Dell Latitude D630 review
Verdict
The almost-perfect portable for the business professional - quality comes at a cost, though.
Review Date: 7 Mar 2008
Reviewed By: Sasha Muller
Price when reviewed: (£1,056 inc VAT)
![]()
Dell's Latitude D630 has occupied the top business notebook spot on our A List ever since it was reviewed eight months ago (web ID: 120434). That's no surprise, though, as it's a business thoroughbred.
Since we last saw the D630, Dell has made a few changes, the first is twin batteries. To supplement the standard 5,600mAh cell, Dell also provides a high-capacity 8,500mAh battery. Even the standard battery is enough to keep the Dell going for over five hours under light use, and over an hour-and-a-half of heavy usage. Put the high-capacity battery in its place, though, and, in addition to doubling as a wristrest, battery life shoots up to just shy of eight hours and just over two hours respectively.
Combine such superb battery life with one of the other new additions, the integrated HSDPA adapter, and you've got a perfect mobile companion. For a laptop so obviously suited to a life on the road, it's reassuring that build quality is well up to scratch. A single catch holds the lid in place when it's in a bag, and despite weighing just 2.4kg every aspect of the build feels like it will last a lifetime.
That's not to say the Dell is out of its depth back in the confines of an office. The keyboard is a superb example, boasting full-sized keys with a lovely, positive feel, and is only bettered by that of HP's 6910p. The touchpad and trackpoint are equally praiseworthy. Performance has also taken a leap forward, thanks to the considerably faster Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 processor. Allied with 2GB of memory, this powered the Dell to a fine 1.15 in our benchmarks.
Another improvement comes courtesy of the 14.1in display. The native resolution has risen to 1,440 x 900 pixels, and this provides a great balance between a spacious Windows desktop and legibility. It's bright, too, but never blindingly so, thanks to the ambient light sensor mounted on the bezel.
If there's anything worth bemoaning, then it's the absence of a fingerprint reader and the relatively frugal 120GB hard disk. But, with a smart card reader instead for security, the D630 is an impressive overall package.
Author: Sasha Muller
From around the web
advertisement
- How to install Internet Explorer 9
- Maintaining and supporting IE9
- Plan your deployment
- Creating a custom browser package
- Search in corporate environments
- What's on this week's PC Pro podcast?
- Judges mulling Twitter bomber conviction
- TomTom tech to set driver insurance premiums
- Speed-hungry customers push Virgin into profit
- Windows 8 pauses desktop apps to save energy
- Privacy expert: Google pushed for cookie law delay
- Nokia axes another 4,000 jobs
- Google brings Chrome browser to Android
- Symantec: we didn't "bribe" hackers, police did
- UK PC sales tumble by 20%
- Chrome's shine getting lost in translation
- BytePac: the cardboard hard disk enclosure
- How tech loosens our grip on reality
- Hokum watch: Safer Internet Day
- Why I'm deleting Adobe from my PC
- Prepare to be patronised: it's Safer Internet Day
- Dear Sony, Samsung and every other tech company in the world: stop trying to be Apple
- Will Apple's Final Cut Pro X update placate the pros?
- Smartr Contacts for iPhone review
- Switching to Office 365's Outlook Web App
- How Apple lulls Mac owners into a false sense of security
- Privacy - outdated luxury or public necessity?
- Building the bionic man
- The making of open-source software
- Top 10 stupid security stories of 2011
- 10 techs to watch in 2012
- PC Pro's favourite tech products of 2011
- 10 most read articles on PC Pro in 2011
- 50 ways to make your PC better
- A licence to print anything
- How to make Google AdWords work for your business
- The curse of sloppily written software
- Paying for your crimes with Bitcoin
- Behind the scenes: tech support for Formula 1
- The security risk of fat fingers
- Why Windows Phone 7 isn't quite ready for business
- When will Microsoft stop fiddling with Windows 8?
- Flash down the pan?
- Metro Style apps vs desktop applications
- Coping with Facebook changes
advertisement






