DELL Latitude 3500 Intel Core I5 8GB/256SSD WIN 10PRO

According to Dell, the Latitude 3500 is ideal for people that find themselves developing their business. Whether it is going to be a personal device or a working machine for your staff, the Latitude supposedly offers great support and versatility, for a low-low cost.

Well, the cost is not that low, at all, but we kinda saw that coming, given that this laptop is not an Inspiron – it is a freaking Latitude. In terms of hardware it is equipped with the Whiskey Lake lineup of Intel and there is an optional GeForce MX130. Sadly, though, the display has a TN panel, despite the Full HD resolution, and it comes in two battery variants – a 42Wh and a 56Wh. If you go for the bigger one, you are sacrificing the 2.5″ SATA drive slot. Why? You will see in a moment.

What’s in the box?

Inside the box, there is a 65W power adapter, as well as the mandatory paperwork and the laptop itself.

Design and construction

To be clear, Dell calls this laptop a small and sleek 15″ laptop. Okay, perhaps they have missed our MSI PS63 Modern review or the ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534. There is no problem, Dell, you can still read them. However, this laptop will never be small and sleek. First, it is made entirely out of plastic. And they didn’t even try to mask it – it feels like the plastics on a super cheap car. One would say that this should mean a more rigid device. Well, to some extent this is true. The lid is super prone to axial bending, but the structural integrity of the entire machine is a little on the weaker side.

Generally, the laptop is not that huge, as it has only an 18mm profile. However, it weighs 2.15 kg and… look at those bezels. Not only it looks old, but it gives it a huge footprint. Of course, there is no chance of opening the display with a single hand, but on the bright side, there are options of this model that feature an IR camera for face recognition.

On the bright side, this laptop is equipped with a really good keyboard. It has relatively long key travel and clicky feedback. Also, there is a backlight, which is usually rarely seen on a laptop of this caliber. Yes, the keycaps are a little small, but the spacing is good and it is easy to get used to.

While the touchpad feels relatively nice and glides fairly good on its matte trackpad, there is another problem laying around it. First, the base is a little bendy, when you press it in between the keyboard and the touchpad, but the bigger issue was with the right side of the notebook.

Its chassis is either bend, or there is far less weight on the front right corner, because every time you place a hand on it, it wobbles. We had a similar issue some time ago, and the problem there was that it was designed in a way that the 2.5″ SATA drive is giving it the weight it needs to balance out the chassis. The chances are high that here, the reason is the same, but it is also possible that the issue is with our unit only. Tell us in the comments below, if you own this device, and if you experienced this problem yourself.

On the bottom, there is the standard ventilation grill, as well as the speaker cut-outs. Hot air, on the other side, comes out from in between the base and the display of this notebook.

Ports

On the left side, there is the power plug, which is a barrel-style one, then there is a USB Type-C 3.1 (Gen. 1) port with a DisplayPort output. After that, there is an HDMI connector and an RJ-45 connector, followed by two USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) ports and an audio jack. Then on the right, there is the archaic VGA port, which is actually good if you have an older monitor if you have to make a presentation with older hardware installed in the room. Following that, there is a USB Type-A 2.0 port and an SD card reader.