latitude
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Dell fesses to more vertical line issues -- offers free replacements
Get 'em while they're hot, Dell's offering up free (labor and parts) replacements for laptop LCD screens with vertical line issues. Owners of Inspiron 6000 and 8600, Latitude D800 and D810, and Precision M60 and M70 machines exhibiting one-pixel wide vertical line(s) are now eligible for a free LCD replacement or cash money refund if Dell already repaired your box sometime in the past. According to Dell, all the affected machines shipped between December 2004 and December 2006. Apparently, this is the same issue already corrected on the 17-inch LCDs shipped with their Inspiron 9200, 9300 and Dell XPS Gen 2 laptops back in April. Your slab not exhibiting the problem? No worries, if it gets ugly in the future, you're still eligible for a replacement within three years of purchase. The issue has been tracked back to one specific component used on a small number of LCDs across Dell's Lineup. Hey Dell, care to share that information with Apple to see if it's the cause of their 17-inch LCD woes? Wouldn't be the first time you two sourced the same OEM panels. Dell users, click the read link below to get yours.
Dell ends rumors, launching Latitude tablet in 2007
Jeff Clarke, Dell Business Product Group SVP/GM didn't have much to say about the new tablet Dell Latitude that's been rumored about for, well, years, but at very least Dell has finally and officially put the rumors to bed. Showing off a sexyslim Dell tablet in a video posted to Dell's blog, the edu / health / corporate-aimed unit will be"one of the lightest weight convertible tablets in the marketplace... [with] leadership tech in its pen and touch interfaces." Quick recap what is confirmed: Dell's doing a widescreen convertible tablet It looks pretty friggin thin It's got a touchscreen and pen input (digitizer); it also has a biometric reader. It's coming out "later this year". Wish we had more info than that, but we tip our hats to Dell for helping us finally put an end all the years of agonizing and rumor-mongering about this mythic lappie of theirs.[Via JKOTR]
Dell officially announces Santa Rosa-based D630 and D830
Not one to be left out of today's Santa Rosa madness, Dell has officially announced a couple of laptops that, like most of the Santa Rosa laptops now rolling out, have already managed to make themselves known. In case you missed it, the Latitude D830 and D630 offer two variations on the same theme, with the former boasting a 14.1-inch display and the latter a 15.4-inch one, and each packing integrated 802.11n WiFi, as well as your choice of an Intel Turbo Memory cache card or a hyrbrid hard drive to help speed things up a bit. Dell's also showing a bit of love to AMD (who must be feeling a little left out today), officially announcing its 15.4-inch D531 Latitude, available with your choice of Turion 64 or Sempron processors, but lacking the SSD and hybrid storage options of the Intel-based Latitudes. From the looks of it, all three are available now, with the D630 and D830 starting at $1,189 and $1,249, respectively, and the D531 coming in at $839 for the base configuration.
Dell says "us too!" with Latitude D830 and D630 Santa Rosa and AMD models
We're not out of the woods yet when it comes to Santa Rosa releases. Dell is throwing its business-friendly hat into the ring with the 14.1-inch D630 and the 15.4-inch D830, according to some leaked info Laptoping got ahold of. The laptops are not only going to feature Santa Rosa chips and Vista, but SSD and hybrid storage options (like Dell recently added to the D420 and D640) and up to 4GB of RAM. Depending on the model, the laptops will come with an Intel GM965 or PM965 chipset, along with X3100 integrated graphics -- though it's likely a dedicated graphics choice will be offered as well. The 14.1-inch D630 is sporting the same case as its D620 predecessor, and offers up 1280 x 800 or 1440 x 900 screen resolutions. The D830 does 1280 x 800, 1680 x 1050 or 1920 x 1200 on its 15.4-inch screen, and sports the same look as the D820 before it. Both laptops feature 802.11n, gigabit Ethernet and PCMCIA, while the D830 also adds in Smart Card and ExpressCard slots. Dell is also reportedly prepping the Latitude D531 and D631, which feature similar specs to those of the D630, but run AMD Turion 64 X2 processors and integrated ATI Radeon X1270 graphics. The hybrid and SSD stuff is all here, though the D531 does lose the 802.11n. You can get the D531 with a 1280 x 800 14.1-inch screen, or a 15.4-inch 1280 x 800 or 1440 x 900 screen, while the 14.1-inch D631 sports those latter two.Read - Dell Latitude D630Read - Dell Latitude D830Read - Dell Latitude D531, D631
