Dell Latitude E6420 review: Dell Latitude E6420

Dell’s new Latitude line feels compact and self contained. Perhaps it’s the orange line around the keyboard, or the return of the traditional keyboard instead of the island-style seen on so many laptops these days. Maybe it’s the silver trim, the matte finish and matte screen or even the fact that the 6420 is only 14-inches in size. Whatever it is, it’s a reasonably well appointed business machine, right down to its secure card reader and track-point controller in the middle of the keyboard.

It feels a bit chunky, too, in contrast to the trend of the rest of the industry. Still, it feels absolutely solid, like it could withstand a decent drop.

Sadly, there’s no backlit keyboard, but everything else seems to be here: HDMI-out, VGA-out, four USB ports (one integrated with eSATA), gigabit Ethernet, ExpressCard 54 slot and a DVD drive. It’s most definitely a business machine, as the lack of USB 3.0 ports and combined headphone/microphone jack give away.

Our review sample came equipped with a Core i5 2520M 2.5GHz processor, 4GB of RAM and, disappointingly, a 32-bit operating system, meaning that you won’t be able to take the most advantage of said RAM. Dell offers no option for a 64-bit OS at checkout, either, although we’d imagine that anyone doing a corporate roll-out would be given that extra flexibility. We just wish that Dell would do as Toshiba and Fujitsu do, and offer both the 32-bit or 64-bit install during system recovery.