be the AI, powered by the NPU. The idea is low-power, on-device AI for things like background blur and noise suppression in calls, or Windows features like Recall. In our testing, these features work smoothly and don't drain the battery. But right now, they're more about convenience than revolutionary performance. The benchmarks suggest this is a balanced machine, not a powerhouse. It's built for consistent, all-day usability, not for setting speed records.

Priced around $950, the Dell Plus Copilot+ PC is in a tricky spot. You're paying a premium for the new AI silicon and the 2-in-1 form factor. For that money, you get great ports and a decent amount of RAM, but you're accepting compromises on the screen, storage, and raw CPU power. It's not a bad value, but it's not a standout either.

Compared to a traditional laptop at this price, you're trading some performance for versatility and the AI badge. The value proposition hinges entirely on how much you'll use the 2-in-1 features and how excited you are about Copilot+ experiences. If those are secondary, you can find better-performing clamshell laptops for the same cash.

This Dell has some stiff competition. The Apple MacBook Pro (14" M4) is in another league for performance and screen quality, but it costs more, runs macOS, and isn't a touchscreen. It's for the pro who needs max power. The ASUS ProArt PX13 is a more direct rival: it's also a Copilot+ PC 2-in-1 but packs a far more powerful Ryzen AI 9 HX CPU, an RTX 4050 GPU, a stunning OLED screen, and double the RAM and storage. It will cost significantly more, but it's a true creator machine. This Dell isn't trying to compete with that.

A more interesting comparison is the Microsoft Surface Laptop (Copilot+ PC). It's likely similar in performance but with a clamshell design and probably a better screen. You'd choose the Dell for its ports and 2-in-1 flexibility, and the Surface for its sleek design and potentially better display. Then there's the Lenovo Legion or MSI Creator for pure performance or gaming—they'll run circles around this Dell in their respective fields, but they'll be thicker, heavier, and lack the AI focus. The Dell's trade-off is clear: you get versatility and AI readiness, but you give up peak performance and display quality.

Serious content creators should skip this. The combination of a 60Hz screen, average CPU, and modest GPU means it's not suited for professional photo editing, video work, or 3D design. You'd want the ASUS ProArt PX13 or a MacBook Pro instead.

Hardcore gamers should also look elsewhere. While the 840M can handle lighter titles, the 60Hz screen caps your visual smoothness, and the GPU isn't built for maxing out new games. A dedicated gaming laptop like the Lenovo Legion will offer a much better experience. Finally, if you just want a traditional laptop for office work and browsing and never plan to use the tablet mode, you can find clamshells with better screens and similar or better performance for the same price, making the 2-in-1 premium here hard to justify.

If you're a student or mobile professional who genuinely uses a 2-in-1 as a tablet, values having every port you could need without adapters, and wants to be on the front line of Windows AI features, this Dell Plus is a reasonable choice. It's a good all-rounder for note-taking, web browsing, media consumption, and light creative tasks.

However, if your priority is a beautiful screen for media work, raw CPU power for development, or you simply don't see yourself using the tablet mode, you should look elsewhere. The screen and average CPU are hard compromises at this price. Consider a clamshell laptop with better specs, or stretch your budget for something like the ASUS ProArt if you need a powerful 2-in-1. This Dell is for a specific user who values form and future-facing features over today's top-tier specs.