When it comes to buying a laptop, one of the first brand names that strike your mind is Dell. The company has a wide range of products to cater to different needs. From budget to gaming to business laptops, you won’t fail to find a good machine that meets your needs. Earlier this year, the company added new members to its Dell XPS series with big changes in design, upgraded internals, improved display, and a lot more aimed at content creators.
The company didn’t slow down there, it even unwrapped its latest business-oriented laptop a few weeks later. The devices we are talking about belong to the Dell Latitude 9000 series and they mean pure business. The cost of the Dell Latitude 9510 laptop is more than 1.5 lakh. So, how good is this laptop? Dig into our review for the Dell Latitude 9510 2-in-1 review here to find out.
Design and build
When it comes to Dell, there is always a trust that you will get a premium design and a robust build quality. The latest Dell Latitude 9510 is no exception. In fact, the design and grey color theme remind one of a Macbook Air. The laptop is made from the machined-aluminum, which offers a very premium feel while making it look classy too. It even looks similar to the Dell Latitude 7400 laptop. The difference is the speakers are now on the top side, and we also get a slightly tweaked keyboard layout. Dell has moved the power button in the keyboard area, instead of keeping it separate to keep things clean.
Similar to the Latitude 7000 series, the keyboard is a bit sunken, which helps prevent the keys from getting damaged while placing it in a tablet mode. The keys seem a bit smaller in size than other laptops, but you will get used to them. Given the location of the speakers, you don’t get a very stretched out keyboard layout. Don’t worry, Dell has managed to fit in everything perfectly. So, there won’t be any typing issue. The laptop feels incredibly solid and the screen stays put without wobbling when using the touchscreen. We didn’t hear any creaking sounds when closing/opening the lid or picking up the laptop because of the robust build quality.
The Dell Latitude 9510 laptop comes with most of the ports in a slim package, which is great. These are two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 ports, an HDMI 2.0, a microSD card slot, an optional smartCard reader, and one USB Type-A 3.1 Gen 1 port, a headphone jack, and a Wedge Lock Slot. But, there is no full-sized SD card slot, Ethernet port, and you get only one Type-A port.
2-in-1 convertible form factor
One of the most impressive aspects of Dell Latitude 9510 is its convertible, 2-in-1 nature. While this comes at a hefty price, it truly is useful. Unlike traditional laptops, the convertible form factor offers a much better experience. One can watch movies or show presentations in a tent or standard laptop mode. You can also play light games and read e-books in tablet mode. However, the laptop is a bit heavy, and carrying it and using it in the tablet mode is quite difficult. The device has a robust 360-degree hinge and even comes with support for a stylus. However, you don’t get it out of the box and the Dell Active Pen will cost around Rs 11,800 in India.
Display
The laptop has a 15-inch touch screen with Gorilla Glass 6 DX protection and a 16:9 aspect ratio. The panel operates at FHD+ resolution, which is good enough for media consumption. But, Dell should have offered at least a 2K screen as this business laptop comes with a steep price tag. Nevertheless, the screen is sharp enough and has good viewing angles. Similar to the 2020 Dell XPS series, this one too comes with very slim bezels, which makes it look modern while offering more screen real-estate. It offers 400nits at peak brightness along with vivid color reproduction. The screen features an anti-reflective and anti-smudge finish; this resulted in hassle-free use under direct sunlight.
Performance
While you don’t get AMD’s powerful Ryzen 4000 series, Dell has incorporated the Intel Core i7-10810U vPro processor. The vPro chips are pricey and usually found on enterprise-grade laptops. To clarify, they are not meant for average consumers. These chips offer better security, device management, and integration with corporate (office) IT back-end. There is also an option to add a smart card reader, which provides two-factor authentication for secure logins. However, for this, you will have to spend an additional Rs 4,000. Besides, the laptop is compatible with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 for better connectivity. Our review unit came with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD.
As part of our review, we used HWInfo to monitor temperature during a variety of tasks. The data showed a maximum of 88-degree Celsius and an average 70 degrees Celsius after about 30 minutes of gameplay. We also ran a couple of benchmarks to understand the performance. On Cinebench R20, the laptop scored 911 points in the CPU test which is not as incredible as AMD Ryzen 4000 series. When I switched to Ultra performance in Dell Power Manager, we got a 1074 score on Cinebench. PCMark 10 gave it an average score of 4023 in the regular test. The laptop also scored about 343 in the Time Spy test in 3DMark.
