New Latitude 5470

Keeping free space can make a huge difference in SSD performance, so as John Ratsey said, getting at least modestly more than you think you absolutely need is a big advantage.

OTOH, unless you're using full-disk encryption (like Bitlocker -- although there are slightly less secure modes that work with TRIM and don't re-encrypt empty space), and as long as you're running a modern OS with TRIM (e.g. anything Windows 7 or newer), there's not much advantage in performance or drive life to keeping the space un-partitioned vs. just keeping the space empty in the a live partition/file system.

Keeping the space empty in the same file system also has the advantage that most file systems (certainly NTFS and ext3/ext4 on Linux) perform better with empty space, as it helps them avoid fragmentation. Matters less on SSDs, but there is still some overhead to random access even on SSDs.

That's only if you do in fact keep the space unused, of course.

 

I am in decision of buying a latitude. I do wonder if it worths waiting kaby lake. Is dell going to update this model for kaby lake include also a usb type c? Furthermore, how easy is to change the hdd with an ssd? Do i need something extra or only the SSD?

 

Kaby Lake is not a major improvement over Skylake. I have USB-C on my Precision 5510 but don't use it because plugging anything into the port causes several watts of additional power drain so I look on it as work in progress.

If your 5470 is shipped with a 2.5" HDD then you can easily replace it with a 2.5" SSD. The alternative is an M.2 SSD but that may need some additional components.

John

 

Thank you for your answer. I saw that Intel HD 620 is the same as intel HD 520 and Kaby Lake is just clocked a bit more. Is that giving any more hours while reading and surfing?

I could not find reviews about the Full HD panel. Is it as good as it was on the e5450?
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Latitude-14-E5470-Notebook-Review.161556.0.html

 

Kaby Lake might bring fractional efficiency improvements but Skylake is good. We have reached the stage where the power used by other components (particularly the display backlight) is a substantial part of the power drain under light usage conditions.

Dell uses several sources for the FHD wide viewing angle panels and I think they have been the same (subject to minor revisions) for several years. I have used the AUO panel on the E7440 and an LG panel on the E7450. They are both good although I felt the LG panel was slightly better. Which you get is down to whatever is in the bin when the notebook is assembled.

John

 

hi,
i just bought a latitude 5470
if i move the display is gets yellow if the original colour is black
see video below (just phone video)
is it normal or a failure ? please help !
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOcRgXOx7SRmmjE3f0kWx3WESeBcUbl0duf-Chi

 

Hello, I would like a clarification. Latitude is like this picture with 4 buttons and what is that thing on the right?
http://i.dell.com/sites/imageconten...top/laptop-latitude-14-5470-pdp-mag-pol-1.jpg

Or it is like in the video shown here:


I've seen both "versions" on dell website and i do wonder what is the most accurate

 

The t

The thing on right is a full-size fingerprint scanner

The blue nob in middle of keyboard (plus buttons on top of the track pad) is the tracking point/stick. Look for "dual pointing keyboard" for this option

All of these are optional + customizable. (There's also an optional smart card reader too)

 

If I recall correctly, only the dual pointing keyboard is backlit. Possibly something to check.

John

 

Thanks a lot. It seems on my configurations available you can choose for dual point keyboard, the smart card reader plus the fingerprint reader or the smart card reader only. Do you know where the smart card reader is?