Dell Latitude 2100 First Look Review

by Jerry Jackson

If you're a student or a teacher and have been looking for a durable, ultraportable laptop for the classroom, Dell promises they have the perfect solution in the form of the new Latitude 2100 netbook. This low-cost, durable, and Internet-ready netbook was designed to meet the specific needs of K-12 students, teachers and school administrators, but is this really the perfect laptop for schools? We recently spent some hands-on time with the first Latitude netbook to find out if it's as impressive as it sounds.

Dell designers worked closely with hundreds of students, teachers, parents and administrators to create an education netbook that focuses on helping students learn. With the Latitude 2100, students can access enhanced learning resources and digital content on a school network or via the Internet. As a result, the Latitude 2100 blends into student life, from lesson plans to homework, increasing time spent learning versus managing technology.

The 10.1-inch screen is large enough to get work done without taking up too much space in a crowded classroom. The screen might not look special compared to every other 10-inch netbook on the market, but an optional touchscreen is a first for an education netbook and makes the Latitude 2100 something new for enhanced student interaction and easier special education teaching. We were impressed by the accuracy of the touchscreen in the pre-production unit we tested, but the limited resolution of the 10-inch screen makes it a bit difficult for large fingers to move the cursor to small icons on the screen.

The Latitude 2100 includes:

• Your choice of Windows XP Home, Windows Vista Home Basic or Ubuntu Linux
• Intel Atom processor (N270)
• 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity coupled with a full suite of wireless communication options
• 2.91lb (1.32kg) starting weight with 3-cell battery
• Standard hard disk drive or solid state drive for increased durability
• Three-cell or six-cell battery
• Three-in-one Media Card Reader
• Optional External DVD+/-RW via USB
• VGA port
• Clean bottom is vent-free to avoid any intrusion from spills
• Dual security lock slots for use with a standard cable lock or for a carrying strap
• Options: webcam and a keyboard featuring antimicrobial protection (U.S. only)

Port selection is pretty basic, but perfectly sufficient for student needs. Build quality is extremely impressive and this education-oriented notebook is easily the most rugged netbook we've ever held in our hands. The antimicrobial keyboard features reasonably large keys with good spacing and a nice textured finish that makes typing easy and enjoyable. The touchpad is a little small, but that's pretty common for 10-inch netbooks. The touchpad buttons have relatively deep feedback with cushioned clicks. Dell even included dedicated volume up, volume down, and mute buttons so students and teachers can easily adjust the volume for webcasts or video presentations.

The “student-rugged” Latitude 2100 is designed to withstand the daily bumps and bruises of a crowded playground or backpack. Offered in five colors – School Bus Gold (yellow), Chalkboard Black, Ball Field Green, Blue Ribbon and Schoolhouse Red– the Latitude 2100 comes with a rubber casing, making it easy for big or little hands to grip the netbook. Since the base of the netbook doesn't have vent holes rubberized bottom of the netbook keeps the internal components safe from spills in the classroom or at home.

The system is also available with a personalized window on the back of the battery pack where the school logo or name can be displayed, allowing schools to personalize or easily identify the owner of the netbook.

A Network Activity Light on the top edge of the lid helps teachers monitor network use and identify students who may be surfing the Internet. The light stays constantly lit when the netbook is on and a web browser is closed, but the light begins flashing if a student opens a web browser or chat application ... so teachers can instantly see who is or isn't paying attention in class.

The rugged, rubber-coated exterior, antimicrobial keyboard, and durable solid state drives are clearly designed to handle use and abuse from students, and in their press materials Dell even went as far as to compare the Latitude 2100 netbook to products like the Latitude XT tablet and fully rugged Latitude E6400 XFR. Schools and businesses looking for a durable business-class netbook will likely be attracted to the Latitude 2100 for everything from student activities and employee training to order processing on location.

The durable design allows IT administrators to lower overall ownership cost because of a longer product life, but the Latitude 2100 was also designed with remote management in mind for easier administration and software updates. Coming soon in the U.S., the Latitude 2100 is available with a "Mobile Computing Station" -- a cart to securely store, recharge, manage and network up to 24 Latitude 2100 netbooks with one Ethernet and power cord.

