"Pinstriped Overkill" would be a good name for a rock band. Or for the Dell Latitude 5491 (from $1,069, $2,370 as tested), the 14-in.business laptopit's too much of a machine for simple spreadsheets and presentations. Thanks to a six-core, 12-thread Intel Core i7-8850H processor, it's more powerful than some portable workstations from a year or two ago. The 45-watt "Coffee Lake" CPU has some drawbacks compared to Intel's perfectly matched 15-watt U-series chips — the Dell's battery life is shorter and the cooling fan is louder than the Editors' ChoiceLenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. But for users who want to run video editing or other demanding applications in a sleek 3.8-pound laptop, the Latitude 5491 fills a big niche.
Bypassing the base model
I don't see Dell selling many copies of the $1,069 base configuration, which has a very good quad-core Core i5 processor, but also a low-res 1366 x 768 display (as icing on the cake, it also has a hard 500GB drive instead of a fastSSD drive). Instead, the fully loaded unit shown here has a 1920x1080 touchscreen supported by Nvidia GeForce MX130 discrete graphics, 16GB of fast DDR4-2666 memory, and a 512GB Toshiba NVMe SSD.
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An intermediate model with Core i5-8400H power, a 1080p non-touch display, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD costs $1,609. All featuresWindows 10 Proinstead of home, and the review unit comes with a three-year warranty with on-site service after remote diagnostics.
The 5491 is a matte black panel with rounded corners and a chrome Dell logo in the center of a carbon fiber reinforced polymer cover. Thin bezels surround the screen, which has virtually no flex when you grip the corners—the system has passed rigorous tests for resistance to shock, vibration, and hostile environments—though there's a bit of flex when you press down on the middle of the keyboard. A blue ring around the integrated pointing stick adds a touch of color to the keyboard.
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Although slightly heavier than competitors such as 3.6 lbsLenovo ThinkPad T480or 3.3 lbsHP EliteBook 840 G5(Opens in a new window) , the Latitude has been trimmed down to an average of 0.9 x 13.1 x 9 inches (HWD). By comparison, the T480 measures 0.78 x 13.3 x 9.2 inches and the EliteBook measures 0.7 x 12.8 x 9.2 inches. The Dell fits easily into a briefcase, unlike desktop replacements with 15.6-inch displays, although the 130W AC adapter is large and unwieldy.
Dell earns an A+ for connectivity. The AC adapter slot is on the back, next to the Ethernet, HDMI and USB 3.0 ports. The left side offers another USB 3.0 port, a Thunderbolt 3 port, and SD and SmartCard slots. On the right edge is another USB 3.0 port, an audio port, a VGA port, and a slot for a security lock. Bluetooth and 802.11ac wireless are standard. a mobile broadband connection is optional.
Passwords: past
The Latitude offers two options for signing in to Windows Hello, a fingerprint reader near the right edge of the palm rest and a facial recognition camera in the center above the screen. The latter captures moderately bright images with little noise. The bottom front speakers easily fill a medium-sized room, but their sound is screechy and harsh when they're loud enough to do so, and somewhat flat or hollow at lower volumes.
The IPS touchscreen could use a bit more brightness—I'd like it to be a few clicks above the top backlight setting—and it has that glossy finish where you'll see yourself, not to mention light sources and objects in the room. every dark part of the screen. But its viewing angles are wide and its colors are vivid. Details are sharp enough that screen elements remained legible after I reduced the Windows zoom from the original 150 percent to 125 percent. Touch functions are hassle-free.
The backlit keyboard has one layout feature—there are dedicated Page Up and Page Down keys, while Home and End are combinations of the Fn key and left and right cursor arrows. It makes up for this with a soft, supple but not mushy feel. Almost silent, it responds well to fast typing, with adequate travel and good tactile feedback.
Runner players can choose between an integrated pointing stick, which has a hair trigger response, and a large touchpad, which has a bit more friction. The touchpad has two large, rubber buttons that are comfortable to click.
