Dell Latitude 7350

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
14,505
Location
Top of Virginia
I got a new work laptop, a Dell Latitude 7350. This replaces an older, and much heavier Dell Precision M4500.

The Latitude 7000 series is Dell's line of 2-n-1 convertible tablet/laptops, most analogous, I guess, to the Microsoft Surface line of machines. The biggest user difference, at least to me, is the Latitudes have a real keyboard dock with physical keys rather than the virtual keyboard "pad" that the Surface has, called the Type Cover. The obvious downside to that is weight and bulk -- this is much thicker than a Surface, and heavier as well (Dell is 3.67 pounds to the Surface's 1.76 pounds).

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/latitude-13-7350-laptop/pd

I first thought, "huh"? A convertible tablet for a work laptop? But it's quickly growing on me. It uses Intel's new Core M processor with a nominal speed of 1.2 GHz. But it throttles down to about 0.78 GHz at most times (even under moderate load), and it will throttle up to as high as 2.9 GHz under heavier load. It's incredibly efficient, at just 4.5W, and, like the Surface, there are ZERO moving parts in this thing. No fans, no mechanical drives, nothing. It's completely silent, which is nice. I've long been pleased with our older ARM-powered Chromebook, because there are no cooling ports or fan ports to accidentally block on your lap or when sitting on a softer surface. Anything with any power has traditionally had an active cooling system. This machine is completely sealed, and it doesn't matter how or where you set or use it -- it just doesn't get warm.

The display is very bright and crisp. It's manufactured by Sharp, and comes in 1920x1080 resolution. There are two batteries to this machine -- one's in the tablet itself and one's in the keyboard dock. Smartly, the battery in the keyboard dock is the first to be drained and the last to be charged -- it conserves the tablet's battery for as long as it can, and charges it first when on the charger.

http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-latitude-7350

As that review notes, the keyboard is excellent. It feels a lot like that on my personal Dell XPS 12 -- nice keys with a tactile feel to them. Unlike the reviewer's experience, though, I feel that gestures on the 7350's touchpad to be lacking in response. I never have an issue with one-finger mousing on it, but two-finger scrolling seems to take some determination -- it seems to wait and see if you REALLY want to scroll the page. This is odd, because the touchpad on my XPS 12 responds instantly to gestures.

I have the 8 GB RAM/256 GB SSD model. With my little Logitech M325 cordless mouse, I think this machine will serve me well for a long time.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top