Dell Latitude 11 3190 (2-in-1) review – kid-proof or kid-resistant

There is one sentence on Dell’s official Web page about this laptop that explains the purpose of the device almost perfectly. “Designed to be kid-proof”. If this wasn’t an in-depth review, this sole sentence would be enough to describe the 11-inch convertible we have today. However, we feel that the Latitude 11 3190 2-in-1 is a little more than that.

In a world where many children are doing online classes, no matter their age, the versatility and ease of use of the laptops make them the perfect school companion. However, there is no point in buying expensive hardware for elementary school. Nor it is a good idea to get your kid a clunky device with a big screen.

This is exactly where the so-called “education” laptop market steps in. Laptops like the Latitude 11 3190 (2-in-1) are light and small enough even for a child to carry it around. But this particular notebook has the upper hand over most of its competition. And the reason for that lies in the very same sentence we cited earlier.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/dell-latitude-11-3190-2-in-1/

Contents


Specs Sheet

Dell Latitude 11 3190 2-in-1 - Specs

  • IVO H3GFW-116NWR7 (IVO048F)
  • Color accuracy  7.0  3.7
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 512GB SSD
  • RAM
  • up to 8GB
  • OS
  • Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Home, Windows OS
  • Battery
  • 42Wh, 3-cell
  • Body material
  • Plastic / Polycarbonate
  • Dimensions
  • 304 x 208 x 21.25 mm (11.97" x 8.19" x 0.84")
  • Weight
  • 1.44 kg (3.2 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 2x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • HDMI
  • Card reader
  • Ethernet LAN
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ac
  • Bluetooth
  • 4.1
  • Audio jack
  • combo audio / microphone jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Microphone
  • Speakers
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot

All Dell Latitude 11 3190 2-in-1 configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, you will find nothing more than the paper manuals, and a 65W charger.


Design and construction

It’s easy to see why this laptop is dubbed kid-proof. It has a rubber bumper all around the base and the lid, and according to Dell, this should help it survive a 30-inch drop. Additionally, the display is protected by Gorilla Glas. Other than that, the entire assembly is made out of plastic. It feels clunky, and with its 21.25mm profile and 1.44 kg of weight, we can see why.

Interestingly, the lid cover has a glossy smooth finish, whereas the base and the bottom panel are rough. Here, the biggest disadvantage of the design we saw was definitely the size of the bezels around the 11.6-inch display. To accommodate the space for a decently sized keyboard, they have surrounded the screen with enormous black bars. On the other hand, it looks like the display is very well protected, as the edges of the glass are covered by thick rubber.

Obviously, the laptop can be used as a tablet as well, and it works with styluses. However, you have to buy one separately.

What you do have included, though, is the keyboard and touchpad. Not that we expected something more than that, but the keyboard is pretty standard – no backlight, rough cheap-ish finish, yet good travel and clicky feedback.

Respectively, the touchpad doesn’t have a smooth finish but seems accurate and pleasant to use. Additionally, you can expect some keyboard deck flex, whereas the clicking mechanism of the touchpad is satisfying.

On the bottom panel, you will only be able to find the speaker grills, as the laptop lacks vents, whatsoever.

Ports

On the left side, there is the charging plug, an HDMI connector, and two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports. Switch sides, and you will see a Noble Wedge lock slot, a volume rocker, a power button, and an audio jack.


Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

This device’s bottom panel is held in place by 7 captive Phillips-head screws. After you undo them, you only need to pry the panel with a plastic tool, and effortlessly lift it away.

The battery inside has a 42Wh capacity.

Unfortunately, there are no RAM upgrade slots. This leaves you with the 4 or 8GB you preordered the laptop with. On the bright side, there is one M.2 slot for storage.

Unsurprisingly, the cooling solution here comprises a medium-sized heat spreader. As you can see, there are no fans, which makes the operation of the device completely silent.


Display quality

Dell Latitude 11 3190 (2-in-1) has a panel with a model number IVO H3GFW-116NWR7 (IVO048F). Its diagonal is 11.6″ (29.5 cm), and the resolution – 1366 x 768 pixels. The screen ratio is 16:9, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 135 ppi, and a pitch of 0.19 х 0.19 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 64cm (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels).

Viewing angles are excellent. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

We measured a maximum brightness of 193 nits in the middle of the screen and 189 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of 20%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 5860K – warmer than the optimal for the sRGB standard of 6500K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.

Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is very good – 1720:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows Dell Latitude 11 3190 (2-in-1)’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 56% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of Dell Latitude 11 3190 (2-in-1) with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 23 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

Dell Latitude 11 3190 (2-in-1)’s display backlight doesn’t use PWM only at maximum brightness. In the rest of the occasions, its flickers have a low frequency, which is a significant drawback. Nevertheless, our Health-Guard profile fixes the issue.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Dell Latitude 11 3190 (2-in-1) configurations with 11.6″ HD IPS IVO H3GFW-116NWR7 (IVO048F).

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

Dell Latitude 11 3190 (2-in-1)’s speakers produce a sound with relatively good quality and decent maximum volume. However, there are deviations across the entire frequency spectrum.


Drivers

All of the drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/latitude-11-3190-2-in-1-laptop/drivers

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This device’s 42Wh battery pack lasts for 12 hours and 55 minutes of Web browsing, and 10 hours and 58 minutes of video playback.

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.


CPU options

Currently, this notebook can be found with one of four 6W quad-core processors – Celeron N4100, Celeron N4120, Pentium Silver N5000, and Pentium Silver N5030.


GPU options

Respectively, the two Celerons are paired with an Intel UHD Graphics 600 iGPU, while the Pentiums come with a UHD Graphics 605.


Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Pentium Silver N5030 (6W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
Dell Latitude 11 3190 (2-in-1)2.79 GHz @ 68°C @ 13W2.79 GHz @ 77°C @ 13W2.20 GHz @ 82°C @ 9W

The passive cooling setup of this laptop seems to manage to maintain a TDP significantly higher than the 6W set by Intel.

Comfort during full load

In addition to being completely silent, the laptop is generally cool even under an extreme workload.


Verdict

This was definitely not a usual laptop to review. I mean, yes, one can use the conventional methods (and we did), including CPU and GPU benchmarks that evaluate the performance, but honestly, they are so far from representing what this laptop is about, that we would advise not looking at them at all.

Ultimately, the Latitude 11 3190 (2-in-1)’s main idea is to help with education. After looking at some of the products Dell sells next to this laptop, we saw an interesting item. It is called the Dell Compact Cart. What it does, is charge up to 36 devices simultaneously. Basically, after the day at school is over, the students just need to put their machines inside of their designated places, and the huge dock will ensure that they have enough battery life for tomorrow.

By the way, the screen-on time here is solid. We got almost 13 hours of Web browsing and about 11 hours of video playback.

Dell Latitude 11 3190 (2-in-1)’s touchscreen IPS panel (IVO H3GFW-116NWR7 (IVO048F)) has comfortable viewing angles and a good contrast ratio. Unfortunately, it covers only half of the sRGB colors, its maximum brightness is too low, and the panel uses aggressive PWM when the slider is not at its max setting (fixed by our Health-Guard profile). Additionally, the screen boasts low resolution and high luminance deviation across the area of the display.

Obviously, the PWM thing is not good. Especially when we are talking about a laptop meant for students (regardless of their age). If your unit is using the same panel as ours, it would be a smart idea to equip yourself with the Health-Guard profile.

So, at the end of the day, we have a laptop that doesn’t do much, it doesn’t look pretty, but has what it takes to help students with what they need to do. And unlike most of the offerings in the past – this one has a full-blown Windows 10 installed, and an IPS panel, instead of the TN nonsense.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/dell-latitude-11-3190-2-in-1/

Pros

  • “Kid-proof design”
  • Does what it’s intended for
  • Great viewing angles and contrast ratio
  • Good battery life


Cons

  • Low maximum brightness
  • Uses aggressive PWM (our Health-Guard profile fixes the issue)
  • Covers only 56% of sRGB
  • Soldered memory
  • Arguably unattractive design

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Roberto
Roberto
2 years ago

Wir haben es für ein kleines Unternehmen (Tischler firma) mit 2K-Monitoren gekauft. Auch mit celeron N4120 es funktioniert gut für grundlegende Bürobetrieb. Auch es alles funktioniert gut mit Ubuntu linux einschließlich Mikro / Webcam.

Billy J
Billy J
1 year ago

Has anyone installed Linux Mint or Ubuntu as the only OS on this laptop? If so, how does it perform?