Dell Pro 14 Plus D17PX 2025, Core Ultra 7 265U, 16GB, 512GB SSD, Aluminum

The Dell Pro 14 Plus D17PX is a 1.40kg business laptop with an 84th percentile port selection and a 66.5 compact score. The Core Ultra 7 265U is fine for productivity, but the 512GB SSD at the 37th percentile and a gaming score of 18.1 out of 100 keep this strictly in work territory. US prices swing from $1,339 to $2,250, so shop hard if you're buying.

The Core Ultra 7 265U is a 12-core, 2.1GHz chip built for efficiency, not raw power. At the 58th percentile for CPU performance, it's solidly middle of the pack. You won't be rendering 4K video or compiling massive codebases with any urgency, but day-to-day productivity tasks won't make it sweat. The 16GB of DDR5 RAM is about average for this class, landing at the 60th percentile. It's enough for a dozen browser tabs, a few Office apps, and a video call all at once.

The Intel Arc Graphics are integrated, and the gaming score of 18.1 out of 100 tells you everything you need to know. This is not a gaming laptop. The 512GB SSD is the weakest link in the performance chain, sitting at the 37th percentile. That's tight for a business machine in 2025, especially if you're storing local files or working with large datasets. The 14-inch 1920x1200 IPS display is fine, 300 nits and 100% sRGB, but the 60Hz refresh rate keeps it from being anything special. It's a work screen, not a wow screen.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Pro M4 Pro, this Dell gets embarrassed on raw performance. The M4 Pro is a different class of chip entirely, and the MacBook's display, storage speeds, and build quality are all superior. But the Dell fights back with ports. Ethernet and HDMI 2.1 on a 1.40kg laptop is something Apple simply won't give you. Against the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, the Dell's gaming score of 18.1 is laughable. The G14 is built for gaming, and it shows. But the Dell is lighter and cheaper at the low end. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i and MSI Raider are gaming behemoths, completely different animals. The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is the closest competitor in spirit, a thin 14-inch laptop with some gaming chops, but even that outclasses the Dell's integrated Arc Graphics. If you need any GPU muscle at all, look elsewhere. If you need a portable office machine with every port you could want, the Dell holds its own.

Pricing is all over the place. US listings range from $1,339 to $2,250, a spread of $911 for what appears to be the same machine. That's a huge gap, and it means you could easily overpay by hundreds of dollars if you don't shop around. The lower end of that range feels reasonable for a business laptop with vPro and this port selection. The upper end? You're flirting with MacBook Pro territory, and that's a losing battle. If you're buying in the US, the $1,339 listing is the one to chase. The CAD listings run from $2,549 to $2,743, and the single JPY listing at 315,762 is what it is. Shop carefully, because the value proposition changes dramatically depending on which store you pick.

The Dell Pro 14 Plus D17PX is a business laptop that knows exactly what it is, and what it isn't. Our database puts its compact score at 66.5 out of 100, which lands it in the 81st percentile for portability. That's a 1.40kg chassis with a 14-inch touchscreen, and it's genuinely easy to toss in a bag. The port selection is the real standout here, sitting at the 84th percentile. You get Thunderbolt, two USB-C, two USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and Ethernet. That's more connectivity than most thin laptops bother with these days.

But the numbers also tell a story of compromise. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265U is a 12-core chip that lands at the 58th percentile for CPU performance. The 512GB SSD sits at the 37th percentile for storage. And the gaming score? 18.1 out of 100. This is not a machine for play. It's a machine for spreadsheets, email, and the occasional video call, and it does those things well enough.

Skip this if you need any kind of graphics performance. The 18.1 gaming score is a dealbreaker for anyone who wants to play games, edit video, or do 3D work. Skip it if you need lots of local storage, because 512GB at the 37th percentile will fill up fast. And skip it if reliability is a top concern, the 33rd percentile score there is not reassuring. If you're a creative professional, a gamer, or someone who keeps years of files locally, this machine will frustrate you within months.

The Dell Pro 14 Plus D17PX is a business laptop that nails the fundamentals of portability and connectivity, but stumbles on storage and reliability. The 84th percentile port selection and 81st percentile compact score are genuinely impressive. The 37th percentile storage and 33rd percentile reliability are not. If you can find it at the $1,339 end of the US price range, it's a reasonable buy for a corporate fleet machine or a road warrior who needs Ethernet and HDMI without dongles. Pay more than that, and you're overpaying. The 18.1 gaming score means this is strictly a work machine, and the 512GB SSD means you'll be leaning on cloud storage sooner than you'd like.