Dell Latitude 2100 Review

by Jerry Jackson

Almost every school around the globe is looking for a durable, ultraportable laptop that can survive use and abuse in the classroom, and Dell promises they have the perfect solution in the form of the new Latitude 2100 netbook. The first Latitude netbook offers a low-cost answer to the specific needs of K-12 students, teachers and school administrators. We spent a few weeks testing the Latitude 2100 to see if it indeed is the perfect classroom companion.

Dell Latitude 2100 Specifications:

• OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home SP3
• 10.1" WSVGA (1024 x 576) Touchscreen LED-backlit display
• CPU: Intel Atom N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB)
• Graphics: Intel GMA 950
• LAN onboard 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet controller
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth V2.1
• Memory 1GB (DDR2 533MHz)
• Storage: 80GB hard drive and 3-in-1 media card reader
• Webcam: 1.3 Megapixel
• Dimensions 10.43 x 7.36 x 0.89 – 1.57 inches (with 3-cell battery)
• Weight 3.10lbs with 6-cell battery
• Battery: 6-cell Lithium-Ion
• Warranty: 1-year (extended warranties available)
• Price as configured: $579.00 USD
• Starting price: $399.00 USD

Build and Design
The Dell Latitude 2100 is the first netbook from the Latitude family of business PCs and the first "serious" netbook we've seen that is so clearly focused on education. Dell claims its designers worked closely with hundreds of students, teachers, parents and administrators to create an education netbook that focuses on helping students learn. It's a little too early to tell whether schools will start filling their classrooms with Latitude 2100 netbooks, but this tough little laptop certainly has a lot going for it. The rugged, rubber-coated exterior, antimicrobial keyboard, and optional solid state drives should survive everything from a messy kindergartner to an accidental drop off the desk by a teacher.

Dell even found a way to help teachers make sure students are paying attention in class. 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 needs to spend some extra time in detention. (Attention students: There's no easy way to disable the network activity light ... not even in the BIOS. Dell actually wants you to pay attention to your teacher.)

Our review unit of the Latitude 2100 features "School bus gold" exterior, but Dell also offers the Latitude 2100 in Chalkboard black, Schoolhouse red, Blue ribbon, and Ballfield green ... almost every color needed to promote your school colors. Build quality is quite good thanks to thick plastic construction and the thick rubber armor covering the top and bottom of the chassis. The matte black plastics used around the screen, keyboard, and palmrests show only minimal flex under heavy pressure. You can create ripples across the screen by pressing on the back of the screen lid, but other than that the Latitude 2100 feels rock solid. The keyboard is very firm and the screen hinges provide excellent tension. Sure, the design is thick and heavy for a netbook, but this bad boy will survive abuse that would probably break other netbooks. In short, this certainly doesn't feel like a $400 laptop.

The bottom of the netbook chassis shows a clean design with no easy access panels. Since the base of the netbook also doesn't have vent holes the rubberized bottom of the netbook keeps the internal components safe from spills in the classroom or at home. If the school IT manager wants to upgrade the RAM or hard drive they will have to remove the entire bottom of the netbook. That said, most schools will purchase extended service agreements from Dell for any repairs or upgrades ... so this shouldn't be an issue.

Screen and Speakers
The Dell Latitude 2100 uses a nice and bright 10.1-inch LED-backlit display panel with a 1024 x 576 native resolution. This is a little less that the standard 1024 x 600 resolution seen on most 10-inch netbooks, but the difference isn't particularly noticeable. Our review unit includes the optional touchscreen which has a semi-gloss surface similar to the screens used on most dedicated GPS devices. Vertical viewing angles are average, with obvious color inversion when viewing from below and some over-exposed colors when viewed from above. Horizontal viewing angles are okay but colors start to shift at wide viewing angles (possibly a result of the touchscreen layer).

The screen might not look special compared to every other 10-inch netbook on the market, but the 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. The resistive touchscreen provides good accuracy, but the limited resolution of the 10-inch screen makes it a bit difficult for large fingers to move the cursor to small icons or specific lines of text on the screen. Unlike the ASUS Eee PC T91 netbook tablet that we recently reviewed, the Dell Latitude 2100 doesn't come pre-loaded with software that takes advantage of the touchscreen interface. In other words, you can touch the screen rather than use the touchpad or a mouse, but Dell doesn't include any useful applications to make the touchscreen interface more useful. I also can't help but question the usefulness of a touchscreen that cannot rotate into a tablet orientation for writing on the screen or for simplified touchscreen use.

