Sheer, unadulterated power. That’s what you’re getting with the Dell Precision 5690. Armed with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU, and a UHD OLED display, this laptop targets engineers, data scientists, medical professionals, and a myriad of high-level content creators. And yes, you can even game on this thing, making it one of the best 16-inch laptops on the market. You can expect stellar performance from its Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Thanks to Dell’s cornucopia of choices, you can configure the notebook into a veritable Fort Knox with the available security options. And if that isn’t enough, you can max out the storage to a whopping 8TB. It’ll cost a pretty penny, however, which is the biggest drawback to the virtual powerhouse. The other flaw? This thing needs more ports.

However, if you’re looking to do high-level work without worrying about slowdowns, lack of storage, or the other problems that lesser laptops have, the Dell Precision 5690 is one of the best workstations you can get today.

About this review: Dell provided me with a Dell Precision 5690 for review. The company did not have input in this article.

Pricing and availability

Well, this isn’t the most expensive laptop I’ve ever reviewed, but for context, I’ve also reviewed a $9,000 notebook. Still, my review unit costs quite a bit at $6,500. That eye-watering price gets you a 2.5-GHz Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor with vPro, 32GB of DDR5-7467MHz RAM, a pair of 512MB M.2 2280 Class 40 SDDs in RAID 0 configuration, an Intel Arc Graphics GPU, an Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU with 16GB GDDR6 of VRAM, and a 16-inch, 3840 x 2400 60Hz OLED touch panel.

And this unit does not even have the most expensive configuration. A totally tricked out version of the 5690 costs $9,230 and bumps the RAM up to 64GB, the storage up to 4TB SSD with an additional 4TB SSD (because you can never have too much storage), and a SmartCard reader.

If your employer isn't going to be purchasing a high-end system for you, you could go ahead and get a base model which starts at $2,290. That laptop will have an Intel Core Ultra 5 135H processor with 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, Intel Arc Graphics GPU, a 256GB SSD, and a 16-inch, 1920 x 1200, 60Hz non-touch panel.

Design and ports

It needs more ports

The Precision 5690 is the beefier cousin of Dell’s XPS line of laptops. As such, it’ll look good at home, in an office, and even in a coffeehouse. The notebook's chassis is made from Titan Gray anodized aluminum –– 75% of which is recycled, while the rest is made from low-emission metal. At 4.5 pounds, 13.9 x 9.5 x 0.87 inches, the Precision 5690 is rather light compared to some workstations like the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 (Gen 1) (at 6.5 pounds, 14.3 x 10.5 x 1.2 inches). But it's heavier than some other workstations like the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 (Gen 2) (at 4 pounds, 13.95 x 9.35 x 0.62 inches) and HP ZBook Studio G10 (at 3.8 pounds, 14 x 9.5 x 0.76 inches).

Just like an XPS laptop, the Precision 5690 has a glossy chrome Dell logo sitting in the center of the lid. The laptop’s interior is made of black polycarbonate and glass fiber. The touchpad takes up the majority of the palm rest, while the keyboard sits directly above in a slight recess in between a pair of speaker grilles. Look behind the hinge connecting the display to the keyboard deck, and you’ll see a row of vents. The laptop’s undercarriage has three gray rubber feet, four slits for the pair of subwoofers, and two rows of large vents.

For a workstation, I expected it to have more ports. You only get a USB-C port and a wedge slot lock on the right with two Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, a Smart Card reader, and a headset jack.

This wouldn’t be a good workstation without some security measures, which is why you’ll find a fingerprint scanner in the power button, a TPM chip to create and store cryptographic keys to ensure the OS hasn’t been compromised, Windows Hello facial recognition, and for my review unit, there’s also a SmartCard reader. And for the IT crowd, there’s Intel vPro for remote management, in case there's a need to remotely lock or wipe the system.

Display, audio, and webcam

Come for the OLED, stay for the woofers

Whether it's on a gaming or business laptop, or even a Chromebook, I’m never going to say no to an OLED panel. It’s the same for a workstation. The 16-inch, 3840 x 2400 display is bursting with color. The panel did an excellent job reproducing skin tones in the “The Five Devils” trailer. The red and orange flames raged unchecked, hungrily devouring red flags, creating wispy grayish-black smoke.

Targeting creatives, Dell has pre-installed its PremierColor software that allows you to adjust the color gamut, brightness, temperature, contrast, gamma, and black levels. The app also gives you even more control, allowing you to assign color gamut to any application and can switch on the fly.

Since Dell is targeting content creators, it wouldn't do to have an inaccurate display. Rest assured, the Precision 5690 is pretty darn accurate at 100% color gamut on sRGB and DCI-P3. AdobeRGB and NTSC aren't too far off, at 98 and 96%, respectively. The glossy panel averages 629 nits of brightness, which should make using the laptop outdoors a breeze.

