Getac, a company usually known for super-rugged notebooks, has finally entered the business notebook space with a new thin and light 13.3" model. The Getac 9213 offers slick looks with a brushed metal finish, great keyboard for comfortable typing, and a glossy 13.3" display. Starting price is $1,799, which puts it near the top-end in its market segment, including other notebooks like the Apple MacBook Air, Lenovo ThinkPad X301 and Toshiba Portege A605. Does the Getac 9213 have what it takes to command such a high price? Read our full review to find out.
Build and Design The Getac 9213 has a very thin and sleek design, a big shift from what we normally think of when the brand comes to mind. Trading the thick metal cladding for a brushed aluminum finish with glossy plastic trim the 9213 gives users a very professional and modern look. Inside, the palmrest area shares the same black brushed aluminum finish with dark silver tracing the keyboard and media buttons below the screen. The keys are matte black, with bright white lettering that contrasts perfectly making the letters pop out as if they were backlit. One odd element to the design is the mirror surface touchpad and power buttons, and the very reflective glossy black touchpad which really stand out on this notebook. Looking back I can't think of any other notebook with mirror-like buttons.
Build quality might not be up to the same standards as Getac B300--which you can stand on top of--but it is very good when you compare it to similar business-grade notebooks. The brushed metal lid has some flex, but being so thin it still does an excellent job of protecting the screen from damage under pressure. The screen hinges operate with a smooth motion, with no freeplay when stationary. You can open the lid with one hand where some notebooks might require one to hold the screen and another to hold the keyboard down. The palmrest and keyboard offer excellent support, with barely a hint of flex under extreme pressure. The brushed metal surfaces hold up well to day-to-day abuse, hiding fingerprints and mild scratches very well. Compare this against some notebooks with highly polished surfaces that start to look beat up in a matter of days.
Screen and Speakers The WXGA panel on the Getac 9213 is above average with bright colors and excellent contrast thanks to the glossy surface. While the glossy surface does trade some visibility in high brightness situations (outdoors under sunlight or indoors under strong lights), it is nowhere near as bad as "all glass" displays found on some notebooks. Viewing angles are above average with a broad viewing sweet spot, expanding 30 degrees forward and back before colors start to shift or invert. Horizontal viewing angles expand out to roughly 70 degrees, and after that depending on the conditions reflections off the screen start to overpower the display. Viewing brightness is excellent, making it easy to view the display even in bright office lighting. Outdoor viewing would be possible if you found some shade to limit glare from the sun. The backlight was pretty even across the panel when viewing an all black screen, with very mild bleed around the edges at full brightness.
The speakers were average compared to other business notebooks, working well for VOIP applications but not so great for music and video. Bass and midrange are lacking, making the music sound dull. Peak volume levels were okay for a small room, but could get easily overpowered with moderate noise levels. Headphones should be considered your best friend on trips and other situations where you want the best audio quality.
Keyboard and Touchpad The keyboard easily ranks as one of the nicer features of this notebook. It is very comfortable to type on with excellent support and great tactile feedback from the keys. Keys have very little wiggle and offer just the right amount of spring for fast typing. Key shape is similar to most Chiclet style keyboards, but with a standard design without an inner bezel. There is very little cup to the top of each key, which does take a bit to get used it.
The layout is also slightly different than most keyboards, having a European style Enter key, which instead of extending out above the Shift key, is more above the arrow keys. Until you adapt to this layout you end up hitting the "/" button instead. Since this keyboard had no international symbols my only conclusion is this is what they are using for the US-market. Outside of the weird layout this keyboard ranks right up there with my ThinkPad keyboard.
The 9213 offers a large glossy Synaptics touchpad, with a very subtle bumpy surface. The texture allows for quick movements without sticking or binding, even with a sweaty hand. Sensitivity is excellent with no lag present during our testing. Normally I am not a huge fan of glossy touchpad surfaces, but the coating Getac uses is just slick enough to still allow normal movement. The touchpad buttons are of average size with a fingerprint scanner located in the middle. Feedback is minimal with a short throw when pressed. The buttons give off very little noise when activated, sounding like a very soft muted "click."
Ports and Features Port selection is good for a 13.3" notebook, offering three USB ports, LAN, analog and digital audio ports, VGA, and a side-mounted docking connector. HDMI would have been appreciated, but for its intended market where projectors are used frequently, VGA rules the world still. Expansion slots include an ExpressCard/34 slot and SDHC multi-card reader.
