Asus is no longer the only big laptop manufacturer doing funky touchpad things: Dell has thrown its Latitude business line into the mix. The new Latitude 9330 has a new “collaboration touchpad” that I’m having trouble seeing as anything other than the trackpad version of a Stream Deck. Simply put, there appears to be a row of LED buttons across the top of the touchpad that access controls for the microphone, camera, chat, and screen-sharing function.
Also of interest is that this laptop is the first 13-inch device of the Latitude 9000 series. The 9000 line, while generally outside of many consumers’ price ranges, is the high-end segment of the Latitude line known for being thin and feature-packed. Business customers looking for flagship functionality in as small of a chassis as they can find will now have an option in this space.
Elsewhere, this device has a 16:10 touchscreen with 2560 x 1600 resolution and a 90 percent screen-to-body ratio. The webcam has an automatic shutter and a hardware kill switch on the keyboard. You can configure the device with up to a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 and 32GB of RAM (LPDDR5) with a 50 Whr battery. It will be available in June 2022, with pricing to be announced. (I’ll spoil the surprise for you: it’s not going to be cheap.)
