14 DAY TRIAL // Dell's upcoming business-oriented Latitude E4200 and E4300 ultra-portable PCs have been spotted in the wild. The sexy 12.1- and 13.3-inch notebooks have undergone a severe face-lift to meet the new ultra-portability standards imposed by Asustek's Eee PC.
The new Latitude E4200 features a 12.1-inch WXGA LED-backlit display and only weighs one kilogram. The notebook comes in a magnesium-alloy casing, which allows it to compete with Apple's MacBook Air ultra-portable computer. Unfortunately, it does not come with a built-in optical drive.
Under the sexy hood, Dell has bundled an Ultra-Low Voltage processor in the Montevina family, as well as the option of choosing between a 32GB or 64GB SSD. Other features include TPM 1.2, Smart Card reader, VGA output, DisplayPort, 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Mobile GPS, GbE, two USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, Firewire, SD/MMC reader, and an ExpressCard/34 expansion slot.
The Latitude E4200 will support maximum 5 GB of DDR3 memory. Optionally, the Latitude E4200 can be configured with a backlit keyboard and fingerprint reader.
The second addition to the Latitude family is the E4300 model. It will come with a slightly larger monitor in the 13.3-inch form factor, with a LED-backlit display powered by integrated graphics. Just like its "younger" brother, the notebook will be powered by an Ultra-Low Voltage Montevina processor and will include Intel's Turbo Memory 2.0 technology.
It is alleged that the E4300 will come by default with a 2.5-inch hard-disk drive that can be swapped with a SSD drive upon users' wish. More than that, the optical storage unit will also be present, but it's unsure whether the company will release a DVD burner or an integrated Blu-ray drive with the model. The other hardware specifications are identical to the E4200 model, except for the fact that it will feature both a touchpad and a pointing stick.
The E4200 and the E4300 Latitude models will hit the retailers' shelves in September, but there is no word on pricing yet.