Dell Latitude

Can Latitudes be used for personal/home use? I am just wondering why they are categorized as "business" laptops.

 

They're just tougher, more capable, and come with better customer service. Perfect for use in homes (been using business laptops for years now).

 

lol why not? Laptop is a laptop is a laptop. Though their Latitude line tend to be more portable than their Vostro/Precision counter parts.

 

I wonder why so many 4 gb ram latitudes come with 32bit OS?

 

Probably some compatibility issue... businesses with proprietary apps that need as much memory as possible... but haven't been compiled in 64bit flavors. Something like that.

 

I have many computers with a 64 bit OS, they will run a 32 bit compatibility mode. In fact most programs run 32 bit in a 64 bit OS.

32 bit OS (Vista/7 versions anyway) can see 4 GB of RAM but can only actually use 3.5 GB minus VRAM and the rest goes to page file and that sort of stuff.

 

You can select 32 or 64 bit, you have the option. If it comes with 32 bit, you can ask Dell for Recovery Media in 64 bit they should do it free of charge.

As mentioned already quality+customer service.
Dell's Small Business support is insanely good. Best I have dealt with (Lenovo/HP (business/consumer)/Sony/Dell's consumer/Apple/Toshiba/Asus).

 

Latitude seems like a solid buy. 3 year warranty seems awesome.

 

Depends on which Latitude you get, not all of them have been solid. What are you using it for?

 

Dell (and the rest of the computer industry) have a paternalistic "we know best" attitude towards customers, and heavily push 'consumer' lines that are less durable.

The most egregious examples are when Dell (and others) push 'consumer' laptops towards students. Students, probably more than businesspeople, need ruggedly built laptops that will go into backpacks, and last 3-4 years without trouble, with warranty. Yet Dell (and others) will market cheap junk towards them, while reserving their better quality laptops for people who can more easily afford/tolerate failure, and have IT departments that can fix things once warranty is up.

It doesn't help that the 'at home' crowd typically wants to buy stuff for dirt cheap, instead of spending a few extra bucks on something that will have more enduring value. For instance, when my D830 came out, the XPS m1530 was just being introduced. Many (most) of them are now dying or have cracked cases or other cosmetic damage, and people are looking to upgrade. My Latitude D830, however, continues to soldier on, and I am not even interested in replacing it (even though I can easily afford to!).