Inspiron 16 Plus test: When Dell competitions its own XPS 15!

Dell Inspiron 16 Plus is a family laptop, which can be used to work as well as to play or watch streaming videos.To do this, it relies on efficient components and an effective screen.All in a 16 -inch format which offers a very good ratio weight / comfort comfort.

Dell Inspiron 16 Plus

The component cocktail used to concoct this Inspiron 16 Plus is most successful.The machine has attractive format and design;Its processor and graphic chip are convincing and versatile;His screen convinces by his precision and good calibration;and - to top it all - the whole can work for a good day.In addition, despite its screen (slightly)) larger than that of XPS 15, the weight of the Inspiron 16 does not exceed 2 kg.Finally, with regard to design and finishes, the Inspiron has nothing to envy to the high -end ultrabook of the manufacturer, thanks to a digital pavement, a fingerprint reader, an SD reader, from the edges of'fine screen, etc.)).A real XPS 15 killer after all.Especially since its price is much lower (of € 700!)).

Dell is a fairly prolific laptop manufacturer.It offers a range of high -end ultrabooks with a touch screen, rather intended for office use.These are Dell XPS, available in three formats: 13, 15 and 17 inches. A l’autre extrémité du spectre, deux familles de PC portables sont destinées aux joueurs : les configurations de la gamme G (entrée de gamme accessible à tous)) et les ordinateurs Alienware (haut de gamme, onéreux car extrêmement performants)).

Between the two, we find the range of laptops Inspiron, which brings together configurations in all possible formats: 13.3 inch, 14 inch, 15.6 inches, 16 inches and 17 inches!These can be equipped with a tactile LCD screen that can be pivoted on 360 degrees.They are then stamped "2-in-1" (unlike the model in our hands for this test)). Et si certains Inspiron sont disponibles aussi bien en version Intel qu’AMD, ce n’est pas le cas de l’Inspiron 16 Plus que nous avons testé et qui n’est proposé (à l’heure actuelle tout du moins !)) qu’avec un processeur Intel Tiger Lake H de dernière génération (la onzième)).

The configuration is marketed-excluding promo-at € 1399, with an Intel Core i7-11870H processor, the NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 graphics chip, 16 GB of memory and an SSD of 512 GB.Optionally, you can opt for a more efficient graphics circuit, in this case the GeForce RTX 3060, for 250 € more (for a total of € 1649) therefore)).

Parmi les concurrents de l’Inspiron 16 Plus, on peut citer le Huawei Matebook D 16 (que nous avons déjà testé)), qui arbore le même format, mais avec un équipement nettement moins sophistiqué (processeur AMD Ryzen à 6 cœurs, pas de puce graphique Nvidia, écran Full HD)).Therefore, its price is only € 800.

Un autre challenger potentiel de l’Inspiron 16 Plus n’est autre que… le Dell XPS 15 (qui lui aussi est déjà passé sur notre banc de test)) ! Or, ce dernier est proposé hors promo à 2600 €, avec le même processeur que l’Inspiron mais un écran 4K tactile et une puce graphique GeForce RTX 3050 Ti.And as we will see, thanks to its many advantages, the Inspiron 16 Plus is able to seriously compete with the latter, for a much less salty bill!

An attractive design and complete equipment

Inspiron 16 Plus weighs 2 kg, which turns out to be correct for a laptop in 16 inch format.Remember that Dell XPS 15, which as its name suggests, has a 15.6 -inch screen, accuses exactly the same weight.On the other hand, the Inspiron is slightly larger, since it measures 35.5 x 24.7 x 1.9 cm (against 34.4 x 23 x 1.8 cm for XPS 15)).The difference is not really significant.In comparison, the Matebook D 16 of Huawei measures 36.9 x 23.4 x 1.8 cm for a weight of 1.7 kg.

The cover of the Inspiron 16 Plus is made of metallic blue aluminum (Myst Blue)).Very beautiful, it brings an attractive alternative to the silver color of the laptops Dell XPS.On the other hand, the latter wear a carbon fiber-fiber with a discreet motif, in honeycomb nest, which does not hold the traces of finger, while that of the Inspiron 16 Plus is more conventional.However, it has the advantage of almost not retaining fingerprints either!

