Product Reviews

It wasn't so long ago that we clapped eyes and hands on Dell's newly-redesigned Vostro range of laptops, designed expressly for the needs of smaller businesses. Now comes the turn of its premium business range, and the launch of Dell's latest Latitude E-series. To celebrate the occasion, PC Pro has an exclusive first look at the 14.1in Latitude E6400 ATG.

Pluck the E6400 ATG from it's unassuming brown box and it's clear that this is no lightweight business portable. The letters "ATG" stand for All Terrain Grade, which is Dell's answer to the Getac and Panasonic ranges of ruggedised laptops. In short, this laptop is designed to survive the kind of harsh treatment that would leave your average laptop needing a trip to the repair centre.

It's only semi-ruggedised, however, so there's no sign of the massively over the top armour-plating or rubberised, waterproof flaps that are de rigeur on laptops such as Getac's B300, or Dell's own, albeit currently US-only, XFR laptop range.

That's not to say that the E6400 ATG is a shrinking violet, though, far from it. Grab the Dell between both hands and, while its 2.98kg weight is incredibly heavy for a 14.1in laptop, it makes up for it with astounding solidity.

The rough, textured finish of the black reinforced lid immediately feels reassuringly protective, and the whole chassis is impressively free of undue flex. A single catch serves to keep that lid firmly closed, and the neat silver surround keeps unwanted objects from slipping between the keyboard and display and causing any unsightly scratches.

Tilt back that display however, and while the Dell's exterior could be described as being a touch utilitarian, the interior is subtly stylish. Gone is the two-tone black and silver styling of the Latitude D630 and its stablemates, and in its place lies a minimalist expanse of black interrupted only by the strip of blue glowing status lights at the keyboard's top edge.

Dell has made a few practical changes to the design too. The red 'Task Lights' of the Latitude D630 ATG, which served to illuminate the keyboard in low-light situations, have been supplanted by a backlit keyboard. Matched with a sensor to dynamically alter the screen brightness, it makes for a laptop that remains usable even in the gloomiest of environments.

And wherever you happen to be, the E6400 ATG is an eminently comfortable companion. The new keyboard feels very different to that of Dell's previous laptops, but that's no bad thing. Each key has a good amount of travel and a positive action matched with a lightness which makes for effortless touch-typing. Layout-wise, the half-height Enter key is a less than popular addition, but the good feel goes a long way towards making amends.

Like many of its business-centric compatriots, there's both trackpad and trackpoint in evidence, but while the former is free from any issues, we were less enamoured with the latter. It may have just been an issue with our pre-production sample, but

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the trackpoint was set slightly beneath the level of the key-top, and we found it difficult to grip the point without our finger regularly slipping off onto the adjacent keys.

But, apart from its sturdy build, the final component of the Dell's All Terrain Grade certification comes courtesy of the matte 14.1in display. It's unremarkable in resolution terms, our model sporting the standard 1,280 x 800 pixels rather than the higher resolution 1,400 x 900 option, but the astounding brightness gives away the fact that the E6400 ATG is equipped with a sunlight readable display. Even under intense office strip lighting the highest brightness setting is blindingly bright.

There is a slight penalty to pay for such brightness though, as there's a graininess across the display's 14.1 inches. Colour accuracy is a little wayward too, with skintones appearing a touch yellow and unhealthy. Unless you're thinking of doing any serious photo editing, though, it's far from unusable.

As with all Dell laptops, the E6400 ATG is highly configurable, but our model came sporting a selection of the latest Centrino 2 vPro technologies. An Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 heads up proceedings, running at a heady 2.4GHz, and finds itself partnered with 2GB of DDR2-800 RAM. It's a partnership which earnt it 1.24 in our benchmarks - an especially fine result when you consider Dell's claims that the BIOS and drivers on our model are far from finalised.

The rest of the specification is similarly accomplished. A Samsung 64GB SSD drive further boosts the E6400 ATG's rugged credentials, while the latest Intel Wifi Link 5300 chipset serves up wireless networking right up to Draft-N speeds. Our unit lacked an HSDPA modem, but a quick peek under the 9-cell battery reveals an empty SIM slot just waiting to be taken advantage of.

Security features are also to the fore. With a fingerprint reader nestling to the side of the cursor keys, and a SmartCard reader on the laptop's left-hand edge, security is certainly one area in which the Dell doesn't come lacking.

Cast your gaze around the E6400 ATG's edges and its clear that connectivity is beyond reproach too. The Dell has the honour of being the first laptop with DisplayPort to pass through PC Pro's labs, but novelties aside, all the usual suspects are present and correct.

USB, VGA and eSATA lie to the left and an SD card reader hides under the front edge while another FireWire, a PC Card slot and two more USB ports adorn the right. And, going by Dell's US website, it seems that customers will be able to choose between ExpressCard/54 or PC Card slots as they wish - a welcome change from last year's ranges.

The final ingredient for any portable worth its salt is stamina, and even in its pre-production state, the E6400 ATG fares impressively well. Dell's engineers assured us that battery life will improve with final hardware and software revisions, but our unit managed a highly respectable six and a half hours under light usage, and stretched to a hefty 2hrs 28mins under the strain of our heavy use test.

All in all, it's a highly promising debut. Compelling performance goes hand in hand with excellent build quality, and the only question that remains unanswered is that of cost. But, even if the E6400 ATG does command a hefty premium over its non-ruggedised stablemates - and we have a feeling it will - many businesses may see its increased durability as a wiser long-term investment.

We'll be delivering a full verdict once we receive a final production model but, going by what we've seen so far, it looks like Dell's E6400 ATG is set to make the grade.