Right: ExpressCard/34, optical drive, one USB, AC power
Performance System performance was lower than expected, but most of that revolves around the processor choice than anything else. Our 9213 came with a 1.4GHz Intel SU9400 Core 2 Duo, which is designed for low power consumption over high performance. In most of our tests the 9213 performed similarly to the Lenovo ThinkPad X301 and Toshiba Portege A605 which both offered the same processor. The X301 gained a small lead in PCMark05, but that increase can be explained by the SSD, whereas our 9213 has a 2.5" 5400rpm hard drive. For day-to-day use typing documents, surfing the web, or watching streaming video the notebook was up to the task with no discernable lag. In our HD video tests the notebook easily played 720p and 1080p video without any hint of lag or drop in framerate. While playing 720P video the processor stayed at roughly 30% load, and under 1080P video it was at just over 50%.
wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):
Notebook / CPU
wPrime 32M time
Dell Studio XPS 13 (Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.4GHz)
31.951 seconds
Apple MacBook Pro 13 (Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz)
34.209 seconds
Toshiba Satellite U405 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz)
Heat and Noise Heat was slightly above average for a business portable, with the notebook warming up after being on for a long time. The left side of the palmrest was warm to the touch, as well as the left side of the keyboard. Fan noise was minimal, but this may have been part of the reason why the notebook was running warmer than average. Without as much air flowing through the notebook, heat wasn't able to dissipate and it built up over time. Nothing about the notebook was hot, just slightly warmer than average. The external temperatures listed below are shown in degrees Fahrenheit.
Battery The Getac 9213 was designed with battery life in mind, with integrated graphics and a lower voltage Intel SU9400 Core 2 Duo processor. During our tests power consumption was slightly higher than expected, staying between 9 to 11 watts while running. With notebook set to the Balanced profile, brightness at 70% and wireless active it stayed running for 4 hours and 49 minutes. While it might not be as long as the T400 with extended battery that reached nearly 10 hours, it is still very good.
Conclusion Overall the Getac 9213 proved to be a competent and well designed business notebook. It looks excellent, moving away from the big and bulky look of previous rugged models like the B300. While it might not hold up to being tossed around a room or stepped on, it still feels very well built and should hold up well in a business environment. Our battery life test showed pretty good results, but given the low voltage processor and integrated graphics we think it could have done better. The current selling price is a bit steep, starting at $1,799, towards the upper end of the business portable market.
Acer managed to strike gold in the middle of a global economic crisis thanks to their affordable Acer Aspire One netbooks. These low-cost, ultraportable laptops have quickly become popular travel companions for people who don't want to haul a heavy notebook to Starbucks. The latest 10-inch Acer Aspire One, the D250 series, offers a great balance of features at a starting price of less than $300. Read on to find out more about the Acer Aspire One D250-1165.
Our Acer Aspire One D250-1165 features the following specifications:
Operating System: Genuine Windows XP
Processor: Intel Atom N270 Processor 1.60GHz
Memory: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM (533MHz)
Internal Storage: 160GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD
Display: 10.1-inch diagonal WSVGA+ (1024x600)
Graphics: Intel GMA 950
Wireless: 54g Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
Expansion: 5-in-1 media card slot
Ports and connectors: (3) USB 2.0 ports, VGA OUT, power connector, RJ-45/Ethernet (10/100), stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in, 0.3 megapixel (VGA) webcam
Dimensions (H x W x D): 1 x 10.2 x 7.2 inches (including feet)
Weight: 2.4 lbs (not including weight of AC adapter).
Power: 3-cell Lithium-Ion battery (2200mAh, 25Wh)
Warranty: One-year standard warranty
MSRP: $329.99 ($299.95 Retail Price)
Build and Design The Acer Aspire One D250-1165 is a low-cost version of the new D250 series netbooks and features a smaller battery and no Bluetooth in order to drop the retail price below $300. One very interesting item of note is that the D250 is actually slightly thinner than the original Acer Aspire One 150 series which used a smaller 8.9-inch screen. Like the original Aspire One, the D250 uses glossy plastics on the top of the screen cover as well as around the entire LCD. At times the reflective boarder does get on your nerves if you are in a brightly lit room with many sources of glare.
