Dell Latitude E4200 preview

HOS 18 December 2008

Good: It's going to be superb when all the features are available

Bad: Confusing online website options lead me to buying a product that was missing major features

Comment: The Dell Latitude E4200 notebook is one of the most outstanding pieces of computer engineering I have seen. It's small size and diminutive weight are ideal for the mobile user. In addition, all day battery life, a fast dual core processor and excellent internet connection makes it a perfect compact office machine. The design and build of the E4200 is second to none with beautiful finishes and attention to details. The screen is clear, easy to use and bright enough to see easily in bright sunlight, due to its high contrast and brilliance. In low lighting conditions it can automatically dim to give softer and eye-strain free viewing. The Keyboard is perfect for touch typing, both in size and tactile feedback. It is also very quite to use and displays none of that spongy feeling often noticed in cheap notebooks. Using the Dell E4200 is a real pleasuse. It's lightweight at 1 Kg and totally silent due to the solid state disc drive. This feature also makes it pretty safe to handle the machine freely without any fear of crashing a spinning disc drive. When I first saw the battery compartment sticking out of the back, I was a bit surprised as it was not very elegant to look at. However when you use the notebook on your lap, the battery provides an obvious and secure handle to grab if you want to move around and type with the other hand. It's actually a very useful feature to have the battery block behind the screen in this way and one that a mobile user will quickly appreciate. I was very pleased with the connectivity of the Latitude E4200, especially having an express card 34. This is idea for running programs on as well as storing data. There is not a profusion of usb ports, but this is a strictly mobile build so one is not expected to be running several peripherals. The ability to dock, run firewire, ssd cards, usb and express card is just fine. I suspect in time the Dell E4200 will become a classic notebook. It's much better than a netbook both in performance and usability. You can type all day on this and not get fatigued and yet it is a true portable unit, weighing much less than some netbooks. Do I love my Dell? yes, but... there are some serious problems!

The part above was absolutely honest and so is this; This machine is severly flawed with incompetent marketing of its features. Having spent many hours perusing the promotion material and specifications, I decided on the latitude because of the backlit keyboard and instant on features. These are especially valuable because they add to the green credentilas that I wanted. Having waited 3 months for the delivery of my machine, a Dell cancelled order with no explanation, thene a price rise to re-order, I finally received my machine. On inspection, there was no instant-on blacktop only an ugly screen saying it was not installed and there was no backlit keyboard. In addition, no operating instructions. Phoning Tech support confirmed that there was no Instant on as they have had production snags (but I was never informed on this) According to support "There is no backlit keyboard on this model and there never could be as the motherboard can't support it" sales also confirnmed there is no backlit keyboard option this in a separate call.

I bought my E4200 from the Dell euro site www1.euro.dell.com/ and the download specs clearly state instant on reader and a backlit keyboard as an option. However, when configuring my machine online, there is an option for the reader but no option to select a backlit keyboard. It is reasonable to deduce that NO option for an item means it is 'included as standard ' unless withdrawn from the specification list. This is a serious error in the Dell website marketing, that I feel misslead me into a purchase that did not fulfill my expectations. It also appears that on Dell.com the option for a backlit keyboard IS available in the customise options build. This was also confirmed to me in a chat session with a Dell.com online representative. So we ha