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"Perfect for the road warrior looking for feather weight" on by bear00001
Pros: Battery life, light weight, wide screen, slim media base, everything built in
Cons: Larger drive would be nice, jumpy touch pad
Summary: What a great surprise!! I have been a user of Dell's ligthest Latitude machines for many years including the C400, D410 and now the D420.
When I got my D420 over a month ago, I had not really looked at the footprint. This machine is a lot sexier than the D410 I bought in February 2006.
My biggest issue is always batteries. I'm on planes, in remote offices, hotels, airports etc at least 15 hours a week. I always hesitated powering up my laptop for fear of running my battery down after an hour or two. With this macine, I am able to get 7+ hours with the 9 cell battery!!! Close to 5 hours with the 6 cell and 3 hours with the 4 cell battery.
The mini-PCI bluetooth and Broadband card are also great. No more fudging for the full size PCI card. The antenna seems to have a better range for the broadband.
The screen size is great on planes. I especially like the fact that in economy, I can open the laptop and work even when the passenger in front of me is in full recline mode.
The weight factor is wonderful. I now have two options when traveling. My normal laptop bag with a weeks worth of work (total 11 lbs). My second option is a slim attaché case with the laptop, an extra battery and a couple of files, toothbrush... (no power cord!!!) I'll use this for day trips or an overnight trip (total 6 lbs). I've even left the laptop bags at home and started putting the laptop in the outside poach of my carry on luggage. It fits anywhere because it is so thin!!!
I was also surpised that the media base did not increase the weight or size very much. If I ever need to take the media base along (my kids might want to watch some movies on a long plane ride), then it will certainly not be a hassle.
For those who think they need a built-in CD/DVD. You would be surprised how easy it is to get by without one. I have managed for over 5 years. Besides, God invented USB thumb drives to help us out!
My only beef is the small hard drive. The 60 GB (and now 80 GB) drives are the new 2.5" form factor which explains why the drives are not at 120 GB yet. I'm sure that in a year, this problem will be solved.
I'm especially happy/excited that with 1.5 Gb of memory on my machine, I will be able to have the full Vista experience!
My support experience with Dell has improved over the past year. It is not perfect, but for business users, it meets our need.
The touchpad settings need to be "adjusted". I turn the "tapping" feature off, because my thumb often triggers a "tap" which is annoying.
I have to say that this laptop is NOT for everyone. I have a workstation in my home office where I do all my "technology" heavy lifting. I could not survive with just the power of this Latitude to get all my technology work done.
Finally, I must add that I purchased a 19" LCD screen and the D-Docking station. When I return from my trips, I slip the D420 into my desk's cupboard (where the docking station is) and I only have my bluetooth keyboard, mouse and wired monitor on my desk which is a lot more fun then my old days of using the laptop/docking station without a monitor on my desk and losing a lot of real estate.
Great job Dell!!! -
"Nice small laptop" on by xpcman
Pros: size & weight
Cons: external CD/DVD Price
Summary: I have the Core Duo with 1.5GB. Works well for a small 3 lb laptop. Has heavy duty case and docks to the standard D-dock units. Negatives are PRICE (Options make it cost over $2,000) and it could have a better and larger screen. It surfs the Web and does Office tasks just like my Athlon64 3500+ desktop.
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"Dude - you're getting a Dell" on by noobinacan
Pros: small size - light weight and looks great
Cons: Max HD is only 80GB and 4200 rpm. Dell should have added a SATA drive
Summary: Things I like about the D420
1) I love the way the keyboard is setup on the D420. Its so easy to type...while its in your lap and on the desk. none of the keys are sized down or anything. PERFECT!
I also love the placement of the "Delete" key-top left corner and "Ctl" key-bottom left corner.
2) The screen does not flex at all, which is great. Sony screens have a lot of flex in them, which basically means that if you're not careful, you're screen will crack.
3) Latop feels solid and the darksilver/carbon grey colors look great.
4) I don't have the reflective screen and I like it that way.
5) I went with the Intel build in NIC and its pretty nice. it picked up all the access points in my building. Including my own secured AP. Also, a thing to note is that it picks up AP's that don't broadcast.
6) Weight: Its so light..even with the 9Cell battery. I am going to order the 4Cell battery so I have the option to make it super light - right under 3lbs.
7) Way thin than the M1210. I am so glad that I did not go with the M1210. After I saw it at a local Dell booth, it seemed too thick for a ultramobile..and frankly, sorta heavy. All said, weight was my first priority. M1210 is a great system. just not for users who have weight/size in mind with decent performance.
Things I don't like about D420
8) No internal optical drive: but that's ok, usb flash drives are like 4 GB now...so that'll work. Also, I went for the CD RW/DVD rom drive option. since I am not really going to burn DVD's from this laptop...its not built for burning DVD's, it would take too long and this thing would heat up hard. so DVD rom does just fine for watching movies on those long cross atlantic flights.
---All that said - my 2 cents---
I have not yet seen anyone post the pics along with a scale. You really need to see this laptop along with a deck of cards to put it in prespective. Its ultra small/light and I love it.
I suggest you wait till Dell release a ultra-portable - under 3 lbs laptop that has Core 2 Duo processor with higher clockspeed and a SATA HD - with more storage than 80 GB. or even better SATA 2 with 3gb/sec transfer rates. Now that would be sweet...I think good guess would be Fed 2007 Release of such a system.
Docking options:
I use my D-dock and have two 19" flatpanel monitors hooked up to the dock, so I can dock this baby and have dual screen. I also have ultramon installed. so that helps me manage screens on both my displays. So its ultra-mobile system which is also a desktop replacement, though not a very powerful desktop replacement, it gets the job done. D420's strength is obviously the mobility it offers. Throw it in your pack and you won't even know its there
My D420 specs:
Intel Core Duo Processor ULV U2500 (1.20GHz, 533Mhz)
1.5GBMB DDR2-533 SDRAM, (512MB Integrated) 2 DIMMs
60GB Hard Drive, 8MM, 4200RPM
D-Bay plus 24X CD-RW/DVD
Dell Wireless™ 1390 802.11g Mini Card
9 Cell Primary Battery
65W A/C Adapter
Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Microsoft Windows XP Pro w/ SP2
Network Interface Card:Broadcom 10/100/1000 (Gigabit LAN) -
"best portable lappie" on by robertobiggio
Pros: true laptop, fast, light, long bat life, brillant screen, nice built & design
Cons: external optical
Summary: i have said it all, from built and design to performance, it is simply amazing. i have bought over 1 dozen dell inspiron, and never like the built quality of inspiron. this is my first latitude laptop. and it is very sturdy and very nice color matching too.
it is pretty fast with core duo 1.2, measured 1m 53s on super pi test. about the same as petium centrino mobile 2.0. web browsing and download and installation are very fast as well. 9 cell battery has 6 hours max.
i bought this laptop from dell outlet $801, features duo1.2/30gb hd/1.5g ram/cdrw/9cell bat/xp pro. it says scratched and dent on dell outlet, but when i received it, it is just like a brand new one, no sign of usage at all, let alone any scratch.
i had 2 dell 700m b4, and i have to say d420 are a better mobile option, the weight is 0.5lb less and height is 0.3 inch less.
this is the best buy for me this year.Updated
d420 look like a ibm thinkpad remade model -
"Powerful workhourse in a slim, agile package." on by jefmiller
Pros: Light, small screen, excellent for maximum mobility.
Cons: Small font.
Summary: This is an excellent laptop. Make sure that you go for the large battery as it makes a difference. It is everything that you need without the unwieldy components that make travel difficult. A joy to use!
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