Overview
The Latitude 5300 was constructed out of plastic that has been reinforced by carbon fiber to feel more sturdy and durable. It's non-metal chassis is one way that Dell aimed to cut the system's cost and make it more affordable. The 13.3-inch system is also relatively light at 3.15lbs. Other than that, the rest of the system's features aren't particularly impressive.
Testing
Our sister site PCMag(Opens in a new window) tested a model that retails for $1,519(Opens in a new window) and comes equipped with an Intel Core i5-8365U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 1080p display.
The system performed well when tested with Cinebench R15, coming in second place. Surprisingly it also beat out HP's EliteBook, which is equipped with an Intel Core i7 processor.
The Dell Latitude 5300 also showed positive results when tested with Photoshop CC. It came in third place behind the two Intel Core i7 notebooks, but it beat out the other Core i5 computers with a healthy margin.
All of these notebooks rely on the integrated graphics processor inside of the Intel processor, and as such they are not really meant for gaming. PCMag ran a couple of graphics tests on the system just to be thorough, however. The tests showed most of the systems performing fairly similar to teach other in 3DMark.
PCMag didn't test any games, but running Unigine Superposition 1.0 showed the Dell fall into last place behind all competing systems.
Conclusion
Given the Dell Latitude 5300(Opens in a new window)'s price and features, I wouldn't recommend it. Although PCMag gave it a rating of 3.5 out of 5, it's far too expensive to competitive. I see laptops with Intel Core i7 processors and 16GB of RAM on a regular basis that cost less than the Dell Latitude 5300, and those systems would undoubtedly perform better due to their superior hardware.
This system does have the added advantage of its compact size and 2-in-1 feature, but realistically there are far better 2-in-1 options available than the Dell Latitude 5300.
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