Dell Latitude E Series Launched

Dell today announced newly designed Latitude E Series laptops and Precision mobile workstations.

The new Latitude systems are based on Intel processors. The notebooks provide “a breakthrough battery life” and a choice of five chassis colors.

Ultra-Portable - Dell Latitude E4200 is a 12.1-inch laptop that starts at 2.2 pounds, making it the lightest commercial notebook in the company’s history. The 13.3-inch Latitude E4300 has a starting weight of 3.3 pounds. Designed for road warriors and executives who demand maximum performance and light weight, the systems will be available in the coming weeks.

Mainstream – The Dell Latitude E6400 and E6500, available today, are 14.1- and 15.4-inch laptops that start at $1,139 and $1,169, respectively. The systems are ideal desktop replacements for high-performance users.

Essential – The Latitude E5400, a 14.1-inch notebook, starts at $839, and the E5500, a 15.4-inch notebook starts at $869. Available today, the systems include everyday features at a cost-effective price.

Semi-Rugged – The Latitude E6400 ATG is a 14.1-inch semi-rugged laptop that starts at $2,399 and will be available next week. It is built and tested to meet Military 810F standards for dust, vibration and humidity.

Desk-Based - From new port replicators to full docking solutions that fit any usage scenario with smaller footprints and streamlined cabling, users can “hot undock.”

According to the press release, the Dell Latitude E6400 has a battery life of up to 19 hours. All of the new Latitudes feature a full-frame magnesium alloy construction and all-metal hinges, backlit keyboards, and the ControlVault solution. It consists of “intelligent security sub-processors with embedded non-volatile storage that centralizes and helps protect user credentials and security keys in a single hardened security vault away from the systems main drive”.

The laptops also incorporate the Dell Latitude ON mini operating system that boots near-instantly and provides access to e-mail, calendar, attachments, contacts, and the Web.

Regarding the Precision mobile workstation lineup, there are two new systems - the M4400 and M2400.

Dell Precision M4400 – Starting at $1,569, the 15.4-inch mobile workstation features leading-edge graphics and supports up to 8 GB of RAM.

Dell Precision M2400 – Weighing 4.77 pounds, the company’s lightest mobile workstation is a 14.1-inch system that starts at $1,4491.

Dell Latitude Notebooks

This article was initially published on 02/01/2008, and updated with the new info on 03/20/2008 and 08/20/2008.

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[…] Dell has announced recently the new business notebook line, including the Latitude E5400 14.1-inch series with “everyday features at a cost-effective price”. […]

[…] The Latitude E Series E6400 is based on the Intel Centrino 2 mobile platform and comes with a Core 2 Duo processor, up to 8GB of DDR2 memory, up to 250GB of hard drive space or a 64GB solid state drive, and a DVD ROM, Combo drive, or DVD burner. The Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated or the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M 256MB dedicated GPU manages its 1280×800 or 1440×900 display. The screen with higher resolution is offered with optional LED backlight. […]

[…] The Latitude E Series E6500 is based on Intel’s Centrino 2 technology. The notebook comes with a Core 2 Duo processor, up to 8GB of the latest DDR3 memory, up to 250GB of hard drive space or a 64GB solid state drive, and a DVD ROM, Combo drive, or DVD burner. The Intel 4500MHD integrated or the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M 256MB dedicated GPU manages its 1280×800 or 1440×900 display. The latter uses LED backlight. In addition, Dell announced that the E6500 will be offered with a 1920×1200 screen later. […]

From new port replicators to full docking solutions that fit any usage scenario with smaller footprints and streamlined cabling, users can “hot undock.”

One thing to consider … the docking station does not present itself to the OS as a docking station … so there is no undock option.

As such, if you ‘hot undock’ while a disk operation is in progress on an external device … you risk damaging the data (at minimum logically … possibly even physical damage to the device).

Microsoft technotes is very explicit regarding undocking …

Removing a portable computer without using Undock can result in system instability, data loss, or even hardware damage. To avoid loss or damage, use Undock to undock your computer, or shut down the system and undock the portable computer while your system is off. Undocking a portable computer while it is in either standby mode or hibernate mode can result in data loss and system instability.