Product Notes: Dell Latitude E4300

September 22, 2008

After an August product announcement, Dell made its Latitude E4300 13-inch widescreen notebook available for ordering on September 16. The E4300 is based on Intel's Montevina notebook platform and is a new form factor for the Latitude line.

Design

The Latitude E4300 enclosure (along with all of Dell's E-series Latitudes) has a brushed black and aluminum look and feel and include new ports such as DisplayPort, eSATA, SmartCard, and SecureDigital card reader. It also adds the option of both a backlit keyboard and webcam.

The Latitude E4300 weighs 3.3 pounds. The Latitude E4300 includes Dell's Wi-Fi Catcher wireless network locater.

The Latitude E4300 has received a Gold rating from EPEAT and is also Energy Star 4.0-certified.

Ordering Notes

Several notes when ordering a Latitude E4300:

1. All Latitude E4300s include Penryn versions of Intel's Core 2 Duo processor.
2. Unlike many other notebook manufacturers, Dell continues to offer integrated WWAN cards from a wide range of cellular vendors; AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. This gives local support providers with existing cellular vendor relationships more flexibility.
3. Having at least 2.0 GB RAM is essential for the optimal functionality of any modern notebook.
4. As with any lightweight notebook, Information Systems & Computing (ISC) suggests that LSPs consider purchasing both a mid-capacity (6-cell) and a low-capacity (3-cell) battery along with an extra AC power adapter for the Latitude E4300. Providers may also wish to consider Dell's range of docking solutions, which include a port replicator and a mini dock.
5. The E4300's connectivity options include 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0. The 802.11n standard has still 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 E4300 users.

See ISC's Notebook Purchasing Guide for more configuration hints. As of September 2008, configuring a Latitude E4300 to the lightweight notebook specification can be done for approximately $1,850.

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 E4300, E is for the series, 4 for the model line, and 3 for the screen size (13 inches with the 1 truncated). It seems reasonable to expect that the model following the E4300 will be the E4310.

The Latitude E4300 is a little late to the lightweight 13-inch notebook market, which was effectively inaugurated by Apple's MacBook Air in January 2008, closely followed by Lenovo's ThinkPad X300. ISC sees the Latitude E4300 as being a reasonably competitive choice among lightweight notebooks available in late 2008, especially for the customer "downsizing" from a mid-weight notebook.

Latitude E4300 graphic courtesy of Dell

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