Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable 13.3in review: A quality Windows tablet for business users

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Despite Windows 11 completely abandoning the touch-optimised ‘Metro’ tile interface that featured in Windows 8 and 10, several OEMs clearly still think there’s a market for light, full-sized Windows tablets targeted at business users who prefer touch-screen interaction.

One such device is the new Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable, a 13.3in slate that can either be used on its own or with a detachable keyboard. This IT department-friendly package offers solid performance and good security all wrapped up in a slim and lightweight bundle.

Our review model came with an Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, with a list price of £1,474 ex VAT, complete with a detachable keyboard and Dell Active Pen. The current price includes a sizable discount of nearly £800, presumably to bring the Latitude’s price closer to that of its arch-rival the Microsoft Surface Pro 8, which can be picked up for £1,180 with a similar Core i5 processor. We’ve not been able to determine how long this offer will last, though.

Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable 13in review: Design

Devices like the 7320 Detachable are all about their size and weight, or rather lack of it. The tablet part of the package weighs just 782g and is just 8.4mm thick, while the keyboard adds 342g to the overall total. It’s pleasantly sturdy too, and the aluminium back and Gorilla Glass 6 front ensure that the tablet is free from flexing no matter how brutally you twist it. Though hardly a small tablet, the slender bezels - 5mm at the sides, 11mm at the top and bottom - make it look and feel less unwieldy than you’d expect from a 13.3in device, and the rounded edges make it easy to operate handheld. The tablet itself is rated to the MIL-STD 810G standard, which guarantees a reasonable degree of robustness.

The one-piece hinged stand can support the tablet at any angle between near-vertical and 170 degrees, which makes it ideal for use on something like a train or aeroplane seat-back tray table. The stand doesn’t feel quite as solid as the one fitted to the back of the Surface Pro 8, but it’s unlikely to come adrift or become slack with prolonged use. One final neat feature is that when the tablet is in sleep mode, opening the stand will automatically wake it up.

Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable 13in review: Display

All Latitude 7320 Detachable devices use the same 3:2 13in 1920 x 1280 IPS touchscreen. It’s a shame that there’s no option to specify a higher resolution to match the Surface Pro 8, but the 174ppi pixel density will likely prove high enough for most users and upping the resolution or the refresh rate from 60Hz would impact battery life.

Beyond those quibbles, the panel has all the technical bases well covered. Maximum brightness is a thoroughly decent 455cd/m2 and colours are well-represented, with 100% sRGB gamut coverage and 113.6% sRGB gamut volume. Colour accuracy is also good, as Delta E variance is just 1.5% and the contrast ratio is an impressive 1987:1. Subjectively, the display is very easy on the eye; bright, vivid, sharp and colourful. In short, it’s a good fit for any work requiring professional levels of colour accuracy.

Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable 13in review: Keyboard and trackpad

The faux-suede keyboard may lack the absolute rigidity of the best conventional laptop keyboards but that’s easy to overlook considering it’s only a little more than 5mm thick. So long as you have it resting on a flat surface, the middle of the keyboard doesn’t flex much more than on some conventional (albeit cheaper) laptops.

The keycaps are flat and well-spaced and though their travel is rather shallow, the action is both precise and nearly silent. Usefully, there’s also a two-stage backlight. The Precision trackpad isn’t one of the largest you’ll ever encounter at just 100 x 55mm, but it’s pleasant to the touch and works reliably.

The keyboard connects to the tablet with a surprisingly powerful set of magnets and two locator lugs. The magnets are so strong that you can wave the whole assembly around by the keyboard and the tablet stays fixed in place.

At the top of the keyboard is a slot to store and charge the pen, which is held in place magnetically for secure transit. Cleverly, the area of the keyboard with the garage cut into it folds up against the bottom of the tablet to add a 30-degree angle to the keyboard deck and keep the pen hidden from view - much like Microsoft’s Surface Pro Signature Keyboard.

The standard Dell pen is light and comfortable to hold and more than accurate enough for basic note-taking or casual artistic doodling, and once in its garage, it only takes about five minutes to fully recharge.

Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable 13in review: Specs and hardware

The combination of a quad-core 1.1GHz Intel Core i5-1140G7 processor, 16GB of RAM and Intel’s Iris Xe graphics returned an entirely expected score of 98 points in our in-house benchmark. That’s more than sufficient to chew through the vast majority of day-to-day computing tasks with aplomb - just don’t expect it to handle graphically intense jobs. The 256GB Kioxia NVMe SSD performed creditably too, managing 1.98GB/sec sequential read and 798MB/sec sequential write speeds.

The 15W Core i5 underpinnings of the Latitude 7320 necessitate active rather than passive cooling, but that’s nothing to worry about. Even when under heavy load, the body never gets more than warm and you’d have to place your ear right up against the vents to hear the fans running.

Meanwhile, the Latitude 7320 ran for 8hrs 35mins in our battery rundown test, so a full day of office use is easily achievable provided you don’t thrash it. The bundled 65W Type-C charger is a bit cumbersome to carry around all day, but a small-form 60W charger can be had for an extra £20.

Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable 13in review: Ports and features

Ports are limited to a 3.5mm audio jack and two Type-C sockets which both support Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort 1.4 video output, so a docking solution will be an essential purchase. Dell’s entry-level Thunderbolt dock will set you back £261 exc VAT though, and we were a little disappointed that Dell doesn’t at least bundle a simple Type-C to HDMI/Type-A adapter as it does with its XPS-series laptops.

Wireless connectivity is handled by the ubiquitous Intel AX201 card which supports Wi-Fi 6, and there’s also Bluetooth 5.1 - though removing it for security reasons is a no-cost option. As you would expect from a Dell business machine, there’s a slot for a wireless SmartCard too, with an NFC radio and support for Intel’s vPro platform along with three years free on-site technical backup. We would have liked to have seen a MicroSD memory card slot, though. It’s not as though there isn’t space for one, especially in the SmartCard-enabled models which have a raised area on the back above the stand.

The stereo speakers sadly don't match the quality of the display, either. There is a reasonable amount of volume but the sound is rather harsh and the absence of bass becomes tiresome if you try to listen to music at a high volume.

On the other hand, the 5MP webcam is a significant improvement on the dross you often encounter above laptop displays. Images looked crisp and colourful even in low light environments and you can record video at 1080p and 30fps. The microphone array picked up what was being said clearly and does a good job of cutting out extraneous background noise. The rear 8MP camera performed solidly too, though it can't hold a candle to your average smartphone camera.

Biometric security is well catered for with the webcam supporting Windows Hello IR facial recognition and a fingerprint scanner tucked away on the back below the power button. The Latitude also has a proximity sensor that can lock the device if you walk away.

Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable 13in review: Verdict

The Latitude 7320 Detachable isn’t a machine you’ll get overly excited about, but it is a thoroughly competent Windows tablet. Performance is good, as is battery life, but the display and keyboard dock are the stars of the show; the former is bright and colourful, the latter surprisingly solid given how thin and light it is.

As a combination, it doesn’t give much away to a conventional laptop but it is significantly lighter and more flexible. With the current level of discount on offer from Dell, it’s good value too.

Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable 13.3in specifications