Build quality looks quite good and the construction feels strong enough to handle being tossed around inside a book bag without much concern for its safety (well apart from possible scratches to the glossy surfaces). We detected some flexing in the LCD lid plastics and bottom of the chassis when we squeezed the D250 while holding it folded in half, but overall this is a solid little netbook.
One nice design feature in the D250 is easy access for upgrades. Compared to the original Acer Aspire One, the D250 is extremely easy to upgrade. Flip the netbook over and you'll find three access panels for the hard drive, RAM, and the mini-PCIe card slot. The mini-PCIe card slot is obviously open for built-in broadband wireless access, so you should be able to buy this netbook directly from wireless carriers depending on the carriers and data plans in your area.
Screen and Speakers The new Aspire One uses a fairly standard LED-backlit display panel with a 1024x600 native resolution. The glossy screen looks identical to what we're seeing in most netbooks: the glossy screen offers good color and contrast, but glare and reflections indoors under strong lights or outdoors under direct sunlight can be a problem. Again, although the 1024x600 resolution is pretty standard for a netbook these days, I'd much rather see a 1366x768 screen in the next Aspire One. Vertical viewing angles are average, with some strong color inversion when viewing from below and some over-exposed colors when viewed from above. Horizontal viewing angles are better with colors staying accurate at extremely wide viewing angles.
Keyboard and Touchpad The Aspire One D250 uses a surprisingly cramped keyboard that is virtually identical to the keyboard used on the original Aspire One 150 series. Considering that the original Aspire One was a smaller netbook with a 8.9-inch screen it's rather disappointing that Acer didn't use a larger keyboard. Despite the small key size, the typing surface feels strong with no keyboard flex and individual keys feel strong with no wobble. One aspect that I really enjoy about the keyboard layout is the dedicated page up and page down buttons.
Still, the cramped keyboard will cause problems for more than a few owners. Since the keys are small and unusually close together you have to look at the keys when typing rather than using touch typing methods. Here's a quick example of what I can type when looking at the keys:
"This is what it's like to type a document on the Acer Aspire One keyboard if you are looking at the keys."
Here's a quick example of what I can type using the traditional touch typing method:
"This is ehat it's like to type a document on the Acer Aspore One keyboard ig you are looking st the screen."
The Synaptics touchpad used on the D250 is a little small considering that most 10-inch netbooks are getting larger touchpads these days. The touchpad is gesture-enabled and this allows you to use multi-finger gestures such as "pinching" your fingers together or "pulling" your fingers apart to zoom in or out. You can also use a spiral motion to activate the "chiral scroll" feature. The Synaptics control panel in Windows also allows you to customize these gestures as well. The touchpad surface provides smooth, fluid movement but the small size takes some getting used to. The left and right touchpad buttons are located beneath a single rocker-style button, but with no separation between the left and right side it's easy to accidentally press the middle of the touchpad button when you're trying to press the left or right side. The touchpad buttons have extremely shallow feedback, so it isn't always easy to feel when you have or have not pressed a button.
The D250 also includes a dedicated wireless on/off switch on the front of the notebook--something that's nice to have when traveling and isn't available on many netbooks from other manufacturers.
Input and Output Ports The Aspire One D250 provides a good selection of ports despite the thin profile of the chassis. You get three USB 2.0 ports, a 5-in-1 media card reader, headphone and microphone jacks, Ethernet port, and a standard VGA out port. It's nice to see a standard set of ports considering that several other netbooks sacrifice ports in order to achieve a thin profile.
Here is a quick tour around the Acer Aspire One D250-1165:
Front view: Wi-Fi on/off switch.
Rear view: No ports here, just the hinges and battery.
Left side view: Ethernet, heat vent, VGA out, USB 2.0 port, microphone and headphone jacks.
Right side view: 5-in-1 card reader, two USB 2.0 ports, power jack and security lock slot.
Performance and Benchmarks There isn't much to be said in the performance section of a netbook review. If you've read our reviews of other netbooks that use the Intel Atom processors then you know that all Atom-based netbooks have nearly identical performance in terms of actual real-world use. Overall performance with the Intel Atom platform is very reasonable for daily activities like Web browsing, email, using Microsoft Office, listening to music, and watching standard definition (480p) movies. If you're in a bind you can even use photo editing software like Photoshop or GIMP for basic image editing.
