Dell Latitude D620 weighs about 5.6lbs with a 6-cell battery, optical drive installed and the power cord and adapter. Given the fact this notebook is a magnesium-alloy casing and not too much plastic is used, the weight is pretty impressive. It’s not the lightest thin-and-light by any stretch, and it is thicker than the ThinkPad T-series of notebooks for example, but it’s still fairly comfortable to carry around in say a backpack without feeling the weight too much.
Speaking of finding wireless hotspots, Dell has included a unique feature called “Wi-Fi Catcher” located on the left side of the notebook. You can use this switch to turn off all wireless radios by putting it in the Off position, but far cooler than that, push it all the way forward and it will blink green as it searches for a Wi-Fi network and if one is present it glows solid green, if none is found it shows orange.
DELL LATITUDE D620 PERFORMANCE
Dell D620 is offered with a WXGA (1280 x 800) or WXGA+ (1440 x 900) display. The WXGA+ will give you about 26% more screen real estate.
As mentioned before, Dell is adopting the widescreen format with the thinking that it allows business users to more easily display side-by-side document windows. The widescreen format also offers a lower overall profile, this is good for in tight spaces such as a plane, and actually means the notebooks footprint is about 2% less overall.
- Dell Latitude D620 Laptop
- Fully Refurbished
- Genuine Windows Software and Licensing
- Watch DVDs and stream Online Content
- 3 Month RTB Warranty
The Dell Latitude D620 has a built-in ambient light sensor built-in that will control the screen brightness when on battery. For example, in a dark room the screen will dim as less brightness is needed to see the screen, but in bright light the screen will crank up in brightness so it is easier to see. When on power the screen will automatically become brighter. You can override the ambient light sensor to control brightness yourself of course.
As far as screen quality, the brightness is decent, but certainly not the best on the market and nowhere near as vivid as some of the high-end screens for consumer notebooks. It is a matte screen so you won’t get any reflection from office lighting. There is some backlight leakage from the bottom and the overall picture is slightly washed out. Below are some pictures of the screen in the dark, notice the light leakage from the bottom on the all black Windows XP screensaver background.
User Authentication
- BIOS passwords & Port Disablement
- Integrated Smart Card reader -Smart Cards provide strong user authentication using the “2 factor authentication”, something I have (Smart Card) with something I know (password).
- Smart Cards can be used in conjunction with a PKI environment via Windows XP & Vista.
- UPEK Finger Print reader: An optional Biometric reader can be added to the D620 palm rest, providing an additional third factor authentication (something I am) to passwords & Smart Cards.
- Pre boot Authentication: Enables user authentication prior to OS log in with Smart Card or fingerprint reader
System Authentication
- System Primary Password: User password needed to boot system
- Administrator Password:Administrators or service technicians access to computers for service or repair.
- Hard Disk Drive Password: Data cannot be accessed without the original hard disk drive password.
- TPM 1.2: Integrated on the D620 motherboard Trusted Platform Module can be used to store and generate “on board”encryption keys.
Confidential Data Encryption
- Microsoft Windows OS File & Folder Encryption
- Wave EMBASSY Trust Suite by Wave Systems
- Optional Credant Technologies Mobile Guardian
DELL LATITUDE D620 DESIGN
Dell Latitude D620 is most interesting in that it adopts a widescreen format, a feature that hereto date really has been pushed more in the consumer channel of notebooks. Dell reckons that business-types will prefer this format too though. After all, a widescreen (available in WXGA and WXGA+ resolution) does allow you to more easily have two windows open next to each other at the same time.
Dell Latitude D620 hinges also have a new barrel design to withstand vibration better than past Latitude notebooks. Another moving part on the Dell Latitude D620 is the screen latch, this is also constructed of metal to provide durability and a nice look to boot.
Dell Latitude D620 is very sturdy; it uses an all magnesium-alloy case. This results in strong overall physical protection of the notebook, worry-free of case cracks appearing or problems with excessive flexing. The hinges are constructed of steel, Dell claims they have been tested for up to 20,000 cycles (openings and closings) to assure freedom from loosening and wobble.
The most important thing to protect in a notebook is in most cases the hard drive (where all of your data is stored), data is irreplaceable and sometimes invaluable, while hardware not quite so. As such Dell Latitude D620 has implemented StrikeZone technology that reduces the amount of shock experienced in the hard drive area during a drop situation. You can also get Shock Resistant hard drives in 60GB and 80GB capacities that offer further physical protection to data.
Below are the results gained from running PCMark04 on the Dell Latitude D620, it is compared to a competing thin-and-light ThinkPad T60 notebook with a 2.00GHz ATI Radeon X1400 configuration — the ThinkPad T60 is more expensive than the D620 given its higher configuration.
DELL LATITUDE D620 DRIVERS WINDOWS XP
Dell Latitude D620 QuickSet DOWNLOAD
SIGMATEL Dell Latitude D620 STAC 92XX C-Major HD Audio DOWNLOAD
Dell Latitude D620 Intel Mobile Chipset DOWNLOAD
Broadcom 57XX Gigabit Integrated Dell Latitude D620 Controller DOWNLOAD
Broadcom 57XX Gigabit Integrated Dell Latitude D620 Controller DOWNLOAD
Intel Intel(R) PRO/Wireless Dell Latitude D620 3945ABG DOWNLOAD
