Dell Latitude C610

WHAT'S HOT: The Latitude C610, an update of another lightweight Dell business laptop, the C600, enjoys better battery life--almost 4 hours on one charge. And Dell corrected an annoying limitation of the C600: You can order the C610 with both standard modem and network connections and a wireless Mini-PCI radio built in. (Before, you had to choose between built-in traditional connections or built-in wireless, and add the other feature via a PC Card.)

Like its predecessor, the C610 caters to companies seeking a light portable suitable for sharing. It boasts a removable hard drive, both eraserhead and touchpad pointing devices, and a modular bay on the front that can hold any of a range of devices, including a travel module that drops the notebook's weight to 5.3 pounds (4.9 pounds if you order a unit with a four-cell battery instead of our review unit's eight-cell). The color icons that identify the rear connections make attaching peripherals easier.

WHAT'S NOT: We have only a couple of minor beefs. Aside from an S-Video port you can use to attach the notebook to a TV, the C610 offers few multimedia bells and whistles. The stereo speakers sound only so-so, and there are no dedicated audio controls for playing music CDs.

WHAT ELSE: The C610 wears a slender dark case with a no-nonsense design. At this price, you get a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive that uses the same modular bay as the floppy drive. You can use both at once by attaching the floppy drive externally to the parallel port, using the included cable. Other bay options include a second 20GB hard drive, a Zip 250 drive, or a supplemental battery for stretching the C610's already impressive run time. It's easy to reach parts, especially the hard drive, which slides out of the notebook's side with the removal of one screw.

The C610's keyboard is quieter than the old C600's, and its eraserhead mouse buttons are more comfortable than the hard-to-press concave buttons on Dell's new all-in-one, the C810. Unlike most laptops these days, which bristle with quick-launch buttons, the C610 offers just one for jumping to your favorite Web site or application.

The C610's PC WorldBench 4 score of 99 is in line with the scores achieved by the other three notebooks we've tested with a 1-GHz Pentium III-M processor (733 MHz under battery power) and 256MB of RAM.

UPSHOT: The C610 should satisfy corporate buyers, as it offers just about everything a company needs in a highly flexible portable. It gives you built-in wireless readiness along with more-traditional networking connections; both eraserhead and touchpad pointing devices; and the ability to rotate multiple add-in devices, including a second battery.

SUMMARY

Dell Latitude C610 PC WorldBench 4 score of 99, 1-GHz/733-MHz Pentium III-M CPU, 256MB of SDRAM, 512KB L2 cache, Windows XP Professional, 14.1-inch active-matrix screen, ATI Radeon Mobility graphics with 16MB of DDR SDRAM, 20GB hard drive, 8X DVD-ROM and 8X/8X/24X CD-RW combination drive, built-in V.90 modem and network adapter, touchpad and eraserhead pointing devices, 7.8 pounds (including external floppy drive, AC adapter, and phone cord). Three-year parts warranty, one-year labor warranty, free 24-hour unlimited toll-free technical support. $2208 800/388-8542 www.dell.com