The built-in speaker performance on the Latitude 2100 is acceptable for a netbook but isn't particularly impressive. The built-in stereo speakers are located on both sides of the screen and are in the perfect position to direct sound toward the user. That said, audio quality is rather average with good highs but very little bass. The speakers get loud enough to fill a room with sound, but distortion starts to become obvious at higher volume levels and music sounds like it's being played from inside a tin can. On the bright side, the audio output from the headphone jack is good when paired with earphones or a good set of external speakers.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The 2100 uses a new keyboard that feels like a strange hybrid of the keyboard on the Dell Mini 10 netbook and the keyboards on the older D-series Latitudes. The antimicrobial keyboard surface features a nice textured finish that makes typing easy and enjoyable. The key size and spacing might be a little small for adult hands, but younger students should have no problems typing school papers or emails to teachers on this keyboard. The keyboard is nice and firm with zero flex.

Dell was kind enough to include dedicated volume up, volume down, and mute buttons so students (and teachers) can easily adjust the volume for webcasts or video presentations. The power button also serves as a quick Windows shutdown key, but that might prove problematic from time to time since there's no way to stop the PC from shutting down if you accidentally press the power button.

The Dell touchpad used on the 2100 is a little small, but that's pretty common for 10-inch netbooks. Still, I feel like the touchpad could have been larger if Dell moved the volume and power buttons up and shifted the position of the keyboard up just a little. Despite the small size the matte touchpad texture feels fine and offers good sensitivity and smooth movement. The touchpad buttons have relatively deep feedback with cushioned clicks.

Input and Output Ports
The port selection on the Latitude 2100 is pretty basic, but perfectly sufficient for student needs. This netbook includes three USB 2.0 ports, VGA out, Ethernet, microphone and headphone jacks, and even a 3-in-1 media card slot. One surprisingly cool feature is the inclusion of two security lock slots. This allows schools to secure the netbooks to a computer lab on either side or attach a handle/strap for students to carry the netbook between classes.

Here is a quick tour around the Dell Latitude 2100:

Front view: Indicator lights, heat vents and media card reader.

Rear view: No ports ... just the hinges and battery.

Left side view: Security lock slot, VGA out, heat vent, USB 2.0 port, microphone and headphone jacks.

Right side view: Two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, power jack, and security lock slot.

Performance and Benchmarks
It's safe to say that most K-12 school districts don't require computers with extreme performance. Typing a school assignment in Microsoft Word, browsing the web while researching a class project, or maybe running some specific software for an advanced class is about as much work as most school laptops ever receive. This is why netbooks might make surprisingly good choices for schools.

The performance section of a netbook review is generally very boring compared to a full-featured notebook because most netbook have virtually identical specs. All Intel Atom-based netbooks have nearly identical performance in terms of actual real-world use. Overall performance with the Intel Atom platform is very reasonable for daily activities like Web browsing, email, using Microsoft Office, listening to music, and watching DVD-quality movies. If you're in a bind you can even use photo editing software like Photoshop or GIMP for basic image editing.

The use of Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics is probably the only major limitation for netbooks. This integrated graphics processor (IGP) is powerful enough to handle displaying a PowerPoint presentation on a projector or watching DVD quality movies, but if 1080p video playback or video editing is your primary concern then you'll want to look elsewhere. We selected a family-friendly movie trailer and downloaded three different versions in 480p, 720p, and 1080p resolutions. We used the CCCP Codec Pack for decoding and Media Player Classic Homecinema (version 1.1.796.0) for playing all of the video files.

Video Playback Performance:

Video Resolution	CPU Usage	Playback Comments
480p	25%-35% (hyperthreading)	Plays flawlessly
720p	45%-50% (hyperthreading)	Plays flawlessly
1080p	55%-70% (hyperthreading)	Plays with severe stutter, dropped frames and audio out of sync

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240 seconds
HP Pavilion dv2 (AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 @ 1.60GHz)	103.521 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	114.749 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	116.030 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	116.421 seconds
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz)	123.281 seconds
Dell Latitude 2100 (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)	124.062 seconds
Acer Aspire One (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)	125.812 seconds
Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (2009) (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)	126.406 seconds
ASUS Eee PC T91 (Intel Atom Z520 @ 1.33GHz)	141.031 seconds
Samsung NC20 (VIA Nano ULV U2250 @ 1.30GHz)	173.968 seconds

