August 12th, 2008
Dell rolls out new Latitude laptop lineup; Targets longer battery life
Dell on Tuesday rolled out its revamped lineup of nine new Latitude and Precision laptops and trumpeted longer batter life and designs that appeal to the so-called digital nomad–the person roaming the airport for a coveted outlet to plug in his laptop.
The company said the new lineup was designed with the help of 4,000 users and IT pros via its Ideastorm site. Jeff Clarke, senior vice president, Dell Product Group, said at an event in San Francisco that users wanted long battery life, better security, good design and simple to manage.
Clarke said that Dell cooked up 3,200 prototype test units and more than 1,000 user tests. Dell also focused on ease of management by making all power supplies standard, consistent peripheral ports and one-button de-docking.
Among the more interesting features–beyond the fact that a business user can now get a pink laptop:
- Battery life of 19 hours with a semi-rugged laptop dubbed the Latitude E6400, which starts at $2,399.
- Software called Dell Latitude ON, which allows access to email, calendar, attachments and contacts without booting the operating system;
- An intelligent backlit keyboard that adjusts to ambient light levels;
- ControlVault, a sub-processor and storage system that protects user credentials in an area away from the main hard drive.
- And you can charge your PDA and phone whether the PC is on or not. The AC power adapter is now half the size of the previous one.
As for the lineup here’s the breakdown:
- Dell Latitude E4200 is a 12.1-inch laptop that starts at 2.2 pounds. A 13.3-inch version, E4300, will is 3.3 pounds.
- The Latitude 14.1-inch E6400 and 15.4-inch E6500, will run you $1,139 and $1,169, respectively. Battery life will run you anywhere between 10 hours to 19 hours.
- The Latitude E5400 is a 14.1-inch notebook that starts at $839. The 15.4-inch version will run you $869.
- The E6400 ATG starts at $2,399 and meets 810F military standards.
- On the mobile workstation front, the Dell Precision M4400 starts at $1,569 for the 15.4-inch version. The Precision M2400 is a 14.1-inch system that starts at $1,449. Both are heavy with the lightest Precision at 4.77 pounds.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Smart Planet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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