The arena for 14-inch convertible 2-in-1 laptops is more crowded than ever, and the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 (starts at $849.99, $999.99 as tested) finds itself playing catch-up with midrange models from Framework and HP. Despite its impressive battery life and top-notch typing experience, the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 gets held back by its lacking display and middling performance, particularly in visually intensive apps. While it's often on sale, the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 is tough to recommend over the highly upgradable Framework Laptop 12, which you can get at a similar price, or somewhat pricier models from Asus (the ProArt PX13) and Lenovo (the Yoga 9i Gen 9).

Configurations: Your Pick of Midrange Road Warrior

The AMD-powered Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 (DB04255) comes in three similar-tasting flavors. Starting at $849.99, the base configuration includes an AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 processor paired with Radeon 840M integrated graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. Each model includes a 14-inch FHD+ (1,920 by 1,200) touch screen with a 60Hz refresh rate.

Our review unit is a slightly more expensive and powerful $999.99 model with an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU and Radeon 860M integrated graphics. And Dell's $1,099 loadout contains the same core Ryzen silicon but comes with 1TB of SSD storage and Windows 11 Pro preinstalled.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Aside from the processor options, these three models are quite similar, so it comes down to whether you want Windows 11 Home or Pro and an extra boost in storage. For more variety, Dell also sells Intel versions of the 14 Plus 2-in-1 (those are dubbed model DB04250) with the Intel Core Ultra 5, Ultra 7, or Ultra 9 CPUs, starting at $1,099.99.

Design: The Right Size for a 2-in-1

Unlike its bigger brother the Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1, the Dell 14 Plus is the perfect size for a convertible 2-in-1 laptop. At just 0.65 inch thick, the chassis is ideal for plopping on your lap or a small countertop in laptop mode. In tablet mode, though, the 14 Plus is right at the limit where a tablet becomes more unwieldy than convenient.

At 3.51 pounds, the Dell 14 Plus is a bit heavier than other 2-in-1s, but the 14 Plus feels sturdier and less delicate when typing on it and flexes only minimally when you're carrying it around.

As for looks, I like the Midnight Blue colorway on the aluminum chassis. It beats the typical gray or silver color scheme on your average 2-in-1, giving the device some additional personality and identity.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 keeps things simple on the connectivity front: two USB Type-C ports, one USB Type-A, a full-size HDMI 2.1 output, a headphone jack, and a microSD card reader. It’s enough to handle most day-to-day needs, but the lack of Thunderbolt 4, a full-size SD slot, or an Ethernet jack limits the appeal to power users. However, if you could opt for the Intel variant of the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1, those models do come with Thunderbolt 4, if that is important to you.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

On the wireless front, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 deliver strong, stable performance. Connectivity stayed seamless in testing, ideal for students and hybrid workers working off a coffee shop's Wi-Fi, though the hardwired ports may be less ideal for creatives and professionals who may need to invest in a docking station with an Ethernet jack.

Touchpad, Keyboard, and Screen: Delightful Inputs, Disappointing Display

After using the Dell 14 Plus as my daily driver for a couple of weeks, I enjoy the typing experience. Likewise, while doodling or taking notes with the Dell Pro Plus Active Pen in tablet mode, the 14 Plus never feels flimsy or uncomfortable. The large touchpad didn't cause any misclicks, another feather in its cap.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Dell's display, however, is a letdown at this price. It’s your standard FHD+ touch-screen display (FHD+ implies 1200p as opposed to FHD's 1080p) that never looks particularly bright at a glance. That indeed shows up in our screen-testing results, more about which later, and the colors lack the same punch you get from some of the OLED offerings in the same price range (again, reflected in testing).

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Performance Testing: Striving for a Silver Medal

For comparison's sake, we’ve pitted the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 against some noteworthy convertibles, starting with the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition ($2,336 as tested) with an Intel Core Ultra 200V CPU. Our lineup continues with the midrange HP Envy x360 14 ($1,399 as tested) and the high-end Asus ProArt PX13 ($1,699.99 as tested). Last, we threw in the ultraportable, midrange Framework Laptop 12 ($1,049 as tested) as our closest-priced comparison. This is a decent mix of Intel and AMD at the higher end of the price spectrum, with more affordable midrange options thrown in. (We couldn't chart in the excellent Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 9, alas, as we tested that model in 2024 under a different regimen of testing, but keep an eye on that model, too.)

Productivity and Content Creation Tests

Our primary overall benchmark, UL's PCMark 10, puts a system through its paces in productivity apps ranging from web browsing to word processing and spreadsheet work. Its Full System Drive subtest measures a PC's storage throughput. Three more tests we run are CPU-centric: Maxon's Cinebench 2024 uses that company's Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene; Primate Labs' Geekbench 6.3 Pro simulates popular apps, ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning; and we see how long it takes the video transcoder HandBrake 1.8 to convert a 12-minute clip from 4K to 1080p resolution.

Finally, workstation maker Puget Systems' PugetBench for Creators utility rates a PC's image editing prowess by running various automated operations in the seminal image editor Adobe Photoshop 25.

On the productivity front, the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 held its own, placing near the top in several tests, just under the Asus ProArt PX13, which is significantly pricier. When compared with some similarly priced 2-in-1 laptops, like the HP Envy x360 14 and Dell's larger 16 Plus 2-in-1 (the latter not charted here), the 14 Plus held its own.

The Dell 14 Plus had lower-than-average scores in the Photoshop 2024 trial, though, signaling that this system likely wouldn't be ideal for visual media tasks or intensive workloads.

Graphics Tests

We challenge each reviewed system’s graphics with a quintet of animations or gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark test suite. The first two, Wild Life (1440p) and Wild Life Extreme (4K), use the Vulkan graphics API to measure GPU speeds. The second pair, Steel Nomad's regular (4K) and Light (1440p) subtests, focuses on APIs more commonly used for game development, like Metal and DirectX 12, to assess gaming geometry and particle effects. A fifth test, Solar Bay, emphasizes ray-tracing performance. (The Framework Laptop 12 could not complete this last subtest.)

When it came to our graphics tests, the Dell 14 Plus wasn't going to turn any heads regardless of the comparison set. (Of course, the Asus laptop's dedicated RTX 4050 GPU dominated this lot.) It ended up near the bottom of the pile in almost all our benchmarking, only passing the Framework Laptop 12 or HP Envy x360 in a few instances.

So, it’s safe to say you shouldn't expect to get away with much PC gaming on this system. This laptop is strictly a productivity machine, not a workstation or gaming rig, unless you’re going the game streaming route via services like Nvidia GeForce Now. AMD's graphics chip will power through basic visual tasks, like digital drafting using a stylus or basic photo edits, but it won't satisfy on anything more intense.

Battery Life and Display Tests

We test each laptop and tablet's battery life by playing a locally stored 720p video file (the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel) with display brightness at 50% and audio volume at 100%. We make sure the battery is fully charged before the test, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off.

To gauge display performance, we also use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and its Windows software to measure a laptop screen's color saturation—what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can show—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter).

The Dell 14 Plus excelled in battery testing, second only to the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1’s stellar 25-hour battery life, moderated by its Intel "Lunar Lake" 200V-series CPU. The Dell's all-day battery should get you through your shift or a jam-packed schedule of classes.

Its display, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired. As you can see from our testing, it’s nowhere near its competition regarding color accuracy and brightness—even the similarly priced Framework 12 was much brighter and slightly more colorful. This result is disappointing if you stream a lot of content in tablet mode or want the best color coverage for some light video or photo editing.