Dell Latitude 9430: Incremental upgrade over Latitude 9420 with Intel 12th gen Alder Lake vPro Evo 3.0, LPDDR5-5200 RAM, and FHD webcam

Last year, Dell offered the Latitude 9420 in both 2-in-1 convertible and laptop form factors with 11th gen Tiger Lake-U processors, 16:10 displays, and an automatic webcam shutter. This year, Dell is offering an updated Latitude 9430 with all the goodness of Intel 12th gen vPro processors and the Evo 3 platform.

Dell continues to pitch the Latitude 9430 as the world's smallest 14-inch 16:10 business PC. The dimensions continue to be more or less similar to the Latitude 9420, though there's an ever so slight weight decrease this time around (from 1.33 kg to 1.27 kg for the laptop variant).

Powering the new Dell Latitude 9430 series are Intel 12th gen processors up to the Core i7 with vPro. Dell doesn't mention the exact CPU SKUs used here, but they are likely from the Alder Lake-P family. Buyers can configure the device with Windows 10, Windows 11 flavors. Ubuntu support will be offered for the Latitude 9430 Laptop from mid 2022. 

Not surprisingly, the RAM comes soldered. However, Dell has now gone with LPDDR5-5200 RAM, which should result in perceivable performance improvements across the board. And once again, we get to see M.2 2230 SSDs instead of the more conventional M.2 2280 form factor.

We also get to see display options similar to last year's model. The Latitude 9430 2-in-1 features a 16:10 QHD+ (2560 x 1600) touch panel with Active Pen support protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6 DX while the Latitude 9430 Laptop makes do with an FHD+ (1920 x 1200) display. Both displays can go up to 500 nits brightness and support 100% of the sRGB color space.

Dell now offers an FHD webcam with SafeShutter that automatically opens and closes with video calls. There are also new privacy features including Onlooker detection that alerts you of onlookers and Look-away Detect via the AI-based Dell Optimizer software that dims the screen for added privacy. Port selection includes 1x USB 3.2 Gen1, 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x HDMI 2.0, 2x uSIM tray (optional), 1x microSD card reader, and a combo audio jack.

Networking is handled by Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210 WLAN card with Bluetooth 5.2. Buyers can also optionally configure WWAN support with a choice of several Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE modems for their region or the Snapdragon X55 Global 5G modem. Dell also offers ExpressConnect that lets you simultaneously connect to and bridge multiple networks.

Keeping the Latitude 9430 ticking are options of 2-cell 40 Whr and 3-cell 60 Whr batteries with ExpressCharge 2.0 and ExpressCharge Boost.

The Dell Latitude 9430 will be available from April 2022 starting from US$2,245.

Buy the Dell Latitude 9420 with Core i7-1185G7 on Amazon