Dell Latitude E6520 Review

The Latitude E6520 is Dell’s new flagship business class 15.6” laptop. This laptop might not be the cheapest in its class, but it more than makes up for that in features like solid durability and reliable functionality. Being Dell’s primary business line the Latitude series is frequently picked by bigger businesses. Because of this the Latitude series end up being very reliable and durable. Dell can’t afford to upset their big customers and those customers are willing to pay a bit more for something that is going to be less troublesome. This makes the Latitude a great choice if you plan to have it for a while or just want something that you know is going to be durable.

Functionality and Looks

Looks are not stellar on the Latitude, although significantly better than earlier revisions. Brushed aluminum casing accented by and orange trim on the keyboard adds a nice bit of flare compared to the old all business black. It’s far from the flashy side of Dell that is Alienware, but it still maintains a smooth professional appearance that can grow on you.

Expandability on the Latitude is impressively flexible. Anywhere from an Intel i3 to an i7 can be ordered with this laptop as well as a wide variety of hard drives, screen resolutions, RAM quantities, among other things. If you’re looking to keep the budget low I would stick with the i3, since unless you’re doing lots of processor intensive activities like video encoding it’s really not too necessary. For the hard drive the $30 upgrade to the 7200 RPM version is a nice option; boot times should be lower and the system should be noticeably snappier. 

Display and Performance

The option to put a full 1080p screen on this laptop is a rare gem in a 15” that can be a real luxury. It makes the Latitude perfect for reviewing photos on the go or watching high-definition content. Backlit keyboard is a pretty nice upgrade, although they can be purchased through aftermarket retailers and installed fairly cheaply compared to Dell’s price. The main downside to all this talk of durability and options are the graphics. The sole upgrade options, the nVidia® NVS™ 4200M, is hardly meant for 3D graphics because the model is targeted at businesses. So if you are looking for a gaming laptop I would stay away from the Latitude. That’s not to say that it can’t play games though. The 4200M is based off the same chipset as the 520M which is a fairly nice midrange card, but it’s optimized for business graphics. Designed for reliability instead of speed the 4200M is better for CAD and Inventor than it is for gaming. Having said that though, you should expect most games to be playable on low settings with this card.

The Bottom Line

An interesting quirk to make the Dell site even more confusing is that depending on the way you access the model information on the E6520 you will be presented with different default configurations and prices. If you go through the large corporation menu your price starts at over $1100 with no option to downgrade to an i3 at all, despite stating that an i3 is supported on the previous page. But go through the small business section of Dell’s website and you will be presented with several lower trim models to choose from. In addition to this strange occurrence watch out for the “Ships next day” models as they are more expensive because of that. Upgrade a lower trim level with the same options and it will come out cheaper, although you will be waiting a bit longer for it.

All in all the Latitude E6520 brings a lot to the field in terms of options and reliability, as well as some new appearance upgrades that can be a breath of fresh air.