As much as I love OLED, I’m starting to hate touchscreens just as much. For all the money Dell is charging for this thing, you’d think that they would include a stylus. But alas, they did not, leaving me with the unsavory option of sullying that lovely screen with my fingerprints. If you do choose to get some literal hands-on screen time, I can tell you that the panel is very responsive.

I wasn't thrilled with the webcam. My face in the test shot says it all. The Precision’s webcam color was off, and the overall picture was rife with visual noise despite the shooter’s 1080p resolution. Still, the details were sharp enough to see the frown lines on my forehead and the distinct bands on my shirt.

However, I’m happy to report that the Precision 5690 sounds as good as it looks thanks to its top-mounted speakers. The quad speaker setup packed a potent punch as the hazy synthesized instrumentals of Saba’s “Symmetry” filled the top floor of my duplex. And despite the subwoofers being placed along the bottom of the laptop, the Precision pumped out a respectable amount of bass.

Keyboard and touchpad

Comfortable and spill-proof

It’s not a business laptop, but the Precision 5690’s keyboard provided a comfortable typing experience throughout the entire time I was working on this review. Thanks to the 1.5-millimeter key travel, my fingers never bottomed out, and pressing down on the keys gave firm feedback with no discernible clicking. The keyboard is also spill-proof in case of an errant coffee or water spill.

The haptic touchpad offers good palm rejection with swift response. There were no problems navigating web pages or performing multi-touch gestures. The bottom corners of the trackpad are a bit stiff for my taste, and I’d recommend investing in a good wireless mouse.

Performance

The beast has been unleashed

It takes a lot of computing power to design a building, create a video game, or crunch the numbers to send someone to space. For those jobs and everything in between, the Dell Precision 5690 has an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor which runs at 45W TDP but can hit up to 155W when necessary. It has 16 cores, 22 threads, and a 25MB cache. The notebook also sports an Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU, 32GB of DDR5-7467MHz RAM, a pair of 512MB M.2 2280 Class 40 SDDs in RAID 0 configuration.

While I’m not an architect or a data scientist, I tried my best to trip up the Precision 5690, opening 90 tabs in Google Chrome with a mix of social media, Google Suite apps, Twitch streams, and YouTube videos. While all of that was running, I also edited an eight-minute 4K video in DaVinci Studio. In the end, it seemed like I was firing a peashooter at a brick wall as my workload couldn’t elicit even the smallest hint of any struggle.

The Precision also showed out on our synthetic benchmarks, generally trouncing the competition. When I ran Geekbench 6, the Precision 5690 triumphed over the HP ZBook Studio G10 and the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 on both the single and multi-core tests. However, it was no match for the MacBook Pro M3 Max.

When I ran graphics benchmarks, the Precision 5690 bulldozed its way through both the 3DMark Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme tests. And while it’s not really a gaming laptop, with the spec caliber, you can definitely play AAA titles at the highest settings. I played Cyberpunk 2077 for over an hour at an average 45 frames per second at native resolution on Ultra settings with Nvidia DLSS enabled.

Outside of use case and specs, one of the biggest differences between a gaming laptop and a workstation is battery life. A gaming laptop very rarely lasts beyond five or six hours. This is not the case with workstations, particularly the Precision 5690 and its 6-cell 100Whr battery that lasted 10 hours and 54 minutes on the PCMark10 Modern Office battery test. Before starting the benchmark, the screen brightness was set to Best Performance at approximately 200 nits of brightness.

Should you buy the Dell Precision 5690?

You should buy the Dell Precision 5690 if:

• You want a powerful laptop that can easily run AutoCAD, complete massive photo or video editing projects, or create video games
• You want a laptop that can last over eight hours on a charge
• You want a system with lots of security options
• You want laptop with an OLED display

You shouldn’t buy the Dell Precision 5690 if:

• You don’t want to spend exorbitant amounts of money on a laptop
• You want a laptop with more ports

I have to say the Dell Precision 5690 is an incredible laptop. It’s stacked with powerful components, crafted to help you design the next architectural wonder, a futuristic sports car, or the next top-selling AAA video game. Or if you’re a photographer or cinematographer, the laptop can carve through those big editing projects like a hot knife through butter. And when you’re not working hard, use that beautiful OLED display and punchy speakers to watch some of your favorite movies. Throughout the course of my testing, the Precision 5690 rarely faltered in performance. And I’m never going to say no to nearly 11 hours of battery life. If security is a major selling point, Dell offers several options to keep your data secure. It’ll cost you though.

That’s one of the biggest drawbacks of the Dell Precision 5690. Although the $2,290 base price is reasonable, you’re going to pay a couple of months of rent to upgrade the Precision to match my review unit (or get a rich benefactor). For the money you’re spending though, I would expect it to have a lot more ports.

However, if you’re looking to help build the next International Space Station or create the next Pixar Studios, you shouldn’t write off the Dell Precision 5690, because it is truly one of the best workstations of the year.