Dell Inspiron 14 5420 vs HP 14" Laptop

The Dell Inspiron 14 5420 offers a more powerful CPU, more RAM, and a higher resolution screen, which significantly enhances general use performance and multitasking capabilities compared to the HP 14" Laptop, which has a less powerful CPU, less RAM, and a standard resolution screen. Although the HP has slightly better portability and heat management, the Dell's longer battery life and better display quality make it more suited for a range of general use cases.

The Dell Inspiron 14 5420's gaming and 3D performance is primarily supported by its Nvidia MX570 GPU and a 60Hz screen refresh rate, while the HP 14" Laptop relies on an integrated AMD Ryzen 5 5500U Vega 7 GPU with the same screen refresh rate. Despite both being fair in performance for gaming and 3D tasks, Dell offers a dedicated GPU, which typically outperforms the HP's integrated graphics; however, with both having moderate refresh rates, neither is optimal for highly competitive gaming where higher refresh rates are advantageous.

The Dell Inspiron 14 5420 outperforms the HP 14" Laptop for engineering and design due to its superior CPU and GPU, higher RAM, and better screen resolution and quality, enhancing software run-time efficiency and visual precision for these tasks. Although the HP laptop is slightly more portable and quieter under load, its lower-end integrated graphics, less RAM, and screen quality make it less suitable for demanding engineering software and intricate design work.

PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.

For general use, both the Dell Inspiron 14 5420 and the HP 14" Laptop have screens that offer sufficient resolution and brightness, making them suitable for everyday tasks like browsing and document editing, although they may not have the most vibrant displays. In engineering and design, the importance of accurate colors means that without a wide color gamut covering DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB, both laptops only provide fair screen quality, which may not be ideal for professional color work. For gaming and 3D applications, the lower refresh rates on these laptops mean less fluid visuals compared to gaming-oriented laptops with high refresh screens, leading to a poorer experience in fast-paced scenarios.

Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.

PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.

PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.