Dell Latitude D620

The Dell Latitude D620 is a mid-range notebook targeted at business users. It has above average performance, isn't too bulky and has a sturdy build quality. The design is attractive and functional and the battery life is impressive for an all-purpose notebook.

The D620 is a 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo T2600 notebook with 1GB of DDR2 RAM (expandable to 4GB), an 80GB SATA (5400RPM) hard disk and a DVD±RW/±R optical drive. There are four USB 2.0 ports, a SmartCard reader, headphone/microphone ports and a 15-pin D-sub output to connect an external monitor. Networking is supported via the 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet adaptor, Intel 3945 WiFi 802.11a/g connectivity or the 56Kbps v924 internal modem. Bluetooth 2.0 and infrared are also integrated.

The widescreen LCD display is 14.1 inches (diagonally) with a maximum resolution of 1440 x 900. It generally performed quite well, with rich colours, good brightness levels and no visible backlight bleeding. We did however notice some colour shift when viewing it at a vertical angle of around 35 degrees.

The unit is well designed with a sophisticated silver and black aesthetic. With business users in mind, it has a well laid out and responsive keyboard and touchpad. Biometric security is also available as an additional extra. The ports are all easy to access and well placed, with two of the USB ports on the right side and two at the rear. The battery pack has a built-in rubberised wrist guard which we found added unnecessary bulk to the unit and while it irritated us at first, we warmed to it over the duration of our testing. Thankfully, those that don't want this feature can choose to exclude it from their sales package.

We tested the system performance and it achieved a World Bench 5 score of 95, which is above average for a notebook of these specifications. However with just a basic onboard Intel Accelerator 950 graphics chip, we knew its gaming performance would be less impressive, and its score of 6432 in 3DMark 2001 confirmed our expectations. This is not a gaming notebook and as such will not run most games developed in the last few years, although it may play older titles and will definitely handle business applications that do not require extensive graphics capabilities. Considering this is a business notebook, these results were not unexpected.

Our test model came with a 56Whr 6-cell Lithium-Ion battery (that can be upgraded to a 9-cell unit) which lasted 278 minutes during our MobileMark 2002 productivity battery and 313 minutes during the reader test. DVD playback reduced this to 169 minutes. This is an excellent result for a 6-cell battery and shows that the notebook is robust enough to be used as a mobile office without frequent charging, but can also be enjoyed watching DVDs.

The D620 wasn't too heavy or too large, weighing in at 2kg, and could easily fit into a messenger bag or under the arm. It is also quiet, even when the optical drive is in use. It does tend to get a little hot on the underbelly of the unit after long periods, but not enough as to make the user uncomfortable.

Dell has done a good job with the D620. It performs well, looks great and has a long battery life. It will suit demanding business users and has a price point in keeping with a notebook of these specifications.