Introduction

Dell Latitude 7330 UL is an ultra-light business laptop. Business laptops are n’t all the stuffy, button- up affairs they ’re frequently known for. High- end machines are continuing to push the envelope, and currently offer businesspeople similar designs and features to mainstream devices.

 Dell Latitude 7330 UL 13- inch Ultralight is a sound example. It’s extraordinarily light which is something precisely about anyone could appreciate.

 Still, Dell limited the Ultralight version to where some of the most critical business features are skipping. And it’s not fast enough or long-lasting enough to make for a compelling laptop in universal, despite its lightweight.

Price and configurations

 I checked a high- end configuration of Dell Latitude 7330 UL (Ultralight) with an Intel v Pro processor and an older- school 169 display.

 Dell Latitude 7330 UL(Ultralight) version has limited configurations analogized to its massive siblings. For example, there’s no 4G LTE WWAN option, there’s only one 169 Full HD (,920 x,080) IPS display to take from, the webcam limited to 720p with no infrared camera for Windows 11 Hello support, and the battery is exactly 41 watt- hours compared to 58 watt- hours.

 The entranceway- level model is$1,766 for an Intel Core i5- 1235Unon-v Pro CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and a 256 GB PCIe SSD. The high- end configuration is$2,499 for a Core i7- 1265U v Pro, 32 GB of RAM, and a 512 GB PCIe SSD. My reappraisal configuration was the coming-highest configuration,$2,265 for the Core i7- 1265U v Pro, 16 GB of RAM, and a 512 GB SSD.

Dell has another business- class 13- inch laptop, the Latitude 9330, that includes an also modern 1610 display and is n’t closely as light. It runs several hundred dollars more than the Dell Latitude 7330 UL also configured.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 is a competitive laptop, albeit a 14- inch model, that’s similarly pretty thin and light. It’s several hundred dollars less than the Latitude 7330, indeed with faster CPUs and better displays. Eventually, the HP Elite Dragonfly G3 is around the equal price as the Dell Latitude 7330 UL, albeit without Intel’s v Pro and a smaller SSD. It’s exactly as lightweight.

Design

The Latitude 7330 is available in three options of materials: aluminum, carbon fiber, and magnesium alloy. I reviewed the magnesium version, dubbed the Dell Latitude 7330 UL, which weighs just 2.13 pounds. That’s light enough to make it onto our list of the lightest laptops. It’s thin, but not amazingly so, at 0.67 inches, and its large top and bottom bezels mean it’s not the smallest 13-inch laptop around in terms of its footprint on the table.

It’s wider and slightly less deep than the 2.2-pound Elite Dragonfly G3 that’s 0.65 inches thick, but that laptop has a larger and taller 13.5-inch 16:20 display. It’s also wider and slightly less deep than the Latitude 9330, which has a 13.3-inch 16:10 display, weighs 2.8 pounds, and is 0.55 inches thick. Finally, while the 14-inch ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 is wider and deeper, it’s thinner at 0.60 inches and weighs just 2.48 pounds — more than the Latitude but with a larger display. Ultimately, the Dell Latitude 7330 UL stands out for its weight but not for its thickness or the size of its chassis.

Magnesium is a strong metal, but it’s not as stiff as aluminum. Dell Latitude 7330 UL, therefore, has some flexing in the keyboard deck and its lid bends awkwardly, showing off some LCD discoloration. That doesn’t make it a poorly built laptop, but it doesn’t feel as solid as all-aluminum machines like the Dell XPS 13 Plus and the HP Spectre x360 13.5. The hinge allows the lid to open about halfway with one hand, but then it stiffens and you’ll need the other hand to open it all the way. It keeps the display firmly in place during heavy typing sessions. I’ll note that the magnesium alloy makes for a softer touch than aluminum, although it might feel more like plastic to some people.

Aesthetically, the Dell Latitude 7330 UL is about as minimalist as they come. The lines and angles are simple, and only the chrome Dell logo on the lid adds any flair. There’s nothing wrong with simplistic designs if they’re exceptionally streamlined and attractive, but this one is boring. The Latitude 9330 has that more streamlined look, while the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 sports the iconic and attractive ThinkPad aesthetic. For my money, the HP Elite Dragonfly G3 is a sleeker and better-looking laptop.

Ports and connectivity

Connectivity is good, with two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, a full-size HDMI port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. We’re missing an SD card reader, and the Ultralight version doesn’t offer the optional Smart card reader and eSIM. Wireless connectivity is up to date with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, but again the Ultralight version doesn’t have the optional WWAN support of the aluminum version.

One nice feature is Dell’s new Express connect technology that lets you connect to two wireless networks simultaneously for greater speed, and the laptop can configure to connect to the best network.

Performance

As far as I could tell working through Dell’s very confusing configurator, it can configure the Dell Latitude 7330 UL with one of two 12th-gen Intel U-series CPUs. There’s the 15-watt 10-core (two Performance and eight Efficient), 12-thread Core i5-1235U running at up to 4.4GHz, and the Core i7-1265U that has the same core and thread count but goes a little faster at 4.8GHz and include Intel’s vPro technology. My review unit equipped the Core i7-1265U, which promised at least as fast performance as the Core i7-1255U (up to 4.7Ghz) laptops that I’ve recently reviewed.

