Dell Latitude 15 3580 review – not the Latitude you’d expect

The Latitude 3580 from Dell carries the well-known business-oriented branding of the OEM and along with it, some high expectations for the build quality, features and input devices. However, we found more similarities with the super affordable Vostro lineup than the Latitude series. It’s almost as if Dell misspelled “Vostro” on this one but still put the higher price tag of a Latitude notebook. We often find ourselves looking for a good reason why a product is so expensive but honestly, we can’t think of one here.

It’s true that it’s really hard to compete with Lenovo’s new affordable, powerful and well-built Lenovo ThinkPad E-series, like the E570, but Dell seems to be missing the whole point of a business-oriented laptop. Not only does the laptop misses on features like a decent IPS panel and entry-level discrete graphics card, which have become a standard for mid-range business machines, but also doesn’t impress with build quality and input devices. Read the full review to see what lead us to this conclusion.

You can find the available configurations here: http://amzn.to/2heIabM

Contents


Retail package

The notebook comes in a standard packaging with the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord.


Design and construction

Although pretty light and relatively thin, the chassis of the Latitude 3580 sacrifices in durability. Of course, plastic is used for the entire case, which isn’t a surprise, but there’s a difference between high-quality plastic and cheap one. This one feels like the latter.

Let’s start with the lid. It’s made of a slightly roughened plastic sheet that attracts fingerprints and it’s pretty flexible. The back bends easily and isn’t resistant to torsion. Even small pressure on the back causes ripples to appear on the LCD screen. The hinges, on the other hand, appear to be pretty stable and firm to a point where you need to use both hands to open the laptop. The bottom piece is made of the same plastic material with a roughened finish. It doesn’t have a dedicated service hatch but it’s easy to remove and has a few grills for the loudspeakers and for air intake.

As we already mentioned, the sides are relatively thin measuring at 23.3 mm and offer the bare minimum of I/O – RJ-45, HDMI, two USB 3.0 and a 3.5 mm audio jack on the left and a VGA, USB 2.0 and an SD card reader on the right. At the back, you will find the SIM card tray as the laptop offers optional LTE connectivity.

The interior is what made us give this laptop negative review overall. We would expect that a business-grade laptop, especially priced in the mid-range segment, will offer stable base and good input devices but unfortunately, the Latitude 3580 delivers none of them. The center of the keyboard feels really spongy while the wrist rest area bends a little too much under pressure. The plastic definitely doesn’t feel as strong as it should. And as far as the keyboard goes, it’s pretty generic and can be often found in the much cheaper Vostro laptops. Moreover, some of the keys feel different than others but none of them provide the much-needed clicky tactile feedback or at least long travel. We found it easy to miss some of the letters while typing fast. The touchpad, on the contrary, feels nice – it’s responsive and light to click on. It registers swipes and gestures fairly accurate but the gliding surface might be a problem if your fingers are a little moist.

We are pretty disappointed by the Latitude 3580 when it comes to build quality and input devices. If the slightly heftier bodies of the Lenovo ThinkPad E570 or the HP ProBook 450 G4 aren’t an issue for you, we strongly recommend them over the Latitude 3580. They excel in all areas where Dell’s solution fails.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

Even though there aren’t dedicated service covers for accessing the internals for an upgrade, the bottom plate comes off pretty easily without much of a hassle. Just remove all the screws holding it and then pry it up.


Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

Interestingly enough, the notebook comes only with a standard 2.5-inch drive while the M.2 SSD slot is missing. That’s disappointing and surprising at the same time because the support for M.2 form factor has become a standard even fro the entry-level machines. Anyway, the 2.5-inch HDD in our case is a Toshiba 1TB.

SlotUnitUpgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slotToshiba 1TB HDD @5400 rpmUpgrade options

RAM

At least the both RAM slots are there each supporting up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory. The memory stick that Dell provided in our case is an 8GB DDR4-2400 from SK Hynix.

SlotUnitUpgrade price
Slot 18GB SK Hynix DDR4-2400Upgrade options
Slot 2FreeUpgrade options

Other components

The Wi-Fi adapter is Dell’s DW1820.

The battery located under the wrist rest area and it’s fairly big – 56Wh.

Cooling system

The cooling design is dead simple – just one small heatpipe connecting the heatsink and the cooling fan, which in turn pushes the hot air out the back of the device.


