Dell recently introduced an array of laptops in the Latitude series, including the more mainstream Latitude 5430. This is very much a business laptop, and that means you get features like Intel vPro processors, Windows 11 Pro, in addition to a repairable and upgradeable design. Another thing business laptops tend to do well is connectivity, and this is no exception. If you're wondering whether the Dell Latitude 5430 has Thunderbolt support, you're in luck - it does, and you even get two ports. The ports are both Thunderbolt 4, which is the latest version available right now.

Why should you want Thunderbolt support?

The importance of Thunderbolt might not be immediately obvious to everyone, but we're here to help. Thunderbolt is an interface developed and licensed by Intel, and it enables very high-bandwidth data transfers through a USB Type-C port, in addition to power delivery. The latest version - Thunderbolt 4 - offers 40Gbps of bandwidth, and that's a minimum requirement for a PC to claim to have Thunderbolt 4 support.

A Thunderbolt signal can carry data for transferring files, connecting external displays, and even using external GPUs. Yes, you can have a GPU outside of your laptop and connect it using a Thunderbolt port. With Thunderbolt, you can feasibly use the Dell Latitude 5430 for gaming or for intensive creative workloads, even though the laptop itself only has integrated Intel graphics.

Not only that, but you can use a Thunderbolt dock to connect a multitude of peripherals while only using a single port on your laptop. Docking stations aren't exclusively based on Thunderbolt, but thanks to the high bandwidth, Thunderbolt docks can connect multiple high-speed peripherals and even power two 4K displays at once, all with a single port on your laptop. They can even charge your laptop, too.

Aside from that, there are some peripherals like displays and certain external storage devices that use Thunderbolt as their interface, so they support extremely high speeds. All of this is possible using one of the two Thunderbolt ports on the Dell Latitude 5430.

What other ports are on the Dell Latitude 5430?

While Thunderbolt 4 can provide a ton of flexibility when you use a dock or other Thunderbolt peripherals, Dell still made sure you have other options with the Latitude 5430. In addition to the two Thunderbolt 4 ports, you get two USB Type-A ports, HDMI, gigabit Ethernet, a microSD card reader, and a headphone jack, so you have all the basics covered. If you don't have any fancy Thunderbolt accessories, you can still connect all the basic peripherals you need.

Of course, being a business laptop often means you get cellular support, and that's the case here too. The Dell Latitude 5430 can be configured with optional 4G LTE, and LTE-enabled configurations will also include a nano-SIM slot.

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If you haven't yet, you can buy the Dell Latitude 5430 using the link below. As usual for the Latitude series, it offers a wide range of configuration options across the processor, RAM, storage, display, and more. It may not look as premium as some of the best laptops on the market right now, but it's ideal for business users who need reliability and repairability.