Dell's 16-inch Inspiron is a big-screen laptop done well, and it's cheaper than you think

Let me ask you a question: When you shop for a new laptop, which feature is the most important to you? What do you look for above everything else? I wager most people reading this would say the display, and that's a good choice. If you're going to spend hours in front of a screen working or watching a movie, you should go for something nice to look at.

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If this is you, allow me to introduce to you the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630. This is a great all-in-one laptop capable of handling various workloads from typing up documents to graphic design and even playing video games. Before I really get into the hardware, I want to go over the screen first -- because it is, by far, the most eye-catching aspect.

At the center is a 16-inch, 2.5K resolution (2560 x 1600 pixel) screen. The glass is covered in an anti-glare coating allowing people to use the laptop in bright environments without issue. It also boasts a promising refresh rate of 120Hz. So good, in fact, you won't even know the meaning of the word "lag". 

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I have to say that I've covered a number of big-screen laptops in the past. And yet the Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 somehow feels smaller than the 16-inch dimension makes it out to be. It took me a while to figure this out, but then it hit me. The display of the Inspiron 16 Plus has ultra-thin bezels.

Bezels, if you don't know, are the border between the display and the frame of any device with a screen; be it a smartphone or computer. Thick bezels are implemented to protect the glass; however, this protection comes at the cost of size. A 16-inch monitor might not actually be 16 inches because of this. 

Thanks to the thin bezels, the Inspiron 16 Plus takes full advantage of the real estate it's been given. I took the time to measure the monitor: The side bezels are less than 0.5 mm thick, while the top and bottom bezels are about 1mm thick. The display is wonderfully large.

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Sure, nothing beats outputting the signal to an external monitor -- the laptop does have HDMI and DisplayPort inputs on the sides -- but having plenty of room onboard is the next best thing. And you're getting that here.

Moving past salivating over the screen, the Inspiron 16 Plus can double as a jack-of-all-trades laptop thanks to its hardware. I should mention there isn't much in the way of customization for this computer. What you see is what you get. Luckily, what we get is pretty good. 

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Under the hood is a 13th Gen Intel i7-13700H CPU with a clock speed of 5Ghz enabling above-average performance. Instead of pairing the processor with an Intel Iris Xe graphics card, Dell shot for greater heights by equipping its device with a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. The GeForce RTX series is primarily known for being great hardware for PC gaming. However, these graphics cards do have a place inside a work laptop.

Graphic designers and video editors, especially, can utilize the power of the hardware for their work. According to Nvidia, the GeForce RTX 4060 cards allow developers to "build and edit 3D models in real-time, up to 45 percent faster than the previous generation".

Then after a long day's work, you can shift to gaming on the Inspiron 16 Plus and play for a couple of hours without experiencing any performance drop. I really enjoy how versatile Dell's latest model is; I love being able to seamlessly switch up the workload and still have good performance.

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One small touch I really enjoyed about the Inspiron 16 is how it opens. If you unfold the lid to its maximum viewing angle, the display pushes itself off the table a little bit. This achieves two things. One: It props the laptop at an angle for comfortable typing. And two: it provides good ventilation for the fans, allowing the laptop to stay cool. It's a small design flourish I wish more manufacturers would implement. 

ZDNet's buying advice

The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 is a really good jack-of-all-trades laptop but also it's a master of none. It's good at various scenarios, however, there are certainly better specialty laptops out there. Should you want something made specifically for content creation or video editing, a MacBook Pro or 2-in-1 laptop with a stylus pen for drawing would serve you better.

If you don't want a specialty laptop and prefer something that can handle work, school, and entertainment with aplomb, get the Inspiron 16 Plus 7630. I highly recommend it. Plus it's fairly cheap. There isn't much hardware customization as mentioned earlier. You can choose to get the 32GB RAM model which costs $1,800. Or you can shave the price down to as low as $1,200 by opting for Intel UHD Graphics. No matter how you configure the system, 1TB of storage comes included.

And, if your budget allows, go with the 32GB of RAM models. You'll definitely appreciate the extra performance.

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