Dell Latitude D630 - Design

Design

The body design of the D620 was so successful that Dell has basically used the same shell for the D630. This business notebook is, as Dell puts it, "designed for the road." There is no doubt that this laptop is built tough. The casing of the D630 is made out of a sturdy magnesium alloy, which should enable this notebook to handle normal bumps and bruises that notebooks typically take. The D630 is on the heavier side when compared to its competition at about 6 pounds, but still not bad. Dell seems to stand behind the toughness of this laptop, because they include a 3-year warranty with the purchase of the D630. You may also purchase a 4-year warranty from Dell, and/or Dell's accidental damage protection service, which covers almost any damage incurred by your laptop.

Internally, the D630 is just as tough. It offers Strike Zone hard drive data protection, which will protect your hard drive against data loss. This is essential when you're a traveling professional, because a notebook tends to take a beating during travel.

Looking beyond the D630's tough exterior, it has a more sensitive side. The nice keyboard is just the right sensitivity, and it is comfortable to type with. There aren't any major differences between the D630's keyboard and other recent Dell notebooks on the market. One great feature of this keyboard is that it is spill-resistant.

The D630's 14.1 inch LCD display is decent, nothing spectacular. This isn't surprising to me, because this notebook is not designed for gaming or movies. The 1440 x 900 pixel wide-screen is a matte finish, which works well with business applications but not necessarily movies. The brightness of this notebook is very good, making it easy to view in dim or brightly lit conditions. Built-in speakers sound surprisingly good in this laptop, and should be plenty efficient for business presentations or even watching a movie.

The D630 comes equipped with a nice set of inputs/outputs. Audio options include stereo speakers or a headphone/microphone jack. Data transfers can be accomplished through one of the 4 USB 2.0 ports, mini-FireWire, serial port, or smart card reader. This notebook offers a VGA output for video, but it does not have an S-video output. This isn't surprising since this is a business laptop and not a multimedia laptop.

The D630 is also a relatively efficient laptop. It meets the EPA standards for energy efficiency, officially making it energy star efficient. This shows when you take a look at the battery life of this notebook, which is better than average.

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