Dell today unveiled their newest notebook in the Latitude D420. The notebook is light, has a decent battery life, large screen, and security and wireless features. The Latitude D420 from Dell is the lightest of its D-line of notebooks. This is because its made of a long lasting magnesium alloy.

Dell made an improvement in the size of the screen over the previous D410 Latitude notebook. They increased the screen size from 9.68-inches wide to 12.1-inch widescreen. This provides a greater viewing area on which to work with.

The Latitude D420 from Dell merges features from the Latitude X1 (sleek package) and the Latitude 410 (compatability and durability) into one notebook.


Tech Specs

Before we look at the security and wireless connectivity features of the Latitude D420, we’ll breifly cover some important tech specs that every consumer should know about before buying a notebook.

It currently uses Windows XP as it’s operating system, but is ready to run Windows Vista when it comes out in January 2007. Kind of a neat feature if you’re thinking of upgrading later on.

It uses a 1.06GHz Intel Solo U1300 processor (so you can tell that the notebook isn’t for high end use). However, the notebook does come with 1 GB of RAM and can be upgraded to 1.5 GB for more intensive use.

The Latitude D420 doesn’t come with a graphics card, but rather contains an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator chip that can use up to 224 MB of shared memory. This is often seen in notebook that are more for a business use.

The Latitude includes a hard drive with a maximum of 60 GB (depending on the model you buy).

Security Features

One neat feature that caught my eye was that you needed to enter a password before the whole system booted. It could be a pain in the neck, but for the security concious it provides another wall of protection.

It also has an option fingerprint scanner, which are becoming standard with notebooks now. These check your fingerprint and only those registered with the computer have access to your information.

Connection Features

The Latitude D420 can connect Wi-Fi networks such as 802.11 a,b, or g wireless networks. It also has a feature called Dell Wi-Fi Catcher which allows it to search around you to find these networks and connect to them.

Battery

You have a choice of selecting either a 3,6, or 9 cell battery (9 being the largest). The notebook also has a meter on it that displays how much battery life remains.

The Latitude D420 is a pretty good notebook for the business man or woman on the go who needs to work remotely and is security aware. The notebook costs around $1149.

For more information on the D420 check out Dell’s product page.

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