With an optional anti-reflective touch screen. At just 13 inches, the Dell Latitude 5300 is a small and lightweight companion for everyday business. Users do not have to go without safety features and the maintenance options are reasonable.
The Latitude 5300 has a sturdy plastic case, which has a very high-quality finish. The weight of the base unit is high enough so that the small business laptop can be opened with one hand. The lid is also very rigid and can be bent only using two hands and a bit of force. The opening angle is 180 degrees and the tight hinges ensure a secure hold of the display in any position.
The bottom panel of the Dell laptop can be removed after all visible screws have been loosened. The inside view becomes then clear, where users can change the main memory or the SSD. Here you will also find the WLAN and the WWAN modules. For the latter, a tray is provided on the right side, which remains as a dummy element in models without LTE. The rest of the equipment covers the basic needs and includes a Thunderbolt 3 connection. However, users must configure the port as such before purchasing, as Dell will otherwise install a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port in Type C design.
In addition, users will find a memory card reader, but only microSD cards can be used. It delivers very good speeds in our test with 176 MB/s for copying and 188.8 MB/s for writing data. The same applies to the built-in WLAN adapter, which in our test with 802.11 ac standard and 2x2 MIMO antenna technology reaches 646 MBit/s for data reception and 656 MBit/s for data transmission. According to the data sheet, Dell also offers the Latitude 5300 with Wi-Fi 6 or 802.11 ax standard.
Further configurations include various security options such as a smart card reader or fingerprint sensor in the power button. Dell relies on a Noble Lock as a physical safety measurement. In addition, the webcam can be closed with a shutter.
The keyboard of the Dell Latitude 5300 offers a rather soft feedback with a noticeable pressure point. All keys are close to each other and easy to reach, which means that even more extensive typing can be done quickly after a short settling-in period. In the dark, a two-level keyboard illumination ensures uniform and glare-free illuminated symbols.
As a mouse replacement, Dell equips its business laptop with a classic touchpad with separate physical buttons. Its surface let the fingertips glide with a pleasant resistance which allows precise navigation of the mouse pointer. The two keys give a soft click and provide a low but clear pressure point.
The display of the Dell Latitude 5300 consists of a matte 13.3-inch IPS panel with touch function and a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. The average brightness of 313 cd/m² is in the midfield of our chosen comparison devices, the same applies to the screen illumination of 87 percent. Our measurements also show that Dell does not use PWM for the Latitude 5300's brightness control.
In addition to the touch panel built into our test model, users can also choose from two non-touch variants with Full HD resolution or 1366x768 pixels.
