Dell rolls out latest business laptops

New models feature solid state hard drives and nine-hour battery life.

Dell is to focus on compatibility and efficiency with its newest line of Latitude business notebook systems. 

The company has released three new models along with details for two upcoming systems, all of which feature brighter displays, 802.11n Wi-Fi and optional solid-state internal drives supplied by SanDisk.  

The Dell Latitude D630 and D830 models will feature 14in and 15in screens respectively, both running on Intel Core 2 Duo chips. A 14in model running an AMD Opteron chip will also be available. 

Dell also laid out plans for a pair of upcoming notebooks: a new ultra-portable model with similar features in a smaller case with a 12in screen, and a Latitude notebook that uses the Intel Centrino chip.

The company said that the new computers are designed primarily for energy efficiency. Each of the notebooks sports a battery life of up to nine hours and complies with the latest Energy Star standards.

"Energy efficiency is important with this release," Brett McAnally, senior product manager for Dell's Latitude division, told vnunet.com. "The other part is increasing productivity for the mobile user."

While the increased battery life is a selling point for end-users, McAnally said that the company will try to sell IT departments on the ease of transition and integration for the new machines.

All the new laptops will be compatible with Dell's previous docks and power adaptors, and will use the same disk image format as existing models.

Disk images allow administrators to make one default system configuration and apply it to multiple machines.

"The key thing is to minimise the disruption for IT organisations and to find ways to simplify their environment," said McAnally. "At the end of the day, I think [companies] value that commonality, that simplification."

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