Conqueror of "Coffee Lake".
If you feel the need for speed, the Dell Latitude 5491 will deliver. With a hexa-core processor and fast memory and storage subsystems, there's no weak link in your productivity performance settings. However, you shouldn't expect much from the GeForce MX130 graphics, which outperform integrated CPU-based graphics but fall short of the GeForce GTX silicon found in gaming laptops.
See how we test laptops
Compared to a handful of 14-inch competitors, the 5491 took the win on the PCMark 8 desktop productivity benchmark, scoring nearly 800 points above the 3000 we consider excellent. It dominated our CPU-intensive tests with a rare score of over 1,000 points in Cinebench and less than a minute in the Handbrake video-editing exercise, though the ThinkPad T480($829.00 at Lenovo) (Opens in new window)IHuawei MateBook X Pro ($1150.00 on Amazon) (Opens in new window)The image editing workload in Adobe Photoshop is very good.
All of its power, however, doesn't translate to the 30 frames per second we find playable in our Heaven and Valley gaming simulations at full 1080p resolution and high image quality. The Dell was side by side with the Huawei and its GeForce MX150 graphics in our visual benchmarks—the latter actually won the demanding 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme test—but overall it proved suitable only for light or casual gaming, not the latest titles fast paced . In other words, it's still a business laptop.
As such, I was slightly disappointed with the 9 hours and 39 minutes of battery life in the unplugged video playback test. That's enough to get you through a workday, but nowhere near the durability shown by systems like the EliteBook (almost 13 hours) or the X1 Carbon($1281.75 at Lenovo) (Opens in new window)(moth 17 th pol).
Almost a workstation
The Latitude 5491 is a well-built laptop that's a pleasure to use, but if all you need in a business laptop is a travel companion for word processing and spreadsheets, the $2,370 as-tested configuration is about twice as powerful and twice as expensive as the equivalent system. Nor will it satisfy your PC gaming needs on the side. There are plenty of $1000 gaming laptops that will throw virtual sand in your face. No, the 5491's slot is too narrow to compete with Editors' Choice It's an enterprise-class 14-inch machine with colossal number-crunching ability or near-flat multithreading levels on workstations. If your application library requires it, use it.
Dell Latitude 5491
3.5
(Opens in a new window)
View $1069.00 at Dell Technologies (Opens in new window)MSRP 1069,00 USD
Advantages
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Stellar performance with six cores.
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Fast keyboard.
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Old and new ports ranging from VGA to Thunderbolt 3.
Against
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Expensive.
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Excellent battery life.
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Noisy cooling fan.
The bottom line
The six-core "Coffee Lake" processor gives the Dell Latitude 5491 superpowers for a business laptop, but it's a bit too muscular for everyday users and applications (let alone budget).
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FAQs
Dell Latitude 5491 Review? ›
What year was Dell Latitude 5420? The Dell Latitude 5420 was released in 2021.
When was Dell Latitude 5491 released? ›| Design | |
|---|---|
| Release Date | 07 June 2018 |
| Processor | |
| Processor family | 8th gen Intel Core i5 |
| Processor frequency | 2.5 GHz |
What year was Dell Latitude 5420? The Dell Latitude 5420 was released in 2021.
Are latitudes better than Inspiron? ›And so, the short answer is: Latitudes are best for remote workers and those who travel for business. Inspirons are designed for “home” use, but that nebulous description does open Inspirons to a wider number of uses than Latitudes.
What year was Dell Latitude 5285 made? ›Dell Latitude 5285 2-in-1 tablet was launched in February 2017. The tablet comes with a 12.30-inch display offering a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.
What do the Dell Latitude numbers mean? ›Latitude: Dell's corporate business line. “E” stands for the Latitude family; the second number refers to the series. The third number indicates the screen size (5 for 15-inch, etc.), and the last two numbers denote the generation of the family.
