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The Dell Latitude 5285 is a business class 2-in-1 designed for workers on the move. Priced from £1,069.00 (at the time of writing) it is a convertible in the same style as the Surface Pro, where it is essentially a tablet with an attachable keyboard.

The specification I was sent is the higher specced model, which currently costs £1,299.00 and includes:

  • 7th Generation Intel Core™ i5-7300U (Dual Core 2.60Gz 3MB cache)
  • 8GB Memory
  • 256GB SATA Solid State Drive
  • Intel Wireless-AC 8265 Wireless Card (2×2), w/BT, WLAN+WWAN antenna
  • 2cm (12.3″) 3:2 1920×1280 Touch with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 with HD Cam, AR + AS, 340 nits
  • Windows 10 Pro 64-bit English
  • 2 Display Port over USB Type-C™
  • 1 USB 3.0 (With PowerShare)

The design of this laptop is very much business; it is all black and sturdy. I personally like it, but it is not quite as sleek as some consumer models. Thankfully, being a business laptop, you get one full-sized USB port, as well as the additional 2 USB Type-C ports. This should allow you to keep the laptop in charge while connecting other devices, something that isn’t always possible on some ultra-thins.

Other business orientated features include a Smartcard reader and a Noble security socket. Behind the kickstand, there’s also a microSD slot to add storage. I only tried out the fingerprint feature here, and it works just like it does with your smartphone. In the end, I mainly just stuck with a four-digit pin to unlock.

The 2-part design is a bit polarising. I like the fact that it comes apart as an entirely separate tablet, but in reality, for my use, it was more awkward than beneficial. The rear of the tablet has a kick out stand which can be adjusted to varying degrees so you can get a good angle. The problem is all the weight is on the screen, and the kickstand is supporting it. Being a bit of a slob, I spend most of my evenings sat/lay on the couch with the laptop on me, and not having a fixed keyboard supporting all the weight means it’s a bit wobbly. This is obviously a personal design issue, and this being more business orientated, it is less likely it will be used when lounging around.

The advantage of this design is that the keyboard itself is very thin, so the overall laptop does feel very light and portable. With the 12.3” screen it is great for carrying around on commutes. With the keyboard attached the Dell Latitude 5285 2-in-1 is 14.9mm thick and weighs just 1.19kg.

The keyboard itself is excellent to use, it is not a soft touch style like you see on some tablets, these are proper chicklet keys, and you get a decent sized touchpad. It is just as good as any laptop with an attached keyboard.

The display is a pleasure to use, even at 12.3” everything is clear, and there is no strain reading things. It is set to 150% scaling though, so you don’t get the same screen real estate as a standard 1920×1280 display would give you.

As part of the package, I received a Dell Active Pen which uses Wacom technology offers 2048 pressure sensitivity levels, the same as Wacom’s entry-level Intros Pro graphics tablets.

Performance

The performance of the Dell is excellent, this does not use one of the ULV processors you find on ultra-portables but the full sized mobile Intel Core i5-7300U, a dual-core CPU with enterprise-friendly vPro features.

Again, with this being a business laptop, the vPro features will be a selling point, providing remote access capabilities. The i5-7300U is also a bit faster than the consumer version with 2.6GHz base frequency and a 3.5GHz turbo.

The SSD inside this is a standard SATA drive, so you get excellent speeds, but not groundbreaking speeds of an NVMe. In the real world, the speed difference is negligible. Read and write speeds hovered around 550/MB/s and 510MB/s.

As with most 2-in-1s and ultra-portables, the graphics processing is done via the integrated GPU which is an Intel HD Graphics 620, this isn’t really a gaming laptop. This is more than capable for work tasks, but anything other than light gaming will not be achievable. Things like Counter-Strike, League of Legends and even Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare on low settings will all run OK on this, but trying to run GTAV will be an unpleasant experience.

Anything other than gaming works fine with this GPU, all media runs fine regardless of the file size or resolution.

The Latitude does have active cooling in it, so it is not completely silent like some ultra-portables, but the noise is negligible and it will only bother the fussiest of people.

The Latitude 5285 has a 42Wh battery charged using the USB-C ports on the side of the tablet part. I have not run any extensive battery tests on this, but I have regularly used it all day in the office without the need for charging. Unless you are gaming, this should comfortably last you any commute or day in the office until you get access to a plug socket.

Overall

The Dell Latitude 5285 is a solid business laptop. If you like the detachable keyboard style then it is a laptop that will comfortably handle all your needs. This is a perfect laptop for people on their feet all the time, at 1.19KG with its 12.3” screen, you will be able to fit this in a relatively small bag and hardly notice it.

The detachable keyboard, kickstand and touchscreen display are just asking for this to be used for presentations and demos.

At £1299 this is a bargain in comparison to the Surface Pro which retails for £1,549.00. So this would be a viable option for both consumers and business users alike. The full retail price is £1,998.46 which for a consumer not needing the security features would be a bit too pricey. For a business though, this is probably still quite reasonable, as I am not aware of any other 2-in-1 laptops like this that have the same security features.

 

Dell Latitude 5285 2-in-1

Product Name: Dell Latitude 5285 2-in-1

Offer price: 1,299.00

Currency: GBP

Availability: InStock

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Overall
84%
84%
  • Price - 85%
    85%
  • Design - 75%
    75%
  • Build - 90%
    90%
  • Performance - 85%
    85%

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