Dell Latitude 3490 - Review 2022

Why does the Dell Latitude 3490 (starts at $449; $1,189 as tested) accept to be and then heavy? It'southward a basic-but-capable 14-inch business laptop with few standout features, and then yous'd think Dell'southward engineers would be able to wrap all of its components into a package that weighs less than 3.85 pounds. For several reasons, one of which almost certainly has to do with its legacy input/output options, they didn't. The 3490 is therefore not a prime selection for road warriors, and the fact that it's covered in stodgy black plastic doesn't help. On the other mitt, it'due south eminently configurable, and the version we tested has plenty of computing performance, making it a good option for businesses in need of its rare-these-days VGA port.

A Humdrum Await

At start glance, the Latitude 3490's weight isn't actually that much of an outlier. It matches upwardly about exactly with the 3.74-pound heft of the 14-inch Lenovo ThinkPad T470, one of its chief competitors. In fact, the starting weight of the Latitude 3490 is iii.79 pounds. (Our configuration includes some extras, such as a fingerprint reader, that add together a few feathers.)

The ThinkPad T470 has far superior styling, however. In improver to its pleasingly soft-bear on exterior (done up in matte charcoal gray, versus the Dell's hardened black plastic), the Lenovo'south keys are more comfy, its touchpad is larger, and at 0.79 past 13.25 by nine.fifteen inches (HWD), it is both slimmer and narrower than the Latitude 3490 (0.82 by 13.34 by ix.52 inches).

When you lot start to branch out beyond mainstream business concern laptops into thin-and-lite models, the Dell'southward weight becomes just as much of an issue as its styling. The 14-inch Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, for instance, weighs just ii.45 pounds, and it still manages to include the comfy keyboard and large touchpad you'll find on the ThinkPad T470. Yous're paying more to shed this weight, though, since the X1 Carbon starts at about $i,500. And, of course, most 13-inch consumer ultraportables weigh less than 3 pounds, from $300 machines like the Acer Swift 1 to the plume-low-cal merely expensive 2.01-pound LG Gram 13.

For a small subset of SMB buyers, however, the Latitude 3490'southward weight and stodgy black-plastic exterior are worth tolerating for its VGA port, an increasingly rare connectivity selection that has generally disappeared from mainstream business and consumer laptops. Equally a relatively big analog connector, it takes upwardly the full height of the Latitude 3490's correct edge. For businesses that don't need or want to upgrade their older monitors or congenital-in conference-room AV systems, a VGA port is handy; information technology eliminates the demand to fumble for adapters.

The left edge also features a USB 2.0 port, a full-size SD card slot, and a receptacle for a security lock. On the right, meanwhile, you'll discover a USB 3.1 Gen 1 port, a USB-C port, a full-size Ethernet jack, an HDMI output for more modern displays, an audio input/output jack, and the power port. The lack of Thunderbolt support and the decision to include only ane USB 3.ane port while relegating the other to USB two.0 speeds is disappointing, but if you're buying this as a machine that will spend most of its time plugged into a desktop dock, that'south less of a concern.

If you are planning on toting this laptop around, on the other hand, y'all'll appreciate the built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth iv.one, and y'all can add an LTE modem as an optional extra. You'll too appreciate that the keyboard deck is sturdy and the keys are backlit, but yous'll probable bemoan the stiff keys, their shallow vertical travel, and the lack of defended left- and right-click buttons for the touchpad.

The fingerprint reader in our configuration is an optional extra, every bit is the IR webcam that lets you lot log in to your Windows account using face recognition. The photographic camera offers acceptable video quality, just graininess quickly increases as ambient low-cal decreases.

With a full Hard disk drive (1,920 by ane,080) glossy bear upon display, the Breadth 3490 offers upward crisp text and images, and it allows for wide viewing angles thank you to the In-Aeroplane Switching (IPS) core display technology. Yous can also opt for a matte 1,366-by-768 screen without the IR webcam, which will improve battery life since it has fewer pixels to power, although it volition likewise make the picture show quality considerably worse.

Sound quality from the Latitude 3490'due south downward-firing speakers is proficient, with crisp vocals and a distinct range of highs and lows while watching a streaming Tv news broadcast. Even at the laptop's maximum volume setting, still, the output is minimal, which means you'll definitely demand headphones or external speakers for video conferencing.

For a minor company without an It staff, one of the advantages of ownership an SMB laptop from Dell is the all-encompassing range of support options, including onsite repairs and multiyear warranties. Most of these options will toll extra, nevertheless. A 1-yr warranty with remote diagnosis is included standard. Meanwhile, if you exercise have an IT staff, the Latitude 3490 doesn't offering much in the way of management features, such as Intel vPro technology. Those are available only on higher-end Latitude models.

Lots of Configuration Options

Storage and memory options are plentiful on the Breadth 3490. Our test machine boasts a 256GB SSD, which makes for speedy boot times and lag-complimentary multitasking or web browsing with lots of tabs open. The drive is an K.ii SSD model from Samsung that connects using the SATA interface instead of the more than cutting-edge PCI Express. Unless you need a ton of internal storage, you'll definitely desire to select this or the 128GB SSD option instead of the 500GB or 1TB spinning hard drives; the latter will make the system feel far more than sluggish.

In addition to the 8GB of memory in our configuration, which is adequate for many business concern applications, you tin step upwardly to 16GB if you plan to have many apps open at once or dispense large spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel. We don't recommend selecting the base 4GB option unless your budget is very tight.

Because of its latest-generation Intel Core i5-8250U CPU, our Latitude 3490 did well on the PCMark 8 Work Conventional criterion examination, which measures general calculating performance by simulating web browsing, video conferencing, and other basic tasks. Whatsoever score in a higher place 3,000 on this test indicates first-class operation, so the Breadth 3490's result of 3,232 is impressive, though a few points behind similarly priced competitors such as the Lenovo IdeaPad 720s and the Asus ZenBook UX430U.

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The Latitude 3490 also turned in a respectable score on the Handbrake video-encoding test (a class-leading one infinitesimal, thirteen seconds) and cheers to its four processor cores, information technology accomplished another class-leading result of 638 on the Cinebench 3D rendering exam. Battery life was good, at 9 hours and 39 minutes, which suggests that information technology will terminal all day with occasional use before needing a trip to the power outlet. Nevertheless, all of its competitors offering better results on this test, ranging from simply longer than 10 hours for the ZenBook to longer than 16 hours for the MacBook Pro. The base of operations model comes with a 42Wh battery, although our unit features an upgraded 56Wh battery.

Dell Latitude 3490 Graphics Performance Chart

With their integrated graphics processors, gaming performance is nearly nonexistent on the Latitude 3490 and its competitors. Don't expect smooth gameplay for demanding titles, even at medium quality settings, although web-based games and basic time wasters like Solitaire should work just fine.

Good for Legacy Displays

If you need a VGA output to connect to an older monitor or conference-room brandish, the Dell Latitude 3490 is worth a look. It'southward also a good choice if yous plan to get out it plugged into one of these displays most of the time, since y'all can outfit information technology with a powerful CPU and 16GB of memory while stripping away other nonessentials to keep the price below $1,000. Otherwise, for a more than well-rounded SMB laptop, you should consider the Editors' Option Lenovo ThinkPad xiii or a consumer ultraportable like the Dell XPS 13.