We also note the presence of a small metal border, of the best taste, which goes around the machine and which also delimits the touchpad.

Good point, the 720p webcam located at the top of the screen has a mechanical shutter that is enough to slide on the sensor to be assured of perfect confidentiality. Rappelons que ce type de dispositif est absent (pour l’instant)) des ordinateurs de la famille XPS ! En revanche, sur ces derniers, la Webcam est de type infra rouge et peut donc être utilisée pour déverrouiller l’accès au PC portable par simple reconnaissance du visage de l’utilisateur.This is not the case for that of Inspiron 16 Plus, which is incompatible with Windows Hello.

On the other hand, the fingerprint reader is indeed present.As is more and more often done, it is directly integrated into the start button, itself placed in the upper right corner of the keyboard.During our tests, it was quick and effective.

The keyboard, meanwhile, has lit retro keys, in white, and includes a digital pavement.It is completed by a large touchpad, very easily identifiable when working in the dark thanks to a metal strapping.In addition, the latter brings a luxurious touch to the rest of the configuration, very sober.

The connectors of the Inspiron 16 plus differs from XPS 15. En effet, alors que ce dernier misait à 100 % sur les connecteurs USB C (3 dont 2 compatibles Thunderbolt 4)), l’Inspiron propose un échantillon de connecteurs plus diversifié.Thus, on the left side, there is the proprietary power connector, and not USB C like XPS, the HDMI 2 video output.0, a USB port A 3.2 and another of type C compatible Thunderbolt 4 (which cannot be used to recharge the battery)).

On the right side, there is an SD memory card reader, headphone / microphone socket as well as a second USB 3 port.2 Type-A.To be complete, only the Ethernet port, which could guarantee better flows when using configuration at home.

Another difference with the XPS 15, the Inspiron embarks only two 2 W speakers each (against 4 for the XPS, two of which are dedicated to the bass)).Consequently, if the audio quality delivered by the Inspiron is quite good, the sound lack of bass, despite the presence of the Maxxaudio Pro application which allows them to boost them and modify the rendering of treble, mediums andlows, through a 10 -band equalizer.

A specific screen, well calibrated, in 60 Hz

The Inspiron 16 Plus uses an interesting screen in more ways than one.First, its 16 -inch diagonal offers very good display comfort, without suffering from the excess weight linked to the integration of a 17 -inch screen (usually 300 to 400 grams more)).

On the other hand, thanks to an IPS panel in 16:10 format, it has four very fine screen edges!In addition, the images are displayed in very high definition: 3072 x 1920 pixels. Certes, cette dernière est légèrement inférieure à la définition 4K (ou plutôt UHD+)) proposée sur les XPS, qui affichent 3840 x 2400 pixels, mais elle s’avère plus précise que celle de la dalle LCD QHD (soit 2560 x 1440 pixels)) qui équipe le dernier ultrabook Huawei lancé il y a deux mois (lire notre test du Huawei Matebook 14s)).

This display definition has two advantages.First of all, it is a little less difficult to read the information displayed if we use a 100 % scaling factor in Windows display settings.We can just pass this factor on 125 % to obtain better readability. D’autre part, comme nous le verrons plus loin, l’écran de l’Inspiron a beaucoup de pixels à alimenter (5,9 millions contre 9,2 millions pour le XPS)), ce qui permet d’obtenir une plus grande autonomie.

Finally, we can regret that the maximum refresh frequency of the screen is only 60 Hz.Without going up to 360 Hz like the latest gaming laptops, Dell could make an effort to make the use of social networks and the consultation of more fluid websites, taking example on the Matebook 14S, including screen 14inches supports a 90 Hz display frequency…

Regarding screen performance, Dell announces a contrast rate of 1000: 1 and a maximum brightness of 300 nits.To verify this, we have submitted it to the measures of our X-Rite i1display Pro Plus probe, which returned the following results:

Last positive point, the LCD slab of Inspiron 16 Plus is matt.As the photo above shows, you can work, read your emails or watch a film in broad daylight without the display being too disturbed by the reflections of the environment.

