What's Hot: Very slim and light, yet strong. Very good Infinity displays, comfy keyboard, RAM options up to 16 gigs, two Thunderbolt 3 ports.
What's Not: Expensive! Core M is fine for productivity work, not for gaming or advanced video editing.
Reviewed July 27, 2016 by Lisa Gade, Editor
in Chief (twitter: @lisagade)
The Dell Latitude 13 7370 is one of those laptops that you just want after you see it, touch it and take a look inside. Particularly with the optional but expensive carbon fiber lid, it's perhaps even better looking than the Dell XPS 13. In fact, the Latitude is sort of a Dell XPS 13 Junior, though the price is even steeper than the XPS. I say "Junior" because this model runs on the lower power and slower Intel Core M CPU rather than the Core i5 and i7 for the XPS 13. The 2.48 lb. Latitude 13 7000 isn't as powerful, but it is incredibly slim at 0.56", light and great looking, which isn't something we get to say all that often about a business laptop (HP's 12.5" EliteBook Folio would be the only other one that comes to mind). For those unfamiliar with Dell's lineup, a given model is broken up into price tiers with 3000, 5000 and 7000 numbers. The 7000 is the top of the line for a Latitude (the same is true of their Inspiron and Precision mobile workstation lines).
Specs at a Glance
The Dell Latitude 13 7000 has a 13.3" display in the footprint of a 12" laptop, much like the XPS 13. It has an aluminum silver lid unless you opt for the even more expensive carbon fiber lid. I'd be tempted to do that despite fiscal common sense because that checked carbon fiber pattern not only looks great but it's more grippy and nice to touch. That model is currently $1,569 for a relatively low configuration with the Core M3, 4 gigs of RAM, a 128 gig SSD and a 1920 x 1080 non-touch display. Dell's available configurations are a moving target and you may be able to order it with more RAM and a bigger SSD. Our carbon fiber lid model has the QHD+ 3200 x 1800 touch screen option, and that option adds $405 to the base $1,419 price tag required for this option (the cheapest model is $1,299 but is only available with the 1080p display and aluminum lid). The Core M7 with 8 gigs of RAM, a 128 gig SSD and the non-touch 1080p displays is a staggering $1,739. These are business laptop prices to say the least, and price is the only thing we don't love about the Latitude 13 7370. For most consumers and IT departments with lean budgets, the XPS 13 will likely be the pick.
Design and Ergonomics
Undeniably a great looking laptop, the Dell is well put together and uses high quality materials including an extremely rigid metal casing and premium materials. You can remove the bottom cover to upgrade and service internals if you unscrew several Phillips head screws. RAM is soldered on board, which is typical of Ultrabooks, but you can upgrade the M.2 SSD (that's the faster kind of SSD) and Intel 8260AC WiFi 802.11ac module with Bluetooth (though it's not likely you'd want to upgrade the Intel 802.11ac module since it's pretty good stuff).
The backlit keyboard actually has more tactile feel and travel than the XPS 13, and I found it significantly easier to type on at length. The Alps trackpad is likewise well-behaved and a good size relative to the machine's footprint. If you do a lot of typing, be it emails or software development, this is a pleasant keyboard and a reliable trackpad.
Ports aren't exactly plentiful on this compact notebook, but the two Thunderbolt 3 ports are a bonus (one is used by the included charger). That means you can use Dell's Thunderbolt 3 dock to add multiple USB 3.0 ports, mini DisplayPort and Ethernet. You may well need that since the only built-in display port is micro HDMI and there's a lone USB 3.0 port on the laptop itself. The Thunderbolt 3 ports are also USB-C, so you can use USB-C adapters too. The laptop also has a microSD card slot, lock slot and a nano SIM card slot for optional 4G WWAN networking.
