Dell Latitude 14" 5420 2021, Core i5-1145G7, 16GB, 256GB SSD, Gray

The Dell Latitude 5420 is a lightweight business laptop with great ports and 16GB of RAM, but a dim TN screen and a small 42Wh battery hold it back. Refurb quality is a gamble, with user sentiment at the 5th percentile and multiple reports of hardware failures. US prices range from USD 203 to USD 431, and only the cheapest listings make sense. If you need a reliable daily driver, spend a bit more on something with an IPS display and better refurb consistency.

The Core i5-1145G7 is a 4-core, 8-thread chip from Intel's 11th gen lineup. It sits at the 23rd percentile in our CPU rankings, which means it's fine for everyday tasks but nothing special. Web browsing, Office apps, and video calls will run smoothly, especially with 16GB of DDR4 backing it up. The RAM is at the 37th percentile, which is about average for this class of machine. You won't run out of memory with a dozen browser tabs open.

The Iris Xe integrated graphics land at the 49th percentile for GPUs. That's middle of the pack, and it means light photo editing or very casual gaming is possible, but don't expect much. The gaming score of 13.4 out of 100 tells the real story. This is not a gaming laptop, not even close. The 256GB SSD is at the 16th percentile, which is a weak spot. Windows 11 Pro plus a few apps will eat a chunk of that, and you'll be managing storage before long.

Real world, the performance is adequate for its intended use. The bottleneck isn't the CPU or RAM, it's the storage and the screen. A 256GB drive fills up fast, and the TN panel makes everything look worse than it should. If you're coming from an older laptop, this will feel snappy. If you're coming from anything with an IPS display, you'll notice the downgrade immediately.

Stacked against the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 21KC00A8US, the Latitude 5420 loses on almost every front except price. The X1 Carbon has a better screen, better build quality, and a stronger reputation for reliability. The Latitude's port selection is actually competitive, but the TN panel and inconsistent refurb quality are hard to overlook. If you can stretch your budget, the ThinkPad is the safer business choice.

The ASUS Vivobook X1407QA and Acer Aspire A14-52M-72FH are closer in spirit to the Latitude. They're budget-friendly machines with similar performance tiers, but they typically come with IPS displays, which makes a huge difference for daily use. The HP OmniBook 5 16-ag1017cl offers a bigger screen and newer hardware, though at a higher price. And the Apple MacBook Pro MVVK2LL/A is in a completely different league for performance and display quality, but it's also a different price bracket entirely. For pure budget business use, the Latitude can work, but you're making real compromises on screen and reliability.

Pricing on this thing is all over the place. In the US, listings range from USD 203 to USD 431 across 10 different sellers. That's a USD 228 spread for what should be the same laptop. The cheapest option at USD 203 is tempting if you get a good unit, but the top end at USD 431 starts to feel expensive for a refurb with a TN panel and a small battery. In Canada, the spread is even wilder, from CAD 345 to CAD 1,619 across 12 listings. That CAD 1,274 gap suggests some sellers are pricing these like new machines, which they absolutely are not.

The value proposition really depends on which listing you land on. At the low end, this is a cheap way to get a portable Windows 11 Pro machine with solid ports and enough RAM. At the high end, you're paying too much for hardware that's several years old with a mediocre screen. If you're shopping, sort by price and check the seller's refurbishment reputation carefully. The cheapest US listing is the only one that makes real sense from a value standpoint.

The Dell Latitude 5420 is one of those laptops that looks great on paper until you squint at the details. You get an 11th gen Core i5, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and Windows 11 Pro in a 1.37kg chassis. For business folks who just need email, spreadsheets, and video calls, that's a perfectly reasonable kit. And the port selection is genuinely good, with Thunderbolt, two USB-C, two USB-A, HDMI, and Ethernet. That's more connectivity than you'll find on plenty of newer thin-and-lights.

But here's the thing. This is a refurbished machine, and the refurbishing quality seems to be all over the map. Our database shows user sentiment sitting at the 5th percentile, which is rough. Some buyers get a clean unit that works fine. Others get dead motherboards, failing SSDs, and batteries that barely hold a charge. The 42Wh battery is small even when it's healthy, so a degraded one is a real problem.

The screen is another sore spot. It's a 14 inch 1080p TN panel rated at 220 nits with 45% NTSC coverage. That lands in the 10th percentile for screens in our database. If you've used a modern IPS display, this will feel washed out and dim. For a business laptop that might get used in bright offices or near windows, that's a genuine drawback.

Who is this for? Honestly, someone who needs a cheap Windows machine for basic office work and doesn't care about display quality. The compact score of 64.4 out of 100 is decent, and the port selection is a standout. But you're rolling the dice on refurb quality, and that's a big caveat.

If you're a student who needs a laptop that will survive a full semester without drama, skip this. The student score of 55.9 out of 100 reflects the risk. A dead motherboard in week three is not something you want to deal with during midterms. Look at a new budget laptop from Acer or ASUS with an IPS display and a proper warranty instead.

If you do any creative work, photo editing, or even casual gaming, this is not your machine. The TN panel will make your photos look wrong, the 256GB SSD will fill up instantly, and the integrated graphics will choke on anything demanding. Spend a bit more on something with a better screen and more storage. And if you're a business user who travels and needs all-day battery life, the 42Wh battery is a non-starter. You'll be hunting for outlets by lunch.

If you need a cheap, lightweight Windows laptop for basic office work and you find a good refurb unit at the low end of the price range, the Latitude 5420 can do the job. The port selection is genuinely useful, 16GB of RAM is plenty for multitasking, and the backlit keyboard is a nice bonus. Just don't expect a great screen or long battery life.

But if you can spend a bit more, or if you need something reliable for school or work, look elsewhere. The user sentiment score of 48 out of 100 and the 5th percentile ranking are hard to ignore. Too many buyers report hardware failures and poor refurb quality. A laptop that dies mid-semester or mid-project isn't a bargain, it's a liability. For students, the 55.9 out of 100 score reflects that risk. For business users at 54.9, it's a similar story. This is a machine for people who can afford to gamble a little and have a backup plan.