I watch Netflix in the kitchen — here's the best laptop for that.

A Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 laptop playing Netflix on a kitchen counter.

(Image credit: Future)

I might be addicted to Netflix documentaries. It could be a problem.

Recently, I started watching the one about Steph Curry and the Paris Olympics in my kitchen while cooking pasta. Apparently, having a 65-inch screen in my living room and another 55-inch in the den is not enough. I’m hooked.

Fortunately, I found the ideal laptop for watching movies and shows.

Choosing the gear

My main discovery is that this “third screen” option in the kitchen is more about having something to watch while cleaning up than a primary focal point. Here’s the laptop I chose, how to set everything up, and a few tips and tricks for making it work long-term in a room primarily intended for making tacos and enjoying conversation.

Having a laptop in the kitchen is a perk, not a privilege. In other words, the system must serve double duty as a productivity machine, in addition to Netflix entertainment, even if those documentaries are the primary purpose.

I picked the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 for several reasons. One is the price. At $949, the system is not exactly a budget model but also not overly expensive. It’s powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS, has 16GB of RAM and a 1TB drive.

That’s about the right level of speed and power for watching movies and shows, but it also allows you to stay productive in the kitchen by checking email and browsing the web. The 2-in-1 can fold up like a tent to look more like a television; when you flip the laptop upside-down, the screen automatically flips.

This model has a touchscreen, which makes it easy to select shows, pause, fast-forward, and adjust the volume. I also liked that its well-built aluminum chassis is not flimsy or cheap. While this is not a rugged laptop by any means, the Inspiron withstood a few splashes and food splatters just fine during my testing.

It also gets the nod for a long-lasting battery. When I'm in the kitchen, I usually move the laptop around to make room for bowls, plates, and chopping boards. That means I don't want to plug and unplug constantly. The laptop lasts about 10 hours, although when I used it for Netflix movies, it lasted more like five hours.

One final reason I liked this kitchen model is that the screen extends almost out the bezel. I remember when Dell first introduced that innovation a few years ago. It makes Netflix movies and shows pop a little more, filling the screen. Audio quality is acceptable but not overpowering. I could hear dialogue but would not pick this laptop for music playback — I already have an Alexa Echo Show.

Getting it all to work

My first recommendation for making this all work is downloading and installing the Windows app for Netflix. Once you start using the system in the kitchen, with the laptop sitting like a tent on a counter, you’ll want to avoid using a browser like Chrome. It’s a pain to flip the laptop back for typing, access Netflix.com, and then return to the tent position.

Instead, the Netflix app can sit on your desktop. You start the app by pressing the icon and can start watching your shows and movies. I also liked using the touchscreen in the kitchen to browse for documentaries. I found several by scrolling to the bottom of the window and looking through the documentary category.

The Inspiron is made more for business use than a consumer laptop that might have a rubber edge. Fortunately, even with the aluminum edges, the laptop sat perfectly still on a marble counter. I wondered if it would slide around if ingredients started flying around or the counter became slick, but it stayed put.

My only gripe with this model is that I wished the screen, at 14 inches, was slightly bigger. It’s always a trade-off, of course. A bigger screen would have meant a higher price, more weight, and less room on my countertops. While watching a WWII documentary where the filmmakers had colorized and enhanced the historical footage, I wished I was watching on a bigger screen. At that point, I just paused and watched the rest of the series on my 65-inch television in the living room.

That’s what makes the Inspiron 2-in-1 a good match for the kitchen. It meant I could start watching a show as background entertainment and even as a way to preview a show to see if I wanted to settle in and watch the whole series later.

For anything that would have been better with surround sound and a bigger screen, I marked the show or movie as a favorite and watched it later.

Other purposes in life

A Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 on a kitchen counter playing Apollo 11. The laptop sits next to a knife block. — Between the knives and a blender, the 14-inch laptop is small enough to fit on a kitchen counter. (Image credit: Future)

Of course, at the $949 price, you’ll want to lug the Inspiron with you for other purposes as well. I used the laptop at my local coffee shop several times, and I must say this is an excellent keyboard that reminds me of the 14-inch MacBook I own.

Since I’ve been testing gear since 2001, I’ve concluded that the keyboard is the primary feature on any laptop that makes it or breaks it for me. I use it all day for typing, and if the keyboard is not a good match, every other spec becomes less critical. I might be impressed by the crisp screen, the long battery life, and the performance, but if the keyboard layout and design are awkward and uncomfortable, the keys feel too springy or spongy, or the keyboard is too rigid, it’s always a pass.

In terms of that 10-hour battery life: I wonder how accurate that is. During my testing period, the laptop lasted more like 5-6 hours while watching Netflix shows and a little over six hours when I mostly used Google Docs and Chrome. Using this laptop in the kitchen is not a big deal — I've never been in that room for more than an hour or two. I wondered if someone picked this laptop for serious business or creative work and if they’d be surprised that the better life doesn’t match the specifications.

I enjoyed using the system in the kitchen. The screen is bright and colorful, the touchscreen is responsive, and the battery life was perfectly fine.

Because the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 is also a great business laptop, I found its dual purpose (entertainment and productivity) met my needs — and then some.

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John Brandon has lived what he writes about for Forbes, Inc., Wired, Popular Mechanics, Fox News, and many others. He has a BA in journalism from the University of Northwestern and spent over a decade in the corporate world, becoming director of Information Design at Best Buy at the ripe old age of 26. In the aftermath of a corporate restructuring, he traded hats to become a full-time columnist/journalist and has published more than 15,000 articles since that time. He and his wife live west of Minneapolis and have four grown children.