It is a good business Ultrabook, but the
tough case, the refine design and its innovation deserve a better display.
Dell has introduced its very first high-end
business Ultrabook after a very long time coming, the Latitude 6430u. This
product’s tough case can satisfy the MIL-STD-810G military standard and it also
features many business-friendly functions. This latest introduction from Dell
will fight a fierce battle with ThinkPad X1 Carbon from Lenovo.
The
Dell Latitude 6430u
If there was a beauty contest for business
Ultrabooks, there is no doubt that the Latitude 6430u is not a good candidate
for the crown. While the wedge-shaped X2 Carbon from Lenovo reveals that it is
in such an understated class, the Latitude shows a heavy feeling around the
waist with its 22mm-thick chassis. It looks a little ordinary with the
combination of black panels and silver trim. The weight of 1.63kg is 270g
heavier than Lenovo’s model.
Although its outlook is not very subtle,
the Latitude 6430u is amazingly tough. All 14 test criteria of the MIL-STD-810G
are satisfied, so of course it must look very solid. In fact, you will struggle
a little bit with the base and lid to have them flexing. Fold the lid flat and
you will see that few millimeters from the metal trim surrounding the device’s
circumference will cover the edge of the display. If there was any accidental
fall or crush, the 6430u’s metal skeleton would bear all of the weight of the
collision, not the fragile LCD-panel housing.
Dell
Latitude 6430u’s keyboard
In term of convenience, Dell is also very
competitive. It seems that the backlit Scrabble-tile keyboard of the testing
sample is not completely flat – there is a slight bulge in the life side of the
device – but the concaveness of the buttons fits the fingers perfectly, and
each of the acts very responsively and crisply. You will not be bothered when
typing as the touchpad’s position is out of the palm and thumbs’ ways. The
swiping, scrolling as well as two-finger zooming movements in Windows 8 are
also reliable.
Our testing sample comes with a Core
i5-3427U 1.8GHz, 4GB RAM and SSD Samsung PM830 128GB drive. That combination is
agile combination and it has our tests in Real Worlds Benchmarks done with the
score of 0.69. With 459MB/s and 231MB/s as the read and write speed
respectively, the SSD drive is able to load huge computations and image files
in a blink.
The standard specifications are enough to
load any application as well as supporting the vPro for easier management, but
Dell also provides many updates and additional options: the processor can be
upgraded to Core i7-3667U 2GHz for $83.4 without VAT; it is also possible to
extend the RAM to 16GB for $217.8 without VAT; double the SSD drive would cost
$185.3 without VAT. No extra fee is required to change the Windows 8 Pro 64bit
to Windows 7 Professional.
Everything which is necessary for Latitude
6430u has been equipped. There are three USB 3.0 ports – one of them also plays
the role of the eSATA connector – a SD card reader, the 3.5mm headphone jack
and Gigabyte Ethernet, together with the D-SUB and HDMI outputs. Moreover, it
also features the dual-band 802.11n wireless and Bluetooth 4, and the built-in
3G for the Dell’s Wireless 5630 for an extra $148.3 excluding VAT. Personal
security is managed by the TPM 1.2 model, but an extra $6.2 for the fingerprint
reader.
The
ports
A smaller 3 cell 36Wh battery has been
equipped for our testing sample model – other retail models would be equipped
with the 60Wh 6-cell battery – and the Latitude 6430u has been pulled back in
our test because of this. In the light-use battery test, the Latitude 6430u
just endures for 5 hours and 23 minutes with the screen calibrated to a dim
75cd/m2. Fortunately, the battery is recharged quickly thanks to
Dell’s ExpressCharge technology; after the 3 cell battery is used up, it has
been recharged up to 87% within less than 1 hour. If you wish to get at the
battery, it would be easy. What you need to do is unlock the latch on the
Dell’s underside.
The 14 inch screen is the biggest
disappointment. Reading documents would be easy with the resolution of 1,366x768
without any scaling DPI settings of Windows, and the combination of the matte
anti-glare finish and a maximum brightness of 243cd/m2 might be
satisfying in most of the cases. What brings disappointment is the image
quality. The Windows desktop looks like being washed out with the contrast
ratio of 209:1, and the panel’s narrow color gamut makes it impossible to
create the strongest colors.
Dell has introduced a good business
Ultrabook, but with a better display, it would be great: a good display would
turn this Ultrabook into a high-end business laptop.
However, the Latitude 6430u shows an
undoubted attraction with its price. With the sturdy built quality together
with the 3 year warranty, fast performance, refine design and wonderful
ergonomics, this non-glossy Ultrabook is really good when its price is below
$1,544.4.
Specifications
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Details
·
Part Code: Latitude 6430u
·
Price including VAT: $1,425.5
·
Overall rating:5/6
·
Features & Design:4/6
·
Value for Money: 5/6
·
Performance: 5/6
Warranty
·
Warranty: 3 year NBD warranty
Physical specifications
·
Dimensions: 338 x 230 x 22mm (WDH)
·
Weight: 1.630kg
·
Travelling weight: 2.1kg
Processor and memory
·
Processor: Intel Core i5-3427U
·
RAM capacity: 4.00GB
·
Memory type: DDR3
Screen and video
·
Screen size: 14.0in
·
Resolution: 1366 x 768
·
Graphics chipset: Intel HD Graphics 4000
·
VGA (D-SUB) outputs: 1
·
HDMI outputs: 1
Drives
·
Capacity: 128GB
·
Hard disk usable capacity: 119GB
Networking
·
Wired adapter speed: 1,000Mbits/sec
·
802.11a support: yes
·
802.11b support: yes
·
802.11g support: yes
·
802.11 draft-n support: yes
·
Bluetooth support: yes
Other Features
·
eSATA ports: 1
·
SD card reader: yes
·
Pointing device type: Touchpad
·
TPM: yes
Operating system and software
·
Operating system: Windows 8 64-bit
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