We will have a full review of the Latitude 2100 netbook, complete with performance benchmarks and battery life tests as soon as Dell can provide us with a production-level unit for testing. Be sure to check back with NotebookReview.com for a full review of this tough little laptop.

Related Articles:

• Dell Announces Mini 10v Netbook (Updated)
• Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Review

 

Wow, that mobile cart is pretty cool being able to charge all of the laptops at once. Although, maybe a little too convenient for a thief to steal them all easily.

I was thinking Dell would just be rebadging an Inspiron Mini and calling it a Latitude, but obviously this is quite an initiative for them and a lot of thought has gone into the design.

I understand the space advantage of netbooks, but I still wonder that the TCO wouldn't still be lower for a desktop machine that has a life of 4 years and can't get dropped, stolen or broken as easily as even the most rugged of notebooks.

If one day every child has their own netbook, you can kiss scantron tests goodbye, you could just use built-in software on a laptop to give the test and spit back a score at the end instead of having to worry about filling in bubbles with a pencil.

 

So the bottom has no vents to let gravity-defying liquids seep up from below, but is there also a spill-proof keyboard? The anti-microbial keyboard treatment is unlikely to prevent attack from spilt coke.

More practically, no bottom vents means less fluff and dust sucked in and no airflow blockage if the computer is used as a laptop.

John

 

With no vents on the bottom, it will be interesting to see if heat dissipation is a problem. I wonder if it's fanless like the various Dell Mini models? The Mini 9 uses the Atom N270 and no fan- it runs warmer than most netbooks according to several reviews. I would think that silent operation (no fan) would be critical for the intended market.

The touch screen sounds promising. That in conjunction with the rugged construction may make this rugged netbook a succes....we shall see!

It sure as heck beats the Commodore VIC-20 that I had as a kid!

 

Yeah, I want to know if it's fanless as well. That's one of the main reasons I'd prefer the Mini 9 over various other competing netbooks. Also, does it accept the same power supply as most of the normal Dell lineup, or does it use something dinky like the Minis?

... and any word on pricing?

 

How can you possibly have a Latitude without true docking support? They are diluting the brand. They could have Vostro'd it.

 

Pricing- according to LAPTOP Magazine, the standard configuration is $499 retail- LINK

The review also says that it weighs 3.4lbs with the 6-cell battery and 4.2lbs including the AC adapter. They adapter "is the size of a normal charger, rather than the compact adapter, typical of most netbooks."

Their review unit also had 1.5GB of RAM, which they state won't be available on production models. I'm guessing that has something to do with the PCMark05 score of 1,697, the highest of any netbook they've ever tested and 308 points above the category average!?

 

i'd say this is clearly a stupid idea, more like sumthing from dell brainstorm website.

 

Dude, what is UP with your love & hate relationship with Dell? Are you in the hate phase, at the moment? You can't just come out and say 'it's a stupid idea' without looking incredibly silly. At least, make your argument plausible if you insist on making it unreasonable as you always do. Sheesh.

 

My initial thought was that the holes on the front are air intakes, but maybe they are speakers.


However, the photos here show what looks like a large fan exhaust vent on the left (Caps Lock) side so the air must get in somehow in order to get blown out.

John

PS: I have just noticed that the PDF spec sheet says the display is 1024 x 576 ( the web page says it is an extra-wide 1280 x 576). This is less height than I had on a notebook bought in 1997! How long before the manufacturers get us back to screen with VGA (480 pixels) height?

 

Wow, nice catch. That's horrendously bad, especially when in learning it's easier to read in a more vertical fashion than horizontal (eye can follow text more easily). And finding information on the web with that type of screen? You'll get the logo of a website and then have to scroll for more information making it very inefficient.

 

I'm betting that the website is a typo...1280x576 would make the width well over double the height. The overall size of the Latitude 2100 is very close to that of the Mini 10 (the 2100 is 0.15" wider and deeper). So it only stands to reason that it has a 16:9 aspect ratio (1024x576).

 

I wonder how long it will take for someone to hack this.

 

I was wondering the same thing when Dell told me about this feature. I imagine young grade school kids might not be able to hack it, but it probably won't take a high school student very long to figure out a hack.

 

My high school has carts to charge the Thinkpads and Latitudes. And this has some better options than the Mini 9/10 like the Intel 5300 wifi card and Anti-Microbial keyboard.

