2011年4月29日星期五

Review Dell Latitude E5420 Essential Notebook

Essential. Conservative usefulness,( IBM Thinkpad T60 Battery ) flying fingers on the touchpad and keys, and old-school interfaces. Whether the new Sandy Bridge Latitude also provides a portion of

Office rooms are more mobile than ever, most of the time users only need their data, and these are always available at hand on the small folding computer. What is less important when it comes to use are performance and high-end features, instead 'mobility,( HP Notebook Battery ) productivity, and robustness' are more pertinent. It is precisely these characteristics with which Dell is marketing its newest business spouse; the Latitude E5420.



Although we have the minimal version in terms of the configuration, ( Lenovo 40Y6795 ) the 14 inch notebook isn't exactly cheap at 837 Euros. For the sake of comparison, the Acer alternative, in the form of the Aspire 3750 ( battery hp probook 4510s ) (13.3 inch) with an identical configuration plus Bluetooth and a bigger hard drive, only costs a mere 599 Euros. The question is whether the more affordable Aspire is actually a real alternative? We aim to find out.

For those that are interested in the E5420, the more upmarket Latitude E6420 reviewed by us could also be interesting.( Battery HP Compaq 8510P ) In this case, although it has the same form factor, more priority has been placed on the quality of the case and the( dell vostro 1520 battery ) different versions available e.g. performance.



Lock: Robust single sliderWhile the consumer world is opting for thin, flat, and light attributes, ( HP probook 6545B Battery ) Dell has instead chosen to add a little on top. The weight of 2.33 grams lies heavy in the hand, and the cumbersome height of 2.4 centimeters will prevent it from slipping out of your hands by accident. The weight and dimensions may have a slightly detrimental effect on the mobility, but they provide for stability and quality. ( battery HP Compaq 8510W ) Dell has opted for high-quality but heavy materials. Although 'ruggedized' is not quite appropriate, the 14 inch notebooks is definitely built for day to day use.



The base unit could only be bent minimally with considerable strength.( hp 8730p battery ) The hand resting area and the base plate on the compact chassis lie firmly attached. Merely the area under the optical drive is a weak spot as usual, ( hp probook 4710s battery ) which dents considerably with the application of pressure.



The firmness of the lid has also been a success.( battery Dell xps m1530 ) This could only be bent holding the edges to a small extent. The surface consists of brushed aluminum, and can be dented inwards in the middle. Fingerprints may be slightly visible, but do remain, ( Lenovo Thinkpad T61 Battery ) and have to be removed with a cleaning cloth.



The chosen materials (magnesium alloy, ( vgp-bps13b/s Battery ) brushed aluminum) feel cool to the touch and are scratch resistant. When it comes to the hinges, Dell has opted for steel, nevertheless the visible silver panel is a cover (not solid). The hinges sit firmly attached to the base unit. They hold display rigid, and there is seldom wobbling. Due to the heavy weight of the base unit, we were able to just about open the display with one hand.( Thinkpad T500 Battery ) The silver slider releases the latching mechanism (zinc plated).



To prevent cable chaos there are interfaces at the backProfessionals and demanding users generally value the selection of ports very highly. ( IBM Thinkpad R61 Battery ) The 14 inch notebook has everything on board that we would expect from a work notebook,( HP Compaq 8710P battery ) without providing as many as a precision workstation would have. These include a screw tight VGA port, a PC-Card (PCMCIA) shaft, and FireWire. The older PC-Card standard, which has already gone out of fashion in the consumer world years ago (replaced by ExpressCard), is still popular in the business world. Using this special extension cards (mainly controllers) can be attached. The connection for fast external hard drives is also on board as eSATA, although there is no USB 3.0.



The interface selection on the left side consists of a Kensington-Lock, (battery vgp-bps13as ) FireWire, HDMI, eSATA/USB, 1xUSB 2.0, PC-Card (PCMCIA), and card reader tightly packed together. If many cables are connected at the same time, these would cover a large area.( Battery Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad R60E ) The special Docking solution for the Latitude comes in handy for this scenario though. ( hp probook 4515s battery ) The E-Port Docking station for the E5400 and E5410 series are compatible with the E5420.



As a real deal business notebook the Latitude E5420 can offer everything that can be wished for when it comes to communication technologies. Since we opted for the Basic-Version, the tested device contains neither Bluetooth or an HSDPA module. ( Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad R60 Battery ) The corresponding mini PCIe slots (2x) next to the antenna and the SimCard slot are of course available.



As far as wireless technology goes, the E5420 provides WLAN. ( toshiba pa3356u-1bas battery ) The WLAN card uses the 802.11 b/g/n standards. Further to this the Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit controller is also on board.



Business notebooks are subjected to a requirement for good security features. ( toshiba pa3356u-1brs battery ) While the bigger organisations usually have their own security solutions, smaller establishments are usually happy to have security features and software included with a notebook. Worth mentioning in this respect is the Dell Data Protection Tool, and the backup and restore manager.



Business characteristics, such as Trusted Platform Module, ( battery sony vgp-bps13b/b ) or fingerprint reader, are not acquainted with the E5420. Merely the Kensington Security slot can be used as a preventative measure against theft with a suitable cable. For the important protection against the theft of data, the software package Worry-Free Business Security Services (Trendmicro) is included. The price for the licence: 60 Euros. This solution, which is tailored towards small businesses without their own IT department, is supposed to protect against viruses, hacker, spam, spyware, phishing, and theft of data. Via the web-based console, the Latitude for an employee can be administrated from anywhere (Remote Manager).

没有评论:

发表评论