Dell Latitude D600 review: Dell Latitude D600

Dell's venerable corporate thin-and-light laptop, the Latitude D600, gets a tune-up for summer 2004. The system now sports upgraded innards, including a 1.8GHz Pentium M Dothan processor, a DVD+RW drive, and a larger 80GB hard drive, but it keeps the same slick exterior we've grown so fond of. While the component boost doesn't result in extralong battery life, the Dell Latitude D600 remains among the most well-rounded enterprise laptops available.

Smaller and sleeker than Dell's older, gray C600, the Latitude D600 measures 1.2 inches thick, 12.4 inches wide, and 10.1 inches deep, and it weighs in at an easy-to-tote 5.5 pounds. It still includes a comfortable keyboard, a pointing stick and touch pad, and an internal swappable bay that houses the included DVD+RW drive, plus an optional second battery or one of various optional drives: CD, DVD, DVD/CD-RW, floppy, or a second 40GB hard drive. Three handy buttons for turning the volume up, down, or off sit in the upper-left corner above the keyboard.

The Dell Latitude D600 offers all of the standard ports and slots required for everyday business applications. The best of them include two USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet jack, and one Type II PC Card slot, which features an embedded smart-card reader; removable smart cards, which are available in a number of sizes and prices from various third-party manufacturers, are handy for storing passwords and other sensitive info. The Dell Latitude D600 also features the latest in integrated wireless technology: 802.11b/g.

The laptop's new 1.8GHz Pentium M 745 (a.k.a. Dothan) processor and 512MB of memory served up respectable, if not outstanding, speed in CNET Labs' tests. Although Dell has not upgraded the Latitude D600's aging 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics chip, the system kept up with the Dothan-powered IBM ThinkPad T42. The Latitude D600's smallish 11.1V, 4,700mAh battery took a beating in our drain tests, lasting up to 1.5 hours less than a battery overachiever such as the HP Compaq nc6000. Part of the blame for the Latitude D600's shorter battery life lies with its power-hogging 14.1-inch screen, which features an impressive 1,400x1,050 native resolution.

Dell continues to shine in the corporate software department, offering its long-standing OpenManage remote-manageability software for administrating assets (that is, your laptop and its associated hardware), performing remote BIOS updates, and more. Dell also supports its big-business customers with a three-year parts-and-labor warranty that includes onsite service beginning the next business day after reporting a problem. Finally, toll-free, 24/7 telephone support is available for the life of the laptop.

Mobile application performance (Longer bars indicate faster performance)

BAPCo MobileMark 2002 performance rating

IBM ThinkPad T42

208

HP Compaq nc6000

207

Dell Latitude D600

203

Battery life (Longer bars indicate longer battery life)

BAPCo MobileMark 2002 battery life in minutes

HP Compaq nc6000

332

IBM ThinkPad T42

257

Dell Latitude D600

246

System configurations:

Compaq nc6000
Windows XP Pro; 1.8GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 32MB; Toshiba MK6022GAX 60GB 5,400rpm

Dell Latitude D600
Windows XP Pro; 1.8GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 AGP 32MB; IBM Travelstar 80GN 80GB 4,200rpm

IBM ThinkPad T42
Windows XP Pro; 1.7GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 32MB; Fujitsu MHT2040AH 40GB 5,400rpm