DELL LATITUDE D630 Review

The Latitude D630 is Dell’s latest update to the D620, a light-weight business class machine. The Dell D630 comes with the very anticipated Santa Rosa platform but is visually the same as its predecessor. The machine starts at $899 (as of this writing) and most upgrades are reasonably priced.

The D630 sports the same ergonomics that we loved about the D620: a pointing stick, dedicated volume and mute buttons, and a roomy, spill-resistant keyboard with minimal flex. The attractive black and gray body feels as solid as a tank with its magnesium-alloy build and sturdy, reinforced hinges. The only oddity is the dell latitude d630 battery; it sticks out of the front of the notebook, rather than the back. A biometric fingerprint reader is nestled between the smallish mouse buttons that, combined with TPM circuitry and a SmartCard slot, grants corporate-level security. We would have liked to see a dedicated ExpressCard slot as an additional expandability option (the D630 offers up ExpressCard connectivity via USB) and a webcam for videoconferencing. Mobile professionals should note that at 5.8 pounds, the D630 is a bit heavier than the 5.2-pound Lenovo T61.

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

Ports:
4 - USB 2.0 (two in the back and two on the right)
FireWire (left)Security lock (left)
Headphone out & microphone in (left)
VGA out (back)56k modem (back)
Gigabit Ethernet (back)
Power (back)
Serial (back)

Slots:
1 PC Card Slot
Smart Card Slot
Docking station
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

This laptop also comes with a three-year warranty from Dell. This is one of the longer warranties available in the market for notebook PC's.

Internet connectivity options, very vital for the mobile businessmen, are also great on this notebook. It boasts of 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity, as well a Wi-Fi catcher functioning even in shut down status. Mobile broadband, WWAN, all are available as an option to integrate into the laptop.

Latitude D630 battery caters to the corporate type person who's not putt off by a little extra weight and needs a long lasting battery. The 9-cell extended battery really turns this model into a power horse, even watching DVD's at full brightness will only drain the battery after 4 hrs 45 minutes. A smaller mouse button size due to the presence of a fingerprint reader is probably of little concern if you are in a place where you can use a normal sized mouse or will be primarily using the comfortable keyboard more than anything else.

Last but not the least, Dell has recently updated the security features of this model. However, we'll have a look at those weighty features in our review of D830, another from the Latitude series that enjoys those features.

To conclude, we have to agree it is an excellent choice for any businessman.

HP Pavilion DV8000 Review

When I purchased my MacBook Pro a year ago, I had originally intended it to be my portable editing facility. In the current configuration, it has more than enough power to edit DV or HDV in the field with an attached G2 FW800 drive and a Sony HDV deck. My HP Pavilion DV8000 battery is also a 17-inch system, but weighs quite a bit more than the MacBook Pro. Little did I know that midway through this fall semester I would get extremely tired of lugging two laptops to work with me so I could get class work done on the Mac (thanks to Keynote being an awesome app) and my regular writing (DVICE.com, Major Spoilers, Coolness Roundup) on the PC.

Around November I decided to make the migration from using the PC laptop to using the Mac exclusively for everything I do. For the most part I have mirrored everything from the PC to the Mac, with two exceptions; Adobe After Effects (needs to be updated to run on Leopard), and my e-mail. I like Mac Mail a lot, but considering I have hundreds of contacts on the PC, moving them to the Mac as easily as possible is/was one of those final frontier things.

Of course Microsoft and Apple are never going to make it easy to migrate from one system to the other, and my contact list is no exception. Using the standard export/import features on both applications was not a success. Either no data would import, or about half the contact info would import, but not in the correct information cell.

Fortunately, an hour of searching the web for a short way revealed the answer – use Thunderbird as an in between step.

Take the jump for the step by step and save yourself the trouble if you are moving.

Specifications:

• Screen size: 17 inch
• Processor: AMD Turion64 – 1.8 GHz
• Video Card: ATI Radeon Xpress 200M
• RAM: 512 MB
• Hard Drive: 80 GB
• Operating System: Windows XP
• Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW/R & CW-RW Combo
• Built-in Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN

The HP Pavilion dv8000 battery comes with BrightView screen technology, integrated Altec Lansing speakers and a remote control and pre-loaded Inter-Video software. User don’t even have to wait for the machine to boot with the provision of HP QuickPlay allowing the user to jump straight into both movies and music.

At the heart of the HP Pavilion dv8000 lies the AMD Turion 64 ML-32, offering wireless connectivity on the move. The model also comes with an ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M graphics, 128Mb of dedicated video memory and 1Gb RAM.

The laptop is also fitted with an 80Gb hard-disc drive and comes with a 6-in-1 digital media reader.

If you can do without these kinds of perks, check out the Presario family models, which are otherwise similar and start at lower price points.

The Pavilion line’s main attractions are the thin-and-light dv1000, the first HP laptop to feature an Intel Core Duo processor; the midsize dv4000 and dv5000; and the desktop-replacement hp pavilion dv8000 battery, which features options such as Windows XP Media Center, a PCI Express card TV tuner, and a dual-lamp display.