Tech Check: 3 Pro Products From Dell’s Spring Launch

A new 14-inch mobile workstation, Qi-charging dock and Teams-ready speakerphone could be worth an engineer’s attention.

It’s a big day for Dell. The hardware maker today announced more than a dozen new products, from its range of Precision and Latitude laptops to peripherals including docks, displays, speakers and more.

Focused on the needs of professionals, three products caught our eye.

The Return of The 14-Inch Precision

First of all, congratulations are in order for the Dell Precision mobile workstation family, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year (that’s silver, if you’re looking to get a gift). Returning to the family on this auspicious occasion is a 14-inch Precision model, the new Precision 5470, which brings back a display size not seen in the Precision lineup since 2008.

The 14-inch Dell Precision 5470. (Source: Dell.)

The 14-inch Dell Precision 5470. (Source: Dell.)

14-inch laptops are in style these days. Bezels, those unsightly pixel frames, have eroded enough that laptop-makers can shrink their chasses while maintaining a decently-large screen. The 14-inch Precision 5470 also embraces another display trend, adopting a 16:10 aspect ratio rather than the shorter 16:9. It draws the line at 4K though, maxing out at a lower (but still reasonable) resolution of 2560×1600.

The Precision 5470 will pack Intel’s 12th-geneneration H series of 45W processors, all the way up to a Core i9, and can be configured with NVIDIA’s recently-announced RTX A1000 graphics card. It offers up to 64GB of 5200MHz DDR5 memory and will max out at 4TB of SSD storage.

Starting at 3.26 pounds, the Precision 5470 looks like a promising option for engineers who want a little more mobility without sacrificing much performance. It will be available in April, but Dell has not yet announced the price.

What’s Upright, Dock?

It’s hard to make a laptop dock interesting, but Dell raised one of my eyebrows with its new Dual Charge Dock featuring a built-in Qi wireless charging stand.

The Dell Dual Charge Dock. (Source: Dell.)

The Dell Dual Charge Dock. (Source: Dell.)

This isn’t the first dock with built-in wireless charging for phones and earbuds, but it might be the first with a vertical stand. For users of smartphones that support wireless charging, the Dell Dual Charge looks to be a great way to kill two birds with one dock.

The Dual Charge Dock provides up to 12W of wireless charging and includes one DisplayPort 1.4, one HDMI 2.1, four USB-A ports (providing 4.5W of power delivery), one USB-C (15W power delivery), and an RJ-45. The dock provides up to 90W of power to the connected laptop.

Ports on the Dell Dual Charge Dock. (Source: Dell.)

Ports on the Dell Dual Charge Dock. (Source: Dell.)

The Dell Dual Charge Dock will be available on May 12 and will put a $369 dent in your wallet.

Speak Up

Those endless conference calls won’t be going away anytime soon, but perhaps they’ll be a tad more enjoyable with Dell’s new conference speaker, the Speakerphone SP3022. This is a stylish speaker/mic combo with handy call controls that’s certified for Microsoft Teams (meaning, in essence, that Microsoft gave it a thumbs-up). Unlike some of Dell’s speakers, the SP3022 does not have any docking capabilities.

The Dell Speakerphone SP3022. (Source: Dell.)

The Dell Speakerphone SP3022. (Source: Dell.)

I use a conference speaker everyday, and I love that with a quick tap I can answer calls or mute myself (if I could only mute others, it would be perfect). But my speaker lacks the clean and modern aesthetic of Dell’s new SP3022, which embraces the full-fabric design of many recent smart speakers.

The SP3022 has built-in LED lights above the controls that tell you whether you’re on a call (just in case you need reminding) and whether you’re on mute (for which you definitely need reminding). The dedicated Microsoft Teams button—a requirement for Teams certification—will offer quick access to that app, if you use it.

Did someone say AI noise cancellation? If so, you would have heard it loud and clear through the SP3022, which has built-in intelligence that will reduce background noise, according to Dell. Sounds superb, assuming it works as promised and there’s no questionable collection of private voice data to train the AI model.

If I have one complaint about the Speakerphone SP3022, it’s that it doesn’t support a wireless Bluetooth connection. However, it does give users the choice of USB-A or USB-C with an adaptor attached to the cord.

(Source: Dell.)

(Source: Dell.)

The Dell Speakerphone SP3022 is currently available for $99 and comes with a 3-year warranty.

Written by

Michael Alba

Michael is a senior editor at engineering.com. He covers computer hardware, design software, electronics, and more. Michael holds a degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Alberta.