Dell Latitude 9430 2-ni-1 Review

The Latitude 9430 is Dell's premier 14-inch business laptop—far from cheap (starts at $2,169; $2,994 as tested) but with the best the company has to offer, from Intel's latest processing and networking silicon to optional 4G or 5G mobile broadband. Available in both clamshell and our tested 2-in-1 convertible form, the 9430 delivers solid performance and connectivity and fine battery life, though we're mildly disappointed it doesn't offer a 4K or OLED screen option.

The Design: Fit for a Flagship 

The Latitude 9430 2-in-1 doesn't change much from last year's 9420 2-in-1, casting the same aluminum chassis in a somewhat darker hue and putting a 12th instead of 11th Generation Intel processor inside. The screen is the same 2,560-by-1,600-pixel IPS panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio, and the webcam has the same ingenious SafeShutter that snaps open automatically when you launch an app with camera permissions.

(Kirẹditi: Molly Flores)

The non-convertible, clamshell-style laptop Latitude 9430 starts at $2,169 with a Core i5-1245U CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB NVMe solid-state drive, and a 1,920-by-1,200-pixel display. Our $2,994 test 2-in-1 moves up to the higher-resolution touch screen; a Core i7-1265U chip (two Performance cores, eight Efficient cores, 12 threads) with Intel's vPro management and security technology; a 512GB SSD; a Rechargeable Active Pen stylus; and three years of next-business-day on-site service with Dell's deluxe ProSupport. (Settling for basic on-site service would save $137.)

At 0.54 by 12.2 by 8.5 inches (HWD), the Dell is a tiny bit trimmer than its rival the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 (0.61 by 12.4 by 8.8 inches), though the Lenovo is lighter (3.04 versus 3.2 pounds). There's just a bit of flex if you grasp the screen corners or press the keyboard deck. The screen bezels are slim; a face recognition webcam and fingerprint reader in the power button give you two ways to skip passwords with Windows Hello.

(Kirẹditi: Molly Flores)

On the Latitude's left side, you'll find two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports (either suited for the AC adapter), an HDMI video output, a microSD card slot, an audio jack, and a security lock slot. The only port on the right is a USB 3.2 Type-A connector.

(Kirẹditi: Molly Flores)

Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth are standard, and 4G or 5G mobile broadband is optional. If you have a USB Ethernet adapter, the supplied Dell Optimizer utility can boost download speed by using both a wired and wireless network at the same time.

(Kirẹditi: Molly Flores)

Everything for the Enterprise 

Two more tricks Dell Optimizer can do are use the IR webcam to lock and unlock the system as you walk away and return, and blur the screen if some nosy parker looks over your shoulder. It also removes background noise in conference calls and offers a choice of cooling and performance modes. Speaking of the webcam, it has 1080p instead of lowball 720p resolution, and it captures well-lit and colorful images with minimal static. Well done, there.

(Kirẹditi: Molly Flores)

The backlit keyboard arranges the cursor arrow keys in an HP-style row, with hard-to-hit, half-size up and down arrows stacked between full-size left and right, instead of the proper, more comfortable inverted T. It also makes you pair the Fn key and vertical arrows for Page Up and Page Down, though there are actual Home and End keys on the top row. On the positive side, the keyboard has a comfortably snappy, slightly loud typing feel, and the buttonless touchpad glides smoothly with an easy click. 

Speakers flanking the keyboard produce some of the loudest sound we've heard from a laptop, not distorted or hollow even at booming volume. There's not much bass, but highs and midtones are clear (which is good, because there's no software with music or movie presets, or an equalizer), and it's easy to make out overlapping tracks.

(Kirẹditi: Molly Flores)

As we said, we think Dell is missing a trick by not offering the 9430 2-in-1 with a higher-resolution or ritzy OLED screen. That said, the touch panel is about as good as an IPS display gets, with rich, well-saturated color; clean white backgrounds; and sharp contrast. Brightness is ample, and viewing angles are wide. Fine details in photos and the edges of letters look crisp. Dell's 6-inch PN7522W Bluetooth stylus is a real pen that feels good to hold, not a skinny swizzle stick, with two buttons and a USB-C charging port. It sketched and scribbled accurately with good palm rejection as I played with it.

Testing the Latitude 9430 2-in-1: Corporate Convertibles Clash

For our benchmark charts, we matched the Latitude against three other 14-inch 2-in-1 models: the business-focused Asus ExpertBook B7 Flip, Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7, and our Editors' Choice winner among premium consumer convertibles, the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7. The last spot went to a 15-inch model that straddles the consumer and business worlds, the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360. You can see their basic specs in the table below.

Awọn Idanwo Iṣelọpọ 

Unfortunately, the Latitude is one of only a handful of Windows systems that have suffered a software hiccup and balked at our primary productivity benchmark, UL's office workflow simulator PCMark 10, though it ran PCMark's Full System Drive storage test without a hitch. 

