Mobile devices Toolkit

Dell Latitude X1 review

7.0

Editors' Rating

Brian Nadel & Charles McLellan CNET

Published: 13 May 2005

Once chock-full of chunky, stodgy business systems, Dell's Latitude lineup now boasts one of the slimmest and sleekest notebooks around. The new Latitude X1 packs the latest components and a wide-screen display into a thin, featherweight case that's based on Samsung's breakthrough Q30. Don't let the small, stylish case fool you--the Latitude X1 serves up the features and the power that business users demand.

The Latitude X1 weighs just 1.14kg, which is towards the lighter end of the ultraportable spectrum. It's a bit lighter than both the 1.24kg IBM ThinkPad X40 and the 1.3kg Fujitsu LifeBook P7010, and its screen is the largest of the three. The notebook measures 28.6cm wide by 19.7cm deep by 2.5cm high.

Designed for maximum portability, the trade-off is the Dell Latitude X1's undersize keyboard. The 18mm keys take some getting used to, and you wouldn't want to write your novel on this notebook. The touchpad has a textured surface that makes it easy to move the cursor accurately, although it lacks a scroll bar for scanning through documents and Web pages. We like the magnesium case and the no-latch lid, but the single speaker underneath the case is inadequate for anything but listening to system sounds; bring headphones.

Intel's Sonoma architecture brings PCI Express to the Latitude X1, although the notebook lacks an XPress card slot for future high-speed expansion (cards are not expected to show up until 2006, however, and we're not convinced that this is a feature whose absence you'll regret). Intel's integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 900, which can dynamically borrow up to 128MB of system memory, powers the wide-screen 12.1in.WXGA (1,280 x 768) screen; we found the display big enough to show two or three data windows at once and even adequate for DVD viewing.

The rest of the components are among the smallest and the most battery-friendly available: a 1.1GHz ultra-low-voltage Pentium M 733 processor; a 60GB hard drive running at a slow 4,200rpm; and 512MB of 400MHz DDR memory. On the downside, none of these components is easily removable, so upgrades and component swaps will be difficult, if not impossible. Our £999 test unit also featured a self-powered external CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive that connects to the notebook via a pair of USB 2.0 cords.

Our benchmark tests showed that, despite its small size, the Latitude X1 is a decent performer. With the standard three-cell battery installed, it scored 177 in our MobileMark 2002 test, 32 percent faster than IBM's ThinkPad X40 and 21 percent faster than Fujitsu Siemens' LifeBook P7010. However, the Latitude X1 can't match the extremely quick Acer TravelMate 3004WTMi, which it trails by 45 per cent.

After using the system for about an hour, we found that the bottom of the notebook got hot, likely due to the fact that the Latitude X1 does without a cooling fan. In addition to keeping the system quiet, the lack of a fan also helps conserve battery life: although the Latitude X1 ran for a moderate 2 hours 3 minutes with the standard three-cell 2,400mAh battery fitted, the bigger 6-cell 4,800mAh unit powered the system for an impressive 4 hours 13 minutes. Of course, carrying the extended battery boosts the travel weight, but you'll need it if you want a full working day's worth of battery power.

The Latitude X1 comes with all of the ports a business user should need, with one exception: there's no PC Card slot. Instead, the notebook has an SD card slot on the front-left edge, and a Type II CompactFlash slot on the right-hand side. Also onboard are four-pin unpowered FireWire, headphone, and VGA-out ports, as well as a pair of USB 2.0 connectors, one of which is specially designed for powering the external optical drive. Communications are built-in with a Gigabit Ethernet port, a V.92 modem, Bluetooth and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi.

The Latitude X1 comes with Microsoft Windows XP Professional, along with a few well-chosen utilities, including Dell's QuickSet configuration software and Sonic's CD-burning software. Our test system had a hardwired Trusted Platform Module that can generate encryption keys for hiding proprietary data. However, the system has neither a fingerprint scanner nor a smart-card reader -- features increasingly found on higher-end corporate notebooks.

Dell backs the Latitude X1 with a generous three-year warranty; an extra £118 gets you accidental-damage coverage, instant access to technicians, remote troubleshooting and notification of updated software. Dell offers all customers 24/7 toll-free technical support, as well as a terrific self-service Web site that includes FAQs, downloads, troubleshooting and excellent update bulletins.

Dell's eValue code for this product is MAG-X1ZDN