Dell Latitude Z puts security front and centre

A smart camera in the LCD screen bezel that locks out the laptop when its user walks away from it is the most obvious of the security features Dell built into its latest 16-inch business notebook for the image-conscious executive.

Dell's FaceAware Lock-Out uses the notebook's two-megapixel camera to monitor who is sitting in front of the machine and puts the device into a secure sleep mode when its user steps away.

For fast starts, the Dell "Latitude On" architecture includes an "Infinity" system-on-a-chip based on the ARM architecture in addition to the Intel CULV processor.

Dell Australia Latitude product manager Jeff Morris said it gave users the benefits of a smart phone on the big screen with a full-sized keyboard.

Press the Infinity button from a cold state and in about a second the Z boots into a lightweight Linux OS with Dell customisations: Exchange 2003 client, Firefox web browser, Cisco VPN, Citrix Receiver desktop, contacts and calendar. The chip that is standard on the Z and a $249 option on other models has its own Wi-Fi B/G that bypasses the main wireless card.

The Linux OS requires a strong password that includes an uppercase, lowercase, number and special character and at least eight characters.

The $2799 Z available from today also has a contactless HID smart card reader that works with office ID access passes and a fingerprint scanner for multifactor authentication.