Who makes Latitude computers? ›The Dell Latitude series is a line of laptop computers manufactured and sold by American company Dell.
Is Dell Latitude good laptop? ›Dell's Latitude presents itself as an overall solid allround office device. The chassis is neither thin nor lightweight and likely will not win any design awards either. A gray, inconspicuous, understated 14-inch laptop - the focus is obviously on the internals.
Is the Dell Latitude 5420 touchscreen? ›Boasting a 14" 1920 x 1080 IPS touchscreen, the Latitude 5420 also incorporates a backlit keyboard for easy typing in dim light. Access microSD cards using the built-in card reader.
How much is the Dell Latitude 5420? ›Pricing for the Dell Latitude 5420 starts at $1,119 for a system equipped with a modest Intel Core i3 processor, just 4GB of RAM, and a tiny 128GB solid state drive.
How long will a Dell Latitude laptop last? ›
What is the average lifespan of a laptop? The same concerns apply to laptops. Most experts estimate a laptop's lifespan to be three to five years. It may survive longer than that, but its utility will be limited as the components become less capable of running advanced applications.
Which Latitude model is the best? ›1. Dell Latitude 7320. If you're looking for a lightweight, utilitarian laptop with well above average battery life, the Dell Latitude 7320 is a great choice. It's no slouch in processing power either, being capable of 3 GHz with a top-of-the-line Intel Core i7 CPU with Intel vPro platform support.
Which series of Dell laptop is best? ›- Best overall Dell laptop: Dell XPS 13 OLED – check price.
- Best looking Dell laptop: Dell XPS 13 Plus – check price.
- Best 15-inch Dell laptop: Dell XPS 15 (2022) – check price.
- Best gaming Dell laptop: Alienware x15 – check price.
- Best business Dell laptop: Dell Latitude 7320 – check price.
Dell Latitude 5285 Tablet 2-in-1 PC, Intel Core i5-7200U Processor, 8 GB Ram, 256 GB M. 2 Solid State Drive, Dual Camera, WiFi & Bluetooth, USB 3.1 Gen 1, Type C Port, Windows 10 Pro (Renewed)
What is the oldest Dell laptop? ›Dell released its first notebook computer, the 316LT, in 1989. The following years were marked by advancements in Dell's mobile technology. In 1991 Dell's first colour notebook computer went on sale, and in 1994 Dell was the first company to offer long-lasting lithium-ion batteries.
What is the oldest model of Dell laptop? ›Released in 1999, the Dell Inspiron 7500 was a speedy laptop that Dell branded as "A Mobile Desktop".
What are the different Dell Latitude models? ›- Latitude 9330.
- New Latitude 9440.
- Latitude 9430.
- Latitude 7430.
- Latitude 7320 Detachable.
- New Latitude 7340.
- New Latitude 7640.
- New Latitude 7440.
August 2022) Latitude ON is an instant-on computer system made by Dell. It is a combination of software and hardware developed by Dell and used in some of their Latitude laptops. The system is based on a dedicated ARM processor (Texas Instruments OMAP 3430) that runs a custom version of a Linux OS.
When was the Dell Latitude 5400 released? ›When Was The Dell Latitude 5400 Released? The Dell Latitude 5400 was released in 2019. 2.
What operating system does Dell Latitude use? ›Windows 10 Home, 64-bit.
Is Dell made in China? ›
PC makers look to diversify as China's zero-Covid puts them 'to the test' Most of the major PC brands already source their components from suppliers based in Taiwan and South Korea. The top three American PC brands – Dell, HP and Apple – depend on Taiwanese firms for 90 per cent of their components.
Are Dell computers made in the USA? ›Are Dell Computers Made in the USA? Dell used to build all their computers (from laptops to high-end desktops) in their facility in Texas. Now though, they've spread out their manufacturing and assembly processes worldwide. The Texas plant now handles servers and other industry-grade computers.
