Alongside Dell’s consumer-focused XPS 13 2-in-1, the company also showed off two new 2-in-1 devices in the Latitude line. The first is the Latitude 5285, which bears more than a striking resemblance to Microsoft’s Surface Pro.
There are some differences in the kickstand mechanism, but the enterprise-focused Latitude 5285 is essentially a Surface Pro clone. That’s not exactly a bad thing; the Surface Pro 4 is one of the best hybrid devices available in the market today.
For one thing, Dell improved on one aspect of the Surface Pro 4 by increasing the number of connectivity ports on the Latitude 5285. Sure, there’s the single USB 3.0 port, microSD card slot and headphone jack, but there are two Thunderbolt 3/USB Type C ports (one of them charges the device) on the Latitude.
The similarities doesn’t end there, either. It packs a U-class Intel Core i processor up to an i7, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to a 1TB PCIe SSD. These options are all present in the Surface Pro 4, though obviously Dell’s Kaby Lake processors are newer.
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On the other hand, what Dell gives, it also takes away. The 12.3-inch 3:2 aspect ratio is similar to the Surface, but the resolution is markedly lower at 1920 x 1280 (the Surface Pro 4 packed a dense 2736 x 1824 resolution. And the Latitude is noticeably thicker and slightly heavier, too.
The Latitude 5285’s kickstand, while similar looking, is quite different from the Surface Pro 4’s. Where the SP4 has a smooth kickstand that locks at virtually any angle in its space, the Latitude has what it calls an “auto-deploy” kickstand that snaps into a “laptop” angle when you flap the kickstand open. You can then adjust the angle if required – it has a 150-degrees arch.
Finally, Dell’s pricing for the Latitude 5285 matches that of the Surface too. The Latitude starts at $899 (about RM4,020), and will be available in the US from February 28. The Travel Keyboard is optional, of course.
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