Dell's Latitude C640 series has long been one of our favorite thin-and-light
corporate notebooks, thanks to its smart design, long battery life, speed, and
terrific tech support, not to mention its thrifty accessories, which work across
the entire Latitude line. We're not alone. According to Dell, the Latitude C600
line is the company's best-selling notebook line ever. The latest update to the
line promises more of the same, including faster P4-M processors, ATI Mobility
Radeon 7500 graphics chips, and--new to the thin-and-light category--blazing
5,400rpm hard drives, all in the customary great, slim case. Even though the
C640's ValueWatch rating is only average, businesses looking for thin-and-light
notebooks won't find a better combination of speed, battery life, features, and
support.

 

Design of Dell Latitude C640 series

	The C600 series' lid.

The thin-and-light category is the sweet spot of the notebook world: a great mix of features, speed, portability, battery life, and price. The Latitude C640 series is a brilliant example of why that's so. It's larger than the ultralight Dell Latitude C400 but not as big and heavy as the desktop-replacement Latitude C800 series. But the Latitude C640 still has enough drive options for business users and won't strain your shoulder when you tote it.

All versions of the C640 series look the same, with a dark-gray, 12.5-by-9.9-by-1.4-inch chassis that's more functional than fancy. The moderate, 5.4-pound base weight may increase by a few ounces, depending on which drives you use, and the AC adapter adds a little more than a pound to the total travel weight. All in all, the C640 is similar in mass to other business-class thin-and-lights, such as the IBM ThinkPad T30 and the Gateway 450.

Keeping with the function-over-form theme, you won't get the flashy silver wrist-rest inserts found on other Dell notebooks, but you won't miss them, either. (We find they get in the way.) The only splash of silver is the familiar round Dell logo on the lid, which helps you spot a Dell notebook from 50 paces.

Dell's signature keyboard.

The spacebar, the touchpad, and the four mouse buttons.

The Latitude C640 series conveniently includes both a touchpad and a pointing stick. The touchpad is smooth, and the pointing stick is not too stiff, although it's set a little low between the G and H keys. The control layout is similar to that of other Latitude and Inspiron laptops. There are four mouse buttons: two small ones above the touchpad and two large ones below it. Dell's firm and responsive keyboard includes a curved spacebar (a standard Dell feature) that wraps around the upper-left mouse button.

	The PC Card slots on the left.

Like many thin-and-lights, the Latitude C640 integrates an antenna for 802.11b wireless networking into the case.

You can configure the notebook with an external 802.11b PC Card for wireless access or a built-in, 802.11b, wireless mini-PCI card , both of which cost $99. We recommend the latter, as it leaves your PC Card slots open for other purposes.

Speaking of PC Card slots, Dell insists on filling them with easy-to-lose, plastic dummy cards--one of our few quibbles about this notebook. You never know what could fall into the slots if you lose the cards; we prefer protective doors on springs, which you'll find on most other notebooks.

 

Features of Dell Latitude C640 series

The Latitude C640 series is full featured by thin-and-light standards, and if you're not satisfied with the base configuration, you can beef it up when you buy a notebook online from Dell.com.

The C640 lets you choose fast Pentium 4-M processors at 1.6GHz, 1.7GHz, 1.8GHz, 2GHz, or 2.2GHz speeds. Memory ranges from 128MB to 1GHz; you should get at least 256MB, if not more. Hard drives range from 20GB to 40GB. The Latitude C640 we tested included a 2GHz Pentium 4-M, 256MB of memory, and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive. (Dell also sells the C610, a less expensive configuration with slower Pentium III-M processors and a shorter standard support period that's targeted at medium and large businesses.) We recommend spending a little more for the beefed-up C640.

Our biggest complaint about the C640? There's only one screen size in this series: 14.1 inches. A 15-inch option would be nice, although the included active-matrix display with 1,024x768 native resolution is so crisp and bright that you probably won't mind the size. For more detailed graphics, you can also order the same-sized screen with a 1,400x1,050 resolution ($50). And thankfully, a pair of speakers on the sides of the wrist rest produces decent sound for a notebook.

The front-loading combo drive.

The back edge.

The two-spindle C640 series design includes one front-loading swappable bay, which can house a floppy, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM ($129), CD-RW ($199), or combo DVD/CD-RW ($249) drive; a weight-saving plastic module; or a second, 3,900mAh, 14.8-volt battery ($129). All of these drives and the battery will also work in the modular bay of the desktop-replacement Latitude C840 or with the ultralight Latitude C400 by way of an external cable--extremely handy if you use a variety of Dell notebooks at work and need to save money by swapping drives.

The C640 series addresses additional business needs, as well. The serial, PS/2, and parallel ports on the back edge let companies use older peripherals. Notebook makers love to talk about legacy-free notebooks (which have fewer older ports), but that's not always a good thing. If you've ever had a favorite peripheral that connected via PS/2 but don't have that port on your new notebook, you know what a pain "legacy free" can be. Dell also includes a single USB port (most notebooks in this class have two, but you'll get more if you purchase the optional port replicator), S-Video, and mini-PCI but not FireWire. We wish it did, especially with only one USB connector.

	The ports on the right.

You can also connect to networks via the C640's standard 56Kbps modem and Ethernet jacks, which are easy to get to. An optional port replicator ($249) or a docking station ($499) expands the number of ports, slots, and bays.