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)	2,446 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv2 (1.60GHz AMD Athlon Neo, ATI Radeon HD 3410 512MB)	2,191 PCMarks
ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB)	1,851 PCMarks
Toshiba Portege R500 (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)	1,839 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,637 PCMarks
Dell Latitude 2100 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)	1,588 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,564 PCMarks
Acer Aspire One (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)	1,555 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,535 PCMarks
Samsung NC20 (1.30GHz VIA Nano ULV U2250, VIA Chrome9 HC3)	1,441 PCMarks
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)	1,437 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC T91 (1.33GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)	1,292 PCMarks

HDTune for the hard drive performance:

Heat and Noise
External temperatures on the new Latitude 2100 are mostly what we consider to be "lap friendly" over most of the netbook's surface. The one exception to this general rule is the area near the hard drive on the bottom of the 2100. Temperature readings taken from the outside of the rubberized plastic chassis remained mostly in the 80s and 90s but the area around the hard drive exceeded 100 degrees.

Below are images indicating the temperature readings (listed in degrees Fahrenheit) taken inside our office where the ambient temperature was 74 degrees Fahrenheit.

The cooling fan inside the Dell Latitude 2100 was surprisingly loud. It's not the kind of noise that would be disruptive to a class, but it is louder than most current generation netbooks. I suspect the cooling fan has to work harder because the protective rubberized exterior acts like something of a thermal blanket keeping heat inside the netbook chassis.

Battery
Battery life with the 6-cell lithium-ion extended life battery is reasonably impressive for a netbook, but not as impressive as some of the ASUS Eee PC netbooks. In our test with the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and XP set to the laptop/portable power profile the system stayed on for 6 hours and 23 minutes of constant use. Considering that most schools aren't likely to use these netbooks for more than a few hours without charging I think it's safe to say the battery life will meet or exceed school needs.

Speaking of charging the batteries, in addition to the included 65W power adapter, 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. However, while the Mobile Computing Station is cool it is prohibitively expensive at a cost of $3,899 each.

It's also worth pointing out that the 3-cell and 6-cell batteries have 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.

Conclusion
The new Dell Latitude 2100 probably deserves a place on the shopping lists for most schools and maybe even some parents should consider purchasing this netbook for their youngsters. For between $400 and $600 you get a very rugged laptop that is easy to use and portable enough for kids to toss in a backpack. Extra features like the dual security lock slots, network activity light, personalized window over the battery, and optional mobile computing station will certainly prove very attractive to educators and parents.

The hardware specs might not seem too impressive compared to the kind of desktop or 15-inch notebook you can buy for $400, but if you're in the market for a low-cost portable laptop for young students then the Latitude 2100 makes perfect sense.

Although Dell clearly had schools in mind when they designed the Latitude 2100, this netbook might honestly offer a little something for everybody. Individual consumers or businesses looking for a durable business-class netbook will likely be attracted to the Latitude 2100 for everything from outdoor activities to on-location training and customer service.

Bottom line, despite the bulk and weight this is indeed one impressive netbook.

Pros:

• Super rugged netbook
• Easy quick access controls
• Good battery life

Cons:

• Thick and heavy
• No high-resolution screen option
• Touchscreen without tablet convertibility

Related Articles:

• Dell Latitude 2100 First Look Review

 

Interesting netbook, I like the look of it, actually. The rubber texture sounds nice.

Great review!

 

It's intriguing the way that component manufacturers are able to outweigh common sense. This would be a much better notebook if there were more vertical pixels, a slightly bigger touchpad and the battery continued backwards instead of protruding downwards. How long will it be before we "progress" to displays which have VGA height?

John

 

Hmm... is there any way to disable that light at all? I can imagine that's gonna annoy a lot of kids when the class starts getting boring...

 

looks pretty ugly compared to other netbooks in my view xD

 

it's a little on the expensive side as compared to the dell mini series.

 

The Latitude 2100 netbook lacks a keyboard light or backlit keyboard for using it in the dark, and there is no way to temper the bright blue LEDs for the power and volume buttons

 

There's no "easy" way to do it (short of cutting wires). In truth, students should be paying attention in class.

Of course, I suspect several pre-teens and teens will have websites with guides on "how to hack a Latitude 2100" as soon as enough schools put these netbooks in the hands of kids.

 

Is the $579.00 price quoted for the config listed, or is that the base config @ $399?