Dell joins the fray, offers SSD in Latitude D420, D620
Not a moment too soon, Dell has finally decided to bite and offer up solid state disc drives in a couple of its Latitudes. Joining Sony, Fujitsu, and Samsung (just to name a few), the Texas powerhouse has just announced that users can satisfy their SSD cravings by snapping up a D420 or D620 ATG laptop, both of which can contain a 1.8-inch 32GB SSD drive from SanDisk. According to the release, the drives should be available right now as an add-on option for the US market (Europe and Asia to "follow soon"), but opting for one of these suckas will cost you $549 more than a traditional HDD.[Via Electronista]
ZDNet Netherlands trashes a Dell ATG laptop
While we don't think Dell ever intended for its ruggedized ATG Latitude laptop to be taken for an indestructible laptop, the smash-happy folks at ZDNet Netherlands nonetheless decided to see just how far that supposed ruggedness would take it when pushed to the limits. As you can see for yourself in the video linked below, the battery of tests they put the laptop through are definitely not for the faint of heart, with it facing coffee spills, drops onto a concrete floor, and the wrong end of a hammer -- not to mention the grand finale seen above. While the laptop managed to stay in one piece it certainly didn't come out unscathed, so the ATG users among you out there will probably still want to take it easy on it -- and if you don't, be sure to send us the video.
Dell's ruggedized Latitude ATG D620 launched, reviewed
If you're interested in getting into the semi-ruggedized laptop game, but aren't quite ready to sacrifice those Dell, um, good looks, then you might dig this new ATG D620 Latitude from your boringbook manufacturer of choice, which claimed to be considering going rugged late last year. The new laptop plays off of that plain vanilla D620 we saw early last year, but beefs up the exterior, shock-mounts the hard drive, spill-resists the keyboard and covers up those ports to defend against the harsh outdoors and / or occasional board meeting skirmish. The 1280 x 800 14.1-inch display is the same as its non-rugged counterpart, with the notable exception of 500 nits of brightness, making the display much more viewable outdoors. The laptop also includes ATG task lights for finding the keyboard in the dark, and that lovable selection of WWAN options Dell is so fond of providing these days. No pre-loaded Vista here, but the laptop does come Vista ready, and with Core 2 Duo processors and room for 4GB of RAM, there should be plenty under the hood to manage the new OS. Prices start at $2499. The folks over at Notebook Review already got their hands on one of these, and they seemed to enjoy the 500 nit screen, thought the battery life to be good with the 9-cell option, and found the rugged feel to be "convincing." Downsides of the laptop include the lack of dedicated graphics, the 1.8-inch HDD (since the full-size drives don't fit with all that padding) and a few other more minor quibbles.Read - Dell Launches its First Ruggedized NotebookRead - Dell Latitude ATG D620 Semi-Rugged Notebook Review
Mac OS drivers appear in Dell download list
Somehow, some way, Mac OS drivers have appeared as a download option for a Dell Latitude X1. How many times do we have to tell you Michael Dell: You can't sell Mac OS X, no matter how often or how badly you wish to sell an operating system that's made for this century. Besides, trying to sneak it onto your site is just bad form.If you want to see this interesting quirk for yourself, check it out at Dell's Driver and Downloads site. As of this writing, you can snag your own 'Mac OS' drivers for a Latitude X1.This most likely is nothing more than a quirk of Dell's site, as we (thankfully) haven't heard of Jobs changing his mind or seen reports of the sky falling. You can go on about your business.[via Engadget]
Dell has another Latitude on the way
We almost thought we were off the hook with these Latitude updates, after seeing the D520, D620 and D820 all receive Core Duo goodness fairly recently. Well Dell just revealed another Latitude in the works, the D420, which has a 12-inch screen and seems to hold up the ultracompact end of the spectrum. Not to be outdone by its larger siblings, the 420 will also include 3G data, but that's all we know for now. The notebook, which is due in about a month, was casually revealed during an on stage conversation with Michael Dell during the Future in Review conference today. Dell also mentioned that the company is doubling its India staff from 10,000 to 20,000 over the next three years, so get ready for some (more) hilarious phone support hijinks.
