Dell Latitude 13 3320 review – а featherweight contender

The term ultrabook was made for devices like this one. Slim, light, sleek, and in this case – secure. Like Lenovo’s ThinkPads, the Latitude series of Dell was also in desperate need of change. Not for good, of course, as this brand is the one that keeps the tradition in the company. And with this unit, Dell is definitely giving its business customers a breather.

Inside of the modern-looking chassis, there is a Tiger Lake chip. The choices go all the way from the Core i3-1115G4, Core i7-1165G7. Ultimately, this provides the laptop with a ton of performance, while keeping everything as efficient as possible.

Given the fact that this is one of the more budget-oriented business notebooks out there, it will be interesting to see where did the manufacturer cut corners.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/dell-latitude-13-3320/

Contents


Specs Sheet

Dell Latitude 13 3320 - Espec

  • BOE 27HP5-NV13N4A (BOE0924)
  • Precisión del color  5.4  3.7
  • HDD/SSD
  • hasta 1000GB SSD
  • RAM
  • up to 16GB
  • OS
  • Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Home
  • Batería
  • 54Wh, 4-cell, 41Wh, 3-cell
  • Material del cuerpo
  • Plastic / Polycarbonate
  • Dimensiones
  • 305.96 x 204 x 15.69 - 16.36 mm (12.05" x 8.03" x 0.62")
  • Peso
  • 1.16 kg (2.6 lbs)
  • Puertos y conectividad
  • 2x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • HDMI
  • 1.4b
  • Lector de tarjetas
  • MicroSD
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.2
  • Conector de audio
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Lector de huellas dactilares
  • optional
  • Cámara web
  • HD
  • Teclado retroiluminado
  • optional
  • Micrófono
  • Dual Array Microphone
  • Altavoces
  • 2x 2.5W, Stereo Speakers
  • Unidad óptica
  • Ranura de bloqueo de seguridad
  • Wedge Lock

What’s in the box?

As a standard, inside the package, you will find some paper manuals and a 65W power brick.


Design and construction

Before we do anything else, let’s start with the numbers. This laptop is 15.69-16.36mm thin and weighs only 1.16 kg. Needless to say, it feels extremely light in the hand, and will not be a burden to your shoulders, when you carry it in a backpack. On the other side, this is where you see the first signs of cost-cutting measures. The entire assembly is made out of plastic – the lid, the body, and the bottom panel. And what’s the result – an extremely bendy chassis, and a twisty lid.

Also, the lid can’t be opened with a single hand. Thankfully, though, the bezels around the matte panel are super thin. Also, the top one houses an HD camera, which is nice.

Next, we move to one of the best features of this device – its keyboard. While there is a significant amount of deck flex, the experience you get when typing is good. It has decent key travel, given the profile of the laptop. Also, the feedback is clicky. It has a backlight, and the power button features an embedded fingerprint reader.

Now, although the touchpad feels smooth, it tends to be a little sluggish. A quite pronounced issue we had with it was input cancelation. Usually, laptops know when you are typing on the keyboard, and either disable the touchpad or make it a lot less sensitive, so that you don’t accidentally press it. In this case, the problem was not that it doesn’t work when you are typing. Instead, the touchpad seemed to randomly shut down when we had a wrist or anything resting on the device. Dell should get that fixed because the end result is kind of an annoying experience.

Nevertheless, let’s take a look at the bottom panel. There, you will find the speaker cutouts, as well as the ventilation grills. Respectively, hot air is exhausted from two slots at the back of the machine.

Ports

On the left side, there is the power plug, an HDMI 1.4b connector, and a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2×2), which is the next best thing to Thunderbolt connectors. Switch sides, and you will find the security wedge slot, two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports, an audio jack, and a MicroSD card reader.


Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

To take this laptop apart, you need to undo all 7 Phillips-head screws. Then, as usual, pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool and remove it from the chassis.

Powering the laptop when it’s away from the plug is a 54Wh battery pack.