 

How so? These netbooks are primarily targeted toward schools, and not so much for browsing the web as classroom aids. Testing, specialized programming, etc., all of which can be made to take the resolution into account. Moreover, after working with a lot of kids and computers, I can say that they don't tend to like high resolution screens; they usually prefer big screens with big icons and bright colors. You and I might want a higher resolution screen (I know I do) but we aren't the targeted audience, and it isn't necessary for a successful product.

I have to say; I really like the finish on this netbook. It's definitely heavier than most, but it feels very durable, and the rubberized coating feels nice.

 

The $579 price is the price as configured with 1GB of RAM, the touchscreen and webcam, 6-cell battery, upgraded wireless/bluetooth, and 80GB hard drive.

$399 gets you 512MB of RAM, a 3-cell battery, no webcam, no bluetooth with only standard b/g wireless, and includes a 16GB SSD rather than a hard drive.

 

In my school we a had a few carts of laptops, and we would be showing the teachers how to get to youtube because they needed it for a presentation.

Heck in our school a couple middle schoolers took over the entire districts system.

 

Hmm ... for some reason would have thought that an SSD would make it a little more expensive. But oh well....

Actually not a bad looking piece of machinery, and I like the tough casing and the nice battery life ... I wonder if it will really "catch" with schools, though?

 

The "SSDs" used in most netbooks are the cheap mini PCI-e card SSDs like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227436

Or, in the case of netbooks using the old IDE interface, they use cheap SSDs like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609469

These are pretty cheap compared to standard 2.5" SSDs.

 

I would wait till netbooks show up with the new n450 CPU in a month or two.

 

Excellent Review! I also loved the photos, the yellow looks great! (although I wouldn't mind snagging the green one)

 

I wasn't proposing a high resolution screen. I just want to reclaim some pixels in the vertical direction. 600 pixels isn't much to begin with. I find all this up-and-down scrolling to be tedious and there could be good business for any manufacturer who decides to buck the trend.

John

 

Wait, what? I swear I've read this long time ago...

Edit:

Ah, I see. My apologies.

 

You're thinking of our " first look" article that we published after the Latitude 2100 was announced. We finally got our hands on a production unit for full testing ... which is what this review covers.

 

Way overpriced, imo. For the base price, why not pick up a better-equipped eee PC? I mean, seriously, 512MB RAM?!? In addition to a 3-cell battery and a 16GB HD? Give me a break.

At the tested price, there are any number of budget notebooks that are far more feature-rich.

Just not enough bang for the buck.

 

The intial pricing was rather high, but now that the 2100 has been around for a few months, good deals can be found through Dell Outlet. The Mini 10 and 10v has been sold through Dell Outlet in the $220-270 range, either for refurbished or "previously ordered new" models.

I just bought a "previously ordered new" Latitude 2100 that is relatively basic: 80 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM, 802.11 b/g wireless, anti-microbial keyboard, no webcam, no Bluetooth, no touchscreen, three-cell battery, and the standard one-year warranty with mail-in service. With a 15% off e-coupon, I ended up paying only $245 and that's with free ground shipping. I'm not terribly fond of the 576 pixel screen height, but at least the screen has a non-reflective matte finish, which is my preference. The three-cell battery doesn't provide the 6-9 hours of battery life that some other netbooks provide, but since I won't be using my 2100 too frequently, or for multi-hour sessions, I can probably get by with it.

Anyhow, I realize that the Mini 10/10v is quite popular through Dell Outlet, but I prefer the Latitude 2100 due to its superior keyboard (IMO) and build quality, rubberized finish, and matte screen. The Mini 10v's glossy screen has outstanding contrast and isn't as reflective as I thought it would be, however.

 

I bought a Latitude 2100 a few months ago and I've been very pleased with it so far. Build quality is superb compared to every other netbook I looked at. Most netbooks seem to be built quite flimsily out of toy like glossy plastics, not this one. You really get the sense this thing can take a licking and keep on ticking. The keyboard is excellent for a netbook, screen is nice and bright. Battery life is great and the extended battery, while adding significant bulk, also serves to prop the computer up for a nice angle for typing comfortably.

I do wish they could have put a 1024 x 600 screen on it, but it's not that big of a deal. It's considerably more expensive than a lot of the netbooks out there, but I really feel like I got my money's worth because it's obvious that the 2100 is built much better than the average netbook, in fact it's built better than a lot of Dell's full size mainstream laptops too.

I heartily recommend it for anyone looking for a netbook who doesn't mind spending a little extra to get one that is built to last. None of the other netbooks I have seen and used even comes close, they all feel like fragile little toys compared to this little beastie.