Dell Latitude 14 5420 review: A laptop so close to claiming the business crown

[Redaktion]

We are testing Dell's mainstream business laptop. Although the 14-inch device appears to include everything you can hope for, the clickpad is huge downgrade. In this review we will explore many aspects in detail, such as the impressive processor performance and the less impressive iGPU performance.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Latitude-14-5420-review-A-laptop-so-close-to-claiming-the-business-crown.595678.0.html

[vertigo]

No laptop with those stupid half-height arrow keys can be considered a "business" laptop IMO. Without a proper keyboard, a laptop, regardless of anything else, is a toy.

[kek]

I knew it!

I knew Dell would put a trash touchpad on it. And no inverted T arrow keys is so annoying.

Guess we will have to wait to see if they revert those changes on the 5430.

[JP101]

>> Our variation of the Dell Latitude 5420 with the Core i5-1135G7, 8 GB of RAM and a 256-GB SSD (D2G5W) is the base configuration of the model, which retails for just under $1000

Unfortunately, it does NOT retail for under $1000. It retails for $1,479.

[TT]

I've seen this notebook in my previous company. Unfortunately all the units were shipped with BOE LCD panel (not AUO like in this review). The same was with Latitude 5520 models. And they all had PWM (<99% britghtness).
Notebookcheck review can be misleading for people looking for flicker-free notebooks. Dell (like many companies) is using LCD panels from many suppliers. It's a lottery if you get flicker-free AUO or shitty BOE screen.

[algoree]

You must be mistaken... I support Govt org >10k people and more than 1k Latitute 5430 failed within 1-5months. It's so super bad from adaptor, docking, display, motherboard, anything can fail. It's so bad never seen anything so bad that calls itself BUSINESS laptop.
I'm suprised Dell haven't got lawsuit from this country.

[No Name]

Annoying to use. Lack of the track for moving the mouse. Lack of buttons in mousepad, so lot of times is lift clicking instead of right clicking. I prefer my old model of Dell, but unfortunately the motherboard suddenly got fried. Very unreliable.

[Rob Dax]

I got one of those for more than 3 years.
The main problem is the body. It is really bad.
It got scratched and discolored almost immediately. The paint quality is terrible

[Boba]

I've used both the 5420 and 5430 for two and three years, respectively. My impressions are based on personal experience and are well-informed. The cases are identical, so it's not an issue of receiving a faulty unit. However, the paint is extremely prone to scratching. After just a few months in my backpack, both laptops showed noticeable marks from zippers and chargers—something I've never experienced with my ThinkPads or EliteBooks.

The plastic quality is subpar, and I constantly hear cracking noises. The keyboard is, at best, mediocre. As someone who types frequently, it quickly became clear that this device wasn't a good fit for me—but by then, it was already too late.

The touchpad is a disaster. In my 30+ years as an IT enthusiast, I can't recall encountering worse sensitivity. More often than not, I have to press firmly and repeat my actions multiple times for the device to register them.

Lastly, the battery life falls far short of the claimed performance, and the battery in both devices showed significant degradation after the first 50 charges.

If the times weren't so challenging, I would replace both of them immediately.