Any new Latitude w/13" screen coming?

I'm really liking the M1330, but I doubt I could talk my company into buying a Vista machine, and I don't want to force XP on a Vista machine.

I want something small and light, with built in Verizon, and my company pretty much just does Dell. The D430 12" screen just seems too small, and I want a decent proecessor, since this will be my only computer.

Are there any rumors/announcements of anything with the M1330s approximate form factor for Latitude? I haven't been keeping up with pending notebook news lately.

 

I haven't heard of any coming so far, then again I haven't been playing close attention to the notebooks news, either.

My wife just got assigned the D430, and I messed with it the first week it was home. The screen does feel cramped after a while, although the processor is enough if you're just using it for Office work, assuming no active virus or spyware program.

You got me curious. Going Google now to see what's out there.

Regards,
Paolo

 

I'm going to guess that Dell won't bring out another 12" for their Latitude line due to lackluster adoption of the X1.

 

The D430 is definitely cramped compared to the M1330, IMHO; I've used both. The M1330 is worlds better in terms of features, power and performance (though the D430 has a very slight edge in real-world portability).

If you read the threads here, you'll see it is very doable to get XP on the M1330 (using Dell-provided XP drivers IIRC, which should pass corporate muster), and I wouldn't be shocked if Dell even chose to officially offer it someday, though I wouldn't necessarily expect them to do so.

The M1330 has not been up to Latitude standards as far as build quality, though I imagine that has improved lately as Dell has assuredly been getting much feedback from first generation early adopters/guinea pigs/owners. My own M1330 has the hinge disparity and an almost passive-matrix-like viewing angle on the screen, but I do recommend it. The minor stuff like the remote sticking out a mm or two is not really a "problem" - the laptop fits into its case nicely with no apparent risk to the laptop with that extra few mm of card.

 

I wanted to get the D430. But I just dont like the warm palm rest.

 

Welcome to just about every laptop ever made.

 

Well, in all honesty, D630 is pretty portable, and since it's widescreen, it's more usable on an airplane. Also, on a more personal note, I like the 14" widescreen format more then 13" laptops since you can have higher resolution.

Plus battery life and build quality are all better.

 

Build quality of the m1330 has been improving, and battery life between it and the D630 is pretty even.

 

My Inspiron 8200 doesn't have warm palm-rests. It has a warm keyboard, but not the palm-rest.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath. There are no real 13" business notebooks right now that I know of. They seem to like the 12" and 14" sizes.