The weak performance of the Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics combined with the Intel Atom means this isn't going to be your next multimedia laptop. The integrated graphics processor (IGP) is powerful enough to handle displaying a PowerPoint presentation on a projector or watching DVD quality video, but a netbook with this hardware is really only intended to provide "good enough" performance for quick Web access while you're away from your primary PC.
wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):
Notebook / CPU
wPrime 32M time
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)
76.240 seconds
HP Pavilion dv2 (AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 @ 1.60GHz)
103.521 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)
114.749 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)
116.030 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)
116.421 seconds
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz)
123.281 seconds
Acer Aspire One D250-1165 (Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz)
124.829 seconds
Acer Aspire One 150-1635 (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)
125.812 seconds
Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (2009) (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)
126.406 seconds
Samsung NC20 (VIA Nano ULV U2250 @ 1.30GHz)
173.968 seconds
PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):
Notebook
PCMark05 Score
Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)
2,446 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv2 (1.60GHz AMD Athlon Neo, ATI Radeon HD 3410 512MB)
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)
1,637 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)
1,564 PCMarks
Acer Aspire One 150-1635 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)
1,555 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)
1,535 PCMarks
Acer Aspire One D250-1165 (1.60GHz Intel Atom N270, Intel GMA 950)
1,456 PCMarks
Samsung NC20 (1.30GHz VIA Nano ULV U2250, VIA Chrome9 HC3)
1,441 PCMarks
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GM1 950)
1,437 PCMarks
3DMark06 comparison results against netbooks @ 1024 x 768 resolution:
Notebook
3DMark06 Score
HP Pavilion dv2 (1.60GHz AMD Athlon Neo, ATI Radeon HD 3410 512MB)
1,520 3DMarks
ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB)
1,417 3DMarks
Samsung NC20 (1.30GHz VIA Nano ULV U2250, VIA Chrome9 HC3)
151 3DMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)
127 3DMarks
Acer Aspire One 150-1635 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)
122 3DMarks
Acer Aspire One D250-1165 (1.60GHz Intel Atom N270, Intel GMA 950)
120 3DMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)
116 3DMarks
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GM1 950)
112 3DMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)
92 3DMarks
Sony VAIO P (1.33GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 500, Windows Vista)
88 3DMarks
In our ongoing quest to provide helpful information to our readers we are adding the following video playback table to our reviews of netbooks. Since netbooks are starting to be used for mobile entertainment (watching movie trailers or streaming video) it's important to know how a netbook performs when trying to play a simple video file. We selected a family-friendly movie trailer and downloaded three different versions in 480p, 720p, and 1080p resolutions. We used the CCCP Codec Pack for decoding and Media Player Classic Homecinema (version 1.1.796.0) for playing all of the video files.
Video Playback Performance:
Video Resolution
CPU Usage
Playback Comments
480p
30%-40% (hyperthreading)
Plays flawlessly
720p
40%-50% (hyperthreading)
Plays with a few dropped frames
1080p
55%-70% (hyperthreading)
Plays with severe stutter, dropped frames and broken audio
HDTune for the built-in hard drive:
Heat and Noise Temperatures on the new Aspire One are in line with what we've come to expect from netbooks with Intel Atom processors. Temperature readings taken from the outside of the plastic chassis remained "lap friendly" during normal use. The only time that temperature readings spiked was when the CPU was being stressed with video playback.
Below are images indicating the temperature readings (listed in degrees Fahrenheit) taken inside our office where the ambient temperature was 74 degrees Fahrenheit.
Battery Acer claims that the Acer Aspire One D250-1165 provides "up to 3 hours of battery life" from the 3-cell battery. Even if the D250 indeed lasted that long it would be relatively pathetic compared to the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA with a 6-cell battery that lasts more than 9 hours.
In our test with the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and XP set to the laptop/portable power profile the system stayed on for 2 hours and 32 minutes of constant use. If we turned down the screen brightness to the lowest setting and disabled Wi-Fi then I'm reasonably sure the D250 could have lasted more than 3 hours. It's worth mentioning that the Aspire One D250 series is also available with a 6-cell battery, and that the 6-cell battery version should provide better battery life.
Conclusion Although the Acer Aspire One D250-1165 offers a great value for less than $300, I can't help but feel a little less than impressed. Acer used a small keyboard, small touchpad, and worst of all a small battery on what is otherwise a fantastic netbook.
Considering how crowded the netbook market has become over the last year I really expected Acer to deliver more with their 10-inch netbook. Yes, it costs less than $300, but that price looks less impressive when other netbooks have better keyboards, better touchpads, and MUCH better battery life for less than $400.
