Dell Latitude 5490 (i5-8350U, FHD) Laptop Review

The chassis has not improved radically compared to its predecessor. This was not really required anyway, since the simple, matte-black chassis still looks good. One disadvantage of the matte surface is that smudges and fingerprints are accumulated in a brief amount of time. The only real optical accent is the Dell logo at the top. While the material is plastic, both the base and lid are very stable. The bottom of the keyboard appears to have been slightly improved. One can still press it in, but much more force is required than in the previous version, improving the tactical feel of the keyboard.

Only the edge of the display is graced with softer plastic. Surrounding it is small lip made of hardened rubber that keeps the dirt out of the device when the lid is closed. The hinges enable the display to open up to 180 degrees. While the battery is screwed in, the manual does contain a replacement guide.

The 5490 with its 1.7 kg (~3.75 lb) is rather heavy for a business notebook. While offerings from Lenovo and Acer are similar in weight and the predecessor was even heavier, alternatives sold by HP and Fujitsu tend to be 200-300 grams (~0.45-0.66 lb) lighter. It should be noted that different configurations may also lead to fluctuations in weight.

The 5490 is similarly positioned in terms of thickness, being similar in depth to the Acer. Every other opponent is 1-2 mm slimmer (0.04 – 0.08 in). However, the overall  footprint is smaller than competitors. Compared to its predecessor, its size has decreased minimally, though usually only by less than 1 mm (~0.04 in). The only exception is the thickness which has gone down by 1.5 mm (~0.06 in).

The connectivity is similar to that of the previous model. There is still a VGA port on the right, as well as an HDMI connector on the back. While this layout was criticized in previous reviews, it remains a matter of taste and one could argue that it is advantageous to have the more commonly used HDMI port at back, away from mouse inputs.

On the left, you will find a USB Type-C port with support for DisplayPort, but our configuration lacks a Thunderbolt 3, the latter being optional.

Aside from that, connectivity is good, but not great. Going for USB 3.0 instead of 2.0 is an admirable choice in our view, the headphone combo-jack being the standard in the business world. Notable is the external SIM slot on the back for a micro-SIM. All in all, connectivity is good, having ports at the back has advantages and disadvantages.

The previous generation already included a great SD card reader giving excellent results in our testing. The new version can improve on that, showing an increase in our "JPG copy test" using a Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II reference SD card, by 27%. In this respect, the 5490 is twice as fast as any competitor.

A reading test with AS SSD shows even more dramatic results. However, the predecessor somehow managed a 21% better result. Otherwise, the SD card reader is great and far superior to anyone else's offering.

While the predecessor contained a Qualcomm based wireless module, this has now been changed to an Intel Tri-band adapter. This shows a great improvement in signal strength and puts it on the same level as other offerings.

Reception quality, however, is poor and the new Dell managed only to get the second worst place. The Acer is about 13% faster in this respect.

Dell has focused on the security aspects of the Latitude 5490. Unfortunately, most components are only available as options. Thus, our test device does not contain a FIPS 201 smart card reader, or a contactless Smart Card Reader NFC with Control Vault 2 FIPS 140-2 Level 3 Certification. The optional fingerprint sensor was also not included, making the device not Windows Hello compatible. This can be different depending on the configuration.

TPM 2.0 is on-board, but feels at this point almost like a standard feature. Still, if you are interested in any of these functions, you get a great number of options for multi-factor authentication.

A Noble Wedge Lock Slot is a standard alternative to the commonly used Kensington Lock, as to prevent physical theft of the device. Included also is a package of Dell security software for encrypting files among other things.

Dell sells a lot of accessories on their website, for example, the Dell Business Dock, which is powered via USB Type-C, delivers power to the notebook and adds ports for connectivity. Adding to that, there are multiple other docks, some based on Thunderbolt 3, none of which are device specific and quite expensive starting at 236.75 Euros (~$295). Not many accessories are included with the notebook, only a quick start guide is packaged with the device.

Keyboard

Touchpad

Looking at the specifications, Dell does have a good office notebook on offer. The processor found in the predecessor has been replaced by a newer, slightly faster model while retaining efficiency. The integrated GPU is practically unchanged from the last generation. The 8 GB of memory is enough for most use scenarios and an SSD is used for storage. On paper, these components should result in good performance, ideal for a business laptop.

We do have to mention at this point that a lot of mentioned components are actually optional. It should thus be noted that both higher and lower performance variants are available. The base model is equipped with a slightly slower i5-8250U, as well as a mechanical hard disk. There is also a model with only 4 GB of RAM is on offer. This means that our results may deviate from those you could experience, depending on the configuration.

To assess system performance, we look at PCMark 8's home and work-score. The Latitude 5490 does get respectable results in both, but the predecessor achieved better results. Either the higher processor frequency or other factors such as the employed SSD lead to the new Latitude managing only second place.

