Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3
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Dell Latitude 5430 vs Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3: Battle of business laptops
As we approach the middle of the year, most major PC companies have refreshed their best laptops with the latest processors from Intel and/or AMD. That means there’s quite a lot of choice if you want to buy a new laptop today, but it also means it can be hard to choose the right device for you. We’re here to help, and today, we’re comparing the Dell Latitude 5430 and the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3, two business laptops geared towards a more mainstream audience.
What that means is that these laptops aren’t exactly focused on delivering the most premium experience or featuring an ultra-light design. These are business laptops focused on nailing the basics at a more reasonable price point, keeping the things that matter the most to business users. While they’re similar in their goals, the Dell Latitude 5430 and the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 have quite a few differences, so let’s take a look at what makes each of them tick to help you decide what’s best for you.
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Dell Latitude 5430 vs Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3: Specs
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Price | Starting at $1,419 | Starting at $1,299 (AMD) / $1,399 (Intel) |
Performance: You get more options with the ThinkPad T14
As you can probably tell by looking at the spec sheet above, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 is available in a whole lot of processor configurations, and that helps it stand out in this comparison. For one thing, it’s available in either AMD or Intel versions (though the AMD model isn’t available to buy just yet). Not only that, but the Intel version gives you the option for either U15-series (though these also aren’t available yet) or P-series processors, while the Latitude 5430 only has U15 series models. The Latitude 5430 is also supposed to be available with last-gen Intel processors, but it’s not yet.
Intel’s P-series processors have a higher TDP of 28W, as opposed to the 15W of the U15 series, which means that they consume more power, but in return, give you significantly more performance. P-series processors have more cores and more threads, especially with the top-tier Intel Core i7-1280P. If you’re interested in how all of these processors compare, let’s take a look at Geekbench 5 scores to get an idea of what each of them looks like. Lenovo hasn’t revealed the exact AMD processors it will be using in the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3, so they aren’t included here.
Intel Core i5-1235U (see test) |
Intel Core i5-1240P (see test) |
Intel Core i7-1255U (see test) |
Intel Core i7-1280P (see test) |
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Geekbench 5 (single/multi-core) | 1,586 / 6,432 | 1,552 / 7,494 | 1,679 / 6,942 | 1,710 / 8,430 |
Because these processors are very recent, there isn’t an established average score yet, so these are individual test results and they may be a little skewed. Still, you can see that the P-series processors achieve noticeably higher scores, which should translate into real-life performance, too, especially if you have more demanding workloads. That means the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 can deliver more performance if you go with a P-series processor, though on the flip side, it will likely have noticeably worse battery life because the processors use more power and the battery options are smaller.
The ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 also gives you the option for more graphics power, with discrete Nvidia GPUs available in the Intel model, including a GeForce MX550 or RTX 2050, though these options aren’t available yet at writing time. In the AMD model, you don’t get discrete graphics, but the AMD Ryzen 6000 series CPUs do come with the new Radeon 600M integrated GPU, which should be much faster than Intel’s Iris Xe graphics.
The Latitude 5430 has up to 64GB of RAM, and it's fully replaceable.
Dell pulls ahead in the RAM department, though, because the Latitude 5430 can be configured with up to 64GB of RAM, versus 48GB on the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 (or just 32GB on the AMD model). Additionally, the RAM inside the Latitude 5430 is completely replaceable and upgradeable, while the ThinkPad T14 uses soldered memory, with only the Intel model offering one SODIMM slot for expansion. For storage, both models come with up to a 2TB SSD, so there’s not much a difference there.
Display: The ThinkPad T14 has a 16:10 display and higher resolutions
Another area that helps the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 pull ahead is the display. These are both 14-inch laptops, but the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 comes with a 16:10 aspect ratio, meaning the screen is taller than that of the Latitude 5430. Taller screens first started showing up in premium laptops, but they’re making their way to more mainstream ones, and they’re fantastic news for productivity. A taller display means you can see more content on a webpage or an Excel spreadsheet without scrolling.
The base model of the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 comes with a Full HD+ (1920 x 1200) panel, which you can configure with touch support or a privacy screen. However, you can also upgrade to a 2.2K (2240 x 1400) panel if you want a bit of extra sharpness, or go all-out with the Ultra HD+ (3840 x 2400) panel, which also includes touch support, 100% coverage of DCI-P3, and DisplayHDR 400 support. These options make this a phenomenal display.