Why Dell is better than HP? ›Experts generally recommend Dell over HP due to its superior build quality, longer battery life, and better customer support; ultimately, it comes down to personal preferences and needs when choosing between these two companies. Let's dive into the full comparison of these two laptop brands.
What is the disadvantage of Dell laptop? ›The cons of Dell laptops
Some of the budget models have low build quality. Many people have reported that their laptop broke down within a year after buying it, leading to expensive repairs and replacements, which they could have avoided if they had chosen another brand.
You can expect a laptop to last four to five years, though Apple laptops have a longer life expectancy. No matter how well you care for a laptop, don't expect to use it for more than about 10 years due to software issues. Here are seven of the key signs it's time to upgrade to a new laptop.
How many monitors does the Latitude 5420 have? ›| Integrated Graphics Controller | Intel UHD Graphics 620 (8th Generation Intel Core) |
|---|---|
| Numbers of Displays Supported | System Ports - 3 displays max with LCD plus 1 display max on each output (HDMI, VGA (14 inches/15 inches) Docked - 3 displays max (combo of LCD, VGA, DP, HDMI) |
Slide the SIM card tray out of the slot on the computer. Place the SIM card into the SIM card tray with the metallic contact facing up. Align the SIM card tray with the slot on the computer and carefully slide it in.
How big is Latitude 5420 laptop? ›| Description | Values | |
|---|---|---|
| Rear | 0.82 in. (20.90 mm) | |
| Width | 12.65 in. (321.35 mm) | |
| Depth | 8.35 in. (212.00 mm) | |
| Weight (maximum) | 3.03 lb (1.37 kg) NOTE: The weight of your computer depends on the configuration ordered and the manufacturing variability. | |
Generally speaking, you can find great Dell deals throughout the year as well as on Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday.
Which brand of laptop is best? ›- SAMSUNG. ...
- LENOVO. ...
- APPLE. ...
- ACER. ...
- LG. ...
- MICROSOFT. ...
- MSI. The top gaming laptop available right now is an MSI.
- FUJITSU. One of the first names in the laptop market is Fujitsu.
How often should you replace your computer? ›
Various technology experts weigh in with different advice regarding the life span of computers. Computer Hope says consumers should expect to replace a computer once every four years. Home Computer Help advises five years for desktops and three to four for laptops is a good time frame.
Is Dell Latitude outdated? ›Launched in 2012, Dell Latitudes have fallen out of date somewhat. You can still purchase a recertifed Dell Latitude E6430 for the cost of an inexpensive Chromebook. The old Latitude specs are still decent by 2016 standards.
Which is better Dell or Lenovo? ›Lenovo is generally better for durability, as their laptops are built with strong materials and are designed to withstand wear and tear. Dell laptops, on the other hand, may have more attractive designs but may not be as durable.
Is Dell a reliable brand of laptop? ›While its top-of-the-line laptops are reliable and well-built, the lower-end models are less durable. Though a lot depends on the model and your usage, Dell's stylish notebooks should last at least two to three years without issues. Considering their prices, Dell laptops do provide good value for money.
Which is best Intel or Dell? ›Dell Technologies scored higher in 9 areas: Overall Rating, Culture & Values, Diversity and Inclusion, Work-life balance, Senior Management, Career Opportunities, CEO Approval, Recommend to a friend and Positive Business Outlook.
Which is best between Lenovo HP and Dell? ›In comparison to laptops from HP and Dell, its sound quality is greater. The Lenovo laptop has a longer-lasting battery capacity. Although it is better built than HP and Dell laptops, it is still inferior. The construction designs from Lenovo are stunning, even more so than those from HP and Dell.
Which Dell laptop series is latest? ›- Dell XPS 17.
- Dell XPS 15 (2023)
- Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1.
| Brand | Dell |
|---|---|
| Model Number | 12 5285 |
| Series | Latitude |
| Dimensions (mm) | 208.79 x 292.10 x 9.65 |
| Colours | Black |
The Latitude 5285 uses the graphics processor built into the Intel Core i5, an Intel HD 620. It has no special gaming or graphics rendering skills, but is powerful enough to run some older games in your downtime.
