Dell Latitude 7410 vs. Latitude 7400: Is Newer Really Better?

Though the 2019 Latitude 7400 is barely a year old, Dell decided to completely refresh the 14-inch system from the bottom up for 2020 anyway. The new Latitude 7410 offers several obvious and not-so-obvious changes from its predecessor with both upgrades and even downgrades.

First, let's go over the major upgrades. The new chassis is about 6 mm shorter in length as Dell was able to reduce the size of the bezel below the screen. The hinges have also been redesigned to be stiffer than before and the proprietary AC adapter port has been dropped in favor of a second Thunderbolt 3 port. The clickpad is now larger, the screen is both brighter and with less ghosting, and the cooling solution has a new second heat pipe added to it. Keyboard feedback remains essentially the same despite some small layout changes.

The notable disadvantages include a slightly thicker chassis by almost half a millimeter and the omitted mouse buttons. Both WLAN and RAM are now non-upgradeable too and battery life remains pretty much the same despite the slightly larger capacity. Furthermore, the new 10th gen Comet Lake-U options are just marginally faster than the older Whiskey Lake-U options at best. The differences may be measurable, but they're so minor that they're essentially intangible during real-world conditions. Users who had been hoping for Ryzen options or Iris graphics — either of which would have boosted performance more significantly than Comet Lake-U alone — will be out of luck here.

Even with the gen-to-gen drawbacks in mind, the list of improvements and advantages is longer for the latest model. The more rigid hinges in particular give stronger first impressions, but we can't fault users for preferring the older Latitude 7400 and its more serviceable components and superior performance-per-dollar.

See our individual reviews on the Latitude 7410 and Latitude 7400 to learn more about each system.