Dell Latitude D410

Dell's new Latitude D410 is a 3.8-pound, 1.2-inch-thick ultraportable that's perfect for frequent travelers who don't want to skimp on speed or endurance. If you can live with a 12-inch display and don't mind the lack of an onboard DVD/CD drive, this Sonoma-powered system dressed in executive-chic metallic gray will help you get your work done quickly without weighing you down.

Inside the case you'll find a 1.86-GHz Intel Pentium M processor that features a speedy 533-MHz system bus and a healthy 512MB of integrated RAM. Compressing large files, editing digital photos, recalculating huge spreadsheets, and encoding MP3s were simple tasks for the Latitude D410, a finding confirmed by the exceptional MobileMark score of 219.

Although the 12.1-inch screen certainly helps to keep the system's weight and power consumption to a minimum, we'd like to have seen a slightly larger screen on the unit to make viewing just a bit more comfortable without resorting to an external monitor. There's a fairly thick plastic bezel framing the display, and the D410 could have featured a 13.3-inch display without adding to the system's size.

Manipulating the cursor onscreen was a cinch, as Dell includes both a pointing stick and touchpad on this system.

The Latitude D410 configuration we reviewed included a docking station. This dock's most useful feature is an optical drive (a DVD-ROM/CD-RW model), which you can take along on your next trip if you know you'll be playing DVDs, backing up data to disc, or loading software. The dock clones the Gigabit Ethernet, modem, and VGA ports found on the D410, adds a second headphone jack and two more USB 2.0 ports. For those businesses supporting older peripherals, Dell throws in parallel, serial, and PS/2 ports.

The dock adds one very useful feature to the system. It can accommodate an optional secondary battery that doubles the system's runtime. That's an extremely tempting option, since we found the D410 lasted for a terrific 4 hours and 50 minutes while running the MobileMark benchmark with all power management disabled. With the second battery installed you can expect a runtime of a full 10 hours, which is more than long enough for the average workday.

You can configure the dock with an 8X DVD burner, but if you're into digital video or still-picture editing, you'll be disappointed with the D410. There's no FireWire port on either the laptop or the dock, and the system doesn't offer any memory card slots.

If your company is particularly proactive about data security, you'll be glad to find a Smart Card reader integrated into the right side of the D410 beside the PC Card slot. A Trusted Platform Module is standard equipment. This chipset-level technology protects against hackers and all sorts of viruses and other attacks.

The system will keep you connected at hot spots or on your home or office network using its tri-mode 802.11/a/b/g Wi-Fi adaptor, which in our tests offered decent throughput and better-than-average range. More impressive was the fact that the D410 sacrificed only 11 minutes of runtime with the radio turned on.

The graphics processor integrated into Intel's 915GM core logic chipset was far from fast, but better than we expected. When we cranked down the detail in Far Cry, the gameplay was reasonably fluid. The 3DMark2001 benchmark had a similar impression of the D410, giving it a respectable score of 4226.

It's too bad the D410 offers only a single tinny monotone speaker placed above the keyboard on the left side of the chassis, but there are real volume buttons above the keyboard, so you won't have to fumble with function key combos.

Like most Dell Latitude's, this one is covered by a generous warranty, including both parts and labor for three years, three years of toll-free 24/7 tech support, and even three years of next-business-day, onsite service. That peace of mind, combined with fast performance, long-lasting battery, and security features, makes the Dell Latitude D410 one of the best ultralight business systems.