Dell Showcases Its Latest Line-up of Exceptional Laptops at CES 2016

Dell could not have stayed far from the rest of the pack as Lenovo, Acer and HP released new versions of their portable workstations and gaming machines over the past few days so Dell decided to show off their latest upgrades. The company has updated their Latitude, Inspiron and Alienware line-ups.

7000 Series Laptops

The Dell 7000 series is leading the charge and are being called the world’s most secure ultrabooks. The claim is realised by Dell’s usage of comprehensive encryption options, authentication options and other technology that protects the systems from malware.

These laptops are built using high quality materials like carbon fibre which can withstand the daily wear and tear longer than ordinary materials. They also come with support for Dell’s existing E docking stations and WiGig for a better office experience.

The 7000 series of laptops will be powered by the 6^th generation Intel Core processors and have up to 16 GB of DDR4 RAM. There will be an integrated Intel Graphics 520 chip (upgradable to 540) and a whole lot of storage options. There’s support for HDDs, M.2 form factor SSDs with 512GB of storage and SATA, PCIe NVMe or SED variants.

The 7000 series is available in 12.5 inch and 13.3-inch variants which support FHD resolution and come with Gorilla Glass protection, while the 14 inch variant can go up to QHD resolution. All variants come with the optional touch support.

The 7000 series also brings a complete array of ports, optional extras like fingerprint scanners and 1080p webcam. Despite everything they are thinner than ever at less than 20mm. The weight starts at 2.77 pounds for the smaller variant while the 14 inch model weighs in at 3.32 pounds.

Pricing starts at $1,079 for the entire 7000 series other than the 13 inch variant which begins at $1,299.

5000 Series Laptops

Dell has refreshed the complete 5000 series of laptops iterating upon the 12, 14 and 15 inch models for the year 2016. The 12 inch models come with support for the latest generation of Core i7s but limited to the dual core variants of these processors. The 14 and 15 inch models will make use of the quad-core variants of the 6^th gen core i7 processors.

In conjunction with the processing oomph inside, the 5000 series has up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM clocked at 2,133MHz. All models come with 1080p screens but buyers have the option to choose a plain old HD+ panel as well. The displays are powered either by the integrated Intel HD graphics or the much more powerful optional AMD Radeon R7 M370 GPUs.

Storage options top out at 1TB of HDD. Other storage options include 2.5 inch SSDs of up to 480GB, up to 512GB of PCIe M.2 SSDs and up to 512GB of SSD M.2 SATA drives. All drives are protected by Dell’s free fall sensor which activates when the system is dropped and prevents data loss.

The 5000 series brings USB 3.0 ports as a standard plus additional wireless communications support in the shape of optional LTE support and WiGig support. Keyboards can be backlit or not depending on the user’s requirements. All models come with a thickness of less than 1-inch and weigh between 3.29 pounds to 4.61 pounds.

The 12-inch variant costs $1,099, while the pricing for the other two models will be revealed later.

The Surface Competitors

Both the 7000 and 5000 series bring Dell’s take on the Microsoft Surface. Dell’s transformer models are called 2-in-1 hybrids and can convert to a tablet or a full-fledged laptop upon the user’s desire.

Latitude 11 5000

The 5000 series hybrid comes with a 10.8-inch size. It features the sixth generation Intel Core M processor and will be offered in both, standard edition and business focused security edition. The security edition offers additional security like the one found in the 7000 series Latitudes.

The device can be fitted with 4GB or 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM and comes with Intel HD graphics 515. The Latitude 11 5000 utilises Corning Gorilla Glass to protect its 1080p display and an anti-fingerprint technology to keep the screen clear and professional.

Just like the notebooks, the hybrid will come with support for a multitude of SSD options varying in size, starting from 128GB to 512GB. The replaceable battery comes with 35Wh of juice. There’s a USB Type-C connector for charging the device and a Type A port plus a mini-HDMI port to complete the connectivity options.

Pricing starts at $749 with additional options like LTE and better specs costing more.

Latitude 12 7000

The 7000 series hybrid isn’t as “weak” as its 5000 series sibling. Dell claims that the 12.5 variant is the thinnest and lightest business class device ever designed.

It comes with a UHD (4K) display option but starts off with a 1080p display. The hybrid’s touch has been optimised for Windows 10 and also uses the Gorilla Glass protection to keep its scratch free. The internals boast a 6^th generation Intel Core processor with option going all the way up to the vPro clocked at 3.10 GHz. Users get the choice between 4GB and 8GB DDR3 RAM and the same wide variety of SSD support and a capacity topping out at 512GB.

The 12 inch hybrid comes with Intel Graphics 515 card, USB Type-C connectivity and a whole host of Dell’s advanced security options. The entire setup is built in an incredibly thin 8.1mm body which weighs just 1.61 pounds.

The 7000 series hybrid will start at $1,049 and will be available starting next month.

The $199 Inspiron 11 3000

Dell also came up with a laptop that’s cheap and good. They’ve developed a laptop which costs only $199 just like the HP Stream 11. Inspiron 11 comes in a colorful plastic body just like its competitor.

The insides boast a low power Intel Celeron processor and 2GB of RAM coupled with 32GB of SSD storage and a slightly older Wi-Fi n wireless connection. It may not be much but its plenty considering that all of this comes with such a small price tag. Dells is promising 10 hours of battery for this budget laptop. There’s a glare-free screen as well.

If someone wants to pay a bit more for more power they can get 4GB RAM, 500 GB HDD or 128 GB SSD and a quad-core Intel CPU.

Alienware 13-inch Laptop

With everyone else showing off their gaming prowess in the portable machine market, Dell couldn’t have stayed far behind. Lenovo announced their gaming champ in the shape of Lenovo Y900. Dell has managed to beat it with its Alienware which has also gained the title becoming the first gaming laptop with an OLED screen.

Samsung was chosen by Dell to supply them with OLED panels for their best gaming laptop to date. Dell touts Alienware 13-inch as the perfect combination of performance, graphics and size for mobile gamers. The device will come with silver or dark-red chassis when it becomes available later this month.

Dell didn’t give much detail regarding the gaming machine’s configurations but recent updates note that it will feature 6^th gen Intel Core i7-6500U, NVidia GeForce GTX 960M graphics chip and an NVMe PCIe SSD and will retail at around $1,449.