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List Price: $1,208.00
Sale Price: $649.99
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I'm an IT tech, and we buy Dell for all our customers, both commercial and residential.
We buy two models, the Optiplex and Latitude laptops, and have a long list of satisfied customers. The most common model we buy is the Latitude E5520 because it offers a good balance of speed, versatility, scalability, and function. It's a high quality item designed for businesses and private users. The E5520 isn't available from Dell anymore (replaced by the Latitude E5300 and 5500 series).
It's a mid-sized machine with a 15.6" widescreen monitor. The machine itself is pretty big, about the same size as my 17" MacBook Pro so about 12" deep, 16" wide, and over an 1" thick, and weighs about 6 lbs. It's constructed mostly of sturdy plastic, which covers the chassis top bottom, and palm rests. with the exception of a thin piece of brushed gunmetal colored aluminum with a matte finished Dell logo covering the top of the lid. The bottom is also metal, and the sides are reinforced with extra plastic. There's a full seal around the edge of the screen, and a zinc alloy latch firmly secures the assembly, which is very secure. The LCD itself is sealed to the lid and protected around the edge of the lid by protective bumpers. The frame is constructed from a mix of aluminum and magnesium to keep it lightweight, and the lid's hinges are steel. Overall the machine is very sturdy, solidly built, and is able to withstand some heavy use and abuse. The keyboard is sealed underneath the keys to prevent leaks or spills from getting inside. This machine is not far off from being a Toughbook.
The touchpad is offset from center to the left due to the full 10-key pad on the right side of the keyboard. The touchpad supports multitouch and is a little small, but not too bad, and features a pointing stick like Lenovo machines, with auxiliary mouse buttons above the touchpad. As a plus, this model comes with a backlit keyboard.
The monitor is a 15.6" anti-glare, LED backlit, 16.7 million color widescreen. In stock trim it's 1366x786 resolution, so it's not super high resolution, so don't expect a full HD experience on it. You do have the option of a full 1080 HD screen though, but the stock display is plenty bright, has excellent color reproduction, contrast, and does a good job of showing fine detail. The anti-glare works very well outdoors.
Hardware set varies and there are a dizzying list of available options. We order ours with the Intel Core i5-2520M 2.5 GHz quad core CPU, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 320 GB SATA 6 HDD, DVD-R/RW super multi optical drive, and Intel's HD 3000 graphics chip, which shares system memory. Nothing fancy. There's also gigabit ethernet, b/g/n wireless card, an eSATA/USB port, 4 USB 2.0 ports, memory card reader, 54mm express expansion slot, 1 full and 2 half height mini card slots, HDMI, VGA, and 1394 800 FireWire, and Dell's docking port on the bottom that lets you connect the laptop to an expansion bay with extra USB or other ports. This configuration makes it fast and reliable. We exclusively order Win 7 Pro 32 bit. The Intel CPU sips power, runs cool, and has great performance for lots of computing power. You can get 3 battery options with the Lat: a 4, 6, or 9-cell lithium ion pack, with the top being good for 97 watt hours. I forget which battery we ordered, but the machine lasts for about 3 hours under normal use with WiFi running.
Overall, it's a very good package that rivals Lenovo, HP, and Panasonic's Toughbook for features and affordability. Adding options adds to the price considerably though. For a similarly configured HP or Lenovo, figure on the Latitude costing a couple hundred more dollars. For a business or home user, it's great. The E5520 will last a long time, and if something does happen to it, Dell's warranty is first-class. If you add the optional 3-year, you extend the 1-year, which in itself awesome. If it breaks, Dell will fix it by either sending a tech or shipping a new part. As a plus, the Latitudes are fairly easy to work on, unlike the Lenovo's, which are a nightmare. I've been inside lots of Latitudes, and can say it's nice to work on them. I love how Dell doesn't load their machines with bloatware from the factory. There is only one or two programs that are easy to remove if you don't want them.
Pros:
Dell quality
Well built solid construction
People proof
Easy to maintain
Great performance
Backlit keyboard
Good features and lots of expandability
Little bloatware
Excellent warranty
Cons:
Touchpad is a little small
Screen could be better
Gets really expensive with add-ons
I highly recommend the Latitude. It's a no-nonense laptop that does whatever you ask it to (aside from playing graphics intensive computer games), offers a lot in terms of reliability and durability, and performance out of the box.
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I love this computer it's fast, efficient and very asthetically pleasing with a streamlined clean design. My favorite feature is how fast it isno hicups or waiting around just smooth continous operation. I recommend it for someone like myself who is just looking for a good solid computer for work, study or entertainment. (watching videos or listening to music) I don't do gaming or download movies so I can't coment on thatbut for basically anything else you can think of this computer delivers and then some. Highly recommended.
