Dell Precision 14" 3490 2025, Core Ultra 7 155H, 16GB, 512GB SSD, Titan Gray

A featherweight workstation with ports for days and a CPU that means business. Just don't expect it to run anything more graphically demanding than Excel.

The Core Ultra 7 155H surprised us. It's a 16-core chip that handles multitasking and creative workloads without breaking a sweat, landing in the 76th percentile for CPU performance. That's genuinely impressive for a 14-inch machine. The 16GB of DDR5 RAM is about average for this class, and the 512GB NVMe SSD is middle of the pack. The real story is what this laptop isn't built for. The integrated Intel Arc graphics put it at the 66th percentile for GPU, which sounds okay until you try to run anything more demanding than a YouTube video. For CAD work, light photo editing, and general productivity, it's fine. For anything resembling gaming or 3D rendering, you'll be staring at a slideshow.

The Precision 3490 sits in an awkward spot. The Apple MacBook Pro M5 Max absolutely destroys it in GPU performance and display quality, but you'll pay significantly more and lose the Ethernet port and USB-A. The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is the better pick if you want any gaming capability in a similar size, though it gives up some of the workstation polish. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 is a completely different beast, bigger and heavier but with real graphics horsepower. If portability and ports are your priority, the Precision holds its own. If you need any graphical muscle, look elsewhere.

Pricing is all over the place. US listings range from USD 800 to USD 1,701, which is a massive spread for the same machine. At the low end, this is a steal for a portable workstation with this port selection and CPU. At the high end, you're paying MacBook Pro money for a laptop with integrated graphics and a 60Hz screen. If you're shopping in the US, hunt for the USD 800 listing and don't look back. The CAD 2,339 listing is harder to justify when you compare what else that kind of money buys.

The Dell Precision 3490 is a compact workhorse that punches above its weight for portability and connectivity. The headline here is the port selection, which lands in the 86th percentile of our database. Two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 6E in a 1.4kg chassis. That's rare. The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is a solid performer too, sitting well above average in our CPU rankings. But don't let the "Mobile Workstation" label fool you into thinking this is a graphics monster. The integrated Intel Arc graphics are fine for productivity, but this thing scored an 18.4 out of 100 for gaming. That's not a weak spot, that's a crater.

If you're looking for any kind of gaming performance, this isn't it. Go get an HP OMEN Transcend 14 or a Lenovo Legion Pro 7i instead. If you need a color-accurate high-refresh display for creative work, the MacBook Pro M5 Max is the obvious upgrade. And if you're just a student who needs a laptop for notes and Netflix, you're overpaying for workstation features you'll never use. Get a mid-range ultrabook and save the cash.

The Dell Precision 3490 is a niche machine that nails its niche. If you're a field engineer, IT tech, or business traveler who needs a lightweight laptop with every port imaginable and enough CPU power for demanding productivity apps, this is a strong buy at the right price. The Core Ultra 7 155H is genuinely capable, and the 400-nit display is bright enough for most environments. But the integrated graphics cap this machine's ceiling hard. Buy it for work, not play. And only buy it if you can find it at the lower end of that price range.