Meanwhile, the Dell Latitude comes with a typical 16:9 aspect ratio for its display, and the base configuration actually comes with a 1366 x 768 resolution, which is very low considering the base price of this laptop. This option doesn’t actually seem to be available for sale despite being on the spec sheet, so maybe it will show up later. Regardless, all the other options are only Full HD (1920 x 1080), with optional touch support and the ability to add a privacy screen. For business users, this should be good enough, but you don’t have the option to get something truly better, and that’s a shame.
In regards to the webcam, the two laptops offer very similar configurations, with a 720p camera in the base model but with the ability to upgrade up to a 1080p camera complete with Windows Hello facial recognition. However, Dell also gives you the option to add Intelligent Privacy features, meaning the laptop’s screen can dim when you look away from it to save battery, or blur the screen if someone is looking over your shoulder.
For sound, neither of these laptops will give you a mind-blowing experience, but they should get the job done. They both have a pair of stereo speakers, and that should be enough to get you through calls or meetings in a pinch.
Design: They’re certainly business laptops
Moving on to the design, neither of these laptops is particularly exciting, which is what you’d expect from business laptops. The Lenovo ThinkPad T14 carries the lineage of the ThinkPad family, with the classic black surfaces (but also available in grey) and red accents. Plus, features like the red TrackPoint and the duplicate mouse buttons above the touchpad are bound to please long-time users of ThinkPads. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but maybe you like that.
The Dell Latitude 5430 is similarly not very exciting, but it doesn’t have the same iconic look as Lenovo’s laptops. It comes in a dark silver color, and there really isn’t anything that adds flair or any kind of distinctive factor.
The ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 is thinner and lighter than the Latitude 5430.
On the more technical side, the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 is also more appealing than the Dell Latitude 5420 in terms of portability. At 17.9mm, it’s noticeably thinner than the 19.3mm of Dell’s laptop, and it’s also significantly lighter, starting at 2.65lbs versus the Latitude’s 3.01lbs.
Ports and connectivity: Similar setups, except for cellular
Finally, we come around to the ports, and the two laptops are very similar. Both come with two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB Type-A (3.2 Gen 1) ports, HDMI, RJ45 Ethernet, and a nano SIM card slot if you choose to add cellular connectivity. The Latitude 5430 does have an advantage in the form of a microSD card reader, which can be useful in some cases.
One thing that’s worth noting is that the AMD model of the ThinkPad T14 doesn’t support Thunderbolt, so instead you get two standard USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 2) ports, which don’t support things like external GPUs or dual 4K 60Hz monitors.
As we mentioned, both laptops offer the option to add cellular connectivity, and they specifically come with LTE support. However, Lenovo’s laptop has an advantage here because it supports LTE with up to Cat20 speeds depending on your configuration. The Latitude 5430 only supports Cat9 LTE, so it’s not quite as fast. Aside from that, they both support Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.
Dell Latitude 5430 vs Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3: Final thoughts
Both of these laptops have benefits and disadvantages to them, but if we had to make a choice between the two, the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 seems to be the most compelling option in a few ways. For one thing, it offers more powerful processors and graphics (including the choice for an AMD model soon), plus it has a nicer display with more premium options, and it supports faster LTE speeds. Of course, the added performance comes at the cost of battery life, but you can also get it with the less power-hungry 15W processors if you want to favor battery life. We’d also give Lenovo the point in terms of design, since it’s lighter, thinner, and it looks more unique than the Latitude.
On the other hand, the Dell Latitude 5430 does have options for more RAM, plus it’s fully replaceable if you want to upgrade it later. In most other areas, it still offers a good enough experience that matches or comes close to the ThinkPad, plus it has an extra microSD card slot that you might find useful.
For the same price, the ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 comes with significantly more powerful specs.
But then you have to consider the price, and both of these laptops start at almost the same price, even though the base configuration of the Dell Latitude 5430 is far less powerful than that of the ThinkPad T14. In fact, if you compare the options available at writing time, buying the Latitude 5430 with an Intel Core i3-1215U costs more than the ThinkPad T14 with a Core i5-1240P, and Lenovo’s laptop will be much faster. Unless you have a strongly established trust in the Dell brand, it’s hard to recommend the Latitude 5430 in this scenario.
Regardless, you can buy either of these laptops using the links below, though the AMD model of the ThinkPad T14 isn’t yet available to buy.
Dell Latitude 5430
- The Dell Latitude 5430 is a highly configurable business laptop with 12th-gen Intel processors and a premium design.
Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3
- The Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 is a business laptop powered by Intel 12th-gen or AMD Ryzen 6000 processors. It has a 16:10 display, lots of ports, and it nails all the basics for businesses.
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