Dell Pro 14 Plus Review: Efficient Work Without Frills

Dell Pro 14 Plus is the successor to the Dell Latitude. Unfortunately, little has changed on the outside, but fortunately, there have been some changes inside.

The Dell Pro 14 Plus (1,749 euros excl. VAT) essentially does exactly what you expect from it, but nothing more. It’s immediately clear that Dell is targeting business users who want to stick to a familiar design.

Grey Mouse

The design is as expected: business-like and simple. The matte grey aluminum laptop feels sturdy, but also looks fairly ordinary and inconspicuous. The Dell Pro Plus laptop series includes three sizes: 13 inch, 14 inch and 16 inch. Something for everyone.

We’re working with the compact 14-inch test model (starting at 1,480 euros excl. VAT), but at 1,573 grams and just under 20 millimeters thick, it doesn’t score very high in terms of portability. The most notable modern design choice for this laptop is the rounded corners, but that has actually become standard by now.

The two hinges look rather clumsy and immediately catch the eye at a glance. More importantly, they do their job: you have to pick up the laptop quite roughly to tilt the screen backwards. It does happen, but very slightly. The design relies on the already proven Dell formula for business laptops without innovating.

OLED or Not?

The screen quality of the Dell Pro 14 Plus is fine for daily business use. With a standard 16:10 ratio, the screen offers a bit of extra vertical space, handy for multitasking or document management. The brightness of 400 nits is suitable for office work, but doesn’t reach the level of some premium competitors.

Dell offers an attractive OLED upgrade for the 14-inch variant. This option delivers vibrant colors and better contrast than the standard panel, which is especially useful for graphic work or viewing media, but usually lowers a laptop’s battery life. Although this panel is of good quality, it remains optional and comes with additional costs.

In our screen tests, we noted an average DeltaE value of 6.1, which means that the color reproduction is far from accurate. We therefore cannot recommend this laptop for graphic work.

Dark shades and primary colors, especially blue, show larger deviations, which graphic designers will immediately notice. For basic users, this is not a problem. The maximum brightness is not very high, but still adequate for office environments. Even outdoors and in bright sunlight, the screen remains surprisingly readable.

Performance: Highly Suitable for Daily Tasks

Under the hood, Dell opts for an Intel Core Ultra 7 268V processor. This chip offers sufficient performance for everyday tasks such as word processing, spreadsheets, video calling, and multitasking. The Pro 14 Plus also performs smoothly with light photo editing or simple media consumption.

The Dell Pro 14 Plus is equipped with Intel Core Ultra processors that are more than powerful enough for all office applications. The CPU is faster than previous generations, but can’t compete with a Snapdragon. We compare both chips in depth in this piece.

Everyday tasks such as emailing, browsing and editing documents, and multitasking run extremely smoothly without delays. The 14 Pro Plus scores extremely high here compared to other models. Light photo editing or simple video conferences also go without a hitch. This is not surprising with 32GB RAM.

User Experience

The touchpad is noticeably large, and therefore very pleasant to use. The clicking feels very solid both on the left and right. Everything, from simple clicking to multi-touch gestures, worked well during our test period. The physical click instead of haptic feedback is also nice.

The backlit keyboard is sufficiently responsive despite the flat keys. A downside is the somewhat odd placement of the fingerprint scanner, which is located just above the Backspace and next to the Delete key. The strange arrow keys also take some getting used to, but in general, the keyboard types nicely with sufficient comfort for prolonged use. The Pro 14 Plus doesn’t have a top keyboard, but it’s certainly not terrible either.

In terms of connections, the laptop does not disappoint. The device is equipped with 2 ThunderBolt 4 USB C ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, two USB 3.2 A, a universal headset connection, and an optional SIM card holder.

The image quality of the built-in webcam with privacy shutter sometimes feels a bit too artificial, resulting in a blurry image with washed-out colors. This could be due to the HDR function in the camera, but you would expect above-average quality in this price range. During video conferences, the microphone works well enough and we are clearly understandable. Thanks to the excellent speakers, we can hear everyone loud and clear.

Battery: Decent performance, nothing special

Dell promises a battery life that will get you through a full workday without a power outlet, and the Pro 14 Plus largely delivers on this. On average, you get about eight to nine hours of battery life with normal office work. This is decent, but no longer remarkable since the Snapdragon laptops. It is noteworthy that this laptop with Intel Lunar Lake on board can compete, and the processor is not a handicap but an asset for autonomy.

Charging is done via USB-C and is more than fast enough to build up sufficient capacity during a short break. However, the Dell Pro 13 Premium scores much better here. Features such as fast charging or smart energy saving on top of the existing Windows functions are missing. These are increasingly found in comparable laptops.

Conclusion: Safe business partner

In summary, the Dell Pro 14 Plus offers exactly what you’d expect from a business laptop: solidity, reliability, and sufficient performance for daily office tasks. However, it lacks distinguishing features and true innovation. The inconspicuous design and reduced portability detract from the ‘Pro’ label.

The price of a 14 Pro Plus base model is 1,794 euros, but you don’t receive a worthy laptop for that price. Notably, this model doesn’t differ much from the Dell Pro 13 Premium (starting at 1,796 euros excl. VAT), as both devices actually have similar specifications. Only the webcam, charging speed, and the material of the housing are significantly better in the Pro 13 Premium. If these things are important to you, the choice is easily made.

For business users who primarily seek stability and don’t necessarily need to get the most out of their budget, the Dell Pro 14 Plus is a safe choice. For anyone looking for exceptional performance, excellent value for money, or innovative features, the competition offers better and often sharper options.

Dell Pro 14 Plus – Tested configuration: Intel Core Ultra 7 268V, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, 14 inch IPS screen (1920 x 1200), Windows 11 Pro – 1,794 euros excl. VAT