DELL Latitude 3500

DELL Latitude 3500

The Dell Latitude 3500 is designed for students and office workers looking for a reliable machine for studying, working, and everyday entertainment, from basic tasks to more demanding workloads.

Simple design with understated accents

The look of the Dell Latitude 3500 borrows heavily from recent Latitude generations. It keeps the clean matte-black plastic chassis, understated rather than flashy, accented by glossy trim running around the edges. The body feels sturdy with no noticeable flex when pressed firmly, though it picks up sweat smudges fairly easily and can be difficult to wipe clean.

Seams and edges are neatly machined with solid build quality and minimal excess detailing. The display hinge feels sturdy. At roughly 2 kg with a maximum thickness of 1.8 cm, the chassis is relatively thin, light, and compact - portable enough for a 15.6-inch laptop to carry to work or school every day.

Port selection is fairly generous with 4 USB ports, including 1 USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1 port that supports Power Delivery and DisplayPort, allowing you to output 4K video while charging the battery. Two standard Type-A ports also run at 3.1 Gen 1 speeds, with one supporting PowerShare (marked by a battery icon) to charge your smartphone, smartwatch, or fitness band even when the laptop is turned off. Unfortunately, the final USB port on the right side is an older USB 2.0 port with lower speeds, best suited for an external mouse.

The remaining connectivity includes HDMI, a LAN port, a headphone/microphone combo jack, an SD card reader, and even a VGA port, which has become increasingly rare on modern laptops. On the bottom panel, the Dell Latitude 3500 features large cooling vents alongside two raised plastic feet running across the base, providing solid grip while keeping airflow unobstructed. The stereo speaker system is also located here.

Spacious Dell Latitude 3500 keyboard - touchpad with solid typing and tracking feel

Thanks to its 15.6-inch chassis, the Dell Latitude 3500 features a spacious keyboard and a comfortable palm rest that helps prevent wrist fatigue during long typing sessions. The keys offer responsive travel with good grip, helping you type quickly without mistypes. Flex under heavy pressure is kept well under control. Key lettering is sharp and legible. The 15-inch form factor also leaves room for a dedicated numeric keypad, convenient for fast data entry and calculations.

The keyboard also includes backlighting bright enough for working at night or in dim lighting without needing a desk lamp. However, the backlight automatically turns off after a set period to conserve battery and only relights when you press a key. If you want to adjust the backlight timeout, you will need to do so in the BIOS.

The touchpad is also relatively spacious, offset slightly to the left to align with the main typing zone. Its surface gives your fingers ample room to navigate, with a smooth matte texture and good responsiveness. Since it is a Precision touchpad, it fully supports multi-touch gestures on Windows 10.
Browse more models in the Dell laptops category. If you are comparing options, also see the DELL Latitude 7320 (2021) and the DELL Latitude 5420 (2021).

Large display with only HD resolution, thick bezels, and a TN panel

The laptop is equipped with an anti-glare 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display paired with a TN panel and thick bezels. While the larger screen size makes viewing and working more comfortable, the lower resolution leaves visuals looking somewhat soft and lacking sharpness.

The TN panel delivers average color and contrast, with the noticeable drawback that viewing angles are only reliable directly head-on; image quality falls off noticeably from either side and degrades heavily when viewed from above or below.

The built-in webcam has a resolution of only 1 MP, equivalent to 720p (1280x720 pixels), delivering average image quality that is acceptable for basic video calling. The microphone next to the webcam picks up voice well and filters out background noise effectively. If you need higher image quality for livestreaming, an external webcam is recommended.

Audio on the Latitude 3500 is handled by two bottom-mounted speakers. While it lacks dedicated audio enhancement suites, the twin speakers surprisingly produce loud, clean sound without distorting at maximum volume. There is even a hint of bass, making it completely fine for watching action movies, light gaming, and listening to modern pop and EDM tracks.