Setting a new benchmark for battery life, productivity, security and performance, the PCs are tailored to meet the evolving needs of businesses, prioritising customer choice and flexibility, and equipping them for a future powered by AI. The innovative solutions mark a significant step forward in Dell’s broader AI strategy, which aims to use its AI portfolio to support businesses from the desktop to the data centre to the cloud.

“From running complex AI workloads on workstations to using day-to-day AI-powered applications on laptops, the AI PC will be an important investment that pays dividends in productivity and paves the way to a smarter, more efficient future. Dell’s advantage starts with offering more AI PCs across the commercial portfolio from day one, catering to South African businesses’ unique needs and giving them the ability to start futureproofing for AI today,” said Haidi Nossair, Senior Director – Client Solutions Group – META, Dell Technologies.

AI PCs for hybrid work

The neural processing unit (NPU)-equipped AI PC will grow from nearly 50 million units in 2024 to more than 167 million in 2027, representing almost 60% of all PC shipments worldwide. The NPU adds an AI acceleration engine that can take on more dedicated AI tasks, freeing up the CPU and GPU to do other things. This creates a more responsive experience and enhances performance, security, battery life and productivity.

Dell provides the world’s most intelligent, manageable and secure commercial PCs. With a new line-up of Latitude laptops and Precision mobile workstations, Dell will offer customers the broadest portfolio of commercial AI laptops and mobile workstations, from entry-level to ultra-premium laptops and workstation options. Powered by Intel Core Ultra processors with Intel vPro, Dell commercial PCs drive AI workloads and unlock new levels of productivity and efficiency. For example, employees can now:

• Collaborate more effectively. Combining the benefits of the NPU to offload capabilities like auto-framing, background blur and eye-tracking with the power efficiency of Intel Core Ultra processors gives workers up to 38% more battery life and valuable working time in a day packed with online meetings.
• Create content faster. By distributing AI processing across the CPU, GPU and now NPU, users can create generative AI images over five times faster with Stable Diffusion, a text-to-image model.
• Work more securely in a hybrid work environment. More ISVs will continue to build applications for the AI PC. For example, Dell is working with CrowdStrike and Intel to offload security functions onto the device via the NPU. This provides more comprehensive threat detection, helping customers swiftly detect malicious sites and security vulnerabilities with reduced latency compared to cloud-based solutions.
• Stay in the flow of work. The portfolio features Windows 11 and a Copilot key to make it even easier to get things done and stay in the flow of work. With the press of a key, users have faster access to their everyday AI companion.

AI-powered, automated services

Building on years of industry leadership in proactive, predictive automation as well as expert advice and managed services, new Dell Services capabilities help customers:

• Maximise PC uptime and improve productivity with new self-healing capabilities through the ProSupport Suite for PCs. Customers who connect to Dell’s SupportAssist technology can leverage telemetry and AI to fix PC issues without human intervention. This lets IT activate Dell-authored scripts to autonomously correct blue screen errors, thermal issues and more across their entire fleet of PCs.
• Keep PC fleet refreshes on track and on budget with Dell’s managed services. When customers need new AI devices, Dell provides detailed planning, forecasting and supply chain management to enable timely, targeted multi-vendor device rollouts.
• Adopt and maximise GenAI investments with Digital Employee Experience Services for Gen AI. These services equip employees with the tools and technology tailored to their diverse roles.

Product spotlights

Dell’s most intelligent headset portfolio in its class includes five new headsets. The Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset (WL7024) features AI-based noise-cancelling microphones that distinguish human speech signals from background noises from both the user and their audience and adjusts the level of noise cancellation based on the user’s environment. The advanced smart sensor intelligently performs tasks like mute/unmute, pause/play as long as the earcup is lifted, while intuitive touch controls tailor the audio experience.

The fully refreshed Latitude portfolio features updates across the 5000, 7000 and 9000 series. Latitude 5000 is Dell’s mainstream series of devices, offering flexibility, scalability and security. The series is sustainable by design with materials ranging from recycled plastics to reclaimed carbon fibre, renewable materials and ocean-bound plastics.

The Latitude 7350/7450 Ultralights are the world’s lightest 13.3” and 14” premium commercial laptops. The Latitude 7455 is a premium AI laptop offering up to 21 hours of battery life stacked with a stunning 14-inch QHD+ touch display, quad speakers with AI noise reduction, Qualcomm FastConnect™ Wi-Fi 7 and optional 5G for greater connectivity and collaboration. As Dell’s thinnest Latitude laptop ever, team members have the mobile form factor they need for productivity at the desk or on the go.