As expected, the memory here is soldered to the motherboard. The laptop can be configured with either 4, 8, or 16GB of RAM. Storage-wise, you have one M.2 PCIe x4 slot.

And for the cooling, there are two heat pipes and two fans.


Display quality

Dell Latitude 13 3320 is equipped with a Full HD IPS panel, BOE 27HP5-NV13N4A (BOE0924). Its diagonal is 13.3-inch (33.78 cm), and the resolution – 1920 х 1080p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 166 ppi, their pitch – 0.153 х 0.153 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 53 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).

Viewing angles are comfortable. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The maximum measured brightness is 266 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 259 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 8%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 7260K – colder than the 6500K temperature for sRGB.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 54% Brightness (White level = 142 cd/m2, Black level = 0.12 cd/m2).
Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is good – 1200:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to 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 on 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.

The yellow dotted line shows Dell Latitude 13 3320’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 52% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma 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.

Below you can compare the scores of Dell Latitude 13 3320 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

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 (Gaming capabilities)

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

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 27 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


Health impact – PWM / Blue Light

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.

Dell Latitude 13 3320’s backlight doesn’t use PWM only at maximum brightness. Other than that, its flickers have a frequency of 1010Hz. Thankfully, our Health-Guard profile eliminates the issue.

Blue light emissions

Installing 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.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Dell Latitude 13 3320 configurations with 13.3″ BOE 27HP5-NV13N4A (BOE0924) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS panel.

*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.

Además de recibir perfiles eficientes y respetuosos con la salud, al comprar los productos de LaptopMedia también apoyas el desarrollo de nuestros laboratorios, donde probamos los dispositivos para elaborar las reseñas más objetivas posibles.

Trabajo de oficina

El perfil Trabajo de Oficina debería ser utilizado sobre todo por usuarios que pasan la mayor parte del tiempo mirando trozos de texto, tablas o simplemente navegando. Este perfil pretende ofrecer una mayor nitidez y claridad manteniendo una curva de gamma plana (2,20), una temperatura de color nativa y colores perceptualmente precisos.

Diseño y juego

Este perfil está dirigido a los diseñadores que trabajan con los colores de forma profesional, y también para juegos y películas. Design and Gaming lleva a los paneles de visualización a sus límites, haciéndolos tan precisos como sea posible en el estándar sRGB IEC61966-2-1 para Web y HDTV, en el punto blanco D65.

Salud-Guardia

Salud-Guardia elimina la perjudicial Modulación de Ancho de Pulso (PWM) y reduce la luz azul negativa que afecta a nuestros ojos y a nuestro cuerpo. Al estar adaptado a cada panel, consigue mantener los colores perceptivamente precisos. Salud-Guardia simula el papel, por lo que la presión sobre los ojos se reduce considerablemente.

Consigue los 3 perfiles con un 33% de descuento


Sound

Dell Latitude 13 3320’s speakers produce a decent quality sound. However, the low, mid, and high tones all have deviations from clarity.


Drivers

All of the drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/latitude-13-3320-laptop/drivers

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. Here, the 54Wh battery pack lasts for 12 hours and 55 minutes of Web browsing, and 11 hours of video playback.

Para simular las condiciones de la vida real, utilizamos nuestro propio script de navegación automática por más de 70 sitios web.


CPU options

This laptop comes with Core i3-1115G4, Core i5-1135G7, Core i5-1145G7, or the Core i7-1165G7.


GPU options

Although there are no dedicated graphics options, you can rely on the integrated GPUs. And the Xe Graphics are definitely capable enough.


