Image: IDG / Mark Knapp
Black Friday has officially made its way onto the scene, and with it comes loads of steep discounts on laptops. One discounted laptop happens to be the best laptop PCWorld has ever tested: the illustrious Dell Inspiron 14 Plus, which is currently on sale for $799.99 (which is $200 off its original $999.99 price).
Not only did this laptop earn 4.5 stars out of 5 and our Editors’ Choice award, but it also snagged the top spot in PCWorld’s best laptops roundup. The all-around performance is impossible to ignore and the battery life is just exceptional. Let’s dive in to the details!
The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus boasts an Intel Core 7 Ultra 155H processor, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. In terms of day-to-day performance, it’s faster than other similar 14-inch laptops, including the Acer Swift Go 14 and the pricier Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. As for the battery life, the Inspiron 14 Plus lasted 17 hours on a single charge. According to our review, it “rivals even Apple’s best MacBooks” that are known for having excellent battery life due to their efficient processors.
The Inspiron 14 Plus has a 14-inch 2240×1400 display that deserves its own callout, too. It’s incredibly easy to see in less-than-ideal lighting conditions, and it covers nearly 100 percent of the sRGB color space. In other words, the display is colorful, vibrant, and “exceedingly well suited to office work and static imagery.” Other cool features include a Thunderbolt 4 port, a 1080p built-in webcam, and a backlit keyboard.
The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus is a great laptop for most people. Performance is peppy enough for work and day-to-day tasks, and the battery life is just phenomenal. We recommend swooping in ASAP because Black Friday deals like this come and go with the quickness of lightning.
Save $200 on the excellent Dell Inspiron 14 Plus laptop
Don’t forget these crucial accessories!
Picking up a laptop during Black Friday sales can save you hundreds. But why stop there? You can save even more money by accessorizing your laptop with the extra things it needs while these sales last.
We’ve detailed must-have laptop accessories here, but here’s a cheat sheet with three especially crucial items:
- USB hub: Get a USB hub to expand the number and kinds of ports available for your laptop. Hiearcool’s USB-C hub is an affordable and capable USB-C hub with myriad ports, including 2 x USB-A ports, microSD and SD card slots, and an HDMI port. Get it on Amazon.
- Mouse: Using a mouse instead of your laptop’s trackpad can speed up productivity if your laptop is mainly used for work, and it’s crucial if you plan on doing any gaming. A mouse you can rely on for all your needs, and one that feels oh-so-comfortable in your hand, is the Razer DeathAdder V2 X HyperSpeed. Get it on Amazon.
- Laptop sleeve: A good quality sleeve will protect your laptop from the inevitable bumps, scratches, and drops that happen over time. Amazon’s choice for laptop sleeve is the BOOEUDI, which is shockproof and made from neoprene. Browse sizes at Amazon.
Author: Ashley Biancuzzo, Associate Editor, PCWorld
Ashley Biancuzzo manages all laptop and Chromebook coverage for PCWorld. She’s been covering consumer tech since 2016, and her work has appeared on USA Today, Reviewed, Polygon, Kotaku, StarWars.com, and Nerdist. In her spare time, she enjoys playing video games, reading science fiction, and hanging out with her rescue greyhound.
