It can be difficult to disseminate what the difference is between these two types of storage  technologies available on Dell Laptops.

Both the 32GB and 64GB are available as “Ultra Performance”

While the Larger 128gb is described as “Dell Mobility Solid State Drive”

So what is the difference between the two types?

Over on the Direct 2 Dell Blog they claim this about the Ultra Performance model.

“Our labs benchmarked this drive in a Latitude notebook and saw a 35 percent overall system performance increase over a standard 2.5-inch 5400rpm notebook hard drive using SYSmark ‘07.  That’s even more impressive when you realize that the difference between standard 5400 rpm and performance 7200rpm drives (in the same generation) is 10 percent on average.  And just for fun, we did a shootout between the new SSD and a few desktop drives and, well, let’s just say that the performance gap is becoming a thing of the past.  Preliminary tests showed that this drive outperformed a 10,000 RPM desktop drive in overall system performance!”

Link: Direct 2 Dell SSD

So it seems the larger capacity but less expensive 128gb drive is based on the slightly slower technology.  I could do with some definitive confirmation of this – please use the comments.

It’s a Size Thing

So why not save some money and get the 32gb and utilise other external storage?

That’s all well in good and may be “do-able” for an average user but over the life of the machine I want some future proofing. No one knows for example the footprint size of Windows 7.

This choice between performance and capacity is a hard one for the consumer.

If you have any links or additional information on this topic please use the comments.

Now that these new business laptops are available to order from Dell’s Web site choosing between these two models isn’t as easy as it would appear.

Form Factor:

The E4200 comes with a 12.1 inch screen running at 1280×800.

The E4300 comes with a 13.3 inch screen running at 1280×800.

So the only difference is the actual size of the form factor as the screen runs at the same resolution.

CPU:

The E4200 comes with the latest ultra low voltage SU9300 1.2Ghz or SU9400 1.4Ghz running on a 800mhz bus with 3mb of cache

The E4300 comes with the SP9300 2.26Ghz or SP9400 2.40Ghz running on a 1066mhz bus with 6mb of cache.

It would appear that the E4300 wins hands down in this category with Faster CPU, Bus Speed and bigger Cache.

Hard Disk:

The E4200 is only configurable with an  SSD hard disk at 32gb, 64gb and 128gb.

The E4300 is only configurable with traditional ATA/SATA hard disks with capacities of 80gb to 250gb

So if you want SSD you have to go E4200 if you want larger capacity then E4300.

Cost:

The entry level cost of the E4200 is £899 ex VAT and shipping

The entry level cost of the E4300 is £699 ex VAT and shipping.

The killer problem for the E4200 is the inclusion of SSD technology as this instantly adds £346 to go from 32gb to 128gb.

As you can see on the picture above it is cheaper to go for the 128gb SSD drive than the 64gb version. It appears the 64gb model may be a higher performance model than the 128gb which may explain the price difference.

I configured my ideal specification for each machine:-

The E4200 the cost was £1317 + VAT and Shipping.

The E4300 the cost was £888 + VAT and Shipping.

A difference of £429. The majority of which is the SSD hard disk in the E4200.

It is somewhat annoying at not being able to configure the E4200 with anything other than SSD.

I shall have a good hard think about this before deciding.

E4200 Link: Dell Latitude E4200

E4300 Link: Dell Latitude E4300

They come off slightly worse.

Baiting Mac users isn’t the smartest approach.

It was a really smart move not launching their Dell Mini’s yesterday. As it turns out this launch was for their business Laptops only.

These are laptops in the Latitude and Precision family.

The launch event got more coverage than normal because people were interested in the mini.

The good news the overall perception of the revamped Latitudes was very positive and Dell get to put on another show when the mini’s do eventually launch.

I watched the events unfold live and it was fascinating watching all the links appear on the web within moments. The whole event was well organised and the tip of the hat to new media (twitter) was a nice touch.

I feel sorry for Microsoft.

Above is Dell showing off their latest August 2008 hardware designs running a 2001 Microsoft operating system.

Why I care about Latitudes?

The Latitude E Series replaces the Latitude D Series. I supply and support the D-Series and have done so for many years. So the E Series and I are bound to get acquainted. I like everything I see so far.

At 5pm UK time Dell should be knee deep in announcing new products.

Update: No Mini Netbooks in today’s announcement.

If you want to follow the madness in real time try:-

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=dell

On the subject of twitter. Dell have opened a twitter account to solicit questions about these new products.  See: Digital_Nomads

I shall update this post with a summary of the announcements.

First up CNN money have released some shots of the new Dell Latitude re-design.

Latitude Links:

http://bigtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/dells-latitude-redesign-photos-14/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10014386-1.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Crave

Engadget: Dell announces new Latitude E series

http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/08/dell-outs-ult-1.html

Direct2Dell Blog Contains Video: Link

Latitude Product Page is up (contains some nice video): http://www.dell.com/latitude

Dell Latitude Press Kit: Link

Sounds Bites

“Latitude now comes in various colours including red, blue and even pink”.

“Latitudes with backlit keyboards”.

“Latitudes to have “Latitude On” For instant access

“Dell Claim to have a Latitude Battery that can last > 19 hours on the E6400″.

The smaller E4200 and E4300 will be available in the coming weeks.

E4200

E5400

E6500

Precision Mobile Links:

Link: Dell Mobile Precision Laptops Get an Update

Link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2327896,00.asp

Sounds Bites

“Precision Mobile now has Quad Core and Terabyte options”.

Dell tomorrow (Tuesday 12/08/2008) have scheduled a press conference in San Francisco.

Everyone knows they have the replacement for the D-series laptops the imaginatively titled E-Series in the wings.

The real buzz is around the small mini laptops (pictured above). These compete directly with the HP Mini Note and the Asus eee PC’s

Link: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200808071954DOWJONESDJONLINE000818_FORTUNE5.htm

• 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU
• Intel 945 Express/GMA950 graphics
• 1GB RAM
• 8.9 inch 1240 x 600 pixel display
• 8GB SSD
• Windows XP or Linux
• 3 USB ports
• 802.11b/g
• Ethernet
• 32 Wh battery
• Card reader
• Black, white and red colors

August still looking likely.

Unless the reviews are really bad I am going to be investing in a Dell E Series Slim mini notebook.

They come in both 8.9″ and 12″ form factors.

I am used to a 12″ laptop so just to mix it up I will go with the smaller 8.9″ (watch me flip/flop on that nearer the time).

I think Dell are right when they pitch the device as the “30 min web experience.”

I don’t expect this to me my primary machine but when I am out and about I just need all my data and a machine capable of establishing VPN connections for remote technical support.

I wonder if Dell will offer any mobile data options for this. If not a USB Dongle it is.

I am currently in a transitional period with my own technology I always like to investigate ways of improving productivity and I think I can squeeze some more by centralising everything on a powerful desktop PC and use a Dell E Slim as my mobile extension to it.

That’s why the mobile comm’s of the Dell E slim are interesting to me. I can just VPN back to base if I need to.

Dell call them the Mobile Internet Devices.

The prices start from $299 to compete in the “mini” market.

Comes with either Linux or Windows XP (yes XP).

Next Up is the larger 12.1″

Based on the CPU this has been designed with mobility and cost in mind and not cutting edge performance.

I am really pleased to see Dell tackle this new market “Cheap Mini’s” and with their supply chain management and infrastructure these are likely to catch on fast.

I am also glad Windows XP gets an afterlife. it may have shipped in 2001 but XP is a really solid base to build technology on.

They haven’t announced a release date yet but it can only be a few months out.