What is the battery capacity of latitude 5285? ›3 cells | 31.5Wh Dell Latitude 12 5285.
Why is Dell declining? ›
Dell Technologies says it will decrease its workforce by 6,650 employees due to lower demand for personal computers. Dell Technologies is eliminating about 6,650 jobs as it faces plummeting demand for personal computers, becoming the latest technology company to announce major workforce cuts.
What is the hierarchy of Dell computers? ›XPS, Alienware (and G-Series), Inspiron, Latitude, Precision, and Vostro are the big brands within Dell's stable, offering prosumer, gaming, casual, business, and professional brands.
Why are Dell computers so popular? ›Dell's success can be attributed in large part to its “direct model.” While competitors like Compaq and IBM sold PCs through retailers, distributors, and resellers, Dell sold directly to its customers, offering highly customized PCs at a time when the cost of computers was high enough to still require significant ...
What is the difference between Inspiron and Latitude? ›The Latitude line is clearly marketed as a line of business laptops , and the Inspiron line has been given the “for home” designation. And so, the short answer is: Latitudes are best for remote workers and those who travel for business.
Which came first Dell or HP? ›Dell was founded in a Texas dorm room by Michael Dell in 1984. HP was born out of a California garage by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939. Both are multibillion-dollar global companies and build impressive products that make our list of Best Laptops of 2023.
How old are Dell Latitudes? ›The Dell Latitude is one of the company's longest-running laptops and was released in 1994.
When did the Dell Latitude laptop come out? ›First released in 1994, the Latitude is a laptop lineup by Dell that spans seven generations.
When was Dell Latitude 5400 released? ›The 14-inch 5400 is a 2019 model and joins its existing 5300, 5400, 5500, 5501 on 13, 14 and 15-inch models. Dell likes to have consistency – it makes corporate ordering easy.
When was Dell Latitude 5430 released? ›Check Computer Age by "Property of Mercer" Sticker
The sticker is usually placed in the following locations: Dell Desktops: On top of the computer, near the front. Dell Laptops: On the back of the display. Apple iMacs: On the back of the computer.
Why Dell laptops are good? ›
Dell laptops are very popular because of their high quality and affordable price. They have a wide range of models, from the most basic to the top-of-the line ones.
What is the current generation of Dell laptops? ›| Latest Dell Laptops | Dell Laptops Price |
|---|---|
| Dell XPS 17 | Rs. 2,99,990 |
| Dell XPS 15 (2023) | Rs. 2,49,990 |
| Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 | Rs. 96,990 |
| Dell Inspiron 16 | Rs. 77,990 |
Discount PC | Dell Latitude 5400 i5 14" Laptop | Windows 11 Compatible.
How much is Dell Latitude 5400 in US? ›The Dell Latitude 5400 starts at $819 for a base model with a 14-inch, 1366 x 768-pixel display along with an Intel Core i3-8145U CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB, 7200-rpm SATA hard drive.
Does Latitude 5430 have a touch screen? ›A glove-capable 1100-nit 14” FHD touchscreen option lets you work even in direct sunlight. All day productivity is easy with optional dual hot-swappable batteries with up to 25-hour@ battery runtime.
How long do laptops last? ›The average lifespan of a laptop
There are plenty of variables, but you can expect a well-maintained laptop to last for three to five years. The laptop lifespan is shorter than a desktop PC due to its compact stature.
A desktop computer should last at least three years, especially when properly maintained with routine software updates. However, most can survive an average of five to eight years.
How do I know if my Dell laptop is refurbished? ›-Check the Laptop serial number at the back of the machine or in the battery compartment depending on the laptop model. -Open command prompt, and type c:>wmic bios get the serial number, compare the BIOS serial number with the chassis serial number. If this is not the same, the machine may be a refurb.