Although it's a touch larger and heavier than its X200 predecessor, Dell's Latitude X300 is handsome and fast, and it's backed by an impressive three-year warranty. Improvements include a 1.2GHz Intel Pentium M processor, the Intel 855GM chipset, standard integrated wireless, and the ability to use the Latitude D-series external modular bay to reduce IT overhead. We loved our hands-on time: the keyboard, the touchpad, and the screen are a joy, as is the notebook overall. The X300 offers a wide variety of affordable upgrade and docking options, but its memory is overpriced -- we recommend buying a base 128MB configuration and upgrading it yourself.
Design
The Latitude X300 is a bit larger than the older Latitude X200. It's now 27.5cm wide by 23.4cm deep by 1.98-2.4cm high. Weighing 1.38kg without the AC adapter, it still fits easily into the sub-2kg ultraportable category, although with the bottom-mounted MediaBase -- which provides extra I/O ports and a modular drive bay (occupied in our review system by a DVD-CD-RW combo drive) -- the weight rises to 2.21kg. Adding the AC adapter to this lot takes the travel weight to 2.7kg, and if you opt for a second battery in the MediaBase, you'll be toting around 3kg.
Styled in two shades of silver, the Latitude X300 has an understated elegance. The input devices on the Latitude X300 are top-notch: the touchpad is responsive, the mouse buttons have just the right amount of stiffness, while the keyboard has a crisp tactile response. We also liked the keyboard's layout, which doesn't shrink important keys, such as right-Shift and Backspace. The Latitude X300 runs exceptionally cool, too, which enhances its usability.
The front edge of the Latitude X300 sports two tiny speakers and a set of status lights. The speakers -- like those on many small notebooks -- lack bass response and volume, but they're adequate for system sounds. The right side houses infrared and USB 2.0 ports, plus an external VGA connector. The left side offers a single type II PC Card slot, an SD card slot, headphone and microphone jacks, a mini four-pin FireWire port, a D-series external modular bay connector, an AC jack, plus the modem and 10/100 Ethernet ports. The back is occupied by only the unit's dual-latched 14.8V, 1,900mAh battery (a larger, 65WHr battery is available for £106 ex. VAT). A single, two-screw panel on the bottom of the unit opens to the Latitude X300's SoDIMM memory slot, mini-PCI slot, and modem.
A cheaper alternative to the MediaBase is the external USB 2.0 D/Bay, which can house several removable storage devices -- CD-ROM, DVD/CD-RW combo or DVD-rewritable drives. Because it's the same external bay used by the Latitude D series, businesses can save money by using existing D-series peripherals instead of the X200's proprietary FireWire modules. A D/Bay with the DVD-CD-RW combo drive would cost you £64 compared to the MediaBase's £214.
Features
The Latitude X300's configuration options range from a bare-bones, £1,198 model to a jam-packed model costing over £3,000 (ex. VAT). There's only one CPU available, but it's a good one: a 1.2GHz Intel Pentium M processor. A 12.1in., 1,024-by-768-pixel screen is the only display offered; it's a bit on the small side, but the picture is crisp, the colours are vivid, and it's viewable from wide angles.
Intel's 855GM chipset handles both I/O and graphics chores, dynamically allocating up to 64MB of system memory for graphics. The standard 128MB on the Latitude X300 isn't enough; our review sample was fitted with 256MB, but we recommend at least 512MB. Don't pay Dell's exorbitant prices, though: we found the 1GB SODIMM module that Dell sells for £750 (ex. VAT) elsewhere on the Web for less than £600.
Dell prices its hard drive upgrades (from the standard 20GB) more reasonably: £35 for 30GB (as fitted on our review system); £75 for 40GB; and £145 for 60GB. An external USB floppy drive and cable will cost you £39 (ex. VAT).
The Latitude X300's standard integrated wireless is Intel's PRO/Wireless 2100 802.11b Mini-PCI card, making this a true Centrino notebook. However, we recommend using Dell's TrueMobile 1300 802.11b/g, which is the free alternative, so that you can have two bands for the price of one. You want three bands? Pay an extra £30 for Dell's TrueMobile 1400 with 802.11a/b/g. Our review sample was fitted with extra wireless functionality -- Dell's TrueMobile Bluetooth Module, which is normally a £19 (ex. VAT) option.
The Latitude X300 comes with your choice of operating system: Windows XP Professional, XP Home or Windows 2000. Choosing XP Home or 2000 will save you £40 or £20 (ex. VAT) respectively. No productivity software is offered -- Dell assumes that the Latitude's mostly business customers will buy their own.