As I've said before with netbooks, I'd like to see a higher resolution screen and better graphics solution, but when it comes to the Aspire One D250 I'd settle for a better keyboard, touchpad, and battery. Still, if you're looking for a low-cost laptop to take with you to the coffee shop then the Acer Aspire One D250-1165 might prove to be a very good choice.
The Dell Latitude E6400 XFR is a 14.1" rugged business notebook, based off the standard E6400 with a new chassis built around the same internal components to make it rugged and waterproof. The chassis offers completely dust and weatherproof access panels covering all external ports, rubber bumpers, and a built-in carrying handle for easy transport. One area that Dell stands hand and shoulders above other rugged notebook manufacturers is the inclusion of high-end components, including dedicated graphics, instead of taking a low-voltage and low-heat approach. In this review we put the Dell E6400 XFR through a battery of tests, to see how well it stands up against other fully-rugged notebooks.
256MB nVidia Quadro NVS 160M (256MB dedicated plus shared memory)
8x DVD (+/-R double layer) drive
Dell Wireless WiFi 1510 (802.11a/g/n)
Bluetooth 2.1
Dimensions: (W x D x H) 13.9" x 10.1-11.5" x 2.2"
Weight: 8lbs 15oz
90W 100-240V AC adapter
6-cell (56Wh) Lithium Ion battery
Price as tested: $4,971 (starting price: $4,299)
Build and Design If you could imagine a Dell Latitude with a huge shell of thick plastic and alloy bolted around it, that is the best way to describe the Dell E6400 XFR. Dell took the same hardware from the business line of notebooks and put it in a redesigned chassis to hold up to the rigors of heavy-duty usage. To the average person the Dell XFR might not look stylish or pretty, but that isn't the point of full-rugged notebooks. Outside of the color scheme the entire design is a matter of function over form. The body panels are molded with internal bracing for enhanced rigidity, the corners are covered with rubber to absorb energy from being dropped, and it even includes built-in handle for easy transport.
Build quality is above and beyond a standard Dell notebook thanks to very tough body panels and super strong screen hinges. To open the notebook you need to release a metal clip that holds the screen shut ... even if you accidentally drop the notebook down a flight of stairs the screen lid won't open. The rubber bumpers are securely attached to the chassis and there's no hint of them wanting to pull or peel off. The built-in handle is designed as part of the chassis and include durable collapsing hinges that let the handle fold in when it is not in use. The only part of the chassis that I think could have been improved is the air vent on the bottom of the XFR, which is made from thin plastic. It flexes more than we would like to see on any notebook, standard or rugged, creating a weak point in an otherwise fully-rugged design.
The Dell E6400 XFR is built to withstand adverse operating conditions, which may include getting caught in a rainstorm, dropped off the back of a truck, operating in a bumpy car, getting stuck at the North Pole, or even running in a desert. Drop conditions are tested from four feet onto a plywood covered surface, to simulate someone dropping it from about waist height. For extreme temperature tests the XFR is rated up to 145 degrees Fahrenheit, and as low as -20F while running, to simulate desert or winter conditions. In our review we tested the lower operating conditions in our kitchen freezer, weather test via water splashed at the XFR while running, and drop tests onto our office floor. In every test the XFR performed as expected, and kept running without problems.
Screen and Speakers With many rugged notebooks spending a good portion of their time outdoors, the E6400 XFR offers a sunlight-readable WXGA panel with optional touch-sensitivity. To limit the amount of glare, the screen is a matte finish style, but has more "sparkle" than most matte displays. Colors and contrast are below average at higher brightness levels and the backlight bleeds through at higher levels. For many high-brightness LCD's this is very common, although the high-brightness T400 didn't suffer from this as much. The panel felt stronger than most notebooks thanks to a hard front surface, but still suffered from color distortion under mild pressure from touching the panel. In contrast, the Getac B300 rugged notebook offers an impact-proof panel, which can take a direct punch without showing any signs of color distortion. At the highest brightness setting the E6400 XFR screen was easily readable in full sunlight, with comfortable home viewing brightness somewhere between 30-40%. Viewing angles were above average, with a broad vertical viewing sweet spot before colors started to shift.
