Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Last year, I criticized the laptop for having a mediocre screen and a lousy webcam. I wish I could say they solved these issues in this year’s model, but alas I cannot. But at least the CPU is noticeably better, which was probably the only other thing I had to complain about. So to sum up, I’m not overly impressed with this screen. But it’s not like it’s unusable and this is a budget laptop after all. The fact is, at this price point, there might be similar laptops with better screen choices out there, and I’d look into them if screens are important to you. Hardware and performance Quiet mode is not so quiet. In fact, it’s pretty much the same as Optimized mode. The main difference is you never really hear any fluctuations in fan noise and the temperatures never reach more than 60C. This is mostly because of the lower power limits. Other than that though, the specs are very similar on paper: same battery, similar dimensions, familiar chassis, and practically the same IO. The standard model also has 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, similar to the last model I reviewed. The inputs and the speakers have been updated, though.
At 301 nits of brightness, the Inspiron 16 is rather bright for its price, but still can’t match the premium average of 391 nits. Meanwhile, the MSI Katana GF66 is dim as hell, at 247 nits, as the Surface Laptop Studio soars to the other extreme at 487 nits. Dell Inspiron 16 Plus keyboard and touchpad This article provides help with Microsoft Office programs, A Guide to the various Microsoft Office programs available on your Dell PC. The overall design of this 2022 Inspiron 16 shares a lot of similarities that I saw in the Inspiron 15 model last year. The chassis is almost entirely made of aluminum and the design is basically your typical thin and light notebook that would have been called a premium design 6-7 years ago. Now it’s the norm.
OS Required
I was pretty happy with the battery efficiency on this laptop, especially since I had it through a recent hurricane where I had no power for an extended period of time. I typed up almost this entire review on a single charge and had plenty of capacity to spare. Of course, I didn’t have Internet either so that contributed! Dell Inspiron 16 5625 comes with only one GPU option which is GeForce MX550 2GB. This is a Dedicated type GPU with 2.70 TFLOPS floating point performance and has a 2 GB GB dedicated memory. Dedicated GPUs generally perform much faster than Integrated GPUs, and are more suitable for graphic heavy applications such as video editing, AI and gaming. Downsides are increased energy consumption and higher costs. GPU Specifications Even the most cursory glance at the spec sheet is enough to inform that this new Inspiron is a potent machine. Powered by an 11th generation Intel Core i7-11800H octa-core chip with 16GB of 3,200MHz DDR4 dual-channel RAM a discrete RTX-series Nvidia GPU, it should be able to turn its hand to most tasks without getting bogged down. I especially liked the Quiet mode results, which is what I used primarily on this laptop outside of running the benchmark tests. It’s a fast-enough configuration with low fan noise. The last thing you need is a laptop scorching your precious jewels while you’re trying to get some work done, but the Dell Inspiron 16 manages to balance its heat rather well. After streaming a 15-minute YouTube video, the underside hit 97 degrees Fahrenheit, which is only slightly above our 95-degree comfort threshold. Meanwhile, the center of the keyboard reached 92 degrees and the touchpad measured 79 degrees. The machine got the hottest between the vents, at 104 degrees. Dell Inspiron 16 Plus software and warranty
The Wifi module is a Mediatek MT7921 which is a Wifi 6 module. It worked fine in all of my testing, reaching 511Mbps at distances of 25ft from my router. The module also has Bluetooth 5.2 which worked flawlessly for me. I used my Airpods constantly and also a Bluetooth mouse on occasion. You’ll get the most out of your machine in the Ultra-Performance mode. Under the heaviest loads, I only hit 40dB(A). But on average, under constant load, it was more like 38dB(A). Even in this situation, CPU temps only hit 75C max, which is very good. It’s a different brand of panel, but it basically has the same specs as before. So the viewing angles are good, but the max brightness is below average and the colors are just poor. Could be worse, sure, but by today’s standards, I’m surprised that they would even make panels like this anymore. This SSD is a 512GB model from Hynix. It’s a budget PCIe 3.0 SSD but it’s fast enough for anything this laptop is designed for. I took some CrystalDiskMark readings in case you were interested.Last year, the Inspiron 15 model got a mediocre screen with washed-out colors, which ultimately was a deal breaker for my wife who does color-sensitive work. But this year they switched to a 16-inch 16:10 panel which is a newer Inspiron 16 form factor – so the screen should be better, right? Unfortunately, no… Next is “Optimized” mode. In this mode, the TDP starts at 28W but then drifts downward and eventually levels off around 23W for sustained loads. Here were my test results: But I do have some reservations that many might call deal breakers. The screen for starters is very poor in comparison to what you get on the next-tier model or even some competitors in the same budget. Opt for that higher gamut touchscreen if you have the room in the budget. There’s also the flex in the middle of the lid and center of the keyboard, which might make the model feel cheap to some.
As for the speakers, they’re actually not bad! Not only are they upward-facing, but they also get pretty loud, reaching 78dB(A) with my typical test song. I also ran a bass test and was able to hear sound as low as 30Hz. That’s really low considering there’s no sub! The laptop is pretty symmetric with no surprises in weight distribution. For a 16” laptop, this Inspiron is very easy to handle and is a pretty reasonable weight to carry around in any position, even if not as light as other options. Even grabbing the laptop from the corner while it was open, I didn’t detect any strange creaks or notice any flex.
The new Inspiron 16 Plus offers most of the XPS 15’s features and ability but at half the price
I watched the trailer for the Uncharted film, and the screen was bright enough to capture Sully’s weird art decor in the dimly lit condo while he and a baby-faced Nathan Drake talked about going on their first treasure hunting adventure. When Drake was ejected from a plane to recreate the famous Uncharted 3 sequence, the ocean below was a crispy blue that almost popped on screen. It needed an extra dose of saturation. However, the display was more than sharp enough to capture those luscious strands of hair on Tom Holland’s head. Here’s what I got in Ultra Performance mode, which allows the CPU to start at 30W for a short burst and then eventually level out at around 25W: Pixels aside, the Inspiron’s panel has all the bases well-covered with a maximum brightness of 285cd/m2, an excellent contrast ratio of 1,403:1 and colour reproduction that runs to 101% of the sRGB gamut. I measured the average Delta E colour accuracy was at an impressively low 1.4.
Great Deal 
New Comment