Product Reviews

In some group tests, we have trouble choosing a winner from several close runners, but this month there was simply no question. Dell's Latitude range has occupied various spots on the A List for some time, and the new D630 doesn't break the tradition. It's superbly designed and full of nice touches; even the large nine-cell battery is uniquely shaped to form a useful wristrest.

This extended battery gives the D630 its biggest strength as, under light use, it lasted a full nine hours, and when worked hard it ran for a respectable 2hrs 51mins. This is all despite the decent amount of processing power onboard. The D630 uses the new 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo T7100 and 2GB of RAM. Its overall score of

Our test laptop had Windows XP Professional installed, but you can opt for Vista Business for just a few pounds more and, unlike others with their fingerprint readers, the Dell instead sports a smart card slot for security. There's also an ambient light sensor beneath the 14.1in screen for dynamically adjusting the brightness, and the choice of touchpad or trackpoint - along with the comfortable, well laid-out keyboard - puts the D630 top of the pile for comfort and ease of use.

A PC Card slot sits on the left side beneath a mini-FireWire port and Wi-Fi on/off switch, while Gigabit Ethernet allows for fast wired transfers, and there's a VGA port on the back for hooking up to a projector.

Like any notebook, though, the Dell has a few minor niggles. The 1,280 x 800 screen's colours are slightly lifeless next to its glossy rivals, and the single mono speaker is disappointing, as is the lack of a media card reader.

But, amazingly, the price is just £699, so when you factor in the three-year on-site warranty, the great build quality and the ergonomics, the D630 quite rightly takes over from the D620 on the A List.