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Following its successful Latitude D620, Dell hasn't changed the formula much for the new D630.
Physically, they're almost identical, with everything encased in a sturdy, all magnesium alloy chassis that has the same, subtle, grey-speckled colour.
And at 2.4kg with the standard battery, but excluding the power adapter (2.85kg including), it will suit frequent travellers.
Although there's little new in terms of aesthetics, the innards have been turbo-charged with Intel's latest Santa Rosa platform. It's Dell's first notebook based on the new platform, which you can read more about in our Zepto Znote 6625WD review.
Inside there's an Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 processor with 4MB L2 cache and an 800MHz front side bus (FSB) to speak to the 2GB 667MHz DDR2 Ram. Dell has included a Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 Serial ATA hard disk, which is one of the fastest on the market today thanks to a 7,200rpm spindle speed.
The Latitude D630 notched up a score of 4,236 in PCmark05, with 5,234 in the CPU, 4,381 in the memory section and 3,888 in the hard disk section. All in all, an average array of scores for the price and we were hoping for more in the hard disk section.
We also ran Sysmark 2007 on the machine which delivered a score of 106 - though since this is a new benchmark, there's precious little to compare the result to.
Graphically, the D630 disappointed due to Intel's X3100 integrated graphics scoring just 11 frames per second (fps) in Fear. There's no denying this is a woeful result, but the Latitude D630 is a business notebook where powerful graphics isn't a priority.
The 14.1in widescreen display has a pleasing 1,440x900 resolution, which is a good combination providing a large workable area without making objects too small to see.
Its brightness has been increased to 220nits compared to the 185nits on the D620, but we still don't think the display is especially bright. It is, however, evenly lit and the viewing angles are among the best we've seen.
Dell puts its Wireless antennas in the bezel of the screen to improve reception but has only fitted an 802.11g PCI Express mini card instead of the new and improved Draft-N standard. Draft-N will be an option soon, but if you buy now you can't upgrade the PCI Express mini card yourself since the slots are hidden away beneath the keyboard.
Two batteries are shipped with the notebook - a standard six-cell battery and an extended nine-cell battery that juts out from the front of the chassis. In our intensive battery test, the Dell achieved two hours 24 minutes with the nine-cell and battery and one hour 36 minutes with the standard six-cell version, which isn't at all bad.
This is Dell's first notebooks to support 3.6Mbits/sec HSDPA mobile broadband. You get access by inserting a SIM card behind the battery. It's an exclusive tie up with Vodafone, who demands a monthly subscription for the service. However, the unit isn't locked to Vodafone so you could insert any old sim card but Dell won't offer support if you do this.
Wifi can be turned on or off using a switch on the left of the chassis. It also has an offline Wifi catching ability, where an LED will show you if there are networks in the vicinity.
Overall, the D630 is an extremely solid offering. Mobile broadband aside there aren't many frills to be had with it, but business users will appreciate the robust construction, added security measures and decent office performance.
See also:
Intel's new Steeley processor and McCaslin platform make for a solid UMPC 05 Jul 2007
Apple’s Intel’s Santa Rosa chipset means great performance as well as design 25 Jun 2007
Toshiba Satellite P200 A well-featured laptop with a large screen and stylish design 22 Jun 2007
Draft-N and 1GB of Turbo Memory make for a powerful Santa Rosa notebook 22 Jun 2007All Notebooks & Tablets PCs Tags: Notebook, Dell
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