After what appears to be a troubled European launch I managed to get my hands on a Dell Latitude E4200. Dell’s lightest business laptop.

The unit came with the following specification:-

Intel Dual Core 1.4 Ghz CPU (SU9400 800Mhz FSB and 3mb Cache)
2 Gig of Ram (800Mhz DDR3 Dual Channel)
64gb Ultra High Performance Solid State Drive SSD
External DVD+RW
6 Cell Battery
Windows Vista Business SP1 to XP Pro SP3 Downgrade

Innovations: Storage

I avoided the first generation of SSD hard disk technology due to the cost and performance issues. However you can order the E4200 with Samsung’s latest ultra performance 2nd generation technology.

SSD technology is about to take off in a big way now it can deliver high performance and low power consumption. It would appear Intel is about to steal the march on Samsung and have some amazing SSD technology in the intel X25-M SSD’s.

However the 64gb Ultra High Performance Solid State Drive SSD from Samsung is no slouch.

Innovations: Power

I cannot tell you how impressed I am  with Dell for finally re-designing their power bricks.

 

It’s small, light and doesn’t get too hot. One word excellent.

Innovation: Form Factor

If you have ever used a Latitude D400, D410, D420 or D430 the compact form factor should come as no surprise. I’ve used everyone of those models over the years and yet the E4200 takes it one stage further. Its ultra compact, light and has performance to die for.

Pictured above is a E4200 sitting on a Dell XPS M1530 hopefully this demonstrates just how small the E4200 is.

Optical Drives

The E4200 can be ordered with an External DVD+RW drive. These have been re-designed to make them smaller and lighter than before. I for one hardly ever use an optical drive anymore I either download what I need or copy files  over a network or some other form of storage.

However having the eSata driven optical drive does come in handy for installing operating systems etc. Although it initially appears awkward having a separate optical drive this is overall the best solution to keep the weight of the laptop down. The unit is powered off the laptop.

Battery

One compromise you sometimes have to make with ultra compact laptops is battery life. I could have ordered a 4 cell battery that would fit flush to the back of the design however when it comes to mobility power capacity is more important that aesthetics.

So I chose the 6 Cell battery that would appear to be capable of keeping me working online for 4+ hours. It does stick out the back about 1” but the additional battery life is worth the trade off.

I did a quick test and played back a test mpeg 2 video file (DVD Quality) stored locally and it played back for 3h25m before the battery died. This is a good stress test as it involved lots of SSD activity as well as video and sound.

Operating Systems

Although mine shipped with a pre-installed Windows XP SP3 I decided to install Vista Business SP1 and Then XP again so If deploy any E4200’s in the field there are no surprises in Operating System deployment.

Now with the relatively small capacity of 64GB the size of the Operating System footprint is worth looking at.

Windows XP Pro SP3 took up 6.81gb Leaving 52.6gb

Windows Vista Business SP1 took up 14.9gb Leaving 44.5GB Free

Average Boot Times

Windows XP Pro SP3: 44 Seconds for a fully loaded desktop connected to a wireless network.

Windows Vista Business SP1: 53 Seconds for a fully loaded desktop connected to a wireless network.

Windows Vista Performance Index Dell Latitude E4200 3.2

As you can see outside of graphics the E4200 does perform well.

I do plan to use Windows XP as my main operating system but I have to say the Windows Vista user experience was really rather nice. and I was impressed at the boot time and overall performance.

Installing a Clean OS

It was easier to re-install Vista than XP due to some unrecognised hardware in XP that took some detective to sort out. See here.

Build Quality and Observations

This looks pretty good, the USB sockets are a bit tight to begin with but over time will be fine.

The screen has a matt finish i.e. not glossy the viewing angles take a bit of getting used to but for the user sitting in front of it, it’s fine.

The Keyboard is excellent but the track pad mouse buttons feel plasticy.

Fan: This does kick in from time to time and is neither too noisy or obtrusive.

Heat: Compared to other small form factor laptops from Dell in the past I was pleasantly surprised by the E4200 not once did it become uncomfortable.

SSD: First of all you do notice an immediate speed improvement and the lack of traditional hard disk noise is welcome. So my first impression of Ultra High Performance Solid State is very positive.

Performance: Even from the couple of days of use I can tell the E4200 is going to be very capable on the performance front. I was initially concerned that the low speed of the Dual 1.4Ghz cpu’s would be an issue however the rapid speed of the SSD’s  keep the system responsive at all times.

Cost

The Dell Latitude E4200 was launched in the UK in September 2008 with a base price of £899+VAT. In early November the entry level base price rose by £130 to £1029. The main difference was Dell now no longer offer 32GB SSD hard disk so the consumer has to pay the difference for the higher capacity 64GB SSD the entry level Dell Mobility version.

At the time of writing Dell only offer the E4200 with SSD technology.

As you can see there is a steep, steep price increase if you want to go the performance SSD route.

One interesting question to answer is how much of a difference is there between the:-

64gb Dell Mobility and the 64gb Dell Ultra Performance SSD’s and now that both are out in the wild in the same machine I am sure this will come to light.

Value for Money?

The costs of a non tablet Dell business laptop ranges between £409 and £1029.

So this puts the Latitude E4200 at the top of the range. Unlike the previous D4.x range from Dell the E4200 has been priced in a class of its own with a base price in excess of £1000+VAT and the performance model coming it at £1436+VAT The E4200 is unlikely to become the mainstream choice. For that you’re looking at the 14.1” Latitude E6400.

E4200 Pro’s / Con’s

Pro’s

Small and Light
High Performance
Excellent 6 Cell Battery Life
Redesigned Power Brick
Ultra Performance SSD is impressive

Con’s

Only 2 USB sockets
Expensive

Conclusion

The E4200 lives up to my expectations of a compact yet powerful laptop. It’s a tad expensive but what you get especially with the performance version at least is something quite special.

Links: Official Dell Product Page / Dell Latitude E4200 Spec Sheet PDF

Bookmark the link below for future E4200 coverage:

http://www.colindiponio.com/category/dell-latitude-e4200/

If you have any questions about the Dell Latitude E4200 then please use the comments or e-mail me directly.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 10th, 2008 at 9:06 am and is filed under DELL, Dell Latitude E4200, Equipment Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.