Dell’s laptops receive a lot of attention for their sleek designs, powerful performance hardware, quality speakers, and stunning displays, but it’s often the overlooked details that can make the biggest difference to your PC experience.
How long a laptop lasts is one of those details, and Dell’s durability process – with everything from material sourcing to rigorous testing – is more involved than you might expect.
Here’s how Dell’s design choices contribute to a more durable PC that can keep up with everything you can throw its way.
What does Dell’s laptop durability testing process involve?
Dell’s Plus laptop durability testing process is quite involved, and it ensures that the PC you buy can keep up with your busy lifestyle. Dell’s engineers understand that most laptop buyers no longer only use their PC for one reason only, and a durable design is more important than ever in a busy, connected world.
Each of Dell’s Plus laptops is subjected to extreme heat, twisting stress, 1,200 drops, 20,000 hinge openings, two million touchpad clicks, and 40,000 button presses, ensuring that they can withstand situations well beyond what you’d find in a normal day at the office.
The best part? All of that military-grade durability ends up in a Dell 14 Plus PC measuring just 0.67 inches (16.95mm) thin and weighing just 3.42 pounds (1.55kg).
Using the words of Windows Central laptop expert Zachary Boddy in their PC review, the Dell 14 Plus instills “confidence it could take a beating and withstand years of use.” Indeed, Dell’s laptops are designed to last for up to five years, more if you’re not particularly hard on your device.
Why does Dell use aluminum and plastic to build its Dell Plus laptops?
Dell uses a mix of aluminum and plastic in its Dell Plus laptops to better balance durability, thermals, weight, and aesthetics. The Dell 14 Plus and its larger Dell 16 Plus sibling are built into an aluminum base, providing extra strength at the core of the PC while also conducting heat away from the internal components.
The laptop’s lid – arguably the most vulnerable portion of any device – is also constructed from aluminum to keep the screen protected and to further prevent any flexing. Plastic is used for the palm rests and display bezel to reduce weight without affecting the laptop’s durability or thermal management.
For the convertible 2-in-1 versions of Dell’s Plus laptops, which have a touchscreen that can be rotated around 360 degrees for tablet usage, a strong lid encasing the display is especially appreciated. No matter how you use your device, Dell’s quality assurance is evident.
Are Dell’s laptops less durable due to the use of sustainable materials?
Dell’s commitment to sustainability, which includes the use of sustainable materials in its laptops, does not affect laptop durability whatsoever. As mentioned above, all of Dell’s laptops are subjected to and must pass strenuous durability testing, no matter the materials used in construction.
So, what kind of recycled stuff goes into a Dell laptop? In the case of the Dell 14 Plus, Dell 16 Plus, and their convertible 2-in-1 counterparts, recycled and low-emission aluminum are used for the chassis, while recycled steel and recycled ocean-bound plastic are used elsewhere.
Dell’s laptops also meet certain environmental standards, including EPEAT Gold with Climate+ and ENERGY STAR certification. Overall, they’re durable, they’re sleek, and they’re less harmful to the environment.
Why is thermal design such an important step in Dell’s laptop engineering process?
A laptop with a poor thermal design will experience higher temperatures in its performance hardware, leading to faster degradation. Not only will poor thermal design harm your laptop’s life expectancy, but it will also harm performance. More heat means a tendency for more throttling.
Because Dell designs its laptops from the ground up for the latest processors and other performance hardware, you can rest assured that the cooling system will make easy work of moving heat away from the internals, thus reducing the likelihood of throttling and further contributing to a long lifespan.
It’s not like you’re locked into a specific configuration, either. Dell’s 14 Plus and 16 Plus laptops, along with their convertible counterparts, can be deeply customized at Dell’s website, allowing you to select a CPU, memory, storage, and display that all work flawlessly together.
If you think a Dell Plus laptop is for you, find out more on the Dell website: US readers click here, and UK readers here.
And there’s one more thing to know before you buy: Dell offers a price match guarantee. To learn more about the Dell price match and price guarantee, including the terms, exclusions and restrictions, US readers can click here and UK readers here.
