Dell to Preview First 5G Laptop, Latitude 9510, at CES

Dell will introduce its first 5G-enabled laptop at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, to be offered in a new premium series of its Latitude line of enterprise grade mobile PCs.

The new Latitude 9000 series, announced this week and set to appear in the channel in March, creates a new high-end for Dell’s enterprise line of laptops. Until now, the Latitude 7000 was Dell’s premium version, with the Latitude 3000 and Latitude 5000 respectively, representing the entry level and midrange. At last year’s CES, Dell launched a revamped Latitude 7000 series with the Latitude 7400, a 2-in-1 convertible with a reduced form factor made with a new titan gray aluminum with curved edges and a magnesium alloy undercover.

Building on that popular new design, Dell decided to create a higher-end premium system with the Latitude 9510. Designed with a 15-inch display, the Latitude 9510 weighs 3.2 lbs. and is available with Intel’s latest 10^th Generation Core i7 processor with vPro. Meghana Patwardhan, Dell’s VP and GM for commercial mobility products said the Latitude 9510 is for executives, salespeople and other mobile professionals.

“We designed this product with an ‘experiences first’ attitude,” Patwardhan told Channel Futures. “We thought about what would be important in 2020 and 2021 in a commercial notebook and it was things like 5G, 30 hours of battery life and the best collaboration and conference experience.”

The system supports the latest wireless LAN connectivity spec, Wi-Fi 6, and will come with a choice of 4G LTE or 5 for broadband mobile connectivity. Because 5G wireless requires six antennas for optimal connectivity in laptops, there are two at the bottom of the system, two on top and the other two are built into the grill of the speakers.

Dell’s Amanda Baker

“It looks like a cosmetic banner on top of the speakers but it’s actually the antennas,” said Amanda Baker, Dell’s Latitude product manager. “It was some creative design by our engineering team.”

Because the system has top-firing speakers, it will also provide optimized conferencing experiences, she added.

Baker also noted that the Latitude 9510 will be offered as both a 2-in-1 convertible as well as a clamshell, rather than Dell’s more common approach of delivering the two configurations as different models.

“The clamshell and 2-in-1 share one base, and that’s new,” she said. “That means you can have users with either device but manage them the same way, which reduces complexity.”

Channel partners and customers should welcome the fact that both types of systems will use the same BIOS, drivers and other internals, Baker said.

The Latitude 7510 also comes with the new Dell Optimizer, software designed to reduce lag and improve responsiveness. Dell Optimizer includes ExpressResponse, which uses Intel’s Adaptix dynamic processor tuning technology to launch applications faster; ExpressSign-in using Dell’s proximity sensors, Intel’s Context Sensing technology and Microsoft’s Windows Hello to detect a user’s presence or lack thereof.

Pricing for the new Latitude 9510 systems will start at $1,799 and are scheduled to ship to customers on March 26.