Awọn aṣepari mẹta miiran dojukọ Sipiyu, ni lilo gbogbo awọn ohun kohun ati awọn okun ti o wa, lati ṣe oṣuwọn ìbójúmu PC kan fun awọn ẹru iṣẹ aladanla. Maxon's Cinebench R23 nlo ẹrọ Cinema 4D ti ile-iṣẹ yẹn lati ṣe iṣẹlẹ ti o nipọn, lakoko ti Primate Labs 'Geekbench 5.4 Pro ṣe afarawe olokiki apps orisirisi lati PDF Rendering ati ọrọ ti idanimọ si ẹrọ eko. Ni ipari, a lo transcoder fidio orisun-ìmọ HandBrake 1.4 lati ṣe iyipada agekuru fidio iṣẹju 12 lati 4K si ipinnu 1080p (awọn akoko kekere dara julọ). 

Idanwo iṣelọpọ ikẹhin wa ni Puget Systems'PugetBench fun Photoshop, eyiti o nlo ẹda Creative Cloud 22 ti olootu aworan olokiki ti Adobe lati ṣe oṣuwọn iṣẹ ṣiṣe PC kan fun ṣiṣẹda akoonu ati awọn ohun elo multimedia. O jẹ ifaagun adaṣe adaṣe ti o ṣiṣẹ ọpọlọpọ gbogbogbo ati awọn iṣẹ-ṣiṣe Photoshop ti o yara ti GPU ti o wa lati ṣiṣi, yiyi, iwọn, ati fifipamọ aworan kan si fifi awọn iboju iparada, awọn kikun gradient, ati awọn asẹ.

The Latitude's 15-watt U-series CPU puts it at a bit of a disadvantage against the systems with 28-watt P-series chips, but it's a perky performer, taking the silver medal in our Photoshop contest. It's not a CGI rendering or data analysis workstation, but multitasking with numerous office apps and browser tabs was no problem. 

Awọn Idanwo Eya 

We test Windows PCs' graphics with two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark testing suite: Night Raid (more modest, suitable for laptops with integrated graphics), and Time Spy (more demanding, suitable for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs). 

A tun ṣe awọn idanwo meji lati ipilẹ-Syeed GPU ala-ilẹ GFXBench 5, eyiti o tẹnumọ mejeeji awọn ipa ọna kekere-kekere bi ifọrọranṣẹ ati ipele-giga, fifi aworan bi ere. Awọn ahoro 1440p Aztec ati awọn idanwo ọkọ ayọkẹlẹ 1080p, ti a ṣe ni ita ita gbangba lati gba awọn ipinnu ifihan oriṣiriṣi, awọn aworan adaṣe ati awọn ojiji iṣiro nipa lilo wiwo siseto OpenGL ati tessellation ohun elo ni atele. Awọn fireemu diẹ sii fun iṣẹju keji (fps), dara julọ.

The Dell landed in the middle of a predictably mediocre pack here. Like every laptop we've tested with Intel's Iris Xe and other integrated graphics, the 9430 2-in-1 doesn't pretend to play demanding games—it's an office productivity PC that's fine for casual gaming and streaming video.

Batiri ati Ifihan Idanwo 

A ṣe idanwo igbesi aye batiri awọn kọǹpútà alágbèéká nipa ti ndun faili fidio 720p ti o fipamọ ni agbegbe (fiimu Blender orisun-ìmọ Omije Irin(Ṣi ni window titun kan)) pẹlu imọlẹ ifihan ni 50% ati iwọn didun ohun ni 100%. A rii daju pe batiri naa ti gba agbara ni kikun ṣaaju idanwo naa, pẹlu Wi-Fi ati ina ẹhin keyboard ni pipa. 

A tun lo sensọ isọdiwọn Atẹle Datacolor SpyderX Elite kan ati sọfitiwia Windows rẹ lati wiwọn itẹlọrun awọ iboju kọǹpútà alágbèéká kan — ipin wo ni sRGB, Adobe RGB, ati DCI-P3 gamuts awọ tabi awọn paleti ifihan le fihan-ati 50% ati tente oke imọlẹ ni awọn nits (candelas fun square mita).

All five convertibles delivered excellent battery life, easily able to take you through a transcontinental flight and then a full day of work at your destination. The Latitude's screen is also excellent, with great color coverage and brightness for an IPS panel, if not the sky-high contrast of the Yoga 9i and Galaxy Book2 360.

Verdict: An Expense-Account Item 

We liked its 9420 predecessor and we like the Dell Latitude 9430 2-in-1 very much; enterprise IT managers will find it a highly capable, easily deployable option with attractive features ranging from its sunny screen to available 4G or 5G. The thing keeping it from Editors' Choice honors isn't its lack of an OLED screen, though that would be a nice status symbol. It's a high price tag—we know business laptops cost more than consumer models, but the Latitude's almost $3,000 while the OLED-screened Yoga 9i is under $2,000. Still, if your company can amortize that pain over three to five years, the Dell will reward you handsomely.