Dell Latitude D430
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Review Date: 15th Jan' 08

Dell's latest ultraportable comes in the form of Latitude D430. For those who've had previous experience with the D410 or D420 the Latitude D430 will immediately feel familiar with the usual keyboard layout and the silver/charcoal gray color combo among other similarities. That said, a closer look at the D430 will reveal that the design/layout has matured in keeping with the times with added features and other niceties that make using the D430 even more of a pleasant experience.

The D430 uses one of the updated ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) Intel processors, the U7600, a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, which is good enough for day-to-day loads. At $2250, we managed to pack Latitude D430 with 2 gigs of RAM and a 64GB solid state drive. The lack of mechanical moving parts not only extends battery life but also boosts performance & responsiveness, which is more important for the businessman who's most likely not working with a large collection of video and audio files.

Filling the rest of the hardware profile is a 12.1" WXGA screen, Intel a/b/g wireless access as well as Verizon mobile broadband, an external DVD writer (since Dell forgoes an integrated optical drive to save weight), and Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, which although is previous-generation, but manages to handle Vista's Aero GUI with ease.

Many ultra portables feel flimsy and fragile which is an inherent human reaction to very small and light things. But Latitude D430 escapes that feeling and seems quite rugged and well built. A major contributor to its robustness is the magnesium outer casing, which protects the innards of the D430 (most importantly the screen) from external pressures and eliminates flexing. Other small touches include the secure clasp of the screen and the comfortable wrist rest area on the extended battery.

The Latitude D430 offers one of the most comfortable keyboards found on an ultraportable with available space being well utilized. The end result is a keyboard with well-sized, very responsive keys with good spacing between them. It might take a little getting used to the location of the Page up & down keys (being to the right of the shift key) but this layout proves quite useful for scrolling through long documents.

An additional nicety in the D430 is the inclusion of both a tracking point and a touch-pad, that's perhaps something to make any of the former ThinkPad users feel more at home.

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