Dell Latitude D410

Contrary to our Labs review in the October 2005 issue (#132), the Dell Latitude D410's price of £1,199 (£1,409 including VAT) does not include delivery. Our apologies for this mistake. The D410's value for money rating drops from five to four, but its overall rating remains at five and it also retains its Labs Winner award.

Selling as many notebooks as it does, Dell knows the winning formula for just about every type of user. The D410 may not be the lightest notebook on test, but it manages to combine top performance with portability, great ergonomics and a low price.

Weighing in at 1.95kg and being only 35mm thick, there aren't many mobile users who wouldn't want to carry the D410 on their travels. It's built around the new Sonoma version of Centrino, and its low-voltage 2GHz Pentium M is an ideal choice for a notebook of this size.

Combined with 1GB of speedy PC2-4300 RAM, it returned a score of 1.88 in our benchmarks - more than sufficient for Microsoft Office applications and demanding multimedia work. The Hitachi Travelstar hard disk is also a high-spec component. At 60GB it isn't the largest, but it's more than enough for business use, while the 5,400rpm spindle speed makes it quicker than others at transferring files to RAM.

The 12.1in TFT is great quality as well, and the 1,024 x 768 resolution is appropriate for the size. It's bright and clear, while viewing angles are as good as others on test. As with the ThinkPad X41, there's an excellent keyboard beneath it. We were especially pleased with the layout: keys are in their normal places as far as possible. We also appreciate the dual mouse pointers - you can choose between trackpoint and touchpad.

One factor to note is that the optical drive isn't built in. Instead, it's installed in Dell's 'media slice', a docking station included in the price. Adding the media slice pushes the weight up to 3.2kg, but it also gains you extra ports like parallel and serial. Plus, the dock means you can use both the supplied batteries at once; a unique feature this month. On the larger battery (which protrudes out in front of the palmrest), our intensive test returned two hours, 12 minutes of use, while the smaller battery lasted for one hour, 35 minutes. Combined together, they gave a great eight hours, 43 minutes in our light-use test.

At this price, it's heartening to see a three-year on-site warranty. It's also good that Dell has integrated both 802.11a, b, g and Bluetooth, plus there are three USB 2 ports.

It may not be the lightest notebook, and the lack of an integral optical drive will be frustrating for some, but with great build quality, a fabulous screen and keyboard, plus the superb warranty, the D410 is the clear leader here. Use E-Value code MAGD410PCP1 to order.