Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 review: Strong performance at a decent price

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

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    </div></figure><p class="imageCredit">IDG / Mark Knapp</p></div>

The Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 is every bit the polished little pebble that the Inspiron 14 Plus I tested earlier this year was, except that the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 is a big thing. To fit its 16-inch display, it has to stretch out its chassis considerably. This results in a laptop that, while sleek with its largely aluminum exterior (except the bottom, which is plastic), takes up a good deal of space and packs on the weight at 4.68 pounds. This is pretty much par for the course for 16-inch laptops, though, save those that have put concerted efforts into being ultralight, like the Acer Swift Edge. At least Dell managed to keep it fairly thin at just three-quarters of an inch thick. 

Dell has kept the design fairly simplistic. The chassis largely consists of large, flat expanses edged by smooth curves. This avoids any painful pressure points, but doesn’t make a visually memorable laptop. It’s not alone in this fate, as Lenovo and Samsung have similar laptops. 

There are some quirks to the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1, hinting that the laptop took the design of a different model and retooled it. Two small panels on the underside of the laptop cover up what would have been bottom-firing speakers on another laptop. This gives the laptop a weird look from the sides and bottom. Since the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 has top-firing speakers tucked into two large grilles on either side of the keyboard, there’s little reason for the chassis to have had those bottom speaker cutouts unless this chassis was also used elsewhere.

Being a 2-in-1 model, the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 has a 360-degree hinge that lets the display flip over backward. You can use it as a tablet — albeit a massive, unwieldy one — or scribble on it with a stylus. The hinge is a little wiggly, but feels sturdy enough. The rest of the chassis hits a similar note, with a modicum of frame flex but decent resistance to light pressure and bending.

With this hinge design, the bottom edge of the lid ends up level with the bottom of the laptop, so the rear exhaust vents directly into the lid. There’s a decent gap for air to escape, but it still still seems like sub-optimal ventilation. Air intake is also minimal with only a small section of the bottom grille actually letting air in. The rest of that grille is blocked just past the grates, likely in a bid to block out debris. It’s a similar story for the vents, with only half of them being real vents with an open channel to the radiator fins.

Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 (7640): Keyboard, trackpad

IDG / Mark Knapp

            <div class="lightbox-image-container foundry-lightbox"><div class="extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage undefined"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large enlarged-image"><img decoding="async" data-wp-bind--src="selectors.core.image.enlargedImgSrc" data-wp-style--object-fit="selectors.core.image.lightboxObjectFit" src="" alt="Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 keyboard" class="wp-image-2380591" width="1200" height="675" loading="lazy" /></figure><p class="imageCredit">IDG / Mark Knapp</p></div>

    </div></figure><p class="imageCredit">IDG / Mark Knapp</p></div>

Like the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus, which had an absolutely wonderful keyboard, the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 has an excellent keyboard. It might be a little simple with basic backlighting, square keycaps, and a flat surface, but it does the job with decent stabilization to the keycaps and a modest actuation force a travel required to depress each key. It lends to a confident and quick typing.

In my first test in Monketyype, even with one big stall after a typo, I managed 116 words-per-minute with 98 percent accuracy. That was promptly followed by 122 words-per-minute at 99 percent accuracy while feeling a fairly comfortable pace. Unlike its smaller sibling, the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 has a huge expanse between the keyboard and the front edge of the laptop, and this can make it a little more uncomfortable to reach up to the keyboard, but it wasn’t enough of a problem to ruin the typing experience on this system. 

For a 16-inch laptop, it’s a shame Dell didn’t do more with the keyboard. It offers just the basics, with no extra navigation keys, spaced out arrow keys, or a number pad. More keys would have meant sacrificing the top-firing speakers unless Dell shifted them to live above the keyboard and squeezed down on the trackpad, and that might have been a smart move for ergonomics and extra utility. Alas, this laptop doesn’t appear designed for folks who will do a lot of data entry, and is instead more for the content creators and consumers, especially with its stylus support. In my testing, the optional stylus was responsive and accurate. 

Dell also fits a massive trackpad below the keyboard. Even with my large hands, it provides plenty of space for multi-finger gestures. The surface is glassy and smooth. It may not be as wide as the Dell XPS 16’s absurdly large trackpad, but it has clearly defined boundaries that make it easy to use. It depresses slightly with clicks and pops back quickly, making it easy to use for hard mouse clicks as well as tap-to-click. 

Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 (7640): Display, audio