Prime Notebook Computer Review

The Dell Latitude D620 which is strong build is notebook for bussiness user. It is a replace from D610 with both design change and internal components. The D620 is adopts a widescreen format. It is allows to more easily have two windows open next to each other at the same time. The aesthetically looks nice and professional. It is a dark charcoal-grey inside with silver accents and silver lid. It is distinctive and professional looking but not elegant and sleek. The D620 is very sturdy with all magnesium-alloy case. The hinges are constructed of steel with a new barrel design to withstand vibration better than past Latitude notebooks. The screen latch is also constructed of metal to provide durability. The Dell has implemented StrikeZone technology that reduces the amount of shock experienced in the hard drive area during a drop situation. The weight is pretty impressive too, with only about 5.6lbs with a 6-cell battery.

The Latitude D620 specs :

Processor : Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz
Display : 14.1″ WXGA screen
Memory : 1GB 533MHz DDR2 RAM
Hard Drive : 80GB 5400RPM
Optical Drive : 24X CDRW / DVD Combo
Graphics : Intel Media Accelerator 950
OS : Windows XP Professional
Wireless : Dell Wireless 1490 802.11 a/g
Dimensions : 1.26″x 13.27″x 9.37″ (HxWxD)
Weight : 5.6lbs

The D620 comes with Intel T2400 1.83GHz Core Duo processor. The Core Duo is Intel’s latest mobile processor that features two cores to enable faster overall performance and be especially adept at providing good performance when multi-tasking with programs. The performance of the processor is impressive. The D620 supports RAM with bus speeds of up to 667MHz with the new Intel 945 chipset being used. The hard drive can configure up to a 100GB storage and 7200RPM for those that want the increased performance. The D620 contains the bare basics and very little software outside of Dell security application and a few management tools. It’s great.
Super Pi used to comparize the laptops. The result : Dell Latitude D620 Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz took 81 seconds to calculate Pi to 2 Million digits of accuracy, Dell Inspiron e1505 2.0GHz Core Duo took 76 seconds, Sony VAIO S380 1.83 GHz Alviso Pentium M took 102 seconds and Lenovo ThinkPad T60 2.0GHz Core Duo took 78 seconds to calculate the value.

The D620 keyboard is full size with no flex and overall a pleasure to use. The key touch is lighter than say a ThinkPad. The D620 also has dual navigation via a touchpad or pointing stick input. The pointing stick to be faster and easier to use than the touchpad.The dual mouse buttons have a nice feel and positioned. Between the lower mouse button the fingerprint reader is installed for biometric security login.

The D620 screen is WXGA (1280 x 800) or WXGA+ (1440 x 900). Dell is adopting the widescreen format with the thinking that it allows business users to more easily display side-by-side document windows. It is also offers a lower overall profile. The D620 also has a built-in ambient light sensor built-in that will control the screen brightness when on battery. The brightness is decent and there is some backlight leakage from the bottom and the overall picture is slightly washed out.

The speaker is basically play system sounds properly. When playing music and DVDs it’s better plug-in the headphones. The speaker is on the front side.
The D620 has been whisper quiet and it does a great job of staying cool. The main vent is on the back area and another vent is located on the left side. It’s cool and quiet running notebook.

The D620 ports are : Kensington lock, headphone jack, microphone jack, IrDA, Smart Card, Wi-Fi Catcher, PCMCIA slot on the left. Ethernet LAN and Modem, 2 USB 2.0 ports, Serial port, VGA out port, Power port, Fan and Vents on the back. Optical drive media bay and USB 2.0 ports on the right side.
The D620 comes with some wireless like Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g, IrDa and Bluetooth which works well.

The Latitude D620 also have some security tools to protect the data. They are BIOS passwords & Port Disablement, Integrated Smart Card reader -Smart Cards provide strong user authentication, Smart Cards that can be used in conjunction with a PKI environment via Windows XP & Vista, UPEK Finger Print reader, and Pre boot Authentication.

The battery choices for D620 are a 4-cell, 6-cell or 9-cell battery. The battery location is at the front and not the back of the laptop. With 6-cell battery, it’s get 2 hours and 36 minutes of battery life with wi-fi on and screen at mid-brightness and doing tasks. That’s not great.

The Latitude D620 although have no Express Card 54 slot, Multimedia card reader and SD card reader, the screen is slightly washed out, and the battery life is not good enough, it is still very well built notebook. The performance is very good with nice industrial look. It also have a excellent build and constructions. The widescreen format offers greater viewing area and it have a great security via Smart Card, biometrics and security software. The D620 is a notebook for business worker or someone that wants a notebook for productivity purposes and don’t need a bunch of bells and whistles media features.