The Dell Inspiron series is for someone who wants a machine that doesn’t excel at providing excellent ergonomics and aesthetics while also not compromising on performance. And the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 is no different.
The Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 brings in refreshing changes while improving upon last year’s Dell Inspiron 16 7610 by including Intel’s Alder Lake lineup of CPUs that perform exceptionally well in all demanding workloads. Dell also did minor touchups in other departments, such as improving a slightly better display and a 1080p webcam.
Though by no means is the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 perfect. And it’s shortcomings make the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 a tough sell in some departments when compared to the competition,
Inspiron 16 Plus 7620’s Chassis Design & Quality
The design of the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 is what you come to expect when you think of a Dell Laptop. The Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 follows the simplistic design from the last year’s Inspiron 16 Plus 7610, which features a simple silver chassis with very little going on.
The lid features a simple Dell Logo with nothing much going on, which continues in the rest of the chassis, including the keyboard deck. I find Dell’s design language quite clean and minimal, and it sits well with the rest of modern PC peripherals.
On the other hand, some may find the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 rather uninspiring, thanks to its bland design that feels quite generic. However, the Asus TUF Dash 15 may fit your style if you desire style while keeping things minimal.
Despite this, the chassis of the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 proves to be quite solid overall. There is noticeable flex on the lid and minor flex on the keyboard deck; it’s not a deal breaker. And the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 proves to be quite durable compared to other options like the LG Gram 2022 and the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro.
Though one minor annoyance that bothered us about the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 is that it’s a fingerprint magnet, and as soon as you land your hands on the device, you will find smudges all over the place.
When it comes to handling the device, the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 is a significant step down from last year. Despite the slim profile of the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620, the laptop feels heavy at around 2.05kg, which is a slight bump up from the last year’s 2.01kg of the Inspiron 16 Plus 7610.
It also increased in size slightly from last year’s model by being 14.04 x 9.92 x 0.67-0.75 inches, as compared to last year’s model, which was 13.98 x 9.74 x 0.66-0.74 inches.
Furthermore, the competition, like the LG Gram 16 and the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro, puts the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 to absolute shame by weighing just around a kilogram while also having a smaller form factor.
Despite this, the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 still has much to justify being your next laptop.
Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 I/O Ports
The I/O selection by Dell on the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 is pretty solid. On the right, you get an audio combo jack, a USB 3.2 port, and an SD card reader, which creative folks would appreciate.
Moving over to the left side, we get a USB C port with Thunderbolt 4. This means that not only you can charge your device and connect to multiple displays with it, but you can also use it to connect to a speedy SSD or a 10G NIC for file blazing-fast file transfers.
We also find another Type A USB 3.2 port, a charging port, and an HDMI 2.0 port. We would have preferred if Dell included an HDMI 2.1 port, but with the inclusion of a Thunderbolt 4 USB C port, that is not really an issue.
Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620’s Keyboard and Touchpad
Keyboard
The keyboard is one of the defining features of the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 and proves to be an excellent choice for someone who finds themselves mostly working on word documents. The excellent key stabilization and satisfying feedback can also be found on the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620, further facilitated by its big and well-spaced keys. And you also find a white backlit, which you usually expect from a regular laptop.
You will also find a power button that blends in with the rest of the keyboard on the right side above the backspace key. The power button also has a built-in fingerprint sensor that supports Windows Hello. Though I personally prefer for the power button to be separate from the keyboard just so I don’t accidentally hit it when I am typing in a flow, it’s not a dealbreaker by any means.
The keys have moderate feedback, and quicker actuation helps you type fairly quickly, though they are not as quiet as the Galaxy Book 2 Pro keys. Also, it’s a shame that despite being a 16-inch laptop, it lacks a dedicated Numpad. So if you are an accountant or someone who often uses the Numpad while working, you might wanna consider LG Gram 16.
Touchpad
The touchpad is a tad bit disappointing as it breaks the consistency of quality and premium feel by having buttons that feel mushy and soft. However, the touchpad feels great even though it does not use actual glass. Instead, it used mylar on the touchpad. Which still makes you feel like you are gliding your finger over an actual glass while tracking accurately.
Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620’s Speakers and Webcam
Speakers
The speakers are a bump up from the previous model, where Dell included two extra speakers in this year” s Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620. They produced a balanced sound where you can hear clear mids and highs with noticeable bass. These will serve you find if you plan to use them to watch a show on Netflix.
Webcam
The webcam is also a huge upgrade from last year when Dell decided to include a 1080p camera this year in Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620. When given proper light, it offers great clarity and sharpness and produces a great image. This is a huge bump over the last year’s 720p webcam.
The webcam also features a privacy shutter that you can use when you are not using the webcam. Though it lacks Windows Hello facial recognition, so that’s something to keep in mind if you are someone who prefers face unlock, although the fingerprint sensor would serve you just fine.
Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620’s Display
The display we chose for our review has a 3072 x 1920 non-touch panel. Though if you desire a touchscreen, you would have to go down in resolution with the 1080p panel. Dell went with the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach with the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620, where the panel we see here is the same as the last year’s Inspiron 16 Plus 7610. It proves to be one of the best displays at this price point, thanks to great color reproduction and decent contrast, though if you demand the excellent contrast and the inky blacks of an OLED, then the Galaxy Book 2 Pro still stays unmatched.
The display comfortably covers the entire sRGB color gamut, ranging around 71% in DCI P3 and 73% in Adobe RGB. Though these ratings are great, we would have liked it if Dell had pushed the color accuracy further this year.
So if you are Photographer, you might find the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 the perfect choice for color correction. However, we would advise you to look into something like the LG Gram 16 that covers 99% of DCI P3 color space while also being really bright, around 370nits.
As for the brightness on the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620, it maxes around 300nits, which is acceptable, though we would have liked it if the display had been a bit brighter, as this brightness is the same as the last year’s panel. It also has a 60Hz display which is fine for normal use though a higher refresh rate display would have provided a much smoother experience.
If we were to nitpick, the display bezels have slightly increased in size from the last year’s Inspiron 16 Plus 7610, which also caused a decrease in the screen-to-body ratio by around 2%. However, you shouldn’t stress much about it as the display still looks modern and sleek. Though the hinges on the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 have improved from last year, which now allows the display to go back up to 150 degrees.
Inspiron 16 Plus 7620’s Performance
CPU
The performance is where the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 really shines. Under the hood of this rather boring-looking chassis is a Core i7 12700H along with an RTX 3050ti 65W. The benchmarks show that the i7 inside this machine can shred through any workload you throw at it.
In Geekbench 5, it got a single core score of 1730, which is 14% faster than the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro and 2.3% faster than the LG Gram 16. In multi-core, it got a score of 11887, which is 36% faster than the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro and 37% faster than the LG Gram 16.
And similar results can also be seen in Cinebench R23, where the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 slays the LG Gram 16 and Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro. It got a single-core score of 1766 and a multi-core score of 14704. Undoubtedly, the Core i7 would slay through any multi-threaded workload at it. Be it video rendering, code compiling or video encoding, the Core i7 would do it all without breaking a sweat.
GPU
And the RTX 3050ti doesn’t disappoint either. Nvidia NVENC encoder comes in handy when working Premiere Pro and After Affects. Though this laptop isn’t really intended for gaming, you can easily play many demanding games at the highest settings with relative ease thanks to this GPU. Games like GTA V ran comfortably around 150FPS, and Witcher 3 ran around 108FPS. This is more than enough, considering the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620.
We also decided to throw in a modern demanding game like Cyberpunk 2077 that also confidently ran around 48FPS which is enough for a playable experience. So if you are a casual gamer who lets some steam off after a busy day at work, the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 won’t disappoint you.
However, this performance comes at a cost: heat and noise. Under intense loads like running a game or rendering a video, the keyboard gets quite warm, and fans ramp up quite a bit. Using the keyboard while it’s under load can be quite uncomfortable, so keep that in mind.
Despite this, there is no doubt that Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 is good for gaming. However, we recommend getting a dedicated gaming laptop like the Acer Nitro 5 or the Asus TUF Dash 15 with gamer-specific features like high refresh rate displays and better I/O ports.
Inspiron 16 Plus 7620’s Battery
The battery life of the 56Wh battery on the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 is acceptable but far from amazing when compared to the competition. Don’t get me wrong. The 8-9 hours of backup would last you the entire day with ease. But considering that both the LG Gram 16 and the Galaxy Book 2 Pro last well over 10 hours, it puts the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 in a tough spot.
Inspiron 16 Plus 7620’s Expandability and Upgradability.
This is where the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 has the upper hand compared to the competition. Though it a complete downgrade when compared to the last year’s 7610. Dell chose a single SODIMM slot rather than a dual one from last year’s model. Though thankfully, the SSD is still replaceable.
On the other hand, the competition, like the LG Gram 16 and Galaxy Book 2 Pro, lack any capability to upgrade the RAM, though they allow you to upgrade the SSD, which is still welcomed.
Conclusion: is the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 worth it?
If you want a laptop with a simple chassis with great performance, you can’t go wrong with the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620. However, despite being a decent machine, the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 is bulky and heavy compared to other available options. Furthermore, the competition, like the LG Gram 16 and Galaxy Book 3 Pro, offer a much brighter and more colorful display that puts the Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 to shame.
So if you need a lightweight machine with a great display over anything, consider other options, like the LG Gram 16 and Inspiron 16 Plus 7620.
