Dell Latitude 9440 Business Laptop Review

Dell has expanded its Latitude series with a new business laptop. Powered by a 13th-generation Intel CPU and built on the Intel vPro platform, this machine aims to deliver reliable business-class performance. Sporting a 14-inch screen with QHD+ (2560x1600) display resolution, it provides a compact yet visually competent setup. The inclusion of ComfortView Plus, a low blue light solution, adds to its practical features. In this exploration, we'll delve into the specifics of this new addition, dissecting its functionalities in the business laptop landscape.

Compact Design, Ample Screen Real Estate

The 14-inch screen on the Latitude 9440 2-in-1 by Dell feels remarkably spacious, thanks to its high resolution and near bezel-less design. The generously sized touchpad, an upgrade from previous Latitude models, adds convenience even with the laptop's touchscreen capability. Typing on the matte-finished keyboard above the touchpad is a comfortable experience, with well-spaced keys that eliminate any sense of discomfort or unfamiliarity.

Dell Latitude 9440 Business Laptop

The laptop's matte dark grey build is accented by a slightly shiny material along its edges, giving it a touch of sophistication. In terms of ports, the Latitude 9440 is minimalistic, featuring three Thunderbolt or USB-C ports and a single headphone jack. For those transitioning to a USB-C or Thunderbolt-centric setup, an adapter may be necessary.

Dell Latitude 9440 Business Laptop

A noteworthy feature is the laptop's 16:10 aspect ratio, providing a more vertical screen real estate. This design choice enhances business productivity, making it a valuable aspect for professional users.

Rugged and Secure

The Latitude 9440 has undergone the MIL-STD 810H test, confirming its durability against various environmental factors, including extreme temperatures, moisture, and shock. This ensures a sturdy physical build. Security features include a fingerprint reader, Dell Safe ID, Dell SafeBIOS, SafeSupply Chain, a TPM chip, and a lock slot.

ExpressSign-In automates laptop locking and unlocking based on user proximity for enhanced security. Intelligent Privacy adjusts brightness when the user looks away and pixelates screen content if unauthorized individuals are viewing. SafeShutter automatically closes the camera shutter when not in use, accompanied by an audible click for user awareness.

Display

The Latitude 9440 features a 14-inch QHD+ display with slim bezels, offering a 2560x1600 resolution in a 16:10 aspect ratio. The unique display configuration, providing 7% more viewing area than the standard 14-inch business convertible, stands out. Being a 2-in-1, it supports the Dell Active Pen, with the laptop's magnetic aluminum build offering a convenient way to attach the pen.

The hinge allows smooth movements between various configurations, providing flexibility. The colors appeared natural, as did the fine details. The almost bezel-less design enhances the viewing experience and simplifies multitasking. It delivers vibrant visuals suitable for business and general use, and the touch response of the screen is excellent.

Keyboard and trackpad

The Latitude 9440's keyboard adopts a nearly edge-to-edge design with minimal gaps between keys, creating a uniform appearance alongside thin speakers at the sides. However, this design choice can raise concerns for a few, as while typing, the close proximity of keys can resulted in a lower typing speed compared to the user's usual performance. But with time, surely the user can achieve a better typing speed without any discomfort.

Dell Latitude 9440 Business Laptop

The "haptic touchpad" with four sensors provides feedback and LED buttons exclusively during Zoom use, but it requires a significant amount of force to keep pressed. Accidental unclicking during file and window movements was a recurring issue, necessitating uncomfortable levels of pressure.

Performance

The Latitude 9440 is equipped with an Intel Core i7-1365U-vPRO processor, 16 GB of RAM, and 512 GB of SSD storage, delivering impressive performance across various categories. The robust performance of the machine allowed me to seamlessly work on various apps simultaneously, handling daily productivity tools like MS-Office, Adobe Photoshop, Chrome, and more with efficiency. Given the prevalent trend of online meetings, I utilized the laptop for both internal and external video meetings using apps such as Zoom and Google Meet, and it performed effortlessly.

Whether browsing the internet or engaging with daily productivity apps, there was no discernible performance lag. The laptop exhibited smooth multitasking, allowing for seamless transitions between apps, even during extended usage over a month.

Furthermore, its capability extends to handling resource-intensive applications like Adobe Suite. Utilizing Adobe Premiere for video editing, the laptop demonstrated snappy performance in editing tasks and rendering videos. To put its capabilities to the test, we concurrently opened two Chrome browsers, each with 10 tabs, running applications like MS Word, Excel, and Adobe Photoshop and Premiere. Even with these demanding applications running in the background, the machine maintained consistent performance without noticeable lag, enabling smooth switching between applications.

In terms of graphics, the Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics are not intended for gaming, but the laptop handles non-gaming tasks well. The Latitude 9440 features a software-based camera privacy shutter, activated by F9, but the audible noise during opening and closing, especially during boot-up, can be distracting. The 1080p camera quality is subpar, exhibiting grainy images and lacking in detail.

The Latitude 9440 2-in-1 comes with a pre-installed Windows 11 operating system and includes various Dell software, such as Dell Display Manager 2.0, Dell Pair, Dell Peripheral Manager, Dell Digital Delivery, and Dell Optimizer, etc.

Battery and audio

The Dell Latitude 9440 Business Laptop is equipped with a substantial 3-cell, 60 Wh battery, providing a runtime of more than 11 hours and 55 minutes under regular daily productivity usage. For heavier tasks, the laptop still offers a commendable 8+ hours of battery life. During multitasking with graphics-intensive applications, the battery performance remains solid, lasting around 6+ hours. While using Battery Mark, it delivers 5 hours of battery life using up to 100 percent of laptop resources.

The laptop features top-firing speakers that deliver clear and compelling audio quality for movie watching or music listening.