In our benchmarks, though, the Dell Latitude 7330 UL fell behind all the other Intel 12th-gen CPUs we’ve tested. That was true in Geek bench 5, our Handbrake test that encodes a 420MB video as H.265, and the video rendering benchmark Cinebench R23. The Latitude even fell behind in the PCMark 10 Complete benchmark, which tests a variety of productivity, multimedia, and creative tasks.

The Dell Latitude 7330 UL exhibited some throttling that likely limited performance. And the Dell Optimizer utility provided various thermal tuning modes, of which I tested the balanced and performance. Switching to performance mode made a modest difference in Geekbench 5 and Cinebench R23, and a more significant improvement in Handbrake. As usual, switching modes didn’t impact the PCMark 10 Complete score by much.

Overall, the Dell Latitude 7330 UL’s performance was faster than Intel’s 11th-gen, but not up to the standards of 12th-gen machines. That doesn’t mean the laptop can’t handle demanding productivity workflows, but it will not be as fast as competing — and most times, much less expensive — machines.

Forget gaming unless you’re playing older titles with low resolution and graphics. The Intel Iris Xe isn’t a fast GPU in the best cases, and the Dell Latitude 7330 UL is among the slowest.

Display

I immediately noticed that the Dell Latitude 7330 UL’s 13.3-inch 16:9 Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS display was bright with true blacks for an IPS display. Colors seemed dynamic without being over-saturated, and other than the old-school aspect ratio, I found the display quite good during my testing.

According to my colorimeter, my eyes didn’t deceive me. The display was incredibly bright at 503 nits, well above our 300-nit standard. Its contrast was excellent for an IPS panel at 1,650:1, which made black text pop on white backgrounds. Colors hit the premium display average at 95% of sRGB and 74% of AdobeRGB, although that average has been creeping upward lately. Accuracy was good at a DeltaE of 1.56, where less than 2.0 considered good enough for creative work. Among our comparison group, the Dell Latitude 7330 UL most closely matched the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10, with the former being brighter and the latter having slightly wider colors.

Unfortunately, the Latitude Ultralight does not include options for touchscreens.

Productivity workers, at whom this laptop we aimed, will enjoy this display if they can live with the resolution and aspect ratio. Creators will want to look elsewhere, but then again, this isn’t a laptop meant for all-day video or photo editing.

Two downward-firing speakers provide the audio and put out a surprising amount of volume, with zero distortion and clean minds and highs. There was even a touch of bass.

The speakers were good enough for watching Netflix and casual music listening, although action movies and more demanding music tastes will demand a good pair of headphones.

Keyboard, touchpad, and webcam

The keyboard’s keycaps are slightly small, but the key spacing is generous enough, making it easy to hit the right letters. The switches are firm with a snappy bottoming action, meaning that if you like a little more pressure, you’ll like this keyboard. It might be a bit much if you’re accustomed to lighter keys. I’d rate it behind the best laptops, including the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10’s lighter and even snappier version.

The touchpad supports Windows 11 multi-touch gestures well enough, and its surface is comfortable. It’s a bit on the small side, though, thanks in part to the shorter display and a general lack of space on the palm rest.

There’s also no Windows 11 password less login support. If you want an infrared camera for facial recognition or a fingerprint reader, you’ll need to choose one of the heavier models. That’s disappointing for a business laptop, where security is often an important factor.

Finally, the webcam is just 720p. Again, there’s a price to be paid for the lighter chassis — a Full HD webcam and infrared camera is not an option on the Ultralight.

Privacy and security

Dell builds several privacy and security tools into its Latitude machines, including its SafeBIOS to help avoid hacking and Dell Encryption Enterprise. There’s also a variety of other enterprise management tools including Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) for remote management and Intel Hardware Shield for hardware-enhanced security. Those are best supported by an Intel vPro chip.

Because my machine lacked an infrared camera, it did not support the onlooker detection, Look Away Detect (which dims the screen based on user behavior), and ExpressSign-In wake on approach tools that other Latitude 7330 models support. The sole nod to privacy on the Ultralight model is a sliding physical shutter for the webcam.

Battery life

The Ultralight version of the Latitude 7330 limited to a 41-watt-hour battery, whereas the other models can equipped with 58 watt-hours. The display is just Full HD, and it uses a 15-watt CPU, so I hoped that I’d see at least decent battery life.

In our suite of battery tests, though, the Dell Latitude 7330 UL fell about an hour below average across the board. In our web browsing test that cycles through a handful of complex websites, it managed just seven hours, and in our video test that loops a local Full HD Avengers trailer, it hit 10.5 hours. Finally, in the PCMark 10 Application test that best shows productivity battery life, the Latitude made it to 8.5 hours. That’s less than each of the laptops in our comparison group and below average.

The Dell Latitude 7330 UL is unlikely to get you through a full day of productivity work unless your tasks are light on the CPU. Anything more and you’ll be pulling out your charger.

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