Dell Latitude E7270 User Review

I don't see a whole lot of discussion or interest in the Latitude E7270 on this forum, but nonetheless I'm putting this information out there regarding my experience with the E7270 I recently purchased. I happen to be a fan of the 12 - 13" form factor and the Dell Outlet had a great sale going last month that allowed me to get the following specs on the E7270 for around $450 (before tax):

• Processor: Intel Core i5-6300U 2.30GHz
  
  
• Memory: 8GB RAM (1 x 8GB)
  
  
• Storage: 128GB SSD
  
  
• Screen: 12.5" 1366x768 HD screen with camera and microphone
  
  
• Warranty: 3-year hardware service with in-home / onsite repair, expires November 2019
  
  
• Battery: 3-cell 37 W/Hr
  
  
• OS: Windows 10 Pro
  
  
• Ports: HDMI, mini display port, three USB 3.0 ports, SD card reader, RJ-45, Smart Card reader
  
  
• Features: Backlit keyboard, web camera, microphone, military spec ruggedness
  

For the price this was a bargain. You’re getting a flagship 12” ultraportable business notebook from Dell backed by a 3 year hardware warranty with in home service if anything goes wrong with the machine (and that’s not due to an accident on your part).


A strong warranty was nice, but the laptop itself has to be serviceable as well of course. The Latitude E7270 is meant for business task computing for workers that are often on the go and need something rugged that can withstand being thrown in a bag with other books and documents and then shoved in tight spaces such as under seats or in overhead compartments on an airplane. Given the body is made of a magnesium alloy and the 7270 is built to mil-spec STD-810 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIL-STD-810) to withstand various environmental shocks, you can be pretty sure this laptop will holdup. It feels absolutely solid, there’s no flex on the body, keyboard or screen.


The keyboard is pretty nice, I got the backlit keyboard option on mine which makes all the difference in a poorly lit or dark room. The keys are slightly shrunken width from a full sized keyboard and there are no dedicated Home and End keys, which is a bummer. The biggest let down for me is the lack of a pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard, Dell does include that on the larger sized Latitude’s, I don’t know why engineers felt it wasn’t necessary on the smaller 7270. The feel of the keyboard is good and as I said before the keyboard is solid, so overall it’s a thumbs up on the keyboard, with just a couple of disappointments.


The screen is nice and bright, I have the standard HD (1366x768) resolution screen that has a brightness of around 300 nits. The color is fairly accurate, at least to this non-discerning eye. I’ve only been using it for viewing family photos, documents and web pages and am not a professional designer or graphics artist. Feedback I’ve heard from the professional graphics design crowd is that the color reproduction is not up to snuff with a designer’s exacting needs, so take that for what you will. The viewing angles on the standard HD are only so-so, you do get some color inversion when viewing from high or low vertical angles, this is not an IPS screen like what you get in the Full HD (1920x1080) screen. If a higher quality screen matters to you and you have the money, then upgrade to the Full HD, but if you’re on a budget and only using this for business without too much care for color accuracy then the Standard HD is just fine.


Performance with the included Intel Core i5-6300u and 8GB of RAM was flawless. Thanks to the fast SSD boot up times were very fast and opening new programs or tabs was snappy. I can’t imagine having a computer without an SSD these days, the only downside when getting an SSD included is that manufacturers skimp on the capacity (128GB in this case) to keep prices down so you may be forced to upgrade to a larger sized SSD down the road. Again, my usage is business specific and I don’t do gaming on laptops (just an XBox now and then) so it’s not like I pushed the Latitude 7270 to its limits, but having multiple programs open, browsers with dozens of tabs and streaming video at the same time didn’t cause any noticeable lag. Just make sure you have at least 8GB of RAM and you’ll be fine for any business related computing. If you’re looking to do some 3D gaming in the evening, you may be able to get by playing some older games on low to medium graphics settings (games from circa 2013). For the more casual Flash based online games, well of course there will be no issues there.


Battery life and portability are probably two of the most important factors for business users. There are a couple of different sized batteries running around for the Latitude E7270, a 55 WHr and 37 WHr. Unfortunately I got the smaller sized 37 WHr battery, but if you pay less then expect to get less. Even so, I was still getting battery life runs of around 6 hours with the screen at 80% brightness and using the laptop for web browsing and writing documents. The higher capacity battery would easily net you over 8 hours, so if you need to work unplugged all day then definitely opt for the larger 55 WHr battery that comes with more expensive configurations. The battery can be replaced by removing the screws and lifting off the bottom of the case, it is not glued in.


The weight of the E7270 at just over 3lbs isn’t exactly light by today’s standards when you have ultra thin 13” screen notebooks hovering around 2.5lbs (the Dell XPS 13 is 2.7lbs). That said, the Latitude E7270 is very durable and uses some heavier and thicker materials to achieve that, so the 3lb+ weight is acceptable.


The design of the E7270 is boring. It’s black and grey, with a fairly thick bezel. Nothing makes this notebook standout, but if you don’t want your laptop stolen that might be a good thing. Utility over design for the stead business crowd.


Overall I’d recommend the E7270 for purchase from the Dell Outlet, especially at a $500 price tag or less! I would not however pay the $1,000 starting price Dell is asking for new on their site, there are just so many other options out there for a $1,000 that have advantages over the E7270. I’m a bit disappointed with the keyboard as well, and would look to the Lenovo ThinkPads if a good keyboard with pointing stick is really important to you.

For those who prefer video and visuals to reading, I also put together a video review posted to YouTube here:

 

Ick, they deleted the trackpoint !

 

The larger Latitudes have the dual point keyboard option but not this one. Perhaps the designers considered that providing an extra row of buttons at the top of the trackpad then made the pad itself too small. I wouldn't want a pad any smaller than that on the dual point 14" Latitudes.

John