Dell Inspiron 14" 2K 2-in-1 Review

The Dell Inspiron 14-inch 2-in-1 is trying to do a lot for not a lot of money. You're getting a touchscreen convertible with a discrete AMD Z1 Extreme GPU, all for under $500. That's a pretty wild combo on paper, and it makes this laptop a potential pick for someone who wants to dabble in light gaming or creative work without breaking the bank. The catch is, to hit that price, Dell had to make some pretty serious cuts elsewhere. The 8GB of RAM and 512GB storage are on the low side for 2024, and the screen resolution is just 1920x1200, not the 2K that's sometimes advertised. So this isn't a premium machine, but it's a fascinating experiment in budget flexibility.

The AMD 8640HS CPU and Z1 Extreme GPU are the stars here. The CPU lands in the 61st percentile, which is solid for everyday tasks and even some light photo editing. The GPU, sitting at the 64th percentile, is the real surprise. It's not going to run Cyberpunk at max settings, but it'll handle esports titles like Valorant or Fortnite at decent frame rates, and it gives you a real leg up over integrated graphics for anything that needs a bit of graphical muscle. The benchmarks suggest it's best for compact use and light gaming, scoring 55.9 and 52.7 out of 100 in those areas, respectively. Just don't expect it to be a developer's workstation—that score is a low 41.2, thanks mostly to that limited 8GB of RAM.

At $479, the value proposition is entirely about the GPU. You are paying budget-laptop money for a chip that can actually game. That's the trade. To get there, you accept last-gen amounts of RAM and storage, and a fairly basic screen. If your priority is raw CPU and GPU power per dollar, this thing looks interesting. If you need a balanced machine with good build quality and enough memory to keep apps open, you'll need to spend more.

Compared to something like the ASUS Zenbook Duo, you're giving up screen innovation and likely build quality for that discrete GPU. The Zenbook is a productivity beast, but its integrated graphics can't game. Next to a Lenovo ThinkPad P14s, you lose out on professional-grade reliability, ports, and upgradeability, but you gain gaming chops. And then there's the elephant in the room: used or older gaming laptops. For around $500, you might find a used machine with a more powerful GPU and 16GB of RAM, but it'll be thicker, heavier, and lack the 2-in-1 touchscreen flexibility. That's the key differentiator here—it's a convertible that can game a little.

This is a super niche laptop. I'd only recommend it to a very specific person: someone on a tight budget who absolutely must have a touchscreen convertible but also wants to play League of Legends or do light video editing. The 8GB of RAM is a deal-breaker for most people, especially students or professionals who need more than a few browser tabs open. If you don't need the touchscreen or 2-in-1 hinge, your $500 is better spent on a used or sale-priced traditional laptop with 16GB of RAM. But if that unique combo of form factor and discrete graphics speaks to you, and you understand the limitations, it's a curious option that doesn't really have a direct competitor.