Designed for executives, salespeople and consultants, the Latitude 9450 2-in-1 provides a peek into the future of work from anywhere focused on ultra-premium design, collaboration and productivity. It boasts a haptic collaboration touchpad with support for Microsoft Teams and Zoom, a stunning QHD+ Infinity Edge display, top-firing speakers and a new HDR webcam. As new WiFi-7 capability rolls out throughout 2024, the Wi-Fi 7 capable wireless card on Latitude 9450 will expand throughput and connect us to our peers even faster. These enhancements paired with the ability to utilise AI to improve collaboration will deliver a premium new experience to end users.

Now featuring Intel Core Ultra processors Series 2, Dell’s thinnest XPS provides more power and efficiency to effortlessly tackle the most demanding tasks. This includes a dedicated NPU capable of up to 48 TOPS, enabling advanced AI capabilities such as text and image creation and faster photo or video editing. XPS 13 is the first laptop in the world to offer a tandem OLED display, allowing for higher brightness than a traditional OLED display and 26 hours of battery life while streaming on an FHD+ display.

Dell has also introduced new video conferencing monitors with upgraded convenience, a better camera and next-level multitasking features. These monitors are the world’s first 23.8-inch, 27-inch and 34-inch video conferencing monitors certified for both Microsoft Teams and Zoom7. These monitors include an integrated camera, speakers and microphones to allow for a clean desk setup.

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Other than an excuse for the company to throw an award party for its partners, the function of this event is to advertise all the wonderful reasons that other companies should turn to Dell for their small, medium, or large-scale ICT needs.

On that list of reasons, alongside other riveting subjects, like ‘multicloud’ and ‘modern data infrastructure and edge’ was ‘the future of work’. That last one piqued our interest. Dell Technologies isn’t a small, cash-strapped company so how it envisions the future of work could be worth some attention.

Dell’s crystal ball says…

According to Dell, the future of work contains, unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence (AI) – ideally on one of its machines using Dell Optimiser. The company made full use of the opportunity to mention it in some form whenever possible and we even heard from Clara, Dell’s own “digital human”. Unfortunately, she had to dash straight after the keynote so we had to settle on hearing more about Dell Optimiser.

To the uninitiated, it’s just bloatware that comes pre-installed on your new Dell laptop that you’re too lazy or afraid to remove lest you break something. But if you don’t mind a little prying, it’s basically your AI butler who doesn’t knock before entering your bedroom. Or, according to Dell, an “AI-based optimisation software that learns and responds to the way you work.”

This includes “detecting your presence” for making sign-ins faster, automatically greying out your screen when it detects another set of eyes peering over your shoulder, and monitoring the programs you use so it knows what to prioritise and optimise. While that might sound appealing, does it have to be so nosy?

Another ingredient in ‘the future of work’, one that Dell’s been going on about for years across most of its business, is sustainability. The reasons should be obvious – the planet’s not doing so great.

Driven by what it calls a ‘circular design’, the company reinforced its commitment to sustainability, promising to use 100% recycled or renewable packaging and more than 50% recycled or renewable materials in its devices by 2030. Further to that, Dell reminded us about its e-waste trade-in program.

Regardless of brand and whether you have a single old laptop or a storeroom full of old workstations, Dell will take it off your hands and it could even sweeten the deal for you. That’s not going to be cold cash in your back pocket, but a little credit toward your new Dell machine is better than a kick in the pants.

Sustainable adult Lego of the future

As grand as that all is, we were more interested to see if Concept Luna had made any progress on becoming a reality. If you haven’t heard of that before, Dell’s modular laptop idea first popped up in 2021.

This year it was presented as a working prototype that allows for toolless disassembly in under a minute. We timed ourselves. A laptop teardown speedrun isn’t the main goal. That would be reducing e-waste and emissions by creating a modular and sustainably-made device. That way, if you need to replace one component or if you want to upgrade, you aren’t forced to buy a whole new machine. The speedrunning potential is just a bonus.

It’ll still be a few years before it’s no longer just a concept and even more before it becomes an industry standard. Fairphone is doing it with smartphones, Dell can do it with laptops. Now, are there any automotive manufacturers within earshot?

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