Performance & battery life
Our review sample of the X300 came with 256MB of RAM, of which 8MB was configured for use by the 855GM chipset's integrated graphics subsystem. Application performance from this 1.2GHz Pentium M-based system was good -- at least when running mainstream programs: the X300 delivered a creditable Business Winstone 2001 score of 46.8; unfortunately we were unable to get the high-end Content Creation Winstone 2002 test to complete.
As expected, the X300's 3D graphics performance isn't anything to shout about, thanks to its integrated 855GM chipset. However, 2D acceleration with mainstream applications is just fine.
Battery life with a single standard 1,900mAh battery was a disappointing 2 hours and 25 minutes under BatteryMark 4.01 in desktop mode. You can fit a second standard battery in the optional MediaBase for an extra £79 (ex. VAT), or use optional high-capacity battery (£106 ex. VAT) on the main system unit. The latter course will be worth considering if you don't want the MediaBase.
Service & support
The Latitude X300 comes with a three-year, next business day, on-site warranty. You can upgrade to a four-year warranty for £90 and add Client Gold Technical Support for £45 (ex. VAT). Rounding out the package are free telephone support and excellent paper and electronic documentation, plus copious online support.
Benchmarks
Specifications
| Audio | |
|---|---|
| Audio processor | SigmaTel C-Major Audio |
| Microphone | yes |
| Speakers | stereo |
| Audio connectors | microphone, headphone (+ headphone on MediaBase) |
| Battery | |
| Battery technology | Li-ion |
| Battery capacity | 1900 mAh |
| Cabinet (chassis) | |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | 27.5x1.98x23.4 cm |
| Weight | 1.38 kg |
| Display | |
| Display technology | colour TFT |
| Display diagonal size | 12.1 in |
| Maximum resolution | 1024x768 pixels |
| Expansion slots | |
| PC Card | 1 x Type II |
| Flash card | SD/MMC |
| Hard drive storage | |
| Hard drive interface type | Ultra ATA/100 |
| Hard drive size | 30 GB |
| Rotation speed | 4200 rpm |
| Storage controller | Ultra-ATA/100 |
| Input | |
| Pointing devices | two-button touchpad |
| Keyboard | 84 keys |
| Interfaces & networking | |
| Serial | 1 |
| Parallel | 1 |
| USB | 4 |
| FireWire (IEEE 1394) | 2 |
| Ethernet | Broadcom 570x Gigabit Integrated Controller |
| Modem | Conexant D480 MDC V.92 Modem |
| VGA (analogue) | 1 |
| Infrared | 1 |
| Bluetooth | yes |
| Docking station port | yes |
| Wireless LAN | Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 3A Mini-PCI Adapter |
| Memory | |
| RAM installed | 256 MB |
| Number of memory slots | 1 |
| RAM capacity | 1.125 GB |
| RAM type | SDRAM |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Accessories | 640MB RAM (£180) 1152MB RAM (£750) TrueMobile 1400 (802.11a/b/g) card (£30), 40GB HD (75), 60GB HD (£145), USB floppy drive (£30), additional 4-cell Li-ion battery (£79), additional 8-cell Li-ion battery (£106), DFamily Classic Nylon Carrying Case (£30) |
| Other | optical drive in Media Base or external |
| Motherboard | |
| Chipset | Intel 855GM |
| Data bus speed | 400 MHz |
| Optical storage | |
| CD / DVD type | CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo |
| OS & software | |
| Operating system | Windows XP Professional |
| Software included | Dell Modem On Hold, Dell QuickSet, InterVideo WinDVD, Roxio Easy CD Creator 5, Broadcom Advanced Control Suite |
| Processor | |
| Processor manufacturer | Intel |
| Processor model | Pentium M |
| Clock speed | 1.2 GHz |
| Service & support | |
| Standard warranty | 3 years |
| Service & support details | next business day on-site |
| Video | |
| Graphics processor | Intel Extreme Graphics 2 (integrated) |
| Graphics RAM | 96 MB |
| Graphics memory technology | Dynamic Video Memory TEchnology 2 |
| Expand | |
Images
Member reviews
I own an x200 which has been the best laptop I have ever owned. Having owned a Sharp ultra portable and Sony vaio ultra portable as well as a very heavy Dell this is the best. Now add a better processor, faster ram and D series compatibility it gets even better. In addition the media bay with my x200 is great as it allows you to decide what you want to take with you on your laptop and not have to cart around a bunch of seperate drives and port replicators. In addition docking it to a keyboard, mouse and 18.1" monitor at home is easy and negates any problem with screen size when using the computer as a desktop replacement. If you want to buy a laptop that is actually PORTABLE if not buy a desktop. Cheaper + faster.
- 9.00 out of 10
9.00 out of 10- 8.50 out of 10
8.50 out of 10I've had this little gem a couple of days now, and it is just perfect. With 640MB RAM a 40GB HDD and a second battery, I can't complain. Compared to my old but sturdy L400 this one is a rocket!
