Dell Latitude E4300 Review

The Dell Latitude E4300 is one of the newest laptops by Dell in the Latitude range and is almost ultraportable. The Latitude series has been a high performance, high reliability business series aimed at those who want something better than Dell’s Vostro series of business notebooks. The Dell Latitude E4300 is one of the most portable 13 inchers out there. It has the trademark Latitude quality and features a nice design and build quality. Reliability has been Dell Latitude’s middle name and the E4300 completely adheres to that. A Latitude can last about 3-4 years easily and are known to be the most durable among notebooks. Also most business customers generally need portability with long endurance and reliability, all of which the Latitude series offers. Dell also offers superb customer care with the Latitude series which satisfies most customers.

In this review, we check out the Dell Latitude E4300 in detail and see whether it has the famed Latitude blood running through its system buses. We also see how it stacks up against its competitors – the Lenovo X300, The Sony Z series and the Macbook Air.

Dell Latitude E4300 Specs:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo SP9400 at 2.40 GHz with 6 MB L2 Cache, 1066 MHz FSB
• Display: 13.3 inch WXGA (1280 x 800 pixels) LED Backlit Matte Display
• Memory: 4 GB DDR3 1066 MHz RAM
• Hard Drive: 80GB 7200 RPM HDD
• Optical Drive: 8X DVD+RW
• Graphics: Intel GMA X4500 MHD
• Operating System: Windows Vista Business
• Other Features: ExpressCard slot, WebCam, Microphone
• Battery: 56 Whr, 6 cell battery

Design and Build Quality:

The Dell Latitude E4300 sports a very simple, yet superb design. You would be amazed at how good it actually looks, considering there are no flashy design elements in it. You just know that it is sturdy and reliable by just looking at it. It has exactly what business users should be looking for, subtle style with superb build quality. It sports a brushed metal exterior which looks great in black. The magnesium alloy chassis is very tough and holds the body together with very little flex, even near the display and the palm rest area which normally have some flex even in high end notebooks.

The Latitude E4300 is extremely durable and sturdy. You won’t have any complaints on the build quality front atleast. The hinges at the back are also solid and look strong. The 6 cell battery looks a bit out of place and protrudes a bit from the back, but it isn’t much of an issue.

Display and Speakers:

The Dell Latitude E4300 sports a nice 13.3 inch WXGA display which has a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The display quality is brilliant with a matte finish instead of the usual glossy screens. While it is not as attractive as Glossy displays, it offers much better visibility under direct light. The display is LED backlit and looks beautiful while also being more power efficient compared to the other CCFL backlit displays. The display has nice brightness and contrast levels and produces nice and vibrant images. It has quite decent viewing angles, especially the horizontal ones. All in all, a nice display but most people would have preferred a glossy one.

The speakers of the Latitude E4300 are quite average, but seriously not much to speak of. If you are music minded in any way, do not rely on the built in speakers, rather get yourself a decent pair of headphones. The speakers have a strictly average sound quality and sound tinny much like most other notebook speakers. COmpared to the superb 4.1 Dolby speaker system of the Lenovo Ideapad Y530 we reviewed earlier, these speakers aren’t any good. But then it is a business notebook so most users shouldn’t care about the sound except for the occasional videos or music.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The keyboard and touchpad are perhaps the most important features in a business notebook, and also the most neglected. The keyboard in the Dell Latitude E4300 is pretty nice and full sized. The key spacing and travel is almost perfect. The keys have a nice textured feel and offer nice feedback. The key layout is standard and the typing experience is very comfortable. Touch typists should definitely like this keyboard.

The touchpad is located just below the keyboard and offers average response and sensitivity. The touchpad has a smooth surface and supports both horizontal and vertical scroll. The touchpad buttons are also decent and have good feedback. The touchpad is not as good as the normal Latitude touchpads though. The Latitude E4300 also sports a trackpoint which you can use if you aren’t comfortable with the touchpad.

Performance:

The Dell Latitude E4300 has a nice hardware configuration – It is powered by the Intel Core 2 Duo SP9400 which is clocked at 2.4 Ghz and comes with 6 MB L2 cache and 1066 MHz FSB. This processor is very power efficient and also runs comparatively cooler. It comes with 4 GB DDR3 RAM and the graphics department is handled by Intel’s integrated GMA X4500 MHD graphics. This combination is very powerful and can handle most applications. It runs Windows Vista Business easily and can multitask a good number of applications. The 4 GB RAM is a very nice addition and increases the performance greatly. It comes with a 80 GB 7200 RPM HDD which is also quite fast and offers good data transfer speeds. The integrated GMA X4500 MHD graphics are good for casual usage but cannot play most games. You can play only basic games and some newer games at low settings. However it is power efficient and leads to a better battery life than discrete graphics.

Battery Life and Other Features:

The Dell Latitude E4300 is powered by a 56 Whr, 6 cell battery which has nice endurance. It should last for about 5 hours easily with moderate usage – some office work, some videos, some music etc. With low brightness and Wi-Fi turned off, it should easily last about 6 or more hours. The battery life is very impressive mainly due to the LED backlit screen and the processor. The Wi-Fi reception is quite good and offers good speeds.

The Dell Latitude E4300 also sports a nice range of ports – 2 USB ports, VGA out, IEEE 1394, LAN, eSATA / USB combo port, a headphone / mic out.

Pros:

• Nice Battery Life
• Superb Build Quality
• Awesome Performance

Cons:

• Average Touchpad
• Poor Speakers
• Integrated GMA X4500 Graphics

Final Words:

The Dell Latitude E4300 hasn’t much going for it except the superb build quality, the battery life and the nice performance. It has some shortcomings, the biggest maybe that it is a bit overpriced.

Our Rating: 3 / 5.