Dell Inspiron 14 (5441) review: cut-price Snapdragon performance

The Dell Inspiron 14 is a sleek, useful Snapdragon machine with the usual GPU weakness...

Dell Inspiron 14
(Image: © Future / Ian Evenden)

Our Verdict

We’ve yet to be impressed by a Snapdragon laptop in the graphics processing department, but this new model from Dell shows where the platform can shine: it provides decent CPU results, and a screen that’s nice enough but struggles with a restricted colour gamut, but with battery life that will go all day and more. It’s well built, runs smoothly, and the low price tag means it’s going to be attractive to a lot of people.

For

  • Well priced
  • Good CPU
  • Respectable battery life

Against

  • Low-performance GPU
  • Could have more ports
  • Software still catching up

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This may be the last Inspiron we see, as the name is being retired by Dell along with XPS and Latitude, but it’s a good way for the consumer-focused brand to go out. With its low-end Snapdragon processor, 16GB of fast RAM, and a PCIe 4.0 SSD, it’s a nippy little beast when it comes to 2D and office work, though it suffers from the usual Snapdragon problem that its GPU is either incompatible or slow in rendering work. As long as 3D sculpting or colour accuracy isn’t your goal, this can make an efficient and remarkably well priced daily driver.

Key specifications

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Key specs
CPU:Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P42100
NPU:Qualcomm Hexagon
Graphics:Qualcomm Adreno
Memory:16GB LPDDR5X, 8448 MT/s
Storage:500GB SSD, MicroSD slot
Screen size:14in
Screen type:IPS
Resolution:1920x1200
Refresh rate:60Hz
Colour gamut (measured):48% DCI-P3
Brightness (measured):345 nits
Ports:1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (5 Gbps), 2 USB 4 Type-C (40Gbps), 1x 3.5mm audio
Wireless connectivity:Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Dimensions:16mm x 314mm x 224mm
Weight:1.53 kg
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Header Cell - Column 0 Header Cell - Column 1 Dell Inspiron 14 (5441)
GEEKBENCH 6CPU Single-core:2409
Row 1 - Cell 0 CPU Multi-core:11,295
Row 2 - Cell 0 GPU OpenCL:9639
CINEBENCH 2024CPU single-core:107
Row 4 - Cell 0 CPU multi-core:675
Row 5 - Cell 0 GPU:not compatible
UL PROCYONAI Image Generation (Stable Diffusion 1.5)not compatible
Row 7 - Cell 0 Office Productivity Benchmark:206,000 (multi platform test)
Row 8 - Cell 0 Battery Life Benchmark:13h 44m
TOPAZ VIDEO AIEnhancement:error
Row 10 - Cell 0 Slowmo:error
Row 11 - Cell 0 Combined:error
ON1 RESIZE200% resize time:282,419ms
PUGETBENCH for PHOTOSHOPOverall:error, but posted 6057
Row 14 - Cell 0 General:error
Row 15 - Cell 0 Filter:error
PUGETBENCH for DAVINCI RESOLVEOverall:not compatible
Row 17 - Cell 0 GPU Effects:not compatible
Row 18 - Cell 0 Fusion score:not compatible
Row 19 - Cell 0 AI score:not compatible
Row 20 - Cell 0 H.264 encoding:not compatible
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[Product name] score card
AttributesNotesRating
Design:Greay, solid, and every inch the business laptop3/5
Features:Fast USB 4 ports, but a disappointing screen3/5
Performance:The Snapdragon is a good CPU, but it needs more graphics power3/5
Value:Available at a good price, this is a bargain choice4/5
ASUS Zenbook A14

ASUS Zenbook A14

The absolute king of lightweight laptops right now. The A14 weighs less than a kilo thanks to its plastic shell, but puts out decent CPU performance nevertheless.

Image

Apple MacBook Air M3

With an M4 version surely just around the corner, the MacBook Air is a powerful but slimline machine that’s a bit more expensive than the Inspiron 14.

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus

The Inspiron 14’s larger sibling brings a few more CPU cores and a better GPU to the party, but otherwise looks just like a standard Dell business laptop.

The Verdict
7.5

out of 10

Dell Inspiron 14 5441

We’ve yet to be impressed by a Snapdragon laptop in the graphics processing department, but this new model from Dell shows where the platform can shine: it provides decent CPU results, and a screen that’s nice enough but struggles with a restricted colour gamut, but with battery life that will go all day and more. It’s well built, runs smoothly, and the low price tag means it’s going to be attractive to a lot of people.

TOPICS
Ian Evenden

Ian Evenden has been a journalist for over 20 years, starting in the days of QuarkXpress 4 and Photoshop 5. He now mainly works in Creative Cloud and Google Docs, but can always find a use for a powerful laptop or two. When not sweating over page layout or photo editing, you can find him peering at the stars or growing vegetables.

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