Dell 16 Touchscreen Laptop -AMD Review
This Dell laptop packs 32GB of RAM for a good price, but you'll pay for it with a bulky design, a mediocre screen, and underwhelming graphics performance.
Overview
This Dell 16-inch laptop is a weird one. It's got a solid amount of RAM and storage for the price, but it's held back by some truly baffling choices. The one thing you need to know? It's a big, heavy machine that feels like it's from a different era, and its performance doesn't justify the bulk.
Performance
The AMD Ryzen 7 CPU is decent, landing in the 72nd percentile, so it'll handle your code compilation or video exports without too much sweat. But the discrete Radeon R7 GPU is a major letdown, sitting in the bottom 18th percentile. For a laptop this size and weight, you'd expect way more graphical power. It's fine for basic tasks, but calling it a 'creator' or 'developer' machine feels like a stretch.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- 32GB of RAM is a fantastic amount for multitasking and VMs. 78th
- The 1TB SSD is a good starting point and easy to upgrade. 77th
- You get Windows 11 Pro out of the box, which is nice for power users. 76th
- The backlit keyboard and WiFi 6 are basic modern essentials done right. 75th
Cons
- It's a tank. At nearly 3kg, it's the opposite of portable. 7th
- The screen is mediocre. A 1200p panel on a 16-inch laptop in 2024 is disappointing. 20th
- GPU performance is weak. Don't plan on any serious gaming or GPU-heavy creative work. 29th
- Build quality and reliability scores are low, which is a red flag for a daily driver. 33th
Specifications
Full Specifications
Processor
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 250 |
| Cores | 8 |
| Frequency | 3.3 GHz |
| L3 Cache | 16 MB |
Graphics
| GPU | AMD Radeon R7 |
| Type | discrete |
Memory & Storage
| RAM | 32 GB |
| RAM Generation | DDR4 |
| Storage | 1 TB |
| Storage Type | SSD |
Display
| Size | 16" |
| Resolution | 1920 (Full HD) |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi | WiFi 6 |
Physical
| Weight | 2.9 kg / 6.4 lbs |
| OS | Windows 11 Pro |
Value & Pricing
At around $1030, it's not a terrible deal for the RAM and storage alone. But you're making huge compromises on portability, screen quality, and graphics power. For the same money, you can find laptops that do most things better, even if they have less RAM.
Price History
vs Competition
Forget the high-end gaming laptops on the competitor list. A more direct comparison is the ASUS Zenbook Duo. It's lighter, has a far more innovative dual-screen design, and likely a better screen, though you'll get less RAM. If you need raw CPU power and a great screen, a base model 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 chip destroys this Dell in performance, battery life, and build quality, even if it costs a bit more. The Dell only wins if your absolute top priority is having 32GB of RAM at this price point, and you don't care about anything else.
Verdict
I can't recommend this for most people. It's a niche machine for a very specific user who needs max RAM on a tight budget and doesn't mind carrying a brick with a subpar screen. For everyone else, the compromises are too great. Look at a refurbished business laptop, a base model MacBook Pro, or even a Lenovo IdeaPad for a better overall experience.