As per our test, the laptop handled all the tasks very well. We noticed no lag or stutter while heavy web browsing or streaming videos. Apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Spotify, and Adobe Lightroom worked well at the same time. With over 50 tabs open on Chrome, 4-5 apps in the background (including basic video editing software), the laptop fans did not ramp up, which was nice. When we started playing games, we did hear the fans working to keep the system cool. While we are at it, Dell Latitude 9510 2-in-1 does not feature a discrete GPU. This is a bit disappointing considering the high price tag. Instead, it comes with integrated Intel UHD Graphics for regular tasks.
Dell could have offered lower to mid-range GPU cards (or even the Nvidia MX series). While this is a business-centric laptop and one won’t likely play graphics-heavy games, several titles are playable at low quality with occasional stutters and jerks. Along similar lines, it can’t do heavy creator-focused tasks such as video editing. However, you won’t have any issues with the regular core tasks.
Keyboard and Trackpad experience
The upper side of the keyboard and the base get very hot after more than 5 hours of continuous heavy usage. We experienced the same when it was put on charge. This makes it uncomfortable to use the laptop on the lap in the regular mode. When using the device in tablet mode, it is quite difficult to handle the heat. Though, we do believe your usage will not be on a very heavy side in the tablet mode. I liked the fact that the laptop cools down immediately if you take a break of like 10-15 minutes. You can also change the thermal setting in the Dell Power Manager app for a better experience.
You get a robust build quality and there is no deck flex in the keyboard area. The typing experience on the Dell Latitude 9510 was mostly satisfying with good enough key travel and tolerable noise. However, it took us some time to get used to the layout. It is also worth noting that the keyboard can’t resist smudges and grease in the long run.
As for the keyboard backlighting, it works very well. You don’t even need to control it manually unless you want to adjust the intensity level. You get two levels of backlight on the keyboard. The glass trackpad comes with Windows Precision drivers to provide an impressive experience along with multi-finger gestures. This trackpad is large enough in size and offers a smooth experience with minimal effort.
Speakers and camera
The stereo speakers offer decent audio performance in terms of loudness. It is more than enough for individual use in a small room or conference room. However, it is not meant for large halls and we would advise you to use a dedicated wired or Bluetooth speaker. We enjoyed watching video clips on YouTube, Netflix content and listening to music. The device has a total of four microphones, which helps offer good voice clarity during online meetings.
The front 720p HD camera of the Dell Latitude 9510 laptop is pretty average. However, this is the norm in the majority of laptops in the market. You will still get decent quality in a very good lighting scenario. Also, there is no physical camera shutter, which would have been a good addition. Unlike the Dell 7000 series laptop, here you don’t get the privacy filter feature for the display which restrictions side viewing angles. Strangely, there is no fingerprint sensor either.
Dell Optimizer app
There is a Dell Optimizer app, which includes ExpressSign-in, audio optimizer, ExpressResponse, and more. These offer a better experience and the ExpressSign-in feature works very well. It automatically locks the laptop when you are away from it and even wakes up the screen when it detects that you are nearby. One can also set up face recognition to unlock the device without even touching the laptop. I do believe, the default lock time of the device should be less than 30 seconds rather than 1 minute. There is also an audio and mic optimizer, which adjusts background noise for offering better clarity during video calls. You can also add the most preferable apps in the Dell Optimiser program, which the company says helps launch them faster and speeds up the performance. We didn’t notice much of a difference. Besides, the overall user interface is quite clean and smooth. You won’t witness any bloatware on this device.
Battery life
The Dell Latitude 9510 laptop offered us an excellent battery life. The device features a 52WHr battery. If your usage is not on the extremely heavy side, you will love this device. We got close to 13-14 hours of battery life on a single charge, which is very impressive. You usually don’t get more than 6-7 hours of battery life with most laptops. Of course, if you are doing casual gaming, using basic photo and video editing software with heavy web browsing, the battery will drain faster. The included charging adaptor took close to two hours to fully charge the laptop while we were working. If you are not using the device, then the charger will take less than an hour from zero to 100 percent. The adapter is compact enough to carry anywhere.
Dell Latitude 9510 review: Should you buy this laptop?
The Dell Latitude 9510 2-in-1 comes with a starting price of Rs 1,51,664 in India and the top-end model will cost you Rs 1,87,84. It is one of the best business laptops with outstanding battery life, great design, robust build, vivid display, a comfortable keyboard, and good overall performance. With this, you also get enterprise-grade features for security and remote management. While we do wish for some improvements in certain departments, the new Dell laptop does tick most of the boxes at its price point. Yes, the price is very high, but this is isn’t a laptop for regular consumers, but for top company executives.
Category : bgr,Dell,Dell Latitude 9510,Laptops,Review