NEW Latitudes on the way!

Offer USB 3.0 ports, of course!

GK

 

That's true. For me, the worst part of the new design is that orange border around the keyboard, but the rest of the machine is acceptable.

 

Haha. It's rumored that the Lenovo T series will have USB 3.0, so that's gonna be bad news for Dell (even more so if HP has USB 3.0).

I hope the Precision M4600 has USB 3.0 at least.

 

The English language version of the notebookcheck report on the new series is now available although the translation looks to be a little imperfect in places.

Unless the Sandybridge platform proves to offer a substantial improvement in power efficiency I will be planning to skip this generation of the E series.

John

 

Honestly, this might be the dealbreaker for me. Dead serious.

 

SB isn't a significant increase in battery life unless you are rendering. Your best bet is to wait for Ivy Bridge when they jump to 22 nm we might see major battery life increase.

 

This new Latitude looks to me like a hybrid between the Inspiron and XPS series, painted black.

Ups:
- Sandy Bridge
- Full screen bumpers design.


Downs:
- 16:9

- No Display Port (HDMi doesn't assure color accuracy from point A to B.. as it's designed for TV's. TV's don't have color processors like IPS/PVA panel computer LCD screens, as TV's are for watching at the couch movies, and shows... not editing pictures. In addition, HDMi doesn't support as many plug-in's and out's as Display port, so the port will break faster, and no clip system to hold well. I am genuinely disappointed in Dell to jump to BACKWARDS to HDMi, especially that they are SUPPOSED TO BE one of main supported of Display Port, which is SUPPOSE TO BE replacing DVI.
Dell has their priority all wrong.)

- Keyboards looks like cheap, noisy laptop ones that you expect from consumer market laptops. I guess they had too many XPS or Inspiron keyboards

- GLOSSY screen frame... if your going to put glossy frame.. put a glossy screen, as it's just as bad, and distracting.

- Large capacity batteries lifts the laptop (notice the casing which prevent large battery to extend on the back) See here: Dell Latitude E6220 hands-on - Engadget Galleries

- No USB 3.0

- Unable to open the screen 180 degrees.. your stuck that weird angle like Mack Book Pros, Inspirons and XPS series.

- PLASTIC EVERYWHERE. Where is the cool metal base used as heatsink from the D and current E series deisgn (E6400/E6410/E6510/E6500, etc...)

- Only 3 USB ports (2x USB, and 1 eSATA/USB combo)... I guess Dell wants to push the over priced dock stations.

- Old Dell Logo used on the cover... where is the cool new Dell Logo like on the current Latitude series. It's a consumer laptop!

- Dell doesn't care. Don't believe me? check these pictures: Dell Latitude E6220 hands-on - Engadget Galleries
You know when you are doing a press release event, you usually want to show the best of a product. See how much Dell cares.. they dumb Vista on it, Aero disabled, 0 drivers installed (Windows Experience: 1.0). WOW Congrats dudes.. getting that Win7 disk was too expensive, and difficult.. no, you are right, let's just dump in Vista license from the bin, and let's not even bother with drivers.

 

Most of the reviews (of Sandy Bridge processors) state that the only line which shows great improvement is the mobile quad cores. Improved power gating, turbo, and the integrated video means that people will be able to get 4+ hours out of the quad processors with sane heat levels. This is a major jump over the older quad cores.

The other processors (Desktop, mobile dual core) were seen to be the typical evolutionary improvements in speed. For a lot of people, they can be skipped without too much fuss.

 

I hadn't previously noticed the hinge arrangement. I think the main reason for this is to disguise the mis-match between the height of the display and the front-to-back depth of the chassis.

John

 

Well I'm assuming that's why Intel never made 32 nm i7 for the last generation otherwise SB wouldn't sell...so SB makes sense for high end power users as they can finally get a cooler running i7 with potent IGP.