- 9.50 out of 10
9.50 out of 10I have had mine 1 month -- 4 critical fails, 3 engineer calls, still not resolved. Apparently there are severe problems with the electricals destroying the motherboard -- it's so bad that they cannot repair mine at the moment because they have run out of motherboards (repairing too many no doubt).
- 4.00 out of 10
4.00 out of 10My company bought two X300's. From the start the keys stopped working, the mouse locked up, and the laptops did not boot up if they were in the docking station. After countless hours on the phone with both tech support and customer service, 6 technicians, and one replacement laptop later only one of the two laptops works. The latest fiasco, they sent us a refurbished machine that not only looked like it had been tossed in a box with trash, it also came with a big scratch on the screen. It has been an ordeal dealing with Dell, from rude support people to just plain incompetence.
- 2.00 out of 10
2.00 out of 10A good and compact Centrino machine, but don't buy from Dell outlet unless the description specifically says it has the wireless network card... Dell seem to think it's OK to ship this Centrino machine without the wireless feature! And just hope you don't need Dell support outside normal business hours.
- 6.00 out of 10
6.00 out of 10Despite the size, it has a well designed keyboard and all the ports I need. The only negative thing is the somehow plastic feeling, but I can live with it. Order via phone and you can haggle about the price a bit. I used the Dell LS400 until now, and I looked everywhere for a replacement. Dell again. Well done.
- 8.00 out of 10
8.00 out of 10I got the thing loaded, including the DVD burner. The size, the docking, the speed, the screen, etc. are all great. But there is an irritating buzzing (like a mosquito on steroids) that comes from my machine 80% of the time which Dell is unable to fix/address via our IT person--even people in meetings are irritated by the noise. One can get an apple with the same features for less money (including the burner)--thus I rate the value and support and product with a thumbs down.
- 6.50 out of 10
6.50 out of 10The Dell latitude X300 is a beautiful computer that combines elegance with functionality. I have had no problem using the notebook and have been very happy with the performance of it. Although it now comes equipt with a 1.4GHz Pentium 4 processor, I got mine right before this and have a 1.2GHz processor which is more than quick enough for runing everything I need, even including a very demanding program AutoCAD. I am a student and travel 3-4 hours on a train everyday, this computer is not hot nor heavy on my lap, it is VERY comfortable to use, and though the small keyboard, I find no problem at all typing very fast with it. The battery life is good on the standard, i get around 2-2.5 hours, while on the hi-cap battery I get between 5.5 and 6. for a total of around 8 hours of battery life which will last you all day with out being plugged in which is great. The one thing I do recomend is buying it with the minimal amount of memory allowed probably 128MB and upgrading it for $100 elsewhere on your own to atleast 640MB, and this computer will smoke any of your friends' 1.6/1.7GHz Centrino systems, even with the 1.2GHz processor. This computer is relatively cheap now, and I would recomend it to anyone, not just travellers, who like a notebook that is actually portable.
- 9.50 out of 10
9.50 out of 10Great portability, problem when closing laptop -- screen gets scratched by keyboard.
- 6.70 out of 10
6.70 out of 10I have this computer, and must say that DELL has the worst customer care I know of. I have only called them 3 times, all three have been painfully cumbersome and long waiting times. Support is substandard. They ask you to mail the computer in (this is the second time in a year and it happens often enough) and that means that you don't have a computer for 6 weeks out of the year (its being fixed/in transit). So get a better and reliable laptop... Oh yeah, I also reported them to the Better Business Beareu (BBB) for not sending me my mail-in-rebate, they said that they were going to send it and didn't do it! They are a highly irresponsible company, and in the long run, you're better off spending another 100-200 bucks for peace of mind!
- 4.50 out of 10
4.50 out of 10- 7.50 out of 10
7.50 out of 10Fantastic specially if you put one giga of memory you will not get any crash
- 8.50 out of 10
8.50 out of 10Has a re-occuring issue where the presence of the battery can stop the system from powering up.
Overtime the mains power connector becomes loose and prone to accidental removal.. not an issue normally. If you are suffering from the above battery issue, you are likely to have removed the battery. Then the accidental removal of mains means instant power failure.
Eventual failure of the power connect can happen after about 1 year or so. So be careful if you are buying this second hand.
On the plus side the notebook is a joy to use, nippy for its size good keyboard and excellent screen. It's very light and portable.
- 6.00 out of 10
6.00 out of 10This laptop is under rated, am not sure why. I have 2 and they both work great, even now. I had a Windows 7 laptop yet I returned to X300.
P.S its cpu frequency is 1.4GHz
- 8.00 out of 10
8.00 out of 10