Dell Latitude E-series announced 14/08/2008

Dell’s corporate Latitude range faced its biggest shake-up in years this week, with the announcement – via satellite link between London and San Francisco –of seven new laptops.

The line-up comprises the 12.1-inch Latitude E4200, 13.3-inch Latitude E4300, 14.1-inch E6400, 15.4-inch E6500 and the semi-rugged E6400 ATG. There are also two entry-level machines – the 14.1-inch E5400 and the 15.4-E5500.

The E-series follows on from the popular Latitude D-series range, and offers a host of peripherals that are compatible across the range – including AC adapters and docking stations.

Styling is heavily influenced by consumer laptops, with a host of colours available across the range. Build quality is also a cut above the average laptop, with the use of magnesium alloy to help create a robust chassis.

The pick of the bunch for executives is likely to be the ultraportable E4200 – a stylish machine that Dell claims weighs under 1kg, but all the machines share a common design philosophy.

LED backlighting is used in all of these machines to help battery life, with a claimed 19-hours between charges available on the E4200. Don’t get too excited, however, as you’ll have to tick the options sheet in order to achieve this – see our first-look here to find out more.

The latest Latitude machines all feature Intel Centrino 2 technology, with Intel’s GMA 4500MHD graphics card used on smaller machines, and nVidia’s Quadro NVS 160M1 GPU available on the E6400 and E6500.

Options include fingerprint readers, SSD storage and a Contactless Smart Card reader that allows you to log-on using a regular magnetic card – such as the one you use to gain entry to your workplace.

The range is expected to go on sale in the UK over the next few months, with prices yet to be announced.