Dell's New Latitude Line Offers Game-Changing Features
Date : 14 Aug 2008 Category : Technology
NewsFactor Network"They're looking to find a way to marry the benefits of laptop performance with the instant-on access and radically extended battery life people expect from smartphones," said Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT, in a telephone interview.
Latitude ON leverages a separate subprocessor and subsystem that allows the user to turn on the laptop without having to boot the entire system, King said. "You'll push a button and the system will be on in a second or two. You can't run the full range of applications and multimedia, but you will have Outlook and basic browser functionality. It's a way for employees to simply turn on the machine and work."
In addition, if the system is run exclusively in ON mode, the ultramobile's battery life will be extended substantially, King added.
Extensive Battery Life
Battery life is another area where Dell's E line is impressive, King said. In combination with an additional battery pack, the mainstream E6400, with a 14.1-inch screen, can run on battery power for 19 hours, Dell says. "That's impressive by any metric," King said.
The new machines show the increased importance of mobility in the enterprise, King said. "Mobility as an issue is moving throughout enterprise, it's not just road-warrior types," he said. "Mobility is increasingly important to businesses of every kind," from employees working at home to contractors who drop into satellite offices to salespeople who are constantly on the road.
A key to advancing mobility is Dell's new...