Display quality

The notebook uses a familiar panel – AUO B156HTN03.8 (AUO38ED), which is also used in the HP EliteBook 850 G4. This is a TN panel with 15.6-inch diagonal and a Full HD (1920×1080) resolution. The pixel density is 142 ppi while the pixel pitch is 0.18 x 0.18 mm. The screen can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from a distance equal or greater than 60 cm. However, there are some slight differences between this one and the EliteBook’s.

Of course, the panel’s viewing angles aren’t its strongest suit.

The maximum brightness we’ve recorded is 242 cd/m2 in the center of the screen and 239 cd/m2 as average across the surface with just 11% deviation. The color temperature on white screen at maximum brightness is 6980K, which is slightly colder than the optimal 6500K. Unfortunately, though, things change as we go along the grayscale where the average white point is 12000K but our profiles take care of that. You can also see how values change at 140 cd/m2 (55% brightness). Without calibration, the dark gray color will appear like dark blue.

The maximum color deviation dE2000 is 2.9, which is relatively far from the 4.0 mark – everything above that is unwanted. The contrast ratio is extremely low – 340:1.

Color reproduction

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction of the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

And as expected, the laptop covers barely half of the sRGB color gamut so don’t expect good multimedia performance.

Below you will see practically the same image but with the color circles representing the reference colors and the white circles being the result. You can see main and additional colors with 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% saturation inside the sRGB gamut pre and post calibration.

The “Design and Gaming” profile is created at 140 cd/m2 brightness, D65 (6500K) white point and optimal gamma in sRGB mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 13 ms.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

We are happy to report that the PWM that we’ve detected on the EliteBook 850 G4’s display isn’t present here and all levels are PWM-free.

Blue light emissions

Installing of our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

Surely, we weren’t expecting the best possible IPS solution on this laptop but as the configurations go up along with the price, the quality of the TN panel is just unacceptable. Just half of the sRGB is covered, the contrast ratio is really low, the color accuracy is really bad out of the box and the white point is completely off balance. The good thing is that our custom profiles can take care some of the issues by improving color accuracy and adjusting the white point. We are also happy to see straight line on our equipment for detecting PWM, meaning the display is flicker-free and it’s okay to use for long periods of time.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Dell Latitude 15 3580 configurations with 15.6″ AUO B156HTN03.8 (AUO38ED) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) TN screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: http://amzn.to/2A4oAH9

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

The clarity in the low, mid and high frequencies is decent and the maximum volume is high enough.


Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Dell Latitude 3580 technical specifications table

Acer
Not available
Display
15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), TN
HDD/SSD
1TB HDD, 5400 rpm
RAM
8GB DDR4, 2400 MHz
Dimensions
379 x 255 x 23.3 mm (14.92" x 10.04" x 0.92")
Weight
1.95 kg (4.3 lbs)
Body material
Plastic / Polycarbonate (Plastic)
Ports and connectivity
  • 2x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-A 2.0
  • HDMI
  • VGA
  • DVI
  • Card reader SD
  • Ethernet lan
  • Wi-Fi 802.11ac
  • Bluetooth 4.1
  • Audio jack headphone/microphone
Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera 720p (HD)
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Microphone
  • Speakers
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot

Software

We used the pre-installed Windows 10 Pro for the writing of this review but if you wish to perform a clean install of the OS without the bloatware, we suggest that you download all of the latest drivers from Dell official support page.

Battery

The good thing about TN panels is their better energy-efficiency compared to the IPS variants and we can see the difference in this machine. The 56Wh battery is able to power up the Core i7-7500U CPU and the Full HD TN display for quite some time, which is essential for business users doing most of their work on the go. The laptop scored better than most 15-inch devices we’ve tested so far.

Of course, all tests were performed using the same settings as always – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature turned on.

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

We use F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Excellent web browsing score – 679 minutes (11 hours and 19 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Considerably lower result but still really good – 487 minutes (8 hours and 7 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

Of course, the laptop isn’t made for gaming, especially away from the power source but it’s good to know that it can handle heavy workload for more than three hours – 217 minutes (3 hours and 37 minutes).

CPU – Intel Core i5-7200U

download-4Intel’s Core i7-6200U is part of the 7th Generation Kaby Lake CPUs and it’s the direct successor of the Core i5-5200U (Broadwell) and Core i5-6200U (Skylake). It’s also based on the same architecture as the aforementioned chips with little differences that should bring a small performance increase and a bump in power consumption. However, the new CPU is clocked at 2.5 GHz and its Turbo Boost frequency is 3.1 GHz opposed to the 2.3 – 2.8 GHz clocks on the previous Core i5-6200U.

