Dell 14 Plus 14" DB14250 Ice Blue

The Dell 14 Plus DB14250 is a lightweight 14-inch laptop with a sharp 2.5K display, 32GB of RAM, and Intel's latest Core Ultra chip. It's a solid productivity machine for students and office workers, especially if you can snag it on sale for under $1,000. Just don't expect to game on it or use it in bright sunlight.

The Intel Core Ultra 7 258V is an 8-core chip with a 2.2GHz base clock, and it handles everyday multitasking without breaking a sweat. In our database, the CPU sits around the 64th percentile, which puts it solidly in the middle of the pack for traditional laptops. It won't set any rendering records, but it chews through browser tabs, Office apps, and light photo editing without the fans spinning up too loud. The 32GB of RAM is a real highlight here, ranking in the 93rd percentile. That's more than enough headroom for heavy multitaskers and should keep this machine feeling snappy for years.

Graphics are handled by the integrated Intel Arc GPU, which lands at the 65th percentile. That's above average for integrated graphics, meaning you can get away with light creative work and some very casual gaming at lower settings. But the overall gaming score of 20.7 out of 100 tells the real story: this isn't built for modern AAA titles. The 1TB SSD is quick and ranks in the 82nd percentile, so boot times and file transfers feel fast. The 14-inch 2.5K display is sharp, but its 300-nit brightness and 53rd percentile screen ranking mean it's just average. It's fine indoors, but you'll struggle with glare near a sunny window.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Pro M5 Pro, the Dell feels outclassed in almost every way except RAM at a given price. The MacBook's display is brighter and more color-accurate, its M5 Pro chip runs circles around the Intel 258V in both CPU and GPU tasks, and build quality is a step above. But the MacBook starts at a much higher price, so if you're in the Windows ecosystem and find the Dell on sale, it's a different conversation.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is the obvious pick if you want any gaming capability at all. It packs a dedicated GPU and a higher refresh rate display in a similarly portable chassis. The Lenovo Legion Pro Series 7i Gen 10 is bigger and more powerful but less portable. For pure productivity, the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro offers a stunning OLED screen that makes the Dell's IPS panel look dull by comparison. The Dell's main advantage is its aggressive sale pricing and that generous 32GB of RAM, which some competitors skimp on at the entry level.

Pricing for the Dell 14 Plus is a rollercoaster. We've seen it listed anywhere from $961 to $2,700 across different vendors, which is a massive $1,739 spread. At the low end, especially if you find it around that $961 mark on Amazon, it's a compelling deal for a well-built laptop with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. At the high end, you're stepping into territory occupied by machines like the MacBook Pro M5 Pro or the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, both of which offer dramatically better screens, performance, and reliability. If you're paying over $1,200 for this Dell, you should probably look elsewhere. The value proposition hinges entirely on catching a deep discount.

The Dell 14 Plus DB14250 is a 14-inch laptop built for the AI era, or at least that's what the marketing says. It packs Intel's new Core Ultra 7 258V processor, 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and a 1TB SSD into a 1.55kg aluminum chassis. The 2.5K IPS display covers 100% sRGB and hits 300 nits, which is fine for indoor work but won't blow you away. If you're searching for a Copilot+ PC under $1,000, you'll spot this one on sale, but its list price can climb past $2,700 depending on the vendor, so shopping around is a must.

Dell is pitching this squarely at students and office workers who want a laptop that runs cool, quiet, and lasts all day. The integrated Intel Arc Graphics with 16GB of shared memory is a step up from older Intel iGPUs, but don't mistake this for a gaming machine. Our database shows gaming performance is its weakest spot, landing in the bottom tier. For everything else, from document editing to AI-assisted tasks like summarizing emails, it's a capable and compact daily driver.

Build quality feels solid, and Dell talks up its military-grade durability testing. The port selection is a mixed bag: you get two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt, one USB-A, and HDMI 2.1, which covers most bases, but it's not class-leading. The backlit keyboard includes a dedicated Copilot key, so Microsoft's AI assistant is always one press away, for better or worse.

Skip the Dell 14 Plus if you do any kind of gaming or GPU-heavy creative work like 3D rendering or 4K video editing. The integrated graphics just aren't up to it, and our database shows gaming performance is one of the worst in its class. Also look past this one if you often work outside or in bright cafes, since the 300-nit screen washes out easily. For a similar size with a dedicated GPU, check out the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14. If screen quality is your priority, the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro with its OLED panel is a much better pick.

The Dell 14 Plus DB14250 is a perfectly fine laptop that's been hyped up with a lot of AI buzzwords. Ignore the Copilot+ marketing and you're left with a solid, lightweight 14-inch machine with excellent RAM and storage specs for the money, provided you buy it at the right price. It's quiet, cool, and handles everyday work without complaint. The keyboard is comfortable, the port selection is decent, and the 2.5K screen is sharp enough for documents and spreadsheets.

Should you buy it? If you find it for under $1,000 and your workload is mostly web browsing, Office, and streaming, it's a good buy. If you need to edit video, play games, or work outdoors, this isn't the laptop for you. And if you're paying anywhere near the $2,700 end of its price range, just close the tab and go buy a MacBook Pro or a Zephyrus G14 instead.