Dell Inspiron 14 7000 (7490): Ultraportable Excellence

Dell’s Inspiron laptops are positioned below its higher-quality, more powerful XPS series, but you’d never know it judging by the Inspiron 14 7000.

- MATTHEW ELLIOTT

The new 7000 (specifically, model 7490) boasts a magnesium-alloy chassis that’s virtually as thin, light, and sturdy as an XPS enclosure, and the ultraportable pulls off the neat trick of squeezing a 14-inch display into a 13-inch form factor. Under the hood, it offers Intel’s 10th Generation “Comet Lake” CPUs and optional Nvidia GeForce MX250 dedicated graphics. Unless you need the 4K (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) resolution available with Dell’s XPS 13—and I’d argue you don’t in a 13.3- or 14-inch screen size—the Inspiron 14 7000 replaces the XPS 13 as the ultraportable to own and our Editors’ Choice pick.

WELL-EQUIPPED AND WELL-ENGINEERED

Our test unit’s construction is just as impressive as its Core i5-10210U processor, 8GB of RAM, 512GB solid-state drive, and GeForce MX250 graphics. The new Inspiron 14 7000 (model number 7490) puts an end to the days when Inspiron laptops were a cheap, plastic fallback option for those who couldn’t afford the rugged goodness of an XPS system. Dell says the magnesium alloy chassis is lighter than aluminum but just as durable; it feels rigid without being heavy or bulky.