94 PCWorld AUGUST 2019REVIEWS DELL LATITUDE 7400 2-IN-1
We loop a 4K movie over and over until the
battery expires. It requires a weekend and more
just for a satisfactory number of repetitions.
We should note that within Dell’s power-
management software lies an option to
extend the battery life even more, through a
process that lowers the display brightness,
switches off the keyboard backlight, and
clocks down the CPU. We couldn’t discern
any effect here, in part because we dialed
the display brightness back up to our
standardized levels. But with an 18-hour
“standard” battery life, who’s counting?BOTTOM LINE
Though more airlines are including power plugs,
the real test of a laptop is running from
appointment to appointment, without any
promise of a laptop charger in sight. That’s been
the case for buying a Qualcomm Snapdragon
PC—more so than performance, which has
suffered somewhat from how the processorinterprets instructions. Qualcomm promises that
its upcoming Snapdragon 8cx (go.pcworld.
com/sncx) fixes those flaws.
We can wait. The Dell Inspiron 7400 2-in-1
delivers right here and right now. The marriage of
top-notch performance and 18-plus hours of
battery life merits our Editor’s Choice award. It’s a
struggle to find a caveat: the weight? The 1080p
display? The lack of an integrated GPU? Yes,
you’ll pay through the nose for this ultrapremium
business PC. But it’s the whole package, and
worth fitting into your IT budget if you can.Dell Latitude 7400 2-in-1
PROS- Best-in-class performance.
- Battery life that equals a Qualcomm Snapdragon
PC. - Compact, yet with a 14-inch screen.
CONS - Nearly $3,000 as reviewed.
$2,802