X-bit labs

A True American: Dell Latitude D620 Notebook Review (page 3)

Category: Mobile

by Alexander Britvin

[ 12/07/2007 | 10:40 AM ]

Design and Ergonomics

The Latitude D620 has a very ordinary appearance. It doesn’t differ much from typical plain and angular models of the business class. It’s got a silver-gray, magnesium case with a black streak where the lid meets the body. The case is robust, which is very important for a small notebook that is going to travel a lot.

The manufacturer’s logo in the center of the lid shimmers with a chrome luster.

The display lock is designed like a two-part slider. You move the slider to a side and the lid is unlocked.

There are numerous slits in the notebook’s body to the left of the slider – that’s where the integrated speakers are located. The speaker won’t get blocked by your hands and is directed right at the user. By the way, the traditional PC speaker is so loud in this notebook that it made us shudder during the tests when the audio adapter was disabled.

The screen hinges stick out from the notebook’s body, allowing to unfold it by over 180 degrees.

The right hinge carries system indicators that are visible irrespective of the position of the lid (from left to right):

• Power (alight when the notebook is turned on, and blinking when the notebook is power management mode)
• HDD (shows that the hard disk is being accessed)
• Battery
• Wireless (blinking when the integrated Wi-Fi adapter is receiving or sending out data)
• Bluetooth indicator (alight when the Bluetooth interface is enabled)

The battery indicator has several states depending on situation. When the notebook is powered by the mains this indicator means the following:

• Shining green: the battery is being recharged
• Blinking green: the battery is almost fully charged
• Off: the battery is full (or there is no external power source to recharge the battery)

When the notebook is powered by the battery, this indicator means:

• Off: the battery is charged (or the notebook is turned off)
• Blinking orange: the battery charge is low
• Shining orange: the battery charge is very low