Dell's New Laptop: Getting into the Innovation Game

Dell (DELL) is unveiling a new Latitude business notebook computer today but it’s a bit different from what Dell - at least the old Dell - used to represent. When Dell first hit the scene, it made a name for itself by focusing on standardized technology and the business model that allowed customers to pick and choose the extras for their own computer. Innovation wasn’t a word often seen in Dell press releases. Companies like HP (HPQ) and Sony (SNE) were selling innovation back then; Dell was selling affordable PCs to the masses.

That’s why it’s interesting to see this new Latitude Z, a thin and light notebook that comes with so many cool bells and whistles that the nerdy business types will likely put this one on the top of the must-check-out lists when Windows 7 launches later this month - even with a $2,000 price tag.

I’ll spare you the details on what’s cool and appealing about this particular notebook. My colleague Andrew Nusca gave it a pretty thorough once-over for a post on the ToyBox blog. And galleries can be found here and here. and we’ve posted a few pics in this gallery. What I will make note of is that Dell seems to be serious about reinventing itself, especially for business customers.

Dell seems to have recognized that today’s customers are willing to pay a premium for features that increase the efficiency of employees and offer the tools that they need to make their lives and jobs easier. They recognize the value in useful features. Consider this excerpt from Andrew’s post:

… you’ll notice a fingerprint reader and a contactless RFID card scanner (yes, that’s right: security via your company ID) where your palms rest. The 16-inch HD (1600×900) LCD WLED backlit display is topped off with an optional 2-megapixel autofocus webcam and microphone for videoconferencing. In a nod to business types, the Latitude Z comes with Dell Capture Business Card Reader and Document Scanner software, which allows you to hold up a business card or document to the built-in webcam and it will literally pull the information off the photographed document and put it in usable text form, no extra equipment needed… The built-in webcam also works with Dell FaceAware, which locks out others when you step away from the system.

Like Andrew, I like this machine, largely because of the tools mentioned above. And I’m eager to give it a test run - yes, this Mac guy just wrote that - but only if its running Windows 7.

Image Gallery: Dell Latitude Z

Image Gallery: Hands-on with Dell Latitude Z

That brings me to the one thing about Tuesday’s launch that confused me.

Why would Dell release this notebook today instead of next month with the release of Windows 7? It ships Tuesday with Windows XP or Windows Vista. It will run Windows 7 when Microsoft’s new OS is released. Around the same time, two of the most appealing peripherals - a dock that wirelessly charges the laptop and a wireless device that allows the PC to wirelessly connect to external speakers and displays - will also be released.

I don’t understand why Dell would even bother to offer XP or Vista on this notebook. Is there going to be a market for high-end business notebooks running XP for the next three weeks? I can’t think of any scenario where a business customer will be willing to drop $2,000 for a laptop that’s running an old OS. Let’s put XP and Vista in the history books already. We’ve waited this long for Windows 7. It certainly wouldn’t have killed us to wait a few more weeks for the Latitude Z, running Win7.

Dell should have known that.

Comments

[Synthmeister:]

This laptop has some "issues" especially for a $2000 laptop.

1. Plastic case?
2. Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD?
3. The miraculous wireless charger costs $400. Extra.
4. The miraculous wireless charger doesn't actually provide enough juice to recharge the battery under full load. I.e. you could actually run out of juice while watching an HD movie if the computer is using the wireless charger.
5. No optical drive

Sep 29 01:40 PM

[THofler:]

The inductive charger is a way-cool idea that I've been waiting 6 years for someone to implement. It does require a non-metallic case. I haven't seen any details yet, though I'll bet it is difficult to do really well.

I don't really care what the charge rate is, as long as it fully recharges overnight and the battery life is at least 6 hours. I'd guess the batts won't last that long.

Sep 29 09:44 PM

[Sekar:]

Why would you give Windows 7 a big thumps up when it's an extension of Vista? Dell is clever to launch this laptop on XP rather than Win7. All analysts are expecting a big turnaround for Microsoft with Win7 release. Anyone who has been testing or using Win7, including me, didn't find any big difference with Win7 performance or features. Users who knew to work around Vista annoyances still applied the same changes to Win7. Win7 is technically a Service Pack 3 for Vista and nothing more. MSFT will not see much sales bounce with Win7 because corporate users are pretty happy with WinXP. Poor ignorant home users will shell out $100 to buy a Service Pack for their Vista OS. Same applies to home users who purchased Snow Leopard OS, which is a service pack for Leopard MacOS.

Sep 30 02:28 PM

[fireball:]

is the microvision projecter the reason for the wireless display connection?

Oct 04 12:08 PM