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I spend a lot of time testing enterprise laptops, but I nearly always test the top-end of specific models, as that’s what the vendors send for testing. But recently, I’ve been working with a more modestly configured version of the Dell Latitude 7420, and it’s a good reminder of just how much laptops have improved in the past few years. I had reviewed the previous version, the Latitude 7410, and this year's machine offers nice improvements, including the Intel 11th-generation Core (Tiger Lake) processors. IDC Whitepaper: “Optimizing Performance with Frequent Server Replacements for Enterprises” commissioned by Dell Technologies and Intel, March 2021. Results are based on interviews with 18 IT practitioners and decision makers at midsize and large enterprises and a web survey of 707 IT practitioners and decision makers at midsize and larger enterprises using Dell Technologies server solutions across 7 industries. See full whitepaper: https://www.delltechnologies.com/resources/en-us/asset/white-papers/products/servers/server-infrastructure-resiliency-enterprise-whitepaper.pdf
Dell Latitude 7430 vs 7420 (2-in-1) - NanoReview Dell Latitude 7430 vs 7420 (2-in-1) - NanoReview
We test Windows PCs' graphics with two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark: Night Raid (more modest, suitable for laptops with integrated graphics), and Time Spy (more demanding, suitable for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs). Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.Work wherever: Our 2-in-1s feature Corning® Gorilla® Glass, which offers premium glass innovation for better readability and durability, so you can work anywhere your job takes you. * The Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 comes with a one-year limited warranty. Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 (7420) Configurations The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.
Dell Latitude 7420 14 Inch FHD Business Laptop, Intel Core i7
It is also worth mentioning that Dell offers the Latitude 14 7420 in both Carbon and Aluminum outfits, both of which feel premium enough.The Bluetooth 5.2 version in the Inspiron 14 is the latest. As of version 5.0, Bluetooth supports wireless headphones, game controllers, and smart home devices within 800 feet. Bluetooth 5.2 adds such tweaks as LE Power Control (LEPC), or the ability to allow the transmitter to adjust its transmission power by itself or as requested by a peer device. Moving over to upgradability, Dell claims that the Dell Latitude 5420 supports up to 64GB 3200 MHz DDR4 memory that you can upgrade with two memory module slots on the motherboard. It also comes with a single removable M.2 SSD slot that users can replace and upgrade in the future. Dell Latitude 14 7420’s display doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment at any level. This makes it safe for your eyes even after long exposure. On the photography front, I've owned a host of 35mm cameras, both film and digital, as well as a Mamiya 645 medium format, a Toyo 4x5, and a Graflex 6x7cm. The last I modified to provide full swings and tilts (allowing you to avoid converging parallel lines, as when you photograph a tall building from ground level). I'm proud of this project, which I wrote about in View Camera magazine. Compared with the higher-end Latitude 9420 I tested recently, there are trade-offs for this slightly lower end model, but they are small.
Dell Latitude 7420 (2-in-1) vs Latitude 5420 - NanoReview Dell Latitude 7420 (2-in-1) vs Latitude 5420 - NanoReview
The Inspiron has a 14-inch touchscreen with a1920 x 1200 resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio. I watched Tears of Steel in 1080p on YouTube to test out the screen. The film has a lot of colorful moments, and although the picture was sharp, the screen didn’t capture the vibrance from some of this movie’s best moments. While the two main characters argued outside, the colors looked washed out and dim despite being a well-lit environment. To put productivity notebooks through their paces, we run the Cinebench R23 benchmark 20 times in a row and collect the scores to get an idea of how it performs under stress. The Inspiron began with a score of 6,642.90 before normalizing around the 4,800 range. Impressively, this is just about 100 behind the Yoga 9i on the same benchmark, with a processor that uses more power. The keyboard is pretty traditional, with decent spacing between the keys, and there’s a good-sized touchpad. My biggest concern – and one that may just be a random problem – is that the touchpad frequently doesn’t work properly. Other similar machines haven’t had this issue. We also run a custom Adobe Photoshop image-editing benchmark. Using an early 2018 release of the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop, we apply a series of 10 complex filters and effects to a standard JPEG test image, timing each operation and adding up the total. As with Handbrake, lower times are better here. The Photoshop test stresses the CPU, storage subsystem, and RAM, but it can also take advantage of most GPUs to speed up the process of applying filters, so systems with powerful graphics chips or cards may see a boost. Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Optional 1080p Webcam
To test the webcam, we paired up with an older laptop using the earlier 720p standard. That display, when viewed in a window next to the Inspiron 14’s, was notably soft. That said, the Inspiron 14’s more limited color and brightness detracted from a Zoom session.
7420 Business Laptop or 2-in-1 - Dell Latitude 7420 Business Laptop or 2-in-1 - Dell
MaxxAudio Pro by Waves, which I mentioned in the audio section above, allows you to customize audio and microphone levels. The Inspiron's SSD duplicated 25GB of test files at a rate of 404.86MBps, which is about half as fast as the Dell XPS 13 2-in1’s 806.24 MBps. The Asus Zenbook and Yoga 9i completely blew these two out of the water at over 1,500MBps each. The Inspiron 14 does quite well on battery rundown, coming in basically within the margin of error with the Microsoft Surface Pro and the HP Spectre. And face it, anything above the Inspiron’s 12:33 hours is icing on the cake. The two units that exceeded 14 hours on the battery test were the Asus Flip and the Lenovo Yoga.There's not much software preinstalled on Dell's 2-in-1. I didn’t even find the usual Windows 11 bloatware I’m used to seeing on new devices. I did find some Dell software of varied usefulness, though. Dell Customer Connect delivers surveys, and My Dell allows users to register their system for the warranty or find their Dell Service tag. Lastly, there’s Dell’s SupportAssist app, which provides automated support and assists customers with their device. The Latitude 7420 finished in about the same amount of time as the Elite Dragonfly Max, significantly ahead of the 10th Gen Core i5 Carbon. Graphics and Battery Testing: Running Time to Spare
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