Dell
Dell really wants to make video calling easier. Like many tech vendors keen to tackle the hurdles associated with remote and hybrid work, the company has been experimenting with different ways to simplify web calling: from 4K monitors with built-in 4K webcams to magnetic wireless webcams that dock Concept display middle or elsewhere. Dell’s latest attempt sees it increase the things you can do with the touchpad, la la ASUS ScreenPad and NumberPad features.
The Dell Latitude 9330, announced Tuesday, features a glass touchpad that provides one-touch access to Zoom’s mic mute, video on/off, screen sharing and chat options.
Zoom/Latitude 9330 starts at 2.8 lbs.
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Asus has long offered enhanced input controls via laptop touchpads. Its latest ScreenPad technology turns the touchpad into a 2160×1080-resolution LCD touchscreen capable of launching different applications, application-specific menus, and applications made for small screens. The ScreenPad is also more colorful.
Meanwhile, Asus’ NumberPad (currently version 2.0) turns the support touchpad into an illuminated number pad.
Enlarge / The number pad on the Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED.
The Latitude 9330 lets Dell offer just four controls for zooming calls on the touchpad of its business-focused Latitude. These features are only available on Zoom, but a Dell spokesperson told Ars Technica this may change based on user feedback and demand.
Dell also explains how the touchpad works:
“When joining a Zoom conference call, the laptop connects to the Zoom app and talks to different controls in Zoom to enable/disable microphone, share screen, video on/off and chat window,” a Dell representative told Ars.
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“The trackpad is already a touch-enabled surface, so we turned some corners of the trackpad into buttons. When entering a meeting, the video and mute buttons will be turned off by default (the default collaboration trackpad behavior depends on the microphone and the The camera defaults set in the app settings), appear red on the touchpad. The chat and share screen buttons will be white. Once you tap the ‘video on’ or ‘mute off’ buttons, they will turn white.”
According to materials shared with the media, the laptop’s 1080p resolution webcam with an “electromechanical camera shutter” further focuses on video calls, which automatically turn on and off when video calls begin and end. The laptop also features four microphones and AI-based background noise cancellation.
Dell’s latest Latitude also has other AI-based features that are increasingly available in recent laptop releases. For example, the webcam can tell if you’re no longer looking at the screen, or if someone is peering over your shoulder, so the laptop can dim the screen for privacy and battery life.
Zoom in / Proximity sensors tell the laptop when you’re near so it wakes up.
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Equally impressive is Dell’s elevating the Latitude’s reputation as a clunky, boring office laptop. In addition to its unique touchpad, the Latitude 9330 is the thinnest Latitude at 0.55 inches thick. This 2-in-1 laptop brings a 13-inch design to the Latitude 9000 series, featuring a 16:10 high 13.3-inch touchscreen with 2560×1600 pixels and up to 500 nits of brightness.
Like the Latitude and Precision laptops Dell announced last month, the Latitude 9330 can use both Wi-Fi and wired connections.
Enlarge / Dell claims a 30% increase in application and application data processing speed with dual network connections.
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Dell will sell a thin Latitude with a vPro-enabled Intel 12th Gen Core i7 CPU, 32GB of LPDDR5-5200 RAM, and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 x4 storage. Port selection is limited to three USB-C ports, including two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 3.5mm jack, and an optional SIM card tray.
Dell hasn’t announced pricing for the Latitude 9330, but it will release the 2-in-1 in June.