After waffling for a month about what I should get for a new laptop, I have just ordered a Dell Latitude D830 to replace my war-weary D610. It’ll be all decked out, with a 2.4 GHz T7700, 256 MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M[0], 4 GB RAM, DVD+/-RW, dual batteries, Draft-n wireless, and 120 GB hybrid hard disk. Sweet.
I was thinking about waiting until Macworld happened, but the likelihood of Apple adding a second mouse button and pointing stick mouse to the Macbook Pro is pretty low. Plus I don’t like where the MagSafe power connector is. I sit cross-legged a lot and the power connector on my girlfriend’s Macbook Pro knocks loose on my knee. Dell has their power connection straight out the back, which I like.
I did wait for the Dell Latitude XT tablet, but it isn’t very powerful. Probably good as tablets go, but not going to work so well for me trying to do everything a desktop can do.
I was thinking about the D630, but the bigger primary battery sticks out of the front, making it the same width as the D830. If it’s going to be that big anyhow why not get a bigger screen[1]? I need at least 3 hours of battery life, which I can get with the bigger machine, with nothing sticking out. There are also speakers next to the keyboard, like the Macbook Pro, which will be nice. And as much as it pains me to say it, I still need a floppy drive[2] and the Dell Latitudes make it easy to slam a floppy drive in the media bay.
I can’t wait for it to arrive.
[0] I know the battery life will be a bunch less with this graphics card, but I’m tired of having the world’s worst graphics performance on the road. Hopefully I won’t regret it too much.
[1] I chose the mid-resolution screen, 1680 x 1050. High-res is hard to see, low-res is like writing with a crayon.
[2] The ETC light boards I work with have floppy disks for storage, and I like editing the shows on my laptop.