Speaker performance is average for a rugged notebook, where they work fine for streaming music or VOIP. Bass and midrange support is lacking, leaving only higher frequencies coming through. Overall volume is decent for a small room, but headphone would be a better option for privacy and higher audio quality.
Keyboard and Touchpad The keyboard on the E6400 XFR is ruggedized as well, but has the look and feel of a standard notebook keyboard. It is comfortable to type on, with only a light touch needed to activate each key. The key surface is mildly cupped, which can help center your fingers if you are typing with gloves or very cold hands. For typing in dark conditions, the keyboard is fully backlit with white LED's showing through the bottom. The backlit appears to be non-adjustable, with settings only for off, on, and automatic. Noise while typing is minimal, with a muted click given off when a key is fully pressed.
The touchpad is recessed into the palmrest, allowing it to be fully weather-sealed against dust and water intrusion. The touchpad surface is very responsive and has minimal lag in our testing. The surface texture is a rough matte finish, providing enough traction for accurate movement but still easy enough to use if your fingers are wet. The touchpad buttons are covered in rubber cladding, allowing them to have a full range of movement, but remain sealed against the elements. Feedback is surprisingly good, with a long throw distance and a soft click when pressed. Pressure needed to activate the buttons is above average, but not too much to strain your fingers over time.
Ports and Features All external ports and expansion slots are sealed from water and dust with solid hinged panels, with frequently used ports offering sliding access panels. In terms of ports the E6400 XFR is fully loaded with three USB, one eSATA/USB combo, LAN, DisplayPort, VGA, FireWire, audio jacks, and a legacy PCMCIA slot. Dell also includes a front-mounted SD-card slot with its own little access panel behind the carrying handle.
Performance Compared to other rugged notebooks the Dell E6400 XFR is one of the fastest we have reviewed. While other rugged notebooks tend to go with low voltage processors and integrated graphics, Dell packed an Intel Core 2 Duo P9600 processor and NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M dedicated graphics. This allows the E6400 XFR to perform at workstation levels, letting you run more intensive applications out in the middle of nowhere. The only big downside to this approach is less battery life and increased heat, but if you need the speed, you don't have any other choice. For day-to-day tasks the XFR is quite fast with the 128GB SSD, and with the dedicated graphics you can even lightly game if you are so inclined. If you want to serve up 720P or 1080P video in the middle of a forest, the E6400 XFR can easily cope with the load without any hint of lag. Bottom line is that the XFR is the fastest rugged notebook we have seen in our office.
wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):
Lenovo ThinkPad T400 (Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.8GHz)
27.410 seconds
Dell Latitude E6400 XFR (Intel Core 2 Duo P9600 @ 2.66GHz)
29.157 seconds
Dell Latitude E6400 (Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 @ 2.53GHz)
30.497 seconds
Getac B300 (Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 @ 1.6GHz)
52.328 seconds
Getac V100 (Intel Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.2GHz)
73.359 seconds
PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):
*All 3DMark06 benchmark tests are set at 1280 x 800 screen resolution.
HDTune storage drive performance results:
Heat and Noise With most rugged notebooks heat and noise is not much of a concern ... since they usually offer low voltage processors and integrated graphics. Our review Dell E6400 XFR review unit included an Intel 2.66GHz processor and dedicated NVIDIA graphics, which kept system temperatures high during the stressful periods of our tests. The cooling system is partially sealed on the XFR, whereas some rugged notebooks are completely passive-cooled. Dell mounts a heatsink and fan underneath the notebook in a sealed chamber exposed to the elements. This allows higher heat loads to be air cooled through a channel of heat pipes. The only problem we found with this is that under higher loads the fan noise was very loud--above most gaming notebooks. Under normal light usage fan noise was not a problem, only when the system was gaming or decoding multiple HD-videos did the fan become disruptive.
Battery Life The Dell E6400 XFR offers a standard 6-cell battery, with an optional 12-cell slip-on all-day slice battery. In our tests with the E6400 XFR using the 6-cell battery, with Vista set to the "Balanced" power profile, screen brightness set to 40%, and wireless active the system stayed on for 3 hours and 44 minutes. Normally we test at a higher brightness, but with the high-brightness screen we tried to match standard notebooks in the overall brightness level. Compared to other rugged notebooks we have reviewed like the Getac B300 the results were less than impressive, but the Dell XFR includes much higher-end hardware that demands more power.
