RSSNew Dell Latitudes promise 10 to 19 hours of battery life
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published August 12, 2008, 12:51 PM
In an announcement that harks back to Dell's roots, when during the 1990s it tested a number of its laptops during four-hour flights, the company said its new Latitudes will add continuous battery life for as long as 19 hours straight.
At a Dell press event in San Francisco this morning, its Senior Vice President for the business products group, Jeffrey Clarke, filled in the biggest missing element in Dell's description of its completely redesigned Latitude product line to this point: Dell, he says, has developed a proprietary power cell technology that will enable Latitudes to run continuously while unplugged for at least 10 hours, and intermittently for as much as 19 hours straight.
The new battery technology will be implemented in all seven of Dell's new models, though it's likely that power consumption metrics will fluctuate between its standard mainstream model, its new widescreen model, and its new Latitude UMPC which may sip power more slowly.
Clarke told attendees at today's press event that, in recent discussions with Dell customers, their desires boiled down to four elements, number one being the need for longer battery life. Second on the list was a need for data security, especially in case of loss or theft; third is improved design (represented by a number of improvements including magnesium allow construction, keyboard backlighting, and optional Samsung solid-state disks across all models), and easier remote management by IT administrators.
The size of the external AC adapter has been reduced by half, Clarke added, and should be able to restore as much as 80% of battery power after one hour of being plugged in. And another enhancement is a built-in free-fall detector capable of parking the hard disk drives for falls as short as six inches.
7:00 pm EDT August 12, 2008 - In the coming weeks, Dell told attendees this morning, customers should expect to see an ultra-portable 12.1-inch Latitude E4200 model and a 13.1-inch lightweight UMPC as well (pictured above, on the left partly shut), both with available Samsung solid-state drives.
But available starting today is Dell's new business-class Latitude E6400. This afternoon, we configured one model with what we know to be the optimum configuration for running Windows Vista Business. We traded up from the standard 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 to the 2.53 GHz T9400, we bumped the resolution on the 14.1-inch screen to 1440x900, we moved from 2 GB of DRAM to 4 GB, we replaced the 5400 rpm 160 GB hard drive with a 250 GB 7200 rpm model, we added the built-in fingerprint reader (which Dell's Jeff Clarke today characterized as a must-have), and we replaced the CD-RW/DVD combo with a DVD-R combo (why you'd not want to burn to DVD is beyond me).
That brought our "Productivity Package" ticket price up to $2,234 from $1,373. Granted, the 2.53 GHz processor is the big draw here.
That said, we found a similarly equipped Toshiba Qosmio F55 with the same processor and 15.4-inch screen (albeit without the fingerprint reader and backlit keyboard), for just over $1,700 online.
You never, never, upgrade hard disk or memory when configuring a machine at dell.com. They charge you arms and legs. Upgrade them separately by buying the parts from newegg or somewhere else.
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|unless, of course, you care at all about warranty coverage, that is...
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|or unless you don't care about price.
well if I'm buying one for personal ues, you're right, but not for business use lol.
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|May we have electric cars now?
Pretty please?
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|If this babe will give out AT LEAST 10 hours, I'm DEFINATELY getting me one of those.
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|I have a latitude xt tablet, and with the extra slice battery and the larger primary i get 8.5-9 hours reliably, recharged in 2 hours. enough to last the work day without plugging it in. Of course i have the SSD and have bluetooth disabled and the screen brightness to about 1/3 of max on battery.
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|I wouldnt count on getting 19 hours, but even 15 hours would be highly welcomed by everyone I believe....
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|SSDs and 19 hours battery life? I like. :)
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|Dell makes a promise, but they never deliver!
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|Yepp, totally agree
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|$160 for a battery that lasts just over a year... Thats for my D820. Ran off for a generic at $60. I'll wait till it starts smoking. So how much will these new batteries cost to replace??
I've managed to pull of 5-6 hours on the D820 provided I'm using the generic alongside a used secondary battery in the disc drive bay.
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|New Dell Latitudes promise 10 to 19 hours of battery life??? I need more powerful battery than that! :D
http://www.dailytech.com...50&commentid=193812
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|When Dell released the D400 and X300 series, they promised 6 to 8 hours of battery life. However in reality they give about 2.5 hours.
Why is this a big deal? First the lithium batteries produced are faulty and fail frequently. Second the trade off for battery longevity was speed thus getting a slow computer with a battery life under what was published.
How can I back this observation up? I work for a huge company and we solely use Dell. I have to order 30 batteries a month because we have excessive failure on 6 and 9 cell batteries. Also I have to deal with the frequent dissatisfied customers. Of course the front line technicians get shot while Dell collects the money. In conclusion don't believe what the sales specification state but wait for the real world test. Cheers!
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|I've got a Latitude D400, cost £1400 when new, it's now four years old and has never let me down. However the battery life was/is rubbish, never had more than 2 hours no matter what settings I used. I'll always go Dell, but I find those figures quoted unbelievable, how big is the battery going to be ? Probably comes ready equipped with wheels for easy transportation.
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|Images Here.
Starts with a 2.2lb ultramobile up to large-screen lappy according to These guys.
Doubt the batteries are actually all that big.
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|Great. Maybe I'll get one next year when I'm in the market to refresh my mobile workstation. Right now I'm holding out for the Inspiron Mini netbook everybody was expecting to be announced today. Nothing..?
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|Wow. This sounds too good to be true.
If it IS true, it could be of immense importance to the industry and really get people back in Dell's camp.
Just awesome.
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|The Latitude line is part of their Business line. Most of their business customers are die-hard Dell customers.
Not because they're blind to other options, but because, without fail, they've been offering the business community quality hardware and support for decades.
Their home offerings in both hardware and support may be a bit lacking, but they've struck gold with their business lines.
My point being, this isn't really going to help them in the home consumer market. Businesses will love the battery life, though. :)
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|^This^ completely.
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|I think ANYONE would welcome such excellent battery life, from students to home users.
I think you can now buy Dell hardware in some retail stores, is that right? If so, the combination of a new kind of consumer-level access and that incredible battery life could help them reach over into a new market.
But if not, it's still sounds really cool.
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|You hit it on the head Tool, that is exactly why our company uses Dell exclusively for Laptops and Desktops - Support, Service and Pricing.
I cannot speak for the consumer side as I am a geek and tend to build my own when I feel the urge.
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|Very true.
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|Word.
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|No, Word.
*grin*
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|I can speak about their consumer line. It's pathetic with really bad sales and post-service response times and attention. The business branch is good on the other hand.
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|Actually I originally had a C840 for the CCNA program I eventually dropped out of. However since most of those laptops were replaced (foul quality control) some got D800's so I complained to the BBB and got a D800 free. Then about a year after the warranty ended, I simply brought up the fact that it tended to get warm and I was worried about the D800 battery. They replaced this with the D820 I have now no questions asked and even got me the Vista Business version. One would wonder what they were really hiding.
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|one thing I do like about Dell laptops is parts. Lots of pulled parts. Letters start wearing off the keyboard off I go to ebay and get another one.. Might be a bit more to stick a new LCD screen on here. Only thing I wish for is more USB ports and all the addon's I've tried confused the heck out of it.
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