Dell Latitude E5410 / E5510 Short Review

According to the E5500 range and the related 14-inch equivalent, the E5400, Dell now gives its business series a refresh. Not only the inside of the laptop gets a refresh, but the outside also gets revamped. The most important improvement for the user is perhaps the latest Intel CPU technology. For example, Core i5 chips are in the E5410, whilst the bigger E5510 is also available with the i7-620M CPU. For this reason, processor performance on the highest level is guaranteed with both models.

Whether you now prefer the 15- or the 14-inch device depends marginally on the required performance; what is more important is mobility. With a weight of 2.6 to 1.8 kg (varying according to battery equipped), there's a difference that can't be neglected.

Compared to the E6xxx models, the E5xxx series sets itself apart with its plastic case, which on the whole seems rather clunky and can't keep up with its aluminium colleagues when it comes to how the laptop feels. In return the entry price is indeed expected to be up to a few hundred Euro below that of mainstream devices.

The following is a first short review of both of the Latitude models. Both laptops are scheduled for the usual comprehensive test run-throughs, which will be given as soon as they are available.

According to the individual demands of a potential customer, Dell has two different display solutions available for both laptops. In the case of the Latitude E5410 you can choose between a 14.1-inch (36cm) LED panel with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels or 1440x900 pixels. Peculiarly, Dell remains faithful to the older 16:10 format and doesn't opt for the fashionable 16:9 format. Using the laptop with several applications at the same time, it's possible that software with numerous toolboxes etc. favours the higher-resolution display variant, which we also found in the review specimen on display.

The 15-inch brother Latitude E5510 has conversely changed to the slimmer widescreen format and hence offers two variants with LED illumination and a resolution of 1366x768 pixels or respectively 1600x900 pixels. Whether you go for one variant or the other depends, as with the E5410, on the required display scheme. The test device of the E5510 had the top equipment with HD+ display.

Firstly, let's look a bit closer at the display of the E5410. The panel (LGD0257) has a very good maximum brightness of 310 cd/m². Even the average brightness of 289 cd/m² and the illumination of 86.5% remain at a high level.

As mentioned at the beginning, the E5510 and E5410 models are equipped with Intel's latest Core i technology. Processors of the Arrandale architecture are put to use, whereby the i7-620M can only be chosen for the larger 15-inch device. What's interesting is that both series also offer a Celeron P4500 Chip, an entry-level CPU also based on Arrandale, which doesn't have the Turbo-Boost capabilities of its i5 and i7 colleagues and thus is clocked at a constant, modest speed of 1.86 Ghz. Nevertheless: 64-bit, VT-x and Speedstep support. For thrifty configurations with low demands for CPU performance, this really is an alternative.

If performance is necessary, if for virtualization or large databases, you are well served by high-performance i5 and i7 chips. On the one hand they utilize Intel Turbo-Boost, which can automatically increase the clock speed of a core on demand and thus optimally support the demands of a particular application. This is also true of the Hyperthreading feature, which makes two threads available per core, and thus the performance in applications is optimised for multiple cores and can be increased.

The similarity of both business laptops is also to be found in the performance of the deployed graphics chip. Here is the Intel GMA HD graphics accelerator, which is integrated into the chip. This features low energy consumption, yet admittedly one can only expect limited 3D performance. For most office applications this should certainly be no problem; only in especially graphics-heavy applications could you be barking up the wrong tree. If so, you might consider the Precision Workstation series.

Windows 7 Performance Index

The displayed Latitude E5510 with the i7-620M CPU is already the highest-performing configuration. Together with the Intel GMA HD graphics, a fast 7200 rpm HDD (ST9320423AS) and 4GB of RAM (Windows 7 Pro 32-bit) the integrated Windows 7 Performance Index of the configuration displays an overall rating of 4.5 points. The bottleneck here is clearly the graphics solution, whilst the other components could have easily reached a higher rating.

Both laptops ran for several hours in idle or respectively under light office use at the time of the measurement. This was not enough to tempt the case surfaces to warm up notably, as proven by our infra-red thermometer. Both laptops overtook the 30° C mark only slightly and stayed in the green on the underside with just under 34°C.

As far as the laptops' system noise is concerned,  a low level of constantly running fans could be observed. As long as it stays in office use, you can expect a very decent noise setting.

The identical entry on the data sheet leaves us to guess that the same battery solutions are to be used in both laptops. A 4-cell (37 Wh) battery, a 6-cell (56Wh) battery and finally a 9-cell, 85/81Wh battery, which offers the highest-performance mobile energy source, are available. Both test devices feature the 6-cell battery, which is to be had in the online store at a surcharge of 20 Euro minus VAT over the 4-cell basic variant. The 9-cell version costs 80 Euro more, yet should offer more than double the battery life of the 4-cell version.

The energy consumption of both devices should lie at around 15-20W under low office load or respectively when idle, according to their configuration. Thus a spectrum of between 3 to more than 4 hours would be yielded (6-cell). This can, of course, vary greatly according to the performance demanded.

If one is planning mobile use for the laptop then the user should at least choose the 6-cell variant. If more time away from a power source is planned then the 9-cell battery is worth consideration. This would however stand out from the rear side of the case somewhat, in order to accommodate the three additional cells.

From the range of equipment the E5xxx series bears no enmity to the more expensive E6xxx series on the whole. However there's an abyss regarding the deployed materials and the impression of quality. Whether this is big enough to justify a price difference of several hundred Euro must ultimately be decided by the customer.

The bright display of the Latitude E5410 performed well, which is fit for universal mobile use. Also the first basic data of the HD+ panel in the E5510 are OK. However, how the colour presentation turns out will have to be clarified.

Those interested profit as always from the numerous configurations possibilities, for example the deployed CPU, RAM, hard disk and also various security and guarantee options.
The entry price, from 700 Euro, seems fair. With a pair of (thoroughly sensible) upgrades here than there you will have quickly broken through the 1000 Euro mark. Especially for end consumers of great importance are VAT and delivery costs - Dell consequently lets these go under the counter for the business laptops.