Conclusion The Dell Latitude E6400 XFR is a well built, higher performing, fully rugged notebook. It is based off of the Latitude E6400, with a ruggedized chassis wrapped around it. While it is definitely more rugged than the standard E6400 or E6400 ATG, it may not be as durable as other fully rugged notebooks. Dell chose to use plastic cladding for most of the external panels while other manufacturers use stronger metal panels. The main area of concern with this approach is the cooling fan grill, which showed significant flex, and may be an area that could get damaged in a tumble. The performance of the E6400 XFR is well above other rugged notebooks, but this comes at the cost of battery life. This notebook saw just under 4 hours of battery life, where the Getac B300 with a slower and more efficient processor got almost 9 hours. Overall if you need something that is as powerful as a mobile workstation--but with a fully rugged chassis--the Dell E6400 XFR is a good notebook to consider.
Each month we compile data for the number of times a particular notebook is viewed on this site's product pages to get an idea for what mainstream consumers are looking at and thinking about buying. While these laptops aren't necessarily the most popular in terms of sales, they are the most popular based on the number of times our visitors clicked on them.
1. Lenovo ThinkPad T400(Still holding #1) - The ThinkPad T400 features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 14.1" LED-backlight widescreen, up to 8GB of PC2-8500 and integrated Intel X4500 or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470.
2. Acer Aspire One (Still holding #2) - The Aspire One is the latest "netbook" from Acer, offering a convenient, compact design at a budget price. The Aspire One features an Intel Atom Processor, 8.9" WSVGA TFT LCD, and a choice of either Genuine Windows XP Home Edition or Linpus Linux Lite version.
3. Apple 13" MacBook Pro (New to the Top 10) - This 13 inch notebook is the smallest of the Apple MacBook Pro family. It features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, NVIDIA GeForce graphics with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory, up to 8GB DDR3 sysetm memory, and 160 or 250GB SATA hard drive. This system is also equipped with a FireWire 800 port, two USB 2.0 ports, and SD card slot.
4.Dell Studio15(Previously #5) - The Dell Studio 15 is a 15.4" screen multimedia laptop offered in multiple colors and configurations. The Studio 15 can be equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo and dedicated ATI graphics. It comes with a slot-loading DVD drive, backlit keyboard, sleek drop-hinge design, widescreen glossy display and touch sensitive buttons. Software wise the Dell Studio 15 includes a unique Apple Mac OS X launch dock.
5. Dell Studio XPS 16 (Previously #3) - The Studio XPS 16 features premium design with genuine leather accents, anodized aluminum, edge-to-edge display and backlit keyboard, 16" ultrawide 16:9 aspect ratio with 1080p HD support & optional RGB-LED for brighter and more vivid colors, the latest Centrino 2 platform for blazing fast performance, amazing battery life and go anywhere wireless connectivity and premium ATI 512MB graphics delivers incredibly lifelike videos, movies and gaming.
6. Lenovo IdeaPad S10(Previously #5)- Designed to keep pace with your busy lifestyle - possibly even simplify it. At a mere 2.65 lbs and about one inch thin, it's so light and portable. You can take it wherever your day takes you. Plus it's loaded with thoughtful standard features to make your life a little easier.
7. Dell Mini 9 (Previously #4) - The Inspiron Mini 9 has an 8.9-inch widescreen display and can be configured with either Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux. The Mini 9 is powered by an Intel Atom processor for power saving performance. An 8GB flash drive makes it so the Mini is quiet and has very fast Storage and configure up to 1GB of RAM for a performance boost too.
8. HP Pavilion dv2z(Back in the Top 10) - The HP Pavilion dv2z features a 12.1" LED BrightView display, built-in webcam and microphone, 1.6GHz Athlon Neo processor, and option of ATI Radeon X1250 integrated graphics or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 discrete graphics. It's relatively lightweight at 3.8 lbs and also features an optional external Blu-ray disc drive.
10. Sony VAIO CS(New to the Top 10) - The Sony VAIO CS series features up to 2.80GHz Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo processor, Genuine Microsoft® Windows Vista® Ultimate or other editions, a 14.1" widescreen LCD display, up to 320GB hard drive and 4GB RAM, up to 4 hours of battery life and weighs in at 5.7 lbs. Colors include dove white, glossy black, and for those seeking more flair, sangria red and cosmopolitan pink.
And here's the rest of 'em rounding out the top 20 most viewed and popular on NotebookReview.com for the month of June:
