Here's the breakdown of the line-up:
Essentials
Dell's base-level machines are the E5400 (starting at $839) and E5500 (starting at $869), which will be shipping sometime in August.
The E5400 has a 14.1in screen and weighs about 5.5 pounds. The E5500 comes with a heftier 15.4in display and weighs about 6.4 pounds.
Both models can be fitted with a 1066MHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and up to 4GB memory. Graphics are handled by an integrated chip.
Latitude E5500
Mainstream
The Dell Latitude E6400 (starting at $1139) and E6500 (starting at $1169) are the company's new flagship business laptop models and currently available.
The E6400 and E6500 sport 14in and 15.4in displays, respectively, and add a little more kick than the 5000 series.
They use a 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo chip and add a 256MB Nvidia graphics card to the mix. Max memory is 8GB. The notebooks also come with a 64GB solid state storage option. Choosing a spinning platter for storage bumps the max capacity up to 250GB.
Dell is currently selling the systems with a brushed aluminum paint job, but will add red and blue color options in September. The laptops also now include a handy eSATA port for big file transfers.
Latitude E6400
Semi-rugged
Hardware abusers get the E6400 model (starting at $1569), which comes with most of the hardware in the E6400 inside a sturdier frame.
These rugged laptops meet 810F military standards for dust, vibration, and humidity resistance and promise a screen with 750-nit brightness for outdoor viewing.
Ultra-Portable
Perhaps the most exciting of the bunch are the ultra-portables. This is Dell's attempt to approach the netbook market without cannibalizing its own sales.
Pricing hasn't been revealed yet, and they're expected to ship in September.
The 12.1in display E4200 model comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo running at 1.4GHz with integrated graphics. The laptop comes with either a 64GB or 128GB SSD and up to 5GB memory. It weighs a fraction under 1kg - 0.997kg, to be precise.
The 13.3 E4300 runs on a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo with integrated graphics. Storage options include a 64GB SSD or spinning platter with up to 160GB capacity.
Ports include FireWire, two USB ports, and one eSATA.
This is also where Dell is getting into wild colors. Pink, ladies and gentleman. In addition to blue and red, the computer comes in pink. And you know what, it actually looks pretty slick in person.
Latitude E4200
Hand not available where prohibited
Battery Life and Instant-On
Dell promises a very impressive 19-hour battery life on its E6400 Latitude laptop — but there is a hitch.
The computer actually get around ten hours on its standard nine-cell Lithium Ion battery. The advertised battery time includes an additional 12-cell battery "slice" that connects to the bottom of the laptop, and, of course, costs extra.
Dell also previewed an upcoming feature for its notebooks called Latitude ON which allows near-instant access to basic functions such as e-mail, calendar, and internet without booting into the system's main OS.
The technology has already been making rounds in various shapes and sizes such as DeviceVM's Splashtop and Phoenix Technologies' Hyperspace. We've been expecting a major vendor to scoop this up, much to the chagrin of Microsoft.
Although E4200 and E4300 models are already hardware capable, Latitude ON isn't expected to make its debut for a couple of months. Dell said the technology uses a dedicated low-voltage sub-processor and a Linux-based OS that can enable multi-day battery life. Dell said the technology was "driven" in-house, but developed in conjunction with other companies.
More info about Latitude ON is expected to be released later this year. ®
Dell thinks young and colorful with business notebook refresh
COMMENTS
looks ordinary
Young and sleek and fresh... They look new but the same. Nothing special about their appearance.
Fruitlessness
Trying to find any device (of any reasonable size) with a screen that isn't widescreen is becoming an increasingly fruitless task, especially if shopping at the major (DSG-type) retailers.
Widescreen photo-frames are stupid, given that practically no cameras take widescreen images. But try getting anything else at a half-way fair price.
Widescreen desktop monitors that will never go anywhere near video? Going from 5:4 to widescreen will be particularly painful for many. Long may my SyncMaster 191T live on, blotchy display or not.
Widescreen satnav? Specially made for zillion lane superhighways?
Widescreen mp3 player? Like who cares when the picture's still --> <-- so big.
Sure, it's economies of manufacture behind it all, but where's the choice for those who are prepared to pay a little more for the common sense everyday solution?
80x25 Anyone?
Sorry @peter && Chris, but if you worked for me . . .
I had a standing rule in my shop. If the code extends beyond column 80, then you need to break the line., or re-code the expression for clarity. With the exception of a large case statement, any logical block of code that exceeds a single screen of 25 lines should be broken up into smaller functions/sub-routines. This is simply good programming practice for writing maintainable code.
I'm a boolean algebra guru. If I *ever* see an if with an expression that is 256 columns wide, or if I have to think more than 2 seconds on what it says then some programming type is about to get a new *ssh*le.
While one may *read* left to write, one will follow steps top to bottom. Programs are STEPS of instructions, top to start bottom to finish, and each thought should be concise and to the point one step down at a time. The problem is all you kids graduate from college where you've been writing code in a vacuum, and you've never had to actually go back and read some of the sh*t some other PFY wrote 2 years ago and fix something. I can assure you you will not have any trouble following *any* of my code.
And I'm probably going to slug the next little pr*ck that writes something like:
if ( 6 < day_of_week && 20 < hour || 8 > hour and 1 > day_of_week)
again. . .
Very cute, but you made me STOP and THINK about what you were trying to say. If *I* had to stop and think, some other poor slob is going to get lost and mis-interpet the expression
Widescreen is wonderful for accountants with spreadsheets, but if you are writing code off the right hand edge of the screen then you are inately writing code that is extremely difficult to follow. Quit writing essays, and start writing code.
My .02 (tupence?)
@Peter Gathercole
/me types away on his Thinkpad R52 enjoying 1400x1050 of glorious pixels.
I find widescreens are like working whilst looking through a letter box. Give me vertical resolution! If I wanted to waste space on the sides I'd use vista and turn the sidebar on!
I used to have an A30 with the same size screen, there's no going back, using anything less just feels like I'm using a cheap laptop with only 800x600.
It does kind of restrict the choice on new laptops though.