Efficient components, in good suitability with the screen

The configuration we tested is equipped with the Intel Tiger Lake H Core i7-11800h processor. Ce dernier intègre 8 cœurs physiques (et donc 16 threads)) qui fonctionnent à 2,3 / 4,6 GHz, avec un TDP de 45 W.It is completed by 16 GB of DDR4 memory, clocked at 3.2 GHz, and an SSD NVME of 512 GB.

This high -end chip obviously delivers a very high gross computing power. Cela se traduit par exemple avec des indices Cinebench R20 de 4404 (multi cœurs)) et 580 (mono cœur)).In comparison, an Intel processor with 4 physical hearts, like the Core i7-11370h present in the Huawei Matebook 14s, obtains indices of 2265 and 594.One of the rare chips that can surpass the Core i7-11800h, for multi-heart mode calculations, is the Ryzen 9 5900HX of AMD (indices of 4868 and 567)).

To support the calculations related to the display, Dell has selected the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphic chip.And without waiting for summits, it offers a good level of performance.For example, with the 3D Mark application, she obtains clues to Timespy and Time Spy Extreme tests of 5026 and 2352.We note that the latter are higher than those of XPS 15, however equipped with the same processor and the graphic chip Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti (scores of 4036 and 2140)).This is probably explained by an under use of the CPU and GPU on the XPS 15, in order to limit the heating of the components and - also - to maximize the autonomy. En comparaison, lorsqu’elle est associée à un processeur AMD à 8 coeurs, la puce GeForce RTX 3060 obtient des scores de l’ordre de 8000 (TimeSpy)) et 3900 (TimeSpy Extreme)).

In real situations, the Core i7-11800h / GeForce RTX 3050 couple is capable of operating AAA games in excellent conditions.Thus, in Full HD, we reach the limit of the 60 images per second with almost all the games of our test panel (The Division, The Division 2, Farcry 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Civilization 6, Ashes of the Singularity)).

En revanche, si on bascule en mode graphique QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels)), le nombre d’images par seconde est compris entre 30 et 55, ce qui permet toujours de jouer correctement, mais avec des animations moins fluides. Certains jeux, un peu moins complexes, pourront toutefois fonctionner dans la résolution native de l’écran (3072 x 1920 pixels)) dans d’excellentes conditions.This is the case for example of Fortnite, whose animations include between 20 and 30 images per second in epic quality (which is a bit tight!)).Just go into high quality to block the meter at 60 IPS in all circumstances ...

After an prolonged game session, we see that the ventilation of the Inspiron 16 Plus gets carried away somewhat.And if the sound volume remains reasonable, cooling is a bit difficult, but only on the part between the keyboard and the screen, where - a priori - we do not put our fingers.Nothing very serious so ...

Excellent autonomy

The battery on board in the Inspiron 16 Plus has a large capacity: 86 Wh.As we will see, it is particularly well suited to the electricity consumption of the components on board in the laptop.

Indeed, after having adjusted the brightness of the 200 -nits screen, we measured the autonomy of the configuration using the test integrated into the PC Mark 10 application.The laptop then showed a remarkable consistency during our various tests: between 9 am and 4 minutes and 9 hours and 13 minutes.This excellent result is up to the autonomy observed with the less well equipped ultrabook. Les meilleures autonomies observés atteignent 11 h 43 min (Huawei Matebook 14s)), 12 h 15 min (Asus Zenbook 13 OLED)) et 13 h 11 min (Dell XPS 17)).We can therefore consider using the computer for a good day before having to connect it to an electrical outlet.

On the other hand, after having read, in Wi-Fi, a film of 2 hours from Netflix, the level of the battery dropped by only 21 %. On peut donc estimer – encore une fois – l’autonomie en mode streaming vidéo à plus de 9 heures (9 h 31 min)), ce qui est un très bon résultat.

Autonomy therefore makes a large good forward compared to that of Dell XPS 15, which we tested a few weeks ago and whose equipment is slightly more sophisticated than that of the Inspiron 16 Plus, with a graphic chipGeForce RTX 3050 TI and a 4K screen.

Finally, using the charger supplied by Dell, medium -sized, weighing 500 grams and a power of 130 W, the battery recharged a little less quickly than announced (35 % in 20 minutes and 80 %within one hour)).Indeed, after 20 minutes, the battery had only found 19 % of its maximum load, then 52 % in one hour ...

Themes: Dell, laptops

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