Dell's Latitude Z 600 is a 16-inch thin-and-light, makes overcompensated CEOs out of us all (update: video!)
By Paul Miller 
posted Sep 29th 2009 12:01AM
posted Sep 29th 2009 12:01AM
We got to play around with the laptop briefly, and it doesn't just pile on the features -- it's really a pretty tight design from Dell, and oozes quality. Some of the features make a bit less sense, like the EdgeTouch sensor, but if you're going to go all out on a laptop for executives, you might as well really go all out, right? The keyboard is one of the best laptop keyboards we've played with in a while, the touchpad is expansive, and the machine doesn't seem brittle despite its wild surface-area-to-thickness ratio. The screen did seem a little dim to our eyes, but it was mercifully matte, and that 2 megapixel camera up top really comes in handy with Dell's bundled software, reading and deciphering a business card of ours without a problem. It's a three way tie for neatest feature between UWB, Latitude ON and induction charging, but we'd probably have to go with UWB -- unlike Toshiba's similar solution, which relies on a dongle, Dell's built-in implementation actually makes a lot of sense for a premium laptop. It was also surprisingly quick at pairing with the wireless dock, and there's no harm done by pulling the laptop out of range of UWB -- a quick screen flicker and it's back to regular. Our biggest downers about the laptop probably have to do with the odd color choice (a bit too personal of a preference to be made a default) and the understandable but painfully sky-high $2,000+ pricetag.
Update: Smarmy infomercial and in-depth look at Latitude ON now posted after the break.
I just came.
I came twice.
Neeeed oneeeee nowwwwwwwwwwwww...............................
Somebody show me a bank that i can rob..................
Thrice I came.
When will it be available?
I'm sure engadget will be unboxing it for us all while we watch like pervs
Dell's gone a long way from being a biege box company focused on their then-revolutionary business model to a innovator in design and functions. A 16" 4.2ib laptop is unique and desirable enough in itself, but Dell went much further. It's a very important adaption to survive in the laptop world, where the entire packing has to be appealing and be stylish on top of that. This is what Adamo should have been too (just prettier).
I didn't
where is the CD DRIVEEEEEEE
i guess i shouldn't complain, i don't know much
about dell's buissness line so maybe these latitude Zs never had CD drives
but man, screw the studio XPS, my next laptop is gonna be buissness class baby!!
@peter
I recommend the X61/X200 for a business notebook.
That is one awesome looking laptop.
Awesome looking ? Um don't know, look at the thick bezel, but wait a moment.. , am I reading this right? Has this thing friggin TWO systems inside ? right? both low power ARM and Intel boards are in ??? if that is true then wow, I mean this is laptop Sparta!
Gezz that is thin. Even Apple can't manage .56 inch on on their similarly sized MBP (and by that I mean the 17inch)
This thing even got a removable battery right?
well that's not exactly a fair comparison, the MBP runs much faster (and therefore hotter, and generally larger) components. this thing will at best be as fast as the MacBook Air, and maybe as slow as the Adamo. there are trade offs.
4.5lbs, even 13inchers have trouble managing that
pure awesome
pretty amazing, I'd love to see what they can do with the 14.1 or 13.3 in the next-gen latitudes.
i think no one can manage .56 " on a laptop with an optical drive.
I like how you could have fit a full numeric keypad on there if they hadn't centered the keyboard
Why? You ever type numbers?
Really?
...
No, really?
@Shinigami:
If it weren't a business laptop, I wouldn't see his point; However, unless you're Bernard Madoff, I think you're going to be storing a lot of numbers for a business - phone numbers, sales numbers, and the like.
i guess you've got a just number password for your windows 3.1 ?
I agree, It's a "Business" laptop. With that much wasted bezel a numeric keypad should be expected. Black and gray minimalist styling isn't enough to call it a "business" laptop.
Serious oversight imo. And there is no excuse for excluding one. No 16" Laptop should be considered a "business" model without one.
You guys don't understand...this is a laptop for EXECUTIVES...they have to look at the big picture, they don't have time to mess around with silly details like "numbers".
I hate off center keyboards/trackpads. I would rather have no number pad than a off center keyboard/mouse
Speaking of that keyboard... check out the second vid. If I can see the flex from the vid then I know it's gotta be bad. Looks like they made some sacrifices to get 16" down to under 5 pounds.
Also - if this works then Palm can kick themselves for not actually making the Foleo - because that's basically what the Latitude ON thing makes this, just a Foleo plus a standard laptop (with some cool gizmos added).
