latitude

Dell announced on Wednesday that within 12 months, all displays in its new laptops will be light-emitting diode (LED)-based.

Dell says that as of December 15, two-thirds of its Latitude E-Family laptops, as well as its Precision line, will be shipped with mercury-free LED backlighting as standard.

LED backlights are known to be mercury-free and very recyclable. Compared to cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) technology, which most LCD displays use today, LED displays are much more energy efficient. Dell says that its 15-inch LED displays consume an average of 43 percent less power at maximum brightness.

Dell estimates that, … Read more

Regular or ultra? Consumers will now have at least a couple of performance options when they order solid-state drives on the newest ultraportable notebooks from Dell.

Hard disk drives are getting scarcer by the week in the ultraportable notebook market. Dell has officially started selling its new 2.2-pound Latitude E4200 this week with solid-state drives as the only storage option, accelerating a trend in ultraportables away from hard disk drives.

The popular ThinkPad X301 also comes with solid-state drive options only.

The SSD options on the E4200 come in two flavors, standard or "Ultra".

Dell pre-announced the … Read more

A lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges Nvidia lost more than $3 billion in market value because it concealed defects in its graphics chips.

The complaint filed by New York-based Shalov Stone Bonner & Rocco alleges that Nvidia committed "securities fraud" due to "a series of misrepresentations and omissions that actively concealed and failed to disclose the unusually high failure rates of Nvidia's mobile video adapters."

The suit ties the alleged misrepresentations to Nvidia's loss of market capitalization since July when the company "belatedly" revealed the information about problems and "promptly" lost $… Read more

We've seen more than a little interest in Dell's radically revamped Latitude line of business laptops. Our new review of the 14-inch Latitude E6400 is already one of the most-viewed laptops on CNET.

While we liked the excellent battery life and copious security features (and the backlit keyboard), you can get most of those from any decent business-minded laptop. What really stood out is the new brushed-metal design, which is a serious departure from the previous gray Latitude look, a staple of cubicle culture for several years.

To give you an idea of how different the new look and feel is, here are a few comparison shots of the Latitude E6400 and a slightly older Latitude D630, one of the most common laptops found in corporate America.… Read more

Those in the market for a business laptop (or, more likely, their IT departments) will hopefully notice a trend, starting with last week's new brushed-metal-look Dell Latitude systems and this week's just-announced HP EliteBook 2530p and EliteBook 2730p, both of which feature a brushed, anodized aluminum exterior. HP calls it the DuraCase, and claims the combination of an aluminum lid and magnesium alloy chassis can meet military spec tests for extreme temperature, dust and humidity.

The EliteBook 2530p is a 12-inch laptop (although how "2530" relates to 12-inches is beyond us) that weighs as little as … Read more

If you have a company laptop, chances are it's either a Lenovo ThinkPad or a Dell Latitude--both have universally recognizable designs, and are capable performers in both small and large businesses. This week, Dell is unveiling a fairly major revamp to the Latitude line with the new E series, anchored by the 15-inch Latitude E6500 and 14-inch E6400.

The most striking break from the traditional gray Latitude look is the new black brushed metal design, which promises to be thinner and lighter than the current versions. In a Latitude first, select models will also be available in Regatta Blue, … Read more

This post was updated at 1:50 p.m. PDT with new information about availability.

Dell is adding a little more flash to its notebook lines this week.

The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker is offering a 128GB solid-state drive as an option on its Latitude, XPS, Alienware, and Precision laptop models beginning Tuesday. Though Dell isn't usually the first to jump into the fray when it comes to tech trends, the company says it's planning to further push innovation in the next couple of months.

Though solid state isn't new technology, it isn't exactly mainstream … Read more

We've seen a few Dell laptop leaks in the past several days--but fortunately for Dell, one of these systems is actually leak-poof, or at least spill-resistant.

We already saw the Latitude XT2 tablet, which should be available in the fall of 2008, and now Engadget has gotten its hands on some product spec sheets for more new laptops from Dell's Latitude line, which is aimed at business users (as opposed to the consumer Inspiron and XPS lines).

Dell purportedly plans on replacing the popular D830, D630, D531, and D530 Latitude laptops with new models, including the 15.4-inch … Read more

If you want to get people's attention (and your product doesn't have an Apple logo stamped on it), one of the best ways to do that is to release a convertible tablet laptop. Although, while these devices offer something different from your run-of-the-mill laptop, and everyone loves reading about them, we've never met anyone who actually uses one on a regular basis.

Still, we were intrigued when Dell made a tablet play late last year with its Latitude XT, and it seems as if this business-oriented system was popular enough to warrant a sequel. Engadget has some leaked specifications and photographs … Read more