Laptop Mag review y video

 

According to Dell's press release it starts at $369.

 

Wow, you're right. The Ubuntu version starts at $369 and XP Home at $399.

It's also interesting to note that either 512mb or 1GB of RAM is integrated (your choice- 1GB is only $15 more). Another 1GB is optional on all O/S choices except XP Home. The touchscreen is only a $30 upgrade, very reasonable.

Overall, these seem very competitively priced. They offer a few unique (for the moment) features- enhanced durability with the 'student rugged' design and touch screen- and the price is in line with other netbooks that don't have those features.

If these things are a sales success, there will be 20 brands of them on the market within two months!

 

I'm actually pretty impressed by this.

 

So will the tablet function have a digitizer or be resistive enabled? If it's a digitizer, Dell has a winner on their hands. I can see myself using this as purely a note-taking tablet.

 

I wonder if we might see a business-black version for small/medium business users? Lenovo is working on a ThinkPad netbook, so it would make sense.

 

This is easily the most interesting netbook I've seen in a loooong time. Since small, fanless, SSD wielding netbooks lend themselves easily to ruggedizing, this particular Dell seems like a natural step in netbook evolution. I really hope to see this latitude succeed and raise the bar on netbook features and build quality. Honestly, I thought that Lenovo would be the first one out with a serious netbook, but I suppose I'm wrong.

AAGH what's wrong with me, I thought I'd sworn off Dells after a series of disastrous Latitudes.

 

It appears from pictures that it doesn't have a swivel hinge but two regular fixed hinges. Good luck writing on that...

My guess is that it's just a resistive touch panel.

 

Agreed.

Overall, this laptop has many original ideas that make it look promising.

 

Even with fixed hinges, i can see diagramming to be a certain possibility and taking textual notes through typing. A resistive screen would be dissapointing and an overblown feature then.

 

I see a kid eating a fudgesicle smearing fingerprints on a resistive screen...I wonder if they can make the touch display antimicrobial like the keyboard?

 

There are older siblings and parents

Still, this laptop looks like a good idea, I guess it can be thought of as the OLPC for first world countries?

 

It'd be difficult taking notes without a tablet-style hinge to fold down the screen, but this looks like a great semi-rugged netbook!

Minimizing the number of openings to minimize dust entry is a very good idea, and even more so if the operating temperatures are low.

 

Man, i wish i had something like that when i was in grade school.. we just had Commodore 64 and only the geeks knew how to use them.

 

I think the better approach (as a modder) to doing semi-rugged and vent-less bottom would be to still have all the customization panels at the bottom, and then have a rubber snap-on shell for the top/bottom.

That way the color can be changed as well, and if either lid gets spilt on and left stains, simply swap it out.

 

I didn't get to use a Commodore 64 until middle school (7th grade). My elementary school only had the Commodore VIC-20. I also had a VIC-20 at home hooked up to our massive 27" floor model television! I thought I was so cool!

When I got to high school, we were using Tandy systems (remember using floppy boot-up disks?) I'm still haunted by all the WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 commands/function keys...

 

It might be a nice child education-oriented netbook, but...

 

Quite obvious you aren't in thier target demographic for this product

Regardless, this is definately something that is a boon to the education market. (I used to be a sysadmin for a University department). I believe this has far wider reaching application than just grade school. Besides, if it can run XP, that would be like 90% of what you need anyway. However, adults might have issues with the small screen/keyboard.

Having dedicated charging and syncronization module is a heaven sent. Imagine, pop it all in, send the ghost images, and you are all ready for the next class. I am sure there will be 3rd party applications to sync homework, assignments and lessons on a daily basis (that means you don't need wifi).

While we were already doing that previously, the difference now is that the costs are significantly less than what it used to be.

As a "laptop", its not that impressive, but as a concept, it makes quite a lot of good sense.

 

I'm surprised that Laptop Mag gave it such a low rating considering it's unique approach to netbooks. I mean, it weighs no more than regular size textbook and still fits in a backpack and over the shoulder. Though, the low (kinda) battery life is interesting given that the parts aren't too different from a traditional netbook like the mini 9/10/12.

 

this netbook sure looks pricey..
i would go w/ the dell mini 10v instead.