Product Notes: Dell Latitude E4200

September 22, 2008

After an August product announcement, Dell made its Latitude E4200 12-inch widescreen notebook available for ordering on September 16. The E4200 is based on Intel's Montevina notebook platform and supplants the Latitude D430 as Dell's smallest and lightest Latitude.

Changes

The Latitude E4200 weighs 2.2 pounds. Its enclosure is approximately the same size as the Latitude D430 it replaces. However, along with all of Dell's E-series Latitudes, the E4200 has a completely new brushed black and aluminum look and feel and include new ports such as eSATA and SmartCard. A backlit keyboard is optional, but is not yet available as of late September.

The Latitude E4200 has received a Gold rating from EPEAT and is also Energy Star 4.0-certified.

Ordering Notes

Several notes when ordering a Latitude E4200:

1. All Latitude E4200s include ultra low voltage Penryn versions of Intel's Core 2 Duo processor. Information Systems & Computing (ISC) suggests the 1.4 GHz version, which is the fastest available.
2. Having at least 2.0 GB RAM is essential for the optimal functionality of any modern notebook.
3. Like Lenovo's ThinkPad X300 13-inch widescreen, the E4200 offers only solid state drives (SSDs) - there are no traditional hard disk drives available. This increases initial cost, though not nearly as much as it did in late 2007, when SSDs first became available.
4. As with any lightweight notebook, ISC suggests that LSPs consider purchasing both a mid-capacity (6-cell) and a low-capacity (4-cell) battery along with an extra AC power adapter for the Latitude E4200. Providers may also wish to consider Dell's range of docking solutions, which include a port replicator and a mini dock.
5. The E4200's connectivity options include 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0. The 802.11n standard still has not been finalized as of September 2008, and so currently shipping 802.11n products may not work correctly in the future without a firmware update. ISC no longer discourages their purchase and use, but advises that the buyer beware. ISC believes that Bluetooth is a good choice for most E4200 users.

See ISC's Notebook Purchasing Guide for more configuration advice. As of September 2008, configuring a Latitude E4200 to the lightweight notebook specification can be done for approximately $2,000.

Analysis

With the E-series, Dell has moved to rationalize the naming conventions and marketing strategies of its Latitude line. In the case of the E4200, E is for the series, 4 for the model line, and 2 for the screen size (12 inches with the 1 truncated). It seems reasonable to expect that the model following the E4200 will be the E4210.

ISC sees the Latitude E4200 as being a competitive choice among lightweight notebooks available in late 2008, especially for the traditional thin and light customer (someone who is replacing an older lightweight Latitude or ThinkPad). ISC will follow up with a full review of this product as soon as it has completed testing.

Latitude E4200 graphic courtesy of Dell

--John Mulhern III, Lead for Client Technologies, ISC Technology Support Services (September 22, 2008)