In addition to a new premium family in Dell’s Latitude commercial laptop line, other commercial market products being introduced around CES include new monitors and an updated XPS 13.

While CES officially kicks off next Tuesday, Dell is making most of its announcements today, including all of those which are aimed at the commercial market. The major one is the introduction of a new high-end family within the Latitude series, the Latitude 9000, and the unveiling of the series’ first model, the Latitude 9510.

“We are really excited where we are going in the future,” said Darrel Ward, SVP Client Product Group at Dell. “The impact on technology we will have in the next 10 years will surpass the last 35 years.”

Ward outlined three dominant trends Dell sees in the client business, which the new product reflects. The first is a shift from a command-driven outlook to one based on context, where compute power becomes more intelligent.

“PCs will be more aware of their surroundings,” Ward said. “These smarter devices will be able to do more, solve more problems and be more connected.”

As this awareness increases through AI and machine learning, routine tasks will be taken care of. This leads to the second trend, where the devices evolve from the utilities they have been historically to personal companions.

“As the next decade unfolds, things like form factor, materials and colours will be even more important,” Ward said.

The third trend is a growing focus on sustainability. Ward referenced a guiding theme outlined at the Del Technologies Summit in November, where the company’s 2030 Progress Made Real social objectives strategy was outlined.

“We will put people and the planet first,” Ward said. “As part of Summit, we announced our sustainability moonshot goals. We will push ourselves to find new and more sustainable ways to have a meaningful impact on society and the planet.

“We will develop the most intelligent, contextually aware devices, all built with sustainability in mind,” Ward summed up.

Rahul Tikoo, SVP Commercial Client Product Group at Dell, got to outline how the new Latitude 9510 fits into these themes.

“We are announcing a brand new Latitude 9000 series, in addition to our 3000 5000 and 7000 series,” Tikoo said. “The 9000 features beautiful design and ultra sleek form factors for the best user experience, to make the PC experience a lot more personal.”

The first model in the series is the Latitude 9510, which is available as a conventional laptop and 2-in-1 SKUs.

“It has a new design approach,” Tikoo said. “Instead of starting with the form factor, we started with the features people wanted, which happened to wind up with a 15-inch form factor.”

The 9510, has new 10th Gen Intel Core processors. Since new competitor products will have those as well, Dell is emphasizing its own unique IP, including its new Dell Optimizer software. Tikoo said that Optimizer makes the 9510 the most intelligent PC in the industry.

“In a nutshell, it uses AI to work behind the scenes and reduce lag and delays or a frictionless experience,” Tikoo stated. “Its ExpressResponse is based on user preferences and machine learning [and Intel Adaptix Technology]. It will launch frequently used applications much faster and improve application performance to make you a lot more productive.”

Another component of the software is ExpressCharge, which uses AI and machine learning to improve battery life utilization based on an individual’s specific battery charge patterns.

“The ExpressCharge feature changes system resources, like dimming screen when in low battery mode, or turning on ExpressCharge Boost when you are on the move and need a fast charge,” Tikoo said.

ExpressSign-in, which was introduced earlier this year on the Dell Latitude 7400 2-in-1, has been expanded into the 9510 and is another part of Optimizer. It leverages Windows Hello technology to automatically unlock your device when you return to your device.

“Being able to collaborate seamlessly with global teams is super important, so we invested in best in class audio speakers, powerful amplifiers, and four noise cancelling mics, for an immersive collaboration experience,” Tikoo indicated.

Weight is also something Dell is emphasizing here as a competitive advantage.

“This is the smallest and lightest commercial PC in 15-inch, at 3.2 lbs,” Tikoo said. “Our competitors start at 4.5 lbs. It has up to 30 hours of battery life, so you  don’t need an AC adapter. It has all the ports you need, so you don’t need dongles. With the sound, you don’t need speakerphone. There is over 7 lbs of competitor bag weight compared to the 9510.”

Tikoo said that the Wi-Fi experience is much better with Wi-Fi 6 and 5G mobile broadband capabilities,  and the design incorporating 5G antennas into the speakers.

Dell unveiled both new commercial PCs, as well as ones for the gaming consumer market. On the commercial side, the Dell UltraSharp 43 4K USB-C monitor is a high-end offering aimed at use cases like finance and engineering that use multiple screens.

“The UltraSharp 43 connects up to 4 PCs and views their content from each computer simultaneously,” Tikoo said. “It has comfort features such as the world’s first height-adjustable screen, as well as a flicker-free screen for comfort on the eyes.”

The new UltraSharp 27 4K USB-C Monitor with VESA DisplayHDR 400 offers wide color coverage for accurate color reproduction.

“It is built for creators, and comes with the widest colour coverage in its class,” Tikoo said.

Dell also announced a large Dell 86 4K Interactive Touch Monitor for the whiteboard market.

“We have been investing in these large format monitors for conference rooms and classrooms for a while now,” Tikoo said. “This new 85.6 inch model has up to 20 point multi touch interactive display with 4K UHD resolution, which lets you write in real time with virtually no lag.” It also has an exclusive Dell Screen Drop accessibility feature, for users of different heights.

Finally, while the XPS family is officially a consumer product, these ‘thin and light’ models have always sold into the commercial market as well. Dell is unveiling an update of its XPS 13 at CES.

“It’s a new modern design with a bigger, more extensive display that is  6.8% larger than before,” said Ray Wah, senior vice president, Consumer and Small Business Product Group at Dell. The key to this is reduced bezel side in the new 16:10 4-sided Infinity Edge display. The new XPS 13 also has the latest Intel processors, and up to 19 hours of battery life.

Mah also announced the  10^th generation of the XPS 13 Developer edition, a Linux-based version for the developer community.

“It is the cornerstone of our Project Sputnik portfolio, kicked off seven years ago to create an offering driven by input from the developer community,” he said.

The products are slated for availability by late March. Pricing will be announced closer to that point.