2.65 Over the last few years, Ive reviewed about 150 notebook PCs. Few were worth getting excited about until now.
Dell Computer Corp.s newest addition to the Latitude line is a lightweight, full-featured, normal-sized notebook running Microsoft Windows 9x. When it built the Latitude LT, Dell made few compromises.
The keyboard is not tiny. The active-matrix display measures 11.3 inches diagonally; the 2M graphics accelerator supports 800- by 600-pixel resolution. The LT has an integrated 56-Kbps modem, sound and a standard VGA-out port.
Unfortunately, for now, it comes with only a 266-MHz Pentium MMX processor, a 4G hard drive and 64M of RAM.OK, so it doesnt have a Pentium II processor. But do you really need a Pentium II on the road to download e-mail or write a report or presentation? Double the RAM would be nice, though.
Youre probably thinking, The battery needs a booster to run a 3-pound, 2-ounce package. So did I. But on the GCN Labs maximum-drain test, the LT lasted a little more than an hour. I had expected less.
Dell sells a 14-ounce, snap-on external battery that more than quadruples battery life, to four and a half hours. The external battery gave about 14 minutes of life for every ounce of weight it addedan excellent ratio when the average for a good notebook is about eight minutes per ounce. The battery costs $279 and raises the total weight to about 4 pounds. Its a worthwhile purchase.
A special plug connects an external floppy drive with some remarkable innovations: parallel, serial and keyboard/mouse ports on the back. It essentially doubles as a port replicator without a network interface card, which is the only major component thats missing.
This near-pocket rocket has one Universal Serial Bus port and one PC Card slot. A $279 CD-ROM package adds PC Card connectivity for loading software. Too bad Dell couldnt make it plug into the same port as the floppy drive.
The Latitude LT comes only with Windows 95 OSR2 installed. Dell plans to add other operating system options, update the processor and increase the RAM. Dell ought to install its Control Panel for the touchpad instead of relying on the standard Windows mouse driver. As with all notebook touchpads, a slight brush while typing can send your cursor flying. Dells Control Panel prevents such sensitivity.
The units performance on the GCNdex32TM benchmark suite was average for a 266-MHz Pentium MMX notebook.
If you have been considering a Libretto from Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., check the Dellit has twice the processing power, keyboard area and screen size for the same price and weight. Contemplating a Windows CE handheld? The Dell has the same OS and software as a desktop system.
Innovation makes the Latitude LT an excellent choice for anyone on the go.
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