Dell Inspiron 14 5410 2-in-1 laptop in review: The modular convertible offers affordable performance

A lot of metal and glass characterize the surfaces of the convertible, which features a two-tone gray design. The two different but well-matched gray tones make the 2-in-1 laptop look sleek and elegant. The lid and the top of the base unit are made of aluminum, while the bottom of the base unit is made of painted plastic. The laptop can't be opened with one hand, but this is partly due to Dell's design, where the display raises the base. This also means that Dell can avoid using thick base feet on the Inspiron 5410. As a result, the single fan still gets a good supply of cold air from below and can expel the warm waste air through the industrial-looking holes on the back.

There are no visual shortcomings when it comes to workmanship. The curves around the edges are even and no major gaps are visible. The convertible looks high quality. While the case feels quite rigid, it can be bent a bit, and the top of the base unit can also be slightly pressed in where the keyboard is located.

In terms of size and weight, the Dell Inspiron 5410 sits in the midfield of all the 14-inch convertibles in our comparison. However, due to the small base feet, it's effectively a bit thinner than most of its competitors, since we don't take them into account when measuring.

When testing the transfer speeds with the fast 128 GB AV PRO V60 microSD, the Dell 2-in-1 laptop was unable to achieve good rates. 20 to 30 MB/s are at the level of USB 2.0.

The replaceable Intel AX201 module provides fast Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 in the Inspiron convertible. The 2-in-1 laptop is clearly above average in reception transfer rates, but the performance for sending data is somewhat below average. This is not unusual for laptops with a metal case.

In terms of webcam quality, the Dell Inspiron 5410 doesn't stand out from the crowd among the laptops reviewed so far. While the test image is reasonably sharp in all areas and the Siemens stars are well reproduced in the corners, there are still high color deviations in the images captured by the camera.

The Dell Inspiron has all the latest security features like TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot thanks to the Intel Core i7-1165G7. Users can log in using the built-in fingerprint sensor. This means the laptop is ready for Windows 11.

The only accessories found in the box are the usual documents and the laptop's power adapter.

After loosening the few case screws, the laptop can be opened quickly, since the rear screws already lift the edge along the hinges. You can then easily remove the bottom cover with a plastic pry tool.

The laptop scores points with many replaceable parts. The Wi-Fi module, the M.2 SSD, and the DDR4 SO-DIMM RAM are all removable. The battery can also be removed in a few steps.

Dell's warranty policy provides a 12-month manufacturer's warranty that includes Collect and Return.

The backlight and the very quiet typing noise make it possible to work at night using this keyboard. Apart from that, the Dell 2-in-1 laptop's keyboard impresses with clear pressure points despite the short key travel.

The Dell Inspiron 5140 is available in a variety of configurations with an Intel Core i5 or i7, and 8 to 16 GB of RAM. Our review sample is equipped with the well-optimized Intel Core i7, 12 GB of RAM and a 512 GB NVMe SSD.

The Dell laptop's performance is controlled via the MyDell application. There are four possible settings here that influence the power limits. Since these are also influenced by other factors besides the settings, this results in different values. If the laptop is moved, PL1 is set to 15 watts for a brief moment. The following values were obtained from HWiNFO for PL1 and PL2:

Unless otherwise indicated, all benchmarks were run with the Ultra performance profile enabled.

As a quad-core SoC with low energy consumption, the Intel Core i7-1165G7 is mainly used in slim laptops that are still expected to deliver good performance rates. According to Intel's data sheet, the CPU, which is manufactured in the SuperFin process, can be set to a TDP of between 12 and 28 watts. In our test device, the processor sustains the TDP of 30 watts, which is set by the Ultra Performance mode, for a bit less than a minute under prolonged load. Afterwards, it operates at 21 watts on average.

There are only significant differences between the Optimized performance mode and the Ultra Performance mode when it comes to prolonged load, and these are only in the range of a few percentage points. Subjectively, the system performance doesn't change at all. In contrast, the drop in performance when using the Cool profile is clearly noticeable as well as measurable. Performance drops by up to 40% here.

As is typical for Intel's 11th generation processors, the CPU lags strongly behind AMD's Ryzen chips in terms of multi-core results, but it can at least achieve equally good single-core results. Depending on the intended use and application selection, Intel or AMD has the advantage.

The Dell Inspiron 5410 achieves good performance scores in PCMark10, even though the moderate transfer rates of the SSD and RAM are somewhat reflected in the Digital Content Creation and Productivity categories. In everyday use, you can expect a good user experience with fast response times from the Dell convertible. Outside of very CPU-intensive tasks, the 2-in-1 laptop performs very well.

The built-in Toshiba KBG40ZNS512G NVMe SSD isn't the fastest drive; therefore, it's far behind the storage solutions of the competitors in the benchmarks. Although AS SSD produces slightly better scores, the laptop would probably benefit greatly from a better SSD overall. This storage drive is currently ranked 181 in our HDD/SSD Benchmarks article, proving it to be rather mediocre.