The New Laptop From Dell Can Sign You In Hand-Free

Signing in your computer is a somewhat a time-consuming process, but improvements like fingerprint scanning, Touch ID, and Windows Hello facial recognition have helped us quicken the steps in the last few years.

However, Dell thinks it is not fast enough, so it has come up with an even more painless way. Its Latitude 7400 2-in-1 features Express Sigh-in function that has raised the bar for the whole business. With it, Microsoft’s Windows Hello facial recognition app suddenly feels too slow. The system will look for your face and then let you in even if the laptop is in its sleep mode.

Apart from the impressive sign-in feature, the rest of the $1,599 laptop is just like any other device like it. Its bezels are minimized to make way for the 14-inch FHD display. However, that much bezel is still enough to house an IR camera coupled with a Proximity sensor, and an LED.

The hinges allow the laptop to perform the 36—degree arc, hence the name 2-in-1. The display is decent; it can meet most business requirements as well as support casual video streaming.

The Sign-In Feature

The most significant selling point of this laptop from Dell is the ability to recognize your face, which is possible thanks to Microsoft’s Windows Hello facial recognition and Context Sensing technology from Intel. With this feature in place, you do not have to do anything, and the laptop will sign you in automatically. The perk here is that the whole process does not require you to type any key on the keyboard to wake the device up. However, that is what Dell claims, in reality, things are not that ideal.

The mechanism of the Express Sign-in runs like this. When you, the owner, look directly at the laptop, the proximity sensor will react by making the LEDs on both sides of the camera to flash. Next, the screen lights up and you will see Window Hello icon moving back and forth, at the same time, the screen will display text telling you that the device is trying to recognize your face. The average time for the system to complete logging you in is about five seconds.

Users have the choice to set the time for the laptop to lock and turn off. The most common windows of time are one, two, and three minutes.

In reality, the system works most of the time. When a user set the laptop up with his glasses on, the laptop was able to recognize him for half of the time. The rest of the attempts, the device could not realize that its owner was trying to log in.

When he took the glasses off and stared directly at the screen, the laptop's success rate increased. Sometimes, nothing happened until the user typed something on the keyboard. When the device was in tent mode, the Express Sign-in did not work at all.

At the times when the feature works as Dell promises, the experience is satisfying. The technology might sound impressive, but if you think about whether a typical user will need it badly enough to switch to the Latitude, the answer is no. It is definitely a leap from the old Windows Hello system, and when it works, it saves you a few seconds and a handful of gestures to do by hand. However, you can definitely live without it.

Other Specs

The Dell Latitude looks compact enough to be something you want to carry around with the size of 12.59 x 7.87 x 0.34 inches. Given the appearance, you might be surprised that it weighs around three pounds. The laptop is a bit heavier than many of its counterparts with the same purpose and price, partly because it carries a 4-cell 78Wh battery, which can sustain the machine for as long as 25 hours straight. As reported by some users, the laptop can survive a busy working day while stay cool most of the time with ease.

The laptop has on its body enough ports to meet most of the business as well as personal demands. Look on the right you will see the SD card reader, the audio jack, a USB 3.1 port, and a SIM card slot. On the other side sit an HDMI port, another USB 3.1 port, and two Thunderbolt ports. You have the choice to have a smart card reader or not. Most people will not find themselves in need of more ports than what the laptop can provide.

Overall, the Latitude is eye-catching with the case made out of aluminum. The keyboard is backlit so that you can work in most light conditions. The feeling of typing on them is also comfortable. The touchpad is of a reasonable size.

The device might look modern and pleasing, but you will notice a slight nuisance when the sharp bottom edge of the device scratches your wrist. So consider this if you are on the market for a new laptop and are considering this one.

There are seven configurations for users to choose from, with prices ranging from a minimum of $1,599 to more than $2,000, depending on which version you have your eyes on. It is compact and capable, plus, it has a modern and quick signing-in system that may save you a couple of seconds to log in, saving you a bit of trouble and effort.

However, most people will not find the Express Sign-in feature a good enough reason to buy the whole device. You have to give it to Dell for pulling out this kind of technology to save its users a few hand gestures. The logging-in system feels like something a fingerprint sensor and the old-fashioned password look obsolete.

The Express Sign-in can only be found on the Latitude 7400 2-in-1. If it turns out to be something users will embrace; hopefully, this feature will be expanded to other consumer and business laptops in the future.