Dell adds budget ultraportable to Latitude range

The 13in Latitude weighs less than 1.5kg

Dell has added a new utraportable to its Latitude range of business laptops, designed to offer portability at a budget price, without compromising on performance for mobile professionals, the company said.

The Latitude 13, due to ship by the end of February, is styled by Dell as the world's thinnest commercial laptop to have a 13in display. With a weight of less than 1.5kg, the new system is designed to fit somewhere between standard laptops and netbook models, according to Dell, with a price starting in the region of £400.

"More and more commercial customers have been coming to us because of netbooks, saying that their executives are bringing these into the workplace as a complement to a desktop PC," said Dell client product manager Bob Bennett.

However, instead of producing yet another netbook, the Latitude 13 is designed to have the capabilities of a full laptop, according to Bennett, with a full-size keyboard and Intel CULV processors to deliver enough performance to handle the full spectrum of business applications.

"We like to call it a 'thinbook'. It is essentially a value ultraportable," he said.

The new Latitude also has enterprise-friendly features such as a long life cycle and better security through a trusted platform module and optional full-disk encryption using a hard drive with built-in encryption hardware.

Other options include 3G mobile broadband to complement the built-in Wi-Fi, and users can choose a Flash drive up to 64GB instead of a standard hard drive.

However, the Latitude 13 is not compatible with the docking stations common across Dell's other Latitude systems, according to Bennett. They will also effectively be sealed units, meaning it will not be possible for a customer's own IT department to upgrade them after purchase.

Dell said that the Latitude 13 is ready for desktop virtualisation with a pre -installed Citrix Receiver agent, and is qualified for VMware's View.

Dell also said that its Precision M6500 mobile workstation will be available in the UK this week. Unveiled in December, the M6500 is based on Intel's Core i7 processors and available with a choice of Nvidia 3D graphics accelerators.