Only 0.57-inch thick? I really doubt it. It can't be true.
It's called a "typo."
Actually it is .57-inches thick. Forgive me I am an idiot.
look at the pictures. Looks pretty damn thin to me.
oh wow. sex me. please.
So does the UWB allow you to hook it up to your TV in your hotel room and then use it as an external monitor while you sit on the bed and control with the keyboard and pad?
What about an option to run it in dual monitor mode? I know this would be useful to share something with everyone else in the room on a trip.
Other than the lack of a numeric keyboard Johnathan noted, it's a pretty awesome laptop.
Seems like Dell has become a great computer company again, I was even going to buy one of their XPS 13 laptops for uni before I settled on an Asus N81-VP.
numeric keypad may be useful more often for people in business laptops, but personally, i wouldn't want one. i rarely use them, and having one on a laptop shifts the keyboard too far to the left, imo.
But I want a thicker bezel. C'mon Dell, props on most of the design, but why the damn practically 1" bezel? As if it's not wide enough?
It all seemed great until I got to the price tag.
scroll up and then it won't be problem. Ignorance is bliss.
Glad to see the positive reaction. There's a lot new here, if I do say so myself. More details and a video overview in a Direct2Dell blog post from Dell's Jeremy Bolen. Post has a link to more images on our Flickr page as well: http://bit.ly/QCvoG.
Thanks,
@LionelatDell
Can I have one for free
It's a 16" "business" laptop and has no numeric keypad. Can this be added as an option? The lack of keypad is completely unacceptable for a laptop of this size that is targeted at the business market.
As the unexplicable absence of a pointing stick and a real keyboard are. Engadget's audience is known to value aesthetics over substance, and is certainly not a reliable source to get feedback from on a business PC.
Dell Lattitude lineup have always been very decent machines. I wish they focus on refreshing the under 12" models though.
This is one amazing Laptop i wish the price tag was lower, and hope this laptop have USB 3.0 and not a lot of stupid pre-installed software and running Windows 7 64-bit
it's OEM, of course it will have preinstalled crap
what separates a dumbass from someone not so dumb is whether they do a fresh install when they get it.
Actually, the Dell Latitude line is pretty good about having a low amount of preinstalled crap in my experience. Consumer lines tend to be much worse in this regard than business.
Looks good to me. I just hope the "real" specs are good too. As in hard drive (hopefully it's not 1.8"), processor (hopefully at minimum it's an SP series C2D and not LV or ULV), RAM better be upgradeable, graphics better not be shitty Intel integrated only, etc. Dell disappointed me with the Adamo before, I better not be disappointed again. lol
"The Z600 goes with Ultra Low Voltage parts from Intel. You'll have two to choose from, including the Intel Core 2 Duo SU9600 and SU9400—both dual-core processors. It also supports up to 4GB of DDR3 memory. And with low-powered parts, expect battery life to be phenomenal. The 8-cell battery sticks out very awkwardly from the back, but Dell claims that it'll give you 9 hours of battery life. A 4-cell option is available, too, for weight savings."
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2353399,00.asp
*cringes* Sorry Dell. I can't handle only having the power of a 12 inch laptop in a 16in form factor (heck, some 12 in laptops are more powerful, like the Thinkpad X200). Better luck next time.
ya but the thinkpad is kinda... ugly/dated looking
you know, people complain about how engadget has a huge boner for capacitive touchscreens, and that both resistive and capacitive screens have their places and their pros/cons etc., but i don't see anyone sticking up for glossy screens against engadget's "matte only" stance. personally, i'm not entirely decided, but since i don't do any photo/video work i don't need the color accuracy, and the glare doesn't bother me that much. imo the clarity provided by glossy screens outweighs the negatives most of the time. by comparison matte screens look kind of fuzzy to me; it's especially noticeable in areas of plain white.
also, WOW that thing is thin.
I like my glossy screen, being a careful user I don't get finger print often (when I do they're not mine). I like how a glossy screen feels sturdier. Mine has a glass like finish in terms of actually touching it and that makes me feel better than having a thin plastic sheet style matte screen
i'm definitely for glossy screens. it seems to give me a better computer-using experience with what appears to be a sharper screen with brighter colours
Except this is for business users and glossy screens generally perform very poorly with office building lighting.
Svelte and slick. Great looking laptop for sure. Plenty of features I'd like to see that I probably won't get to with that price-tag.