Dell Latitude 13 7370 Ultrabook Review

We are already familiar with Intel's Wireless-AC 8260 from many other modern notebooks, were the module provides impressive Wi-Fi transfer rate thanks to 802.11ac support and dual-stream technology (up to 866 Mbps gross). We also managed excellent 77 MB/s with our test router (Linksys EA8500, short distance and direct sight), so the missing Gigabit-Ethernet jack is not that big of a deal. Range and signal quality do not cause any criticism, either, and Bluetooth 4.2 is supported as well.

The Latitude 7370 can also be equipped with an optional Tri-Band module Wireless-AC 18260 (incl. WiGig) as well as an LTE modem from Qualcomm (Snapdragon X7).

Webcam and Microphone

As usual, you should not expect a lot from the integrated HD webcam in terms of picture quality – the pale and noisy pictures from a slightly unusual position (the sensor is not above, but below the display) are only sufficient for simple video chats. At least, users get a very decent array microphone, which can also replace a headset if necessary.

Security 

The Latitude 13 is a full-fledged business device  equipped with all the security features you would need in professional environments. Among others, it includes a TPM, a fast touch fingerprint scanner, NFC as well as a SmartCard reader. The 7370 is also prepared for Computrace, a technology to prevent thefts and remote control for stolen laptops.

Accessories

Except for the usual brochures and the corresponding 45-watt power adapter, Dell ships its notebook with Windows and driver DVDs for a fresh installation of the operating system. A small USB flash drive would have been a better solution due to the lack of an optical drive. There are also some software additions such as the "Dell Command Power Manager", which can be used to configure the charging settings for the battery.

Maintenance

The screwed bottom cover of the Latitude can be removed in a few steps and reveals the hardware. CPU and memory are soldered and there is no fan, so the maintenance and upgrade works are limited to the WLAN and M.2 module as well as the optional implementation of an LTE module (antenna cables already integrated).

Warranty

One reason for the high retail price is the included On-Site service, which includes a 3-year "ProSupport" on the next business day. You can also switch to a 5-year "BasicSupport" for free or pay around 180 Euros (~$202) for an upgrade to the 5-year "ProSupport".

The appealing InfinityEdge display of the Latitude 7370 has either 1920x1080 (FHD) or 3200x1800 pixels (QHD+). The latter is exclusively available with a touchscreen and should be glossier than the matte in our review unit, despite the anti-reflective Gorilla Glass surface. The maximum luminance of up to 400 cd/m² is another advantage for the lower resolution, whereas the touch panel is only supposed to reach 350 cd/m². The enormous pixel density of the QHD+ version – 276 instead of 166 PPI – also requires scaling of the picture by Windows, which can still be a problem with older software.

Our review unit misses the advertised luminance by almost 160 cd/m², because we can only measure 241 cd/m². How is such a big difference possible? It seems that Dell is using an automatic brightness and contrast adjustment based on the picture content to reduce the power consumption. Sudden changes, such as the switch from a very dark to a very bright picture, for example, result in a stepwise adjustment of the luminance within 5 to 10 seconds, which is also visible with the naked eye. This is hardly an issue in practice, but we strongly request an option to disable this behavior. At least, the 7370 does not use PWM to control the panel brightness.

Apart from the automatic picture adjustment, the measurement results of the IPS panel from Sharp are decent. The rich presentation of black contents results in a contrast ratio of 1004:1, which is quite sufficient to compete with the rivals or even beat them. Subjectively, the picture looks very rich and vivid.

The accuracy of the colors and the grayscale is already pretty decent ex-works. We can measure DeltaE deviations of 4.3 (colors) and 5.8 (grayscale), but these results can be improved significantly to 2.1 each by a calibration. Only the color space coverage is comparatively small with just 78% sRGB and 50% of the wider AdobeRGB standard. However, the Ultrabook would not be suitable for professional picture editing because of its dynamic contrast control.

The German online shop lists only two processors for the Latitude 7370: the Intel Core m5-6Y57 (1.1 to 2.8 GHz) in our review unit and the slightly higher clocked Core m7-6Y75 (1.2 to 3.1 GHz). Both are based on the 14 nm Skylake architecture, have two cores including Hyperthreading support and are specified with a 4.5-watt TDP (configurable between 3.5 and 7 watts).

The corresponding graphics unit, HD Graphics 515,  is equipped with 24 Execution Units (GT2). The technology is exactly identical to the HD Graphics 520 of the 15-watt chips, but the clock range – in this case 300 up to 900 MHz – is more limited by the low TDP. Therefore, the GPU is hardly suitable for modern games, despite the DirectX 12 support, but instead it convinces with low power consumption and comprehensive multimedia capabilities.

Due to the lack of a dedicated memory slot, users will have to live with the soldered 8 GB LPDDR3-1866 (dual-channel). Furthermore, there is no slot for a standard 2.5-inch drive; the storage solution is a 256 GB M.2-SSD with the PCIe interface.

