Product Notes: Dell Latitude ATG D620

January 16th, 2007

Dell announced their first semi-rugged notebook, the Latitude ATG (All-Terrain Grade) D620, today. The ATG D620 includes a very bright (500 nit) screen, a shock-mounted hard drive, a spill-resistant keyboard, and port covers. It is designed to withstand challenging conditions such as construction sites and police/fire environments.

The Latitude ATG D620 is based on the Latitude D620, and add new capability to Dell's Latitude product line. However, this laptop is inappropriate (and expensive) for those who do not need its high level of ruggedness. The ATG D620 also does not have the configuration flexibility that the 'normal' Latitude D620 does - there's no screen resolution choice and no video card option.

The Latitude ATG D620 is about 2 pounds heavier and half an inch thicker than the D620 it is based on.

Several notes when ordering an Latitude ATG D620:

1. The Latitude ATG D620's screen is extremely bright and is usable in most exterior lighting conditions - about twice as bright as most laptop screens.
2. Unlike the Latitude D620, a discrete video card is not available instead of the lower-performance integrated video. This means that the ATG 620 can not fully meet the specifications in the Mid-Weight Laptop configuration.
3. The shock-mounted drive available for the ATG D620 is slow (4200 RPM) and relatively small (80 GB) by modern standards, but does offer an additional amount of protection - it's actually a 1.8-inch drive inside a specially designed and hardened 2.5-inch bay.
4. Given the anticipated power draw of the extremely bright screen, Information Systems & Computing (ISC) recommends the 9-cell battery.
5. Though Dell has made it part of the default configuration for the Latitude ATG D620, ISC does not believe that Gold Technical Support is the correct choice for all Schools and Centers.
6. Built to an equivalent configuration, a Latitude ATG D620 costs about $950 more than a Latitude D620.

--John Mulhern III, Senior Project Leader, ISC Technology Support Services (January 16, 2007)