The Latitude is equipped to handle day to day usage, office software and web browsing are fluent and do not suffer from delays.

Gaming is usually not something business notebooks focus on and with no dedicated GPU, the 5490 is at best capable of light gaming with low settings and resolution. In "Rise of the Tomb Raider" for example, it manages only 18 FPS, even on the lowest settings.

"The Witcher 3" shows similar results. With 15 FPS on the lowest possible settings, it is unplayable.

The less demanding "Rocket League" is a slightly different story. A quick session in between work is possible, though only when dialling down the settings. At Full HD however, the game again becomes unplayable, even when reducing the settings as far as possible.

An in-depth comparison with the alternatives seems not to be necessary, as none of them offer significant graphical performance. Differences are insignificant and most games are hardly, if at all, playable.

"Rise of the Tomb Raider" gives the Latitude a one frame (as in 1) lead over the Lenovo, Acer, and Fujitsu on the lowest settings. Bumping the settings up to medium, the Lenovo managed a slight lead. Due to the pointlessness of the exercise, we did not try the game on higher settings.

In "The Witcher 3", the Dell edges out a 10-13% lead over the offerings from Lenovo and HP. The game is, however, in an unplayable state on all devices.

We concluded that gaming without a dedicated GPU is rarely, if at all possible in current times. This should however not be of grave concern on a business laptop. Adding to that, casual gamers with low expectations may not find the limited performance too troublesome.

The Latitude 5490 remains basically silent while idling, the fans rarely spin up. This changes, however, when under load. The device is not excessively loud under moderate load, although slightly noisier than the other competitors. Under full load, however, the fans spin up quite drastically, making the 5490 the loudest device in our comparison. Still, compared to its predecessor, which became eerily loud under full load, there have been significant improvements. The fans remain at high speed for quite a long time after closing a performance demanding application.

Aside from that, we did not notice any other noises emitted from the device. The sound emitted by the fan, however, can be quite taxing for some. During normal office operation, however, the fans rarely spin up.

When comparing them with the offerings of other manufacturers, the speakers of the Dell are not that bad. Considering the laptop's size and the fact that most notebook speakers are not that great, to begin with, the ones found in the 5490 are actually very good. The high volume, as well as linear and balanced mids and highs are the reason for this.

Naturally, bass output is not exceptional, leading to, in combination with the high volume, rather "tinny" sound. Thus we would recommend the use of headphones or external speakers. A combo jack is available for this case, however, there is no separate microphone input.

The Latitude 5490 somehow manages both great and awful energy consumption. When idling, the device uses the least amount of energy, under load the most. The maximum power draw of 67 W is, however, the absolute maximum, achieved for only a few seconds. Afterward, the notebook’s power draw stays at about 43-45 W under high load. At that point the Latitude still consumes more than its competition, although it  offers more performance.

Considering the two-sided energy consumption results, it should not come as a surprise that the battery life is going to depend very much on the use case. To analyze the battery life, we employed the following tests:

Idle/Readers-Test: This test tries to find the absolute highest achievable battery life using BatteryEater. The display brightness is set to minimum, all communication modules are deactivated and the energy profile "Power Saver" is used. In this test, the Dell reached an incredible 26 hours with little to no load; our highest score ever.

Browsing via WLAN: This test is closer to a real-life use case. The profile "Balanced" is used, the brightness is set to about 150 cd/m² and WLAN is enabled. A script is used to access various websites every minute, on occasion YouTube videos are being displayed. In this test, the 5490 reached almost 15 hours, which is very impressive.

Video playback: The profile "Power Saver" is enabled, the brightness is again set to about 150 cd/m² and all communication modules are disabled. An H.264 encoded movie is being displayed continuously. In this test, the Latitude manages 13 hours and 11 minutes, another great result.

Load: We try to establish the minimum battery life under high load. Again, we employ BatteryEater, this time using the "Classic Test". The brightness is set to its maximum, all communication modules are enabled and "High-Performance Mode" is enabled. In this test, the battery of the Dell Latitude 5490 is emptied in 97 minutes. This shows us that, under load, the energy consumption skyrockets.

In conclusion, the battery life of the Latitude in the real world seems very impressive, one of the main strengths of the Latitude. Too much strain should however not be put upon the device if you require a long battery life, as, while the device manages to reach the best results in our comparison when looking at Idle, video playback and browsing, the same cannot be said about our load scenario in which the Latitude falls to the last place.

Dell has integrated their own energy profile, striking a good balance between performance and battery life as an alternative to the "Balanced" mode. As we mostly test using the "Power Saver" mode, we are however not aware whether the mode Dell provides is very effective.