Dell shook up the ultra-portable category last year by shrinking the bezel on its XPS 13 ultrabook to a sliver.

This almost bezel-free display, dubbed InfinityEdge Display, has now made its way into Dell's Latitude 13 7000 Series business laptop.

Because of the slim bezel, the Latitude's Webcam is at the lower left corner instead of above the screen. Unless you do not mind the person at the other end of a video chat staring at your chin and neck, you should adjust to the camera placement by looking downwards.

But the benefits of the slim bezel arguably trumps this minor flaw. For one thing, this design ups the "wow" factor of the excellent full-HD screen - an in-plane switching (IPS) matte display with very wide viewing angles.

It also reduces the footprint of the laptop, making it as handy as a 12-inch model.

The Latitude 13 weighs around 1.2kg, thanks to a lightweight carbon fibre chassis. Black with a soft-touch finish, the laptop has a stealthy appearance. My review set comes with a grey aluminium lid, though Dell also offers a carbon- fibre version.

The laptop is charged via one of its two Thunderbolt 3 ports. These ports support both USB 3.1 and DisplayPort 1.2 interfaces and are physically identical to the compact and reversible USB Type-C connector.

Since devices with Type-C connectors are not widely adopted yet, Dell has also included a full-size USB Type-A port on the Latitude.

The island-style keyboard has greater key travel than those found in standard ultrabooks. It feels comparable to the keyboard found on Lenovo's ThinkPad models. But fans of the pointing stick will be disappointed, as the Latitude does not have this input device in the middle of the keyboard.

The touchpad comes with two physical buttons. Although it does not appear to be certified as a Microsoft Precision Touchpad, it supports Windows 10 gestures such as swiping with three fingers to minimise existing windows and show the desktop.

While not present on my review set, a fingerprint reader is an option for the Latitude.

Dell also offers a contactless smart card reader as an option.

Insert a 4G LTE SIM card into the slot at the side of the Latitude for Internet connectivity on the go.

Performance-wise, the Latitude is not as fast as a standard ultrabook. This is because it uses a low-power Intel Core M chip that is optimised for battery stamina. While I found its performance adequate for Web browsing and editing documents, the Latitude may not be powerful enough for those working on large databases and spreadsheets.

On the other hand, the Latitude clocked an impressive 7hr 45mins at maximum brightness and volume in our video-loop test.

Vincent Chang

•Verdict: Business laptops have never looked as good as the Latitude 13. More importantly, its battery life is outstanding.