Anyway, we still have the 2/4 core/thread count, 3MB last level cache, and a TDP of 15W, which includes the iGPU and the dual-channel DDR4 memory controller. Speaking of the former, the chip integrates the newer generation Intel HD Graphics 620 graphics chip clocked at 300 – 1000 MHz.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i5-7200u/

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i5-7200U scored 6.344 million moves per second. In comparison, one of the most powerful chess computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – Intel HD Graphics 620

intel_hd_graphicsIntel’s HD Graphics 620 integrated iGPU can be found in various ULV (ultra-low voltage) processors from the Kaby Lake generation. The GT2 version of the graphics chip uses 24 EUs (Execution Units) that can be clocked up to 1050 MHz and it has a base frequency of 300 MHz but the former can vary depending on the CPU. Since the iGPU doesn’t have a dedicated memory of its own – or eDRAM for that matter – it uses the available RAM on the system which is 2x 64-bit DDR3 or DDR4.

The TDP depends on the CPU model but it’s usually equipped with a SoC rated at 15W including the memory controller.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook with this GPU that we’ve tested: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/intel-hd-graphics-620/


Temperatures

The notebook isn’t made for long and heavy workload and our stress test doesn’t represent real-life usage but it’s still the best way to assess the capabilities of the cooling design and the longevity of the system as a whole.

We kick things off with 1 hour CPU stress test. The results can be seen below – relatively low temperatures while utilizing the maximum clock speeds for two active cores – 3.1 GHz. At first, however, the CPU ran at its maximum clock speed 3.5 GHz for a very short period of time.

After we turned on the GPU stress test, the CPU started ticking at a lower frequency so it can give enough headroom for the iGPU to perform. Still, the CPU’s frequency didn’t go below 2.8 GHz, which is still within the normal range of clock speeds, meaning no throttling.

As expected, temperatures on the surface remained low due to the not so demanding nature of the Core i7-7500U CPU and the absence of discrete GPU. However, we noticed that the cooling fan keeps spinning even when idle or when performing normal tasks like web browsing or office work. This is definitely something to consider if you are annoyed by the constant noise coming from the fan.


Verdict

We really want to say that the Latitude 15 3580 is a good business solution in the entry-level to mid-range class but considering all the other alternatives out there, it’s really hard to do so. Don’t get us wrong, though, the Latitude series has always been one of the first go-to solutions but not this time around.

The chassis feels more like the super budget Vostro 15 3000 series, which becomes unacceptable when you configure this machine with a Core i5-7200U or Core i7-7500U. Almost everything about it feels cheap and flimsy. The input devices don’t impress as well – the keyboard is shallow and lacking feedback but the touchpad, on the other hand, is just okay. Nothing special, though.

Moving on to what probably matters the most for some users – battery life. This thing runs for quite some time when away from the charger mostly thanks to the energy-efficient CPU, the undemanding 1080p TN display and the relatively big battery unit. Speaking of the former, the screen is just way below average, which is what you’d normally expect from a budget TN panel – poor viewing angles, low maximum brightness, extremely low contrast, inaccurate color reproduction and limited sRGB coverage. At least our profiles can take care of the white point, gamma and color reproduction while the screen itself doesn’t use PWM for regulating brightness.

And with the missing support for an M.2 SSD, which has usually become a standard nowadays, the Latitude 3580 is bound to lose to its competitors like the Lenovo ThinkPad E570, the Lenovo ThinkPad L570 or HP’s new ProBook 450 G5. In fact, the older ProBook 450 G4 is a much better option as well. Other similarly priced alternatives would be Acer’s TravelMate P4 TMP449 or even the affordable Latitude 15 3570 will do a better job.

You can find the available configurations here: http://amzn.to/2heIabM

Pros

  • Excellent battery runtimes
  • The display doesn’t use PWM for regulating brightness


Cons

  • The cooling fan doesn’t stop spinning
  • Subpar image quality
  • Flimsy case
  • Unsatisfactory keyboard (shallow and lacks tactile feedback and LED illumination)
  • No M.2 SSD slot

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srdonelan
srdonelan
4 years ago

Without a doubt the crappiest laptop I’ve ever had. Constantly running behind me, sometimes up to 30 seconds behind. For a working laptop you need to have multiple software packages open and this useless machine cannot handle it.