Dell Latitude 5401 review

Where the Latitude 5401 stands

The Dell Latitude 5401 is a 2019 business-class laptop priced around $291 — essentially at the $297 category median. This unit pairs a powerful Core i7-9750H (a high-performance hexa-core) with a remarkable 64 GB of RAM, giving it a configuration built for serious productivity and multitasking. The standout is memory and CPU headroom; the deliberate gap is graphics — and that pairing defines who this laptop is for.

Memory and CPU: a productivity-focused powerhouse

The 5401's 64 GB of RAM is 60% above the 40 GB class median, in the top quarter of its category, and it is paired with a Core i7-9750H — a genuinely fast hexa-core processor for a business machine. Together they make this laptop exceptional for memory- and CPU-bound productivity: heavy multitasking, large datasets, virtualization, development compilation, and running many demanding applications at once. For buyers whose work loads up RAM and CPU rather than the GPU, this is a quietly powerful configuration at a fair price.

Graphics: the deliberate gap

The weak spot is graphics: a score of zero against a 3.84 median means there is no usable GPU headroom for gaming or GPU-accelerated creative work. This is an integrated-only configuration, and it should be evaluated strictly as a productivity and office machine. Reliability at 31 versus a 42.5 median sits below the midline, reflecting a six-year-old business chassis — dependable for now, but closer to the back end of its prime than the start.

Price trajectory

From a $1,300 launch price, the 5401 has declined to about $291, losing value at roughly 8.45% per year. The projected price two years out is near $244 — a further 16.19% drop. As a relatively recent machine it still carries meaningful depreciation ahead, which tempers the value case: $291 is fair for the class today, but the asset will keep shrinking.

How it compares

At $291 the 5401 sits at the typical price for its peer group, differentiating on CPU and RAM rather than graphics. Above it, the HP EliteBook 845 G8 ($309) and Dell Vostro 3400 ($313) are marginally pricier. Below, the Dell Latitude 5411 ($264) and Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 2 ($269) are cheaper but typically weaker on processor class or memory. The 5401 is the pick for buyers whose workload is CPU- and memory-bound and who do not need a GPU.

Bottom line

The Latitude 5401 is a fairly-priced business laptop built for productivity rather than versatility: a hexa-core Core i7 and 64 GB of RAM make it a strong choice for CPU- and memory-heavy work, multitasking, and development. The honest trade-off is the total absence of GPU capability. For the right productivity-focused buyer it is smart value; for general or graphics-capable use, better-balanced peers exist at similar prices.