The Dell Latitude D630 laptop was first introduced in 2007. It has a 1.80 Intel core duo processor. A "duo" processor means that you take the processor speed and double it. It shipped with 512MB of RAM and an 80 GB hard drive. It originally sold for $1900 dollars, now you can find one much cheaper on eBay for about $500 dollars. It weighs 5.8 pounds with a dell latitude d630 battery which is a little heavy for a modern laptop. It has a 14.1 inch LCD display that is bright and clear and great for playing games or watching video on.
Combine such superb battery life with one of the other new additions, the integrated HSDPA adapter, and you've got a perfect mobile companion. For a laptop so obviously suited to a life on the road, it's reassuring that build quality is well up to scratch. A single catch holds the lid in place when it's in a bag, and despite weighing just 2.4kg every aspect of the build feels like it will last a lifetime.
That's not to say the Dell is out of its depth back in the confines of an office. The keyboard is a superb example, boasting full-sized keys with a lovely, positive feel, and is only bettered by that of HP's 6910p. The touchpad and trackpoint are equally praiseworthy. Performance has also taken a leap forward, thanks to the considerably faster Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 processor. Allied with 2GB of memory, this powered the Dell to a fine 1.15 in our benchmarks.
The notebook also incorporates a thorough set of features for business -- including corporate-level security measures and optional WWAN -- for a lower price than competitors such as the Lenovo ThinkPad T61. It's enough to tempt even longtime ThinkPad users to make the switch. Businesses can't go wrong choosing the Dell Latitude D630.
We like the subdued design of the Dell Latitude D630; its grey exterior and black interior will fit into even the most buttoned-up corporate environments. More important, the notebook's magnesium alloy case brings an extra sturdiness that you don't see on consumer systems, and its display hinges are reinforced for the long haul. With its standard battery, the
Latitude D630 battery weighs 2.3kg, but our review unit included an extended battery that brought its weight up to 2.6kg. That's near the outer limit for a thin-and-light system, though just 181g heavier than the Lenovo ThinkPad T61. With its AC adapter, the Dell hits the road at 3kg, which is manageable for travel but not something we'd want to carry with us every day.
Specification:
- Processor: Intel T7300 Core 2 Duo (2.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, 4MB Cache)
- Graphics: Intel GMA X3100
- Operating System: Windows Vista Business 32-bit
- Display: WXGA+ 1440 x 900 (matte)
- Hard Drive: 80GB 540RPM
- Memory: 512MB (512MB x 1), up to 4GB max
- Optical Drive: DVD +/- RW
- Battery: 9-cell 85WHr
- Security: UPEK fingerprint reader
- Pointing device: Touchpad or Track Stick
- Intel 3945 WLAN (802.11a/g) mini Card
- Dell Wireless 360 Bluetooth Vista Module
- USA keyboard
- Dimensions: 13.3" x 9.37" x 1.09 - 1.27" (337mm x 238mm x 27.6 - 32.3mm)
- Weight: 5.1lbs with DVD drive and 6-cell, 5.8lbs with 9-cell, 6.6lbs with AC adaptor and 9-cell
- 3 Year warranty, In-Home Service, International
Being a business class laptop, the D630 is very sober in its design and color. It comes with a two-tone matte black-and-gray chassis that looks quite elegant. The construction material is sturdy – the lid and underside of the laptop are made from magnesium alloy. This imparts the body of the Dell D630 battery a certain amount of stiffness, which eliminates any squeaks that might develop over time. The hinges, while not super reinforced as in Lenovo's products, are quite sturdy, nicely designed, and long-lasting.
Another good thing we noticed is that the area surrounding the LCD panel is thicker than normal, that is, the screen is a bit more recessed than usual. This helps to prevent the screen from developing LCD pattern problems that could occur if excessive pressure is applied on the laptop.
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 dell latitude d620 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.
In a world where manufacturers regularly adjust key width and placement to fit the width of their notebooks, we appreciate the Dell Latitude D630's standard keyboard, which is quite comfortable for pounding out emails and Word documents. If you don't like the flat-headed pointing stick (not unlike that found on a ThinkPad) with two dedicated mouse buttons below the space bar, you can use the wide, rectangular touchpad, which has its own activation buttons on the wrist rest. If you opt for biometric security (as we did on our system), Dell squeezes a fingerprint reader between the touch pad's buttons; we appreciate the added security but wish the buttons were a bit larger. Above the keyboard sit all the media controls you'll need on a business notebook: volume up, volume down and mute. For a business system, the Latitude D630 has some pretty nice speakers; although the sound became muddled at high volumes, sound in the lower three-quarters of the volume range was full and balanced.