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS136 fps98 fps62 fps

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS119 fps70 fps46 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i5-1135G7 (15W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
Dell Latitude 13 33203.10 GHz (B+29%) @ 92°C @ 35W1.86 GHz @ 64°C @ 15W1.90 GHz @ 66°C @ 15W
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i (13″)3.77 GHz (B+57%) @ 93°C @ 49W3.42 GHz (B+43%) @ 94°C @ 40W2.73 GHz (B+14%) @ 69°C @ 25W
ASUS ZenBook Duo 14 UX4823.13 GHz (B+30%) @ 92°C @ 39W3.01 GHz (B+25%) @ 92°C @ 33W2.44 GHz (B+2%) @ 73°C @ 22W
Dell Precision 15 35603.77 GHz (B+57%) @ 95°C @ 46W3.37 GHz (B+40%) @ 99°C @ 36W2.61 GHz (B+9%) @ 85°C @ 21W
Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 23.79 GHz (B+58%) @ 90°C @ 47W3.47 GHz (B+45%) @ 90°C @ 39W3.05 GHz (B+27%) @ 79°C @ 28W
Dell XPS 13 93103.15 GHz (B+31%) @ 100°C @ 40W2.73 GHz (B+14%) @ 100°C @ 30W1.65 GHz @ 73°C @ 15W
Acer Aspire 5 (A514-54)3.54 GHz (B+48%) @ 87°C2.01 GHz @ 66°C2.03 GHz @ 67°C

Ultimately, there was only one device that showed a lower clock speed than the Latitude 13 3320 at the end of this test, and it was its compatriot – the XPS 13 9310.

Comfort during full load

Inevitably, the tiny fans produced quite some noise under extreme workload scenarios. However, they were not too loud, but the hotspot on the keyboard was a bit worrying.


Verdict

As we said at the beginning of this review, the key to evaluating the Latitude 13 3320 will be to weigh in on the cost-cutting measures the company has taken to keep its price down. Ultimately, the main, and most expected one was with the build quality.

Well, there are no nasty squeaky sounds. Sure, but the entirely plastic body had a lot of flex in it. Also, the software that disables the touchpad when you’re typing was way too aggressive, and it kicked in even when you are resting your palms on the…palm rest are when you’re using the touchpad.

Dell Latitude 13 3320’s IPS panel (BOE 27HP5-NV13N4A (BOE0924)) has a Full HD resolution, good contrast ratio, and comfortable viewing angles. However, the good stuff about the display pretty much ends here. Unfortunately, the color coverage is only 52% of sRGB, while the backlight uses PWM for all brightness levels, except the maximum. While the former of the two is unfixable, the latter can be solved by our Health-Guard profile.

Another disadvantage in this laptop’s bag is the soldered memory. And also the fact, that Dell sells the base configuration with only 4GB of RAM, which is pathetic. On the other hand, the port selection on the outside seems quite good. It even includes a MicroSD card reader. And even though you don’t get Thunderbolt 4 support, you get the next best thing, which is USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2×2). Yet again, the latter is an elegant way to dodge costs for (sometimes) unneeded certifications. By the way, there is a very big advantage for this device, when it comes to battery life. We were able to get nearly 13 hours of Web browsing, and 11 hours of video playback.

If you are in need of a budget-friendly sleek, super-portable business device, the Latitude 13 3320 should be on your shortlist. Keep in mind that it’s not the best out there in pretty much any aspect. However, if Dell manages to fix their touchpad-canceling software, the laptop would be a bargain.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/dell-latitude-13-3320/

Pros

  • Slim and light body
  • Great battery life
  • Tiger Lake CPU at a decent price
  • Good keyboard + fingerprint reader
  • MicroSD card reader


Cons

  • Soldered RAM
  • Covers 52% of sRGB (BOE 27HP5-NV13N4A (BOE0924))
  • Uses PWM for brightness adjustment (BOE 27HP5-NV13N4A (BOE0924))
  • Plastic body with a lot of flex

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Vijay Pal
Vijay Pal
2 años hace

I came here from your YouTube channel. Wasn’t expecting such a detailed and nicely written review!
Surprisingly, there is an entry level model that comes with i3-1125G4 (4c/8t, 8M cache) and 8GB (2×4 dual channel) RAM. For that model, this seems like a great laptop for its price. But I can’t think of any other laptop in recent memory that has such a low color gamut display.
Good battery life combined with its small size should make this a great laptop for road warriors.