Dell announces the renewal of some of the flagship products of its range of professional PCs. Among the new features, the Latitude 7340 and 7440 Ultralight compete internally with the XPS 13, the market benchmark.
Dell is today revealing the latest products it showed us in December during a preview presentation it invited us to in New York. Three months after CES 2023, during which it announced a new repairable computer concept, screens and new gaming laptops, it is now announcing its new business PCs.
While the new Precision workstations, new OptiPlex desktops and new Latitude 5000 series laptops have little appeal to most of Frandroid’s readership, one range in particular caught our attention.
Dell Latitude 7340 and 7440 Ultralight: better than an XPS 13?
Dell is effectively introducing an “Ultralight” variant of the new generation of Latitude 7000 series laptops, which claim the titles of ” world’s smallest and lightest 13.3 and 14 inch premium business laptops “. In some respects, they supplant the famous XPS 13, often considered the Windows counterpart of Apple’s MacBook Air, and as such the benchmark for portable PCs.
The mass of the Dell Latitude 7340 and 7440 Ultralight “starts” at 982 g and 1.06 kg respectively, compared to 1.17 kg for a Dell XPS 13 model 9315 and 1.24 kg for a 13.6-inch MacBook Air M2. Dell combines for this a new mini LED technology for the backlighting of the keyboard (“up to almost 3 hours of autonomy gain”) with a 38 Wh battery, lighter, with which the two models claim an autonomy 8 h 46 min and 7 h 45 min respectively (MobileMark 18, keyboard backlight off). It otherwise offers a 57 Wh battery, with which the mass increases to 1.04 and 1.12 kg, and the autonomy to 12 h 01 min and 12 h 13 min. The Dell XPS 13 and the MacBook Air M2 have a battery of 51 and 52.6 Wh respectively and promise a range of 12 and 18 hours.
The 13.3-inch model is 299mm wide, 212.90mm deep and 16.67mm thick at the front, 17.60mm at the rear. The 14-inch model measures 313 x 220.2 x 17.15-17.95mm. They are therefore a little larger than an XPS 13 (295.4 x 199.4 x 13.99 mm) or a MacBook Air (304.1 x 215 x 11.3 mm), and relatively thicker .
Intended primarily for companies, they offer in return a wider range of connectors which makes them more versatile, without adapters. In addition to two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, which the two competing products are content with, they actually offer an HDMI 2.0 output and one or even two USB-A 5 Gb / s ports. It is very practical while waiting for USB-C to be completely generalized. All that’s missing is an Ethernet port.
In addition to Wi-Fi 6E (Intel AX211) and Bluetooth 5.3, these laptops offer a 5G modem option (Intel 5000), which allows you to stay connected to the Internet on the move, without the slightest manipulation to activate the connection sharing of their smartphone or to connect to a guest Wi-Fi network. This possibility is unfortunately too often reserved for ranges intended for businesses.
These laptops also feature a 13th generation Intel Core U-series processor (no AMD configuration), up to 32 GB of LPDDR5 4800 MHz RAM (non-removable), up to 2 TB of M.2 NVMe SSD , a 5-megapixel Windows Hello compatible webcam, 2 noise-canceling microphones and 4 speakers. They do not ignore the 3.5 mm plug. Their screens in turn adopt the 16:10 format, with a standard 1920 x 1200 pixel “Full HD +” IPS panel, optional touch on the 7340, or touch and “QHD +” of 2560 x 1600 pixels on the 7440.
The price and launch date of the Dell Latitude 7340 and 7440 Ultralight are not disclosed.
Dell Latitude 7340, 7440 and 7640 Aluminum
Dell is also renewing the conventional Latitude 7000s. With their aluminum chassis, the 13.3- and 14-inch Latitude 7340 and 7440 weigh 1.156 and 1.33 kg respectively. The manufacturer is taking advantage of the renewal to add a 16-inch variant, weighing 1.835 kg, which is limited to a Full HD + definition of 1920 x 1200 pixels.
These aluminum versions are otherwise identical to the magnesium versions, except that they offer less high-end configurations, with less bright screens, Full HD webcams or 4G modems.
The Dell Latitude 7340, 7440 and 7640 in aluminum are available now, from respectively 1529, 1509 and 1599 euros excluding VAT.
Dell Latitude 9440: The XPS 13 for CEOs
Finally, Dell launches the Latitude 9440, which succeeds the 9340, and which can be presented as the company counterpart of the XPS 13 Plus. It inherits the monolithic design and edge-to-edge design of its keyboard, but does not adopt the controversial row of capacitive touch function keys.
It is positioned a step above, however, with its 14-inch QHD+ touchscreen and 2-in-1 design, better camera, microphones and speakers, dedicated function keys for Microsoft Teams and to Zoom integrated into its haptic touchpad, or even the 5G option.
Compared to its predecessor, the Latitude 9340, it further increases the screen-to-body ratio, i.e. it is a little more compact at the same screen size, and it goes from 12th to 13th generation of Intel Core processor. And compared to its predecessor as well as the aforementioned Latitude 7X40s, it accommodates a second fan, which allows its processor to consume up to 20 W.
The Dell Latitude 9440 will go on sale March 28 at an undisclosed price.
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