The Dell Latitude D630 battery includes most of the ports and connections we'd expect on a thin-and-light, plus a few extras. It lacks S-Video-out and a multiformat flash card reader (neither of which is essential for business users), but the Latitude D630 does add one more USB port than average, plus a serial port for use with older, specialised peripherals. In addition, the Latitude D630 piles on corporate-level security measures, including not only a fingerprint reader but also a smart card slot and an internal Trusted Platform Module. Another noteworthy feature is the Latitude D630's Wi-Fi On/Off switch, which incorporates a Wi-Fi finder. Sliding the switch past the On position lets you test for nearby Wi-Fi networks, whether you're booted up or powered down on don't even have to turn your system on to find a network.
The fully configurable Latitude D630 can come pre-loaded with new Windows VistaTM , Windows XP or FreeDOS to suit your business needs. IT decision-makers will appreciate the optional encrypted or solid-state* hard drives, along with D-family peripheral commonality. Users will appreciate the multiple graphics cards options, and the added productivity boost of the optional brighter WXGA panel.
This full-featured mainstream laptop enhances the previous generation Latitude D620 with the latest Intel® Core™2 Duo processors, your choice of Intel integrated graphics or NVidia® discrete graphics, and new levels of customisation.
We don't think so. Flash is cool, because it's expensive, and because it does provide significant performance advantages (when SLC flash is used). But while our results are interesting for most users, they will be shocking to road warriors. You will see very clearly in the benchmark section that theory and real life are sometimes entirely different.
We still believe that flash-based drives will be the future for the performance segment, but they must not become a key component for energy-efficient notebooks and ultra-portables — where performance is secondary — as long as their average power consumption is higher than that of conventional 2.5" notebook hard drives. In fact, even a high-performance 7,200 RPM 2.5" drive provided better overall battery runtime than most of the flash SSDs we put through the Mobilemark test.
Dell Latitude D630 is a premium unit with increased specifications separating it from the D530, but trailing the D430 model. This model's design is focused on mobility while functioning as a reliable business tool, while its price, starting at $1,085 reflects its position within the Latitude line-up. The Intel Core 2 Duo processor works with a 2.33 GHz CPU speed, and the graphics are supported by a standard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100. The 14.1" WXGA display is compact and is intended for users sensitive to weight and mobility. What separates the D630 from lower Latitude models is its connectivity package. Found standard is Intel PRO/Wireless 802.11a/g/Draft-N and Wireless 360 Bluetooth, while Built-in WiFi Catcher increases the laptops network connecting capabilities. There is still room for customizable options on the toshiba satellite 2410 battery, from optical drive to security features like the UPEK finger print reader to help protect user privacy.
Dell has recently emerged with its all new Note Book model Latitude TM D630 to provide an end - to - end solutions to its customers. With about 9.4 hours battery back up and the mobile nature these notebooks are definitely going to capture the market. ?Customers are sending us the message that they want mobile products with the latest features but no added complexities that can distract them from building their businesses,? said Margaret Franco, director, Dell Product Group. With hard drive that enables utmost security without any performance thrashing Latitude D630 notebooks displays are up to 38 percent brighter than the previous inventions. They have HyperConnectTM features that permit users to work from practically anyplace with integrated 802.11n wireless connectivity for increased throughput and range. Dell is also coming out in few days with an Optional solid state (SSD) drive weeks that delivers performance, dependability and stability as the flash-based storage would not have moving parts.
The Dell Latitude D630 battery replacement is a decently compact and nicely designed chassis with an awesome line of options available. As tested, there is no doubt that a notebook such as this would cater to most business and home users alike. However, the Latitude line is not available for sale under Dell's Home and Home Office section. Move onto Small and Medium-sized Businesses, and you will find it, but to order from here, you'd need a business license to order from that section.
The way Dell gleefully installed Windows XP without much clutter-ware bodes well for repeating and/or large corporate orders, and a solidly built system (besides the keyboard), a well designed keyboard and pointing system, as well as its light weight and long battery life helps push the D630 up the corporate ladder's favorites list.
