Dell Pro Plus PB13250 13.3" Review

The Dell Pro 13 Plus is a weird one. It's a 13-inch ultraportable with a massive 48-core Intel CPU and a dedicated 16GB Arc GPU crammed inside. That sounds like a powerhouse, but the rest of the package is pretty standard for a thin-and-light. It's a laptop with a split personality: part workstation, part basic business machine.

That 48-core Intel 266V CPU is the headline act, and it scores in the 56th percentile. It's powerful for multi-threaded tasks, but in a 13-inch chassis, you have to wonder about thermal throttling. The 16GB Arc iGPU is decent for an integrated solution (59th percentile), but it's not a gaming card. The 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD are just average, landing right in the middle of the pack. Gaming is a non-starter with an 8.3/100 score, so don't even think about it.

At $1779, it's a tough sell. You're paying a premium for that exotic 48-core CPU in a chassis that can't fully use it, while other components like the screen and storage are just average. The reliability score is also concerning at the 27th percentile. For this price, you expect a more balanced and dependable machine.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip runs circles around this in efficiency, battery life, and single-core speed, and it has a far better screen. The ASUS Zenbook Duo offers way more innovation with its dual-screen design for creative work. Even a gaming laptop like the MSI Vector 16 gives you a proper high-refresh screen and a dedicated GPU for the same money, though you lose portability. This Dell feels stuck between niches.

Only consider this if you absolutely need a ton of CPU cores in the smallest possible Windows package and don't care about gaming or battery life. For almost everyone else—students, creatives, general professionals—there are better, more focused options for the money.