Dell Latitude 7240 Review
Looking for a great Windows laptop ? Look no further than the Dell Latitude 7240 Ultrabook.
So first off, just to be transparent, I work for Dell. With that said, I have to say this is probably the best overall laptop I have ever had.
Its light, fast and full of capabilities and all day battery life. For example mine has a Intel Core I-5 4300U series dual-core 1.9Ghz proc with 16Gb of Ram, 256Gb PCIe SSD Drive and both a Mini PCie Wifi Card and WWAN Slot.
It has a real high quality metal casing inspired by the MacBook Air, but like most Dell computers you can open it up to replace the battery, hard drive, PCie Cards, etc. It has USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, and pretty decent sound via Realtek HD Audio. It also support up to 256Gb SD cards - I installed a 128Gb model to augment my SSD, but it's really to store large movies and music that I don't really need on the SSD.
My 7240 has a 12.5" WLED 720p display (1366 x 768 to be exact) run by Intel's 4400D integrated graphics. A 1920 x 1080 version is also available run by the same chipset. It also has a front facing 1.2Mp camera along with integration microphone. So it does do a nice job with Lync calls.
The keyboard and touchpad work great and I'm not as much a stickler for IBM keyboards as some are, but Lenovo versions have kind of lost that edge.
It's not cheap. Figure somewhere around $1500, but in comparison to previous laptops I've owned this is such a pleasure.
One of the coolest things it supports is the Broadband card. Dell offers several Gobi based WWAN cards, but I purchased a Sierra Wireless AirPrime MC7354 7 band LTE card and Windows 8.1 recognized it right away. The SIM Slot is under the battery and you really don't even need any specialized apps. To Windows it just shows up as another NIC and as soon as you turn it on, you can have it automatically connect to your provider (in my case TMO).
The second coolest thing is the battery life. The combination of the 4300U series processor and the Samsung PCIe SSD really help extend the battery life. As a business person who typically travels from meeting to meeting, I am not looking for a power outlet after just a couple of hours. There have been several times where I go most if not my entire day without plugging in, and that includes utilizing either the Intel 7260 802.11ac Wifi card or the Sierra MC7354 broadband card.
Is the battery performance as good as the MacBook Air ? No. But I also run my device at high performance power settings. If I wanted to be more frugal then I could probably pair back my settings little and probably extend a little more. But compared to the previous generation of laptops I've used from Dell, IBM and others, it's night and day.
Because it was built for it - it runs Windows 8.1 very well. It boots quickly and runs all the native and 3rd party apps with ease.
If you're considering one, a recommendation I will make is to opt for the Intel 7260 802.11ac Wifi/BT card. Dell makes great laptops, but I've never been impressed with their WiFi cards. If you a DIY person you can go buy one at newegg for $35. It will be the best $35 you'll ever spend. You connect to everything and because of the 2 x 2 radio bands, will often connect at much higher speeds than folks with lesser cards. The 7260 is also a WiDi device, so you can project to WiDi compatible TVs. The BT also works well using the Intel BT stack.
The bottom line - if you're in the market for an Ultrabook, take a serious look at the Dell Latitude 7240. It's combination of speed, size, features and build quality are very compelling. Yes you will pay more than the typical laptop, but to me this is one of those times you get what you pay for.
So first off, just to be transparent, I work for Dell. With that said, I have to say this is probably the best overall laptop I have ever had.
Its light, fast and full of capabilities and all day battery life. For example mine has a Intel Core I-5 4300U series dual-core 1.9Ghz proc with 16Gb of Ram, 256Gb PCIe SSD Drive and both a Mini PCie Wifi Card and WWAN Slot.
It has a real high quality metal casing inspired by the MacBook Air, but like most Dell computers you can open it up to replace the battery, hard drive, PCie Cards, etc. It has USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, and pretty decent sound via Realtek HD Audio. It also support up to 256Gb SD cards - I installed a 128Gb model to augment my SSD, but it's really to store large movies and music that I don't really need on the SSD.
My 7240 has a 12.5" WLED 720p display (1366 x 768 to be exact) run by Intel's 4400D integrated graphics. A 1920 x 1080 version is also available run by the same chipset. It also has a front facing 1.2Mp camera along with integration microphone. So it does do a nice job with Lync calls.
The keyboard and touchpad work great and I'm not as much a stickler for IBM keyboards as some are, but Lenovo versions have kind of lost that edge.
It's not cheap. Figure somewhere around $1500, but in comparison to previous laptops I've owned this is such a pleasure.
One of the coolest things it supports is the Broadband card. Dell offers several Gobi based WWAN cards, but I purchased a Sierra Wireless AirPrime MC7354 7 band LTE card and Windows 8.1 recognized it right away. The SIM Slot is under the battery and you really don't even need any specialized apps. To Windows it just shows up as another NIC and as soon as you turn it on, you can have it automatically connect to your provider (in my case TMO).
The second coolest thing is the battery life. The combination of the 4300U series processor and the Samsung PCIe SSD really help extend the battery life. As a business person who typically travels from meeting to meeting, I am not looking for a power outlet after just a couple of hours. There have been several times where I go most if not my entire day without plugging in, and that includes utilizing either the Intel 7260 802.11ac Wifi card or the Sierra MC7354 broadband card.
Is the battery performance as good as the MacBook Air ? No. But I also run my device at high performance power settings. If I wanted to be more frugal then I could probably pair back my settings little and probably extend a little more. But compared to the previous generation of laptops I've used from Dell, IBM and others, it's night and day.
Because it was built for it - it runs Windows 8.1 very well. It boots quickly and runs all the native and 3rd party apps with ease.
If you're considering one, a recommendation I will make is to opt for the Intel 7260 802.11ac Wifi/BT card. Dell makes great laptops, but I've never been impressed with their WiFi cards. If you a DIY person you can go buy one at newegg for $35. It will be the best $35 you'll ever spend. You connect to everything and because of the 2 x 2 radio bands, will often connect at much higher speeds than folks with lesser cards. The 7260 is also a WiDi device, so you can project to WiDi compatible TVs. The BT also works well using the Intel BT stack.
The bottom line - if you're in the market for an Ultrabook, take a serious look at the Dell Latitude 7240. It's combination of speed, size, features and build quality are very compelling. Yes you will pay more than the typical laptop, but to me this is one of those times you get what you pay for.
Comments
Post a Comment