Dell Latitude 3330 Pro Reviews

If someone tells you “Dude! You’re gettin’ a Dell!” in reference to the Latitude 3330, run away. Dell makes plenty of good computers, but this isn’t one of them. Admittedly, the Latitude 3330 didn’t burst into flames or poke anyone’s eye out during our testing. But you have many better choices in the same price range. Though one of the five budget notebooks in this roundup (HP’s Pavilion TouchSmart 11z-e000) delivered even lower performance than this one—probably because it has an even less powerful CPU than the Dell’s 1.5GHz Intel Core i3-2375m—the HP also costs $110 less than the Latitude 3330 and has a ten-point touchscreen. The Dell’s 13.3-inch, 1366-by-768-pixel display doesn’t support touch, though its trackpad does support simple gestures such as two-finger scrolling.

The Dell Latitude 3330 would have been a knockout system one or two years ago. But today, with deployment options ranging from low-priced touch-screen Windows 8 laptops to even lower-priced Chromebooks, it's too little too late for a little too much.

This notebook will fulfill a student's or business traveler's most basic needs, but buyers should be prepared to accept subpar performance for even routine Web multimedia.

Dell offers multiple customization options that can make the Latitude 3330 less expensive—and even less powerful. This notebook will fulfill a student’s or business traveler’s most basic needs, but buyers should be prepared to accept subpar performance for even routine Web multimedia.

The Latitude 3330 reflects its price adequately not by sacrificing too much on build quality, but by cutting down on higher-end features that students or small business users may not be interested in using. These are the same users who may not want to pay extra for E-Port docks and related accessories, advanced security features like HDD accelerometers or fingerprint readers, or CPU features like VT-d, VPro and other remote virtualization hardware that the more expensive Latitude E models are more likely to carry. As a basic, work-only notebook with WWAN options, long battery life and a matte display, the Latitude 3330 performs very well for the price both indoors and outdoors. For heavier multi-tasking and workloads, however, the Latitude 3330 will quickly reach its limits due to the small screen size, slow hard drive, and limited screen real estate as the notebook lacks higher resolution options. The rather warm surface temperatures further discourage extended use on high processing loads. Those wanting higher performance at a $500 price range may want to look at larger and heavier 15.6-inch budget models like the Dell Vostro series, but the Latitude 3330 is the better choice for both students and small business users who are constantly on the move and on a small budget.