Dell 16" LDB16255-A873BLU-PUS Ice Blue 2025

The Dell Plus 16 is a solid productivity laptop with a standout 32GB of RAM and a capable Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU. The 1TB SSD gives you plenty of storage, and the touchscreen is a nice bonus. But the display is mediocre with only 45 percent NTSC color coverage, and the AI performance is the weakest area despite all the Copilot+ marketing. Prices range from $375 to $1,280, so shop around. If you can get it under $800, it's a good deal for developers and everyday users who need lots of memory.

Let's talk about what this thing does well first. The Ryzen AI 7 350 is an 8-core chip running at 2.0GHz, and it lands in the 78th percentile for CPU performance. That's solid, well above average territory. You won't be rendering 4K video in record time, but for compiling code, running spreadsheets, or juggling multiple apps, it'll keep up without breaking a sweat. The 32GB of RAM helps a lot here too. We rarely see this much memory in a laptop at this price point, and it means you can run memory-hungry dev environments or creative apps without hitting swap.

The Radeon 860M integrated graphics are a bit of a mixed bag. It's technically a discrete GPU, but it's not going to blow anyone away. Our benchmarks put it in the 62nd percentile, which is about average. Light photo editing, casual gaming at lower settings, and video playback are all fine. But if you're hoping to do serious GPU work or play modern games at high settings, you'll be disappointed. The 1TB SSD is also middle of the pack at the 62nd percentile, but honestly, for most people, 1TB is plenty. The real bottleneck is the display. It's a 16-inch 1920x1200 IPS panel at 60Hz with 300 nits brightness and only 45 percent NTSC color coverage. That's a 68th percentile screen, which sounds okay until you realize it's a 16-inch laptop in 2025. The resolution is fine for productivity, but the color gamut is rough for creators who care about accurate colors. If you're editing photos or designing anything, you'll want an external monitor.

The Dell Plus 16 sits in a crowded field, and the competition is fierce. The Apple MacBook Air M5 is the obvious alternative if you're not tied to Windows. It's lighter, has a better display, and the M5 chip will run circles around the Ryzen AI 7 350 in most tasks, especially anything involving AI or graphics. But you'll pay more for it, and you won't get 32GB of RAM unless you spec it up significantly.

The Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 7 is another strong contender, especially if you care about build quality and keyboard feel. ThinkPads are known for their reliability, and our data shows the Dell's reliability is only at the 33rd percentile, which is a weak spot. The ThinkPad might not have the same AI branding, but it's a more dependable workhorse. The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 and ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA are also worth a look if you want something more portable. The Dell's compactness score is just 25th percentile, meaning it's bulkier than most of its rivals. At 1.83kg, it's not heavy, but it's not ultraportable either.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is probably the closest direct competitor in terms of the Copilot+ AI angle. It has a better display, better build quality, and similar AI features. But again, you'll likely pay more for it. The Dell's main advantage is the RAM. 32GB at this price point is rare, and if you're a developer running virtual machines or a creator working with large files, that alone might tip the scales.

Here's where things get interesting. The Dell Plus 16 is listed across US retailers at prices ranging from $375 to $1,280. That's a massive $905 spread, which tells us a few things. First, pricing is all over the place right now, likely due to different configurations or retailer promotions. Second, you should absolutely shop around before buying. Best Buy is the retailer listed in our data, and they're known for price matching, so if you find a lower price elsewhere, use that to your advantage.

At the lower end of that range, around $375 to $600, this laptop is a steal. You're getting 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a capable CPU for less than what many budget laptops cost. At the higher end, closer to $1,280, it's a harder sell. You're competing with machines like the MacBook Air M5 or the Surface Laptop 7, which offer better displays and build quality for similar money. The sweet spot is probably somewhere in the middle. If you can snag this for under $800, it's a solid deal for a productivity-focused machine with plenty of RAM.

The Dell LDB16255-A873BLU-PUS, which we'll just call the Dell Plus 16 from here on out, is one of those machines that feels like it's trying to be a lot of things at once. It's a Copilot+ PC with a Ryzen AI 7 350 chip, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, all wrapped in a 16-inch touchscreen body. On paper, that's a recipe for a solid everyday workhorse with some AI tricks up its sleeve. And for the most part, that's exactly what you get.

Who's this for? Developers and creators, mostly. Our scoring puts it at 68.8 for developers and 68.4 for creators, which isn't earth-shattering, but it's respectable. The 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM is a standout, landing in the 91st percentile across all laptops we track. That's a lot of headroom for running containers, editing large files, or keeping a hundred browser tabs open while you pretend you'll read them later.

The interesting wrinkle here is the AI angle. Dell is pushing the Ryzen AI 300 series hard, with Copilot+ features like Recall and Click to Do baked into Windows 11. But our data shows the AI and LLM performance is the weakest area of this machine, scoring just 34.7 out of 100. So you're getting an AI-branded laptop that's actually better at traditional productivity than it is at the AI stuff it's marketed around. That's not a dealbreaker, but it's worth knowing before you buy into the hype.

If you're buying this laptop specifically for the AI features, skip it. The Copilot+ branding is front and center, but our data shows the AI and LLM performance is the weakest area of this machine at 34.7 out of 100. You'd be paying for marketing hype rather than actual capability. Look at the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 or a MacBook Air M5 if AI performance matters to you.

Also skip this if you're a serious creator who needs color accuracy. The 45 percent NTSC display is a dealbreaker for photo and video work. You'd be better off with something like the ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA, which typically offers better displays in a similar price range. And if portability is a priority, this isn't the machine for you. The compactness score is just 25th percentile, meaning it's bulkier than most of its competitors. The MacBook Air M5 or HP OmniBook X Flip 14 are much better options if you're carrying your laptop everywhere.

If you're a developer or a productivity-focused user who needs lots of RAM without spending a fortune, the Dell Plus 16 is worth a serious look. The 32GB of memory is the headline feature here, and it makes this laptop feel more capable than its price suggests. The Ryzen AI 7 350 is no slouch either, handling everyday tasks and light development work with ease. Just don't expect the AI features to blow you away. The AI and LLM performance is the weakest part of this machine, scoring 34.7 out of 100. If you're buying this specifically for Copilot+ features or local AI workloads, you'll be disappointed.

For creators, it's a bit more nuanced. The 1TB SSD and 32GB of RAM are great for storing and working with large files, but the display is a letdown. 45 percent NTSC color coverage means your colors won't be accurate, and the 60Hz refresh rate feels dated. If you're doing photo or video editing, you'll want to pair this with an external monitor, which kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop. Casual creators who mostly work with documents, spreadsheets, and light design will be fine. Serious color work? Look elsewhere.