Display
Like the latest generation Dell XPS 13 and XPS 15, the Dell Latitude 13 7000 has an edge-to-edge, near bezel-less display that's striking looking and trendy. There's a matte 1920 x 1080 full HD non-touch and QHD+ 3200 x 1800 anti-glare touch screen option available. Dell claims an impressive 350 nits of brightness for the QHD display and 400 nits for 1080p display. Glare is well managed on the touch screen (much more so than on the equivalent XPS 13 QHD+ model), which is rare since most touch screens are high gloss and very reflective. Color gamut on the QHD+ 7370 model we have in for review is very good: it has full sRGB coverage and 80% of Adobe RGB. Gamma is too low at 1.9 (2.2 is ideal) on this Sharp IGZO panel, likely to improve contrast. The native white point is high at 7100K, which is too cool (toward the blue), but not uncommon on laptops. What does this all mean? It's a really lovely looking display for reading text, admiring photos and watching video. It's not perfect for pro photo and video editors, but calibration helps bring it somewhat into line. Given the Intel Core M CPU and Intel HD 515 graphics, this isn't the likely machine for professional video and photo editors anyway.
As with the Dell XPS line, the Infinity edge-to-edge display has bezels so tiny that there's no room for a webcam up top. Instead you get Dell's chin-cam that points at your jowls from the lower left corner below the display.
Deals and Shopping:
Dell Latitude 13 7000 Video Review
Horsepower and Performance
The Dell Latitude 13 is the perfect laptop for light to mid-weight work--MS Office, email, web including streaming video and modest to moderate Photoshop work. It's not ideal for serious video editing, software development for medium to big programs or any sort of advanced graphics work, be it CAD or 3D gaming with demanding PC games. It's not as powerful as the XPS 13 with higher powered Intel Core i5 and i7 CPUs, but the 6th generation Skylake Core m3/m5/m7 platform with Intel integrated HD515 graphics is fine for everyday productivity use. It's available with 4, 8 or 16 gigs of DDR3L RAM that's soldered on board and isn't upgradable. SSDs are the faster M.2 NVMe PCIe type and start at 128 gigs in capacity (512 gigs is the max Dell offers, though you could upgrade it yourself to higher capacities).
Benchmarks
(1.1 GHz Intel Core m5-6Y57 with Turbo Boost to 2.8 GHz, 8 gigs RAM, 256 gig SSD and QHD+ display)
PCMark 8 home accelerated: 2,468
Geekbench 3: 2,535/ 5,100
wPrime: 28.2 seconds
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Battery Life
A four cell, 34 watt hour battery is standard, but we recommend the $14 upgrade to a 43 watt hour battery for longer runtimes (ours has the higher capacity battery). The laptop ships with Dell's compact and curvy 45 watt charger with plenty of cord length, and it terminates in a USB-C connector that plugs into one of the notebook's two Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports. We tested it with the 12" Apple MacBook's USB-C charger and it worked fine (USB-C phone chargers won't provide enough power to charge a USB-C laptop). Intel Core M CPUs use less power than the Intel Core i5, but that's never translated into significantly longer battery life, perhaps because the Core M spends so much time in Turbo Boost. Battery life is good at 6.5 to 7 hours for mixed productivity and streaming video use at 50% brightness with WiFi on and MS Edge for the web browser (Chrome will use more power and reduce battery life). Battery life will depend a wee bit on the CPU option you choose and whether you go with the more power-friendly 1080p display or the lovely but harder on battery life QHD+ touch screen.
Conclusion
It's hard to not fall in love with the Dell Latitude 13 7370, at least not until you see the price tag. It's incredibly light and small for a 13.3" Ultrabook, and it's darned good looking. Materials, fit and finish are top notch and the Infinity display options are both very good looking and light on glare. That QHD+ touch screen with bundled carbon fiber lid will set you back a pretty penny though, and the Latitude 7370 lacks Dell's XPS 13's raw computing power. This Ultrabook is fast enough for everyday productivity use and it's silent thanks to the Intel Core M's fanless design. Of course, it lacks the computing power of Dell's more powerful XPS models, but you do get silence and an even slimmer and lighter laptop in return.
