Dell Latitude D630 review
Dell Latitude D630 is following it`s successful
predecessor D620, but it hasn’t changed much, they are both encased in a sturdy
magnesium alloy. It is a notebook suitable for travelers due to its weight of
only 2.4 kg including its standard battery. Together with the power adapter it
weights 2.85 kg, a little lighter than Dell latitude D620. Little design
changes have been done to the new Latitude D630 , the innards have been turbo
charged with Intel’s latest
The hard disk is a Hitachi Travelstar 7K100
Serial ATA hard disk, one of the fastest on the market today, with a speed of
7,200 rpm.
The Latitude D630 notched up a score of
4,236 in PCmark05, with 5,234 in the CPU, 4,381 in the memory section and 3,888
in the hard disk section. All in all, an average array of scores for the price
and we were hoping for more in the hard disk section.
The graphic card Dell has included is an x3100 from Intel that scored only 11 frames per second in Fear. With a good resolution of 1,440x900, the 14.1 widescreen display is quite pleasing. This notebook is not for gamers, but still older games should not have any problem running.
The D630 is bursting with
other features. Like the Gateway E-265M, it has four USB ports and a FireWire
port. The DVD burner might not seem like much, but its modular, which means you
can swap it out with other optical-drive solutions. For security, the laptop
integrates a Trusted Platform Module, SmartCard Reader, fingerprint reader, and
theft recovery services via Computrace. An EV-DO modem is located in the base
of the system and the antennas are embedded in the notebook screen, giving you
access to Verizon's EV-DO Rev A networks. Theoretically, you can achieve up to
3.1 Mbps throughput speeds if you pick up a strong cell-phone signal. Being essentially a Dell
Latitude the ATG is well connected. On
the wired side is a RJ45 LAN jack for the ATG's Gigabit network interface.
Modems are still occasionally used, and so there is an RJ11 jack for the 56k
v924 modem.
The brightness has been increased from 185
nits , value of D620 to 220 nits, witch is actually quite a big change.
The design is subdued, the grey exterior and
black interior will fit into even the
most buttoned-up corporate environments. More important, the laptop's magnesium
alloy case brings an extra sturdiness that you don't see on consumer laptops,
and its display hinges are reinforced for the long haul.
The screen's matte finish makes it
good for typical office productivity
work, though, and its wide aspect ratio lets you comfortably work with
Most impressive aspect of this machine is
its build quality witch is exlecelent. The use of magnesium alloy helps to make
the chassis robust, and it provides plenty of protection for its components.
The casing on the rear of the display is satisfyingly strong, and a curved edge
to the bezel prevents items from falling between the display and keyboard when
closed.
The networking is quite disappointing, dell
included just a 802.11g PCI Express mini card. Since D630`s card slots are
hidden well beneath the keyboard you won’t be able to upgrade to the new
Draft-N standard if you decide to buy the new Dell Latitute D630 now.
It’s true the keyboard is not that big but
it is very well made, with a silent touch and with a good amount of travel and
some of the peripheral keys are slightly cramped. Navigation is done either by
a quite big touch pad or a responsive pointing stick in the middle of the
keyboard.
This is Dell's first notebooks to support
3.6Mbits per second HSDPA mobile broadband. You get access by inserting a SIM
card behind the battery. It's an exclusive tie up with Vodafone, who demands a
monthly subscription for the service. However, the unit isn't locked to
Vodafone so you could insert any old sim card but Dell won't offer support if
you do this.
Under the left palm are situated the 2W speakers, witch have quite a good quality. Very accessible are the quick mute and volume buttons witch are situated just on top of the keyboard.
There are two batteries included in the
package, one of them is a standard six-cell battery an extended nine-cell
battery that juts out from the front of the chassis. Tests have proven that the
values for the life of the batteries are not bad at all, the Dell has achieved
two hours and 30 minutes for the 9 cell battery and one hour and forty minutes
with its standard battery.
Overall the notebook is excellent for
everyday use, with a weight of only 2,4 kg and the help of the thin chassis it
slips easily into any bag. The new upgrades since the D620 are welcome and they
come together to make the new D630 one of the top notebooks for travelers. Its
price is pretty competitive having in mind all the new upgrades and its
performance. The new Dell is a business class notebook due to it`s functions.
Not very pleasing is the fact that the upgrades are quite expensive. The D630 comes with a
standard warranty of three years for parts and labor, including next-business-day
on-site service witch is quite good comparing to other competitors.
While the Dell Latitude
starts at a very reasonable US$2,198, suitably equipped version costs
more. So with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7300,
2GB of RAM, the shock-mounted 80GB drive, and a CDRW/DVD optical drive, the
price is US$2,871, still quite reasonable.