Things which we know about Dell Latitude 14 7000 - 2019
Dell’s Latitude line has been a familiar sight in the business market for over two decades. It’s currently offered in three tiers, starting with the entry-level 3000 series, then the mid-level 5000 series, and finally the top-tier 7000 series. The subject of this review is from the latter category, dubbed the Latitude 14 7000 (Latitude 7480).
This 14-inch is the largest of the models in the 7000 series. It started at $1,029 as we typed this, though our review unit was loftily perched at $2,086 with significant upgrades.
As far as business-class notebooks go, the Latitude 7480 rounds the most important bases. It offers biometric features such as a fingerprint reader, an infrared camera, and physical and contact-less Smart Card readers.
Its carbon fiber and metal construction are strong, and its input devices are perfect. We found most aspects of this notebook to be agreeable, with mostly minor complaints. Those included its noisy cooling fan, lack of snap-in docking solutions, and pricey upgrades.
Otherwise, the Dell Latitude E7480 is a solid hitter for a premium 14-inch business notebook.
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All about Dell Latitude 7480 Build and Design
The exterior of the Dell Latitude E7480 is all black and business-centric. Its straight edges and no-nonsense look is right at home in a corporate office environment and almost anywhere else. Most surfaces on the notebook are anti-glare, though the glossy touch display on our tester is an exception.
The Latitude E7480 is just 0.67 inches thin, while the rest of the chassis measures 13×8.7 inches. It’s a cinch to carry at just three pounds. Its dimensions and weight are very similar to what is arguably the Latitude E7480’s most direct competition, the Lenovo ThinkPad T460s.
Dell’s lid has a strong carbon fiber construction. Its exposed weave is a nice touch; after all, what’s the point of paying a premium for carbon fiber if you can’t show it off? It looks almost looks holographic in the right light. We like the silicone soft-touch finish on both the lid and palm rest areas as well.
The display hinge is unfortunately too stiff to allow the lid to be opened one-handed. The extra stiffness is visible if you have a touch display, however, as it keeps the display from wobbling too much.
The chassis showed some moderate flex when we torqued it from the front corners (which shouldn’t be done at home), but should be stiff enough to keep the notebook’s internals well-protected. The internal structure of this notebook, as well as the bottom cover, is a metal alloy. Construction of this quality is one of the key differences between the Latitude 7000 series and the less-expensive 5000 and 3000 series, which are almost all plastic.
Despite the Latitude E7480’s attractively narrow display bezel, Dell was able to fit its webcam atop the display. The webcam on our review unit was the standard 720p model. The picture looked sharp enough but wasn’t anything to write home about. It didn’t support Windows Hello in Windows 10 for biometric facial logins. You can get the Latitude E7480 with an optional infrared camera that does support Windows Hello, though it only appeared to be available with the FHD non-touch display option as of this writing. In other words, if you want any display but that one, you’ll have to settle for the regular webcam.
To upgrade the Latitude E7480, you’ll need to remove the eight Philips-head screws securing the one-piece bottom cover. The screws have available retainers on them, so they don’t need actually to come out of the cover once they’re unscrewed. The panel then flips up from the display hinge. Under here you’ll find the two DIMM slots for memory, plus the M.2 Type-2280 (80mm) slot for a solid-state drive (SSD). This is about as upgradeable as notebooks get, nowadays.
All about Dell Latitude 7480 Input and Output Ports
The port selection on the Latitude E7480 is more than respectable for a 14-inch notebook. The left side has the power jack, a USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 3 support, full-size HDMI output, two USB Type-A 3.0, and the Smart Card, reader. Note our review unit doesn’t have the optional contact-less Smart Card or fingerprint readers. Those are available together as a $14 option on configurable.
The right side has the remaining ports, including the audio combo jack, MicroSD flash card reader, with the SIM card slot directly beneath (it was deactivated on our review unit), the last USB Type-A 3.0 port, the Ethernet jack, and the cable lock slot. We do wish the card reader was full-size. The Ethernet jack has a fold-down bottom piece that you’ll need to hold open to insert a LAN connector. This is a clever way of including this port despite the notebook being slightly too thin to accommodate it.
It’s disappointing that the Latitude E7480 does away with the snap-in docking solutions of previous models in this line. Your choice for a docking solution this time around is cabled via USB Type-C, or wirelessly via WiGig. The latter is an optional extra.
Dell offers two USB Type-C docks; the first is the WD15, which includes a 180-watt power adapter, and the second is the TB16 with a 240-watt adapter. The WD15 is designed for a regular USB Type-C port, whereas you’ll need Thunderbolt 3 support to take advantage of the triple-display output on the TB16. Fortunately, Thunderbolt 3 connectivity is standard on the Latitude E7480. By comparison, the WD15 dock only supports two FHD (1,920×1,080) displays.
The USB Type-C docks are expensive by docking station standards. The WD15 commands $199, and the TB16 even more at $299. The traditional Dell E-Port Replicator snap-in docking stations that were available on the outgoing Latitude E7470 were less expensive; this was especially true if you picked up a second-hand version, which was plentiful given the long history of those docking solutions.
For wireless docking, you can opt for Dell’s Wireless Dock. It offers most of the connectivity of the just-mentioned USB Type-C docks for $269 but doesn’t have as good of multi-monitor support as the TB16.
Overall, the Dell Latitude E7480 rounds all of the essential bases for a premium business-class notebook, and we’re glad to send it off with a well-deserved recommendation.
Pros:
- Solid build quality
- Good keyboard and touchpad
- Beautiful QHD touch display option
- Excellent overall performance
- Plentiful port selection, including USB Type-C with Thunderbolt 3
Cons:
- Can get pricey when configured with options
- No more snap-in docking solutions
- Card reader only for MicroSD
- The cooling fan can be noisy
- IR camera not available with all display choices
