DELL Latitude 3500

DELL Latitude 3500

Dell Latitude 3500 is a laptop model aimed at students and office workers looking for a computer to serve basic to advanced needs for studying, working, and entertainment.

Simple design, without many highlights

The appearance of the Dell Latitude 3500 inherits many features from recent Latitude generations. It features a simple matte black plastic shell, not overly elaborate or eye-catching, with a few highlights being the glossy borders running around the chassis. The sturdy shell does not creak when pressed firmly, but it is quite prone to fingerprints and can be difficult to clean.

The seams and edges are carefully machined, well-finished, and have few redundant details. The screen hinge is built solidly. The chassis is relatively thin and light, compact with a weight of about 2 kg and a maximum thickness of 1.8 cm, making it light enough for a 15.6-inch laptop to carry to work or school daily.

The connectivity options on the machine are quite diverse with 4 USB ports, including 1 USB Type C 3.1 Gen 1 that supports Power Delivery and DisplayPort, allowing for both 4K video output and charging. The next two USB ports are traditional Type A with 3.1 Gen 1 speeds, and 1 port supports PowerShare (marked with a battery icon) to charge smartphones, smartwatches, or smartbands even when the laptop is turned off. Unfortunately, the last USB port on the side is a low-speed 2.0 type, only suitable for plugging in an external mouse.

Other ports include HDMI, LAN, a headphone/mic combo jack, an SD card reader, and even a VGA port, which is becoming increasingly rare on new-generation laptops. On the bottom of the machine, the Dell Latitude 3500 features large ventilation slots along with two plastic strips running horizontally and vertically across the chassis that protrude slightly to provide good grip and help the machine stay ventilated. The stereo speaker system is also located here.

Keyboard – Dell Latitude 3500 TouchPad: Spacious, good typing and scrolling feel

Thanks to its large 15.6-inch size, the Dell Latitude 3500 keyboard is spacious with a comfortable palm rest, making it less tiring for the wrists during long typing sessions. The keys are tactile and responsive, allowing for fast typing with minimal sticking. Key flex when pressing firmly is well-controlled. The characters printed on the keys are sharp and clear. The 15-inch laptop form factor allows for a dedicated Numpad, which is convenient for data entry and quick calculations.

The keyboard also features a backlight with sufficient brightness to work at night or in low light without needing an extra desk lamp. However, the backlight will default to turning off after a certain period to save battery and will only light up when you are typing. To adjust the backlight timeout, you will need to enter the BIOS.

The touchpad is also relatively large and slightly offset to the left to align with the main keyboard area. The touchpad area is sufficient for comfortable finger operation, with a smooth matte surface and good responsiveness. As it is a Precision touchpad, it fully supports multi-touch gestures on Windows 10.

Large screen but only HD resolution, thick bezels, TN panel

It is equipped with a 15.6-inch anti-glare screen with Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixel) resolution, a TN panel, and thick bezels. Although the large size helps with comfortable viewing and working, the low resolution (relative to the panel type) results in images that appear slightly blurry and lack sharpness.

The TN panel provides average color quality and contrast, and of course, the biggest limitation is that the viewing angles are only guaranteed when looking directly at the screen, decreasing significantly when viewed from the sides and most severely when viewed from above or below.

The webcam on the machine has only a 1MP resolution, equivalent to 720p (1280×720 pixel), providing average image quality that is sufficient for basic video calls. The microphone is placed right next to the webcam, offering good sound pickup and effective noise cancellation. If you need higher image quality for live streaming, you should equip an external webcam.

The audio system on the Latitude 3500 is provided by 2 speakers located at the bottom; although it lacks specialized audio technologies, it is quite surprising that the actual sound from the two speakers is quite loud and clear without distortion at maximum volume, with a bit of bass, making it perfectly fine for watching action movies, playing games, and listening to modern EDM or pop music.