Depending on the model, the M.2-SSDs are attached via either SATA 6 Gb/s or PCIe interface; the latter supports much higher transfer rates. This is also the reason why more and more manufacturers use fast PCIe modules for their premium systems, often in combination with the modern NVMe protocol – which is also the case for the Latitude 13.

More specifically: Our review unit is equipped with a Toshiba XG3 THNSN5256GPU7 with a capacity of 256 GB (19 nm, MLC-NAND). With sequential transfer rates of around 1.4 GB/s read and 0.9 GB/S write as well as excellent results in the 4K tests, the drive outclasses SATA drives, although the Samsung SM951 inside the EliteBook Folio 1040 G3 is consistently faster in all tests. These differences are, however, hardly noticeable, and the less powerful Core-m processor of the 7370 might have influenced the results as well.

Our CPU benchmarks already indicate that a common 15-watt Core i5-6200U is about 10 to 40% faster than the Core m5-6Y57. Therefore, the system performance of our Latitude cannot keep up with the actively-cooled competitors, which is also clearly shown by the synthetic PCMark results. However, we would not call the device slow: Common office, Internet and multimedia applications as well as light multi-tasking are handled without any problem. The loading times of Windows and applications are conveniently short.

That we are still missing the last bit of responsiveness is mainly due to the mediocre Turbo Boost utilization. Short peak load in particular, which is a common scenario in practice, would be handled better with the full 2.4 (Multi) and 2.8 GHz (Single), respectively.

Update: We have already mentioned that the Turbo Boost utilization of the CPU is much better after the BIOS update. This does not only improve the subjective system performance, but also the PCMark score – the Latitude is now pretty close to other Ultrabooks with normal ULV processors.

Just like the CPU performance, the GPU performance of the HD Graphics 515 is also primarily determined by the TDP. Even the Core-m3 models of the Surface Pro 4 and MacBook 12 manage a lead of about 25% over the Latitude in 3DMark 11, and the deficit is even bigger compared to the HD Graphics 520 from the common Core-i processors. Nevertheless, we do not think this is a big problem for a business device.

The headroom is definitely sufficient for smooth playback of high-resolution videos: Even our 4K sample video with the HEVC codec (Big Buck Bunny, 60 fps, 6.1 Mbps) does not result in a CPU load of 10%. Only the HEVC profile "Main 10" with a 10-bit color-depth is not fully accelerated by the Skylake hardware, so there can be stutters in extreme scenarios (Samsung UHD trailer "lovely Swiss" at 60 fps and 51.5 Mbps).

The chassis barely warms up in practice despite the passive cooling solution, so you can easily use the Ultrabook on the lap. We would only describe the temperature development as moderate at most. One reason is the soft-touch surface, which is subjectively cooler compared to a metal construction. Only the center at the bottom of the device can be an inconvenient hot spot at around 50 °C (~122 °F) – after over an hour sustained load with Prime95 and FurMark, which is not very practical.

At just 65 °C (~149 °F), the Core-m5 is still quite cool and even beats some actively-cooled competitors. Maybe Dell should have allowed a higher TDP than 5.5 watts to increase the performance, at least in the High Performance mode: More than 800 MHz CPU and 300 MHZ GPU clock are not possible in the permissible consumption range, but we can at least see a core clock of 1.3 GHz when we only stress the processor.

Dell calls the stereo speakers "High Quality Speakers" and they actually do not only surprise with a remarkably high stability level, but also an unexpectedly balanced and rich sound. Even some signs of bass are perceptible, so the speakers work well for music and movie playback in medium-sized rooms. Headphones or external sound systems can either be attached via stereo jack (analogue) or via HDMI and Thunderbolt (digital), respectively (adapter might be required).

An almost bezel-free display, passive cooling and Thunderbolt 3 ports – the Dell Latitude 13 7370 definitely stands out from the boring mainstream business notebooks. The Ultrabook does not have to fear many competitors in terms of mobility and quality and convinces with flawless build quality, excellent stability and firm input devices. The performance of the Core-m platform is also pretty good: Short peak load is – at least after the BIOS update – handled almost as good as by the actively-cooled rivals. The clocks and the performance will only take a noticeable hit under sustained load, but this should not be a common issue during your typical office tasks.

That the 7370 still just misses a very good rating is mainly a result of the display. Dell has implemented a very decent panel with a powerful background illumination, but you cannot always use it due to the automatic brightness and contrast adjustments. An annoying issue, but we still hope that another BIOS update will solve it. Should this be the case, only the extremely high price would prevent an unqualified purchase recommendation: Currently priced at around 2200 Euros (~$2468), the Latitude 13 is certainly no bargain – even an (admittedly rather consumer-oriented) Apple MacBook 12 is a few hundred Euros less expensive.