Welcome to a laptop battery specialist of the Dell Ac Adapter
Ultra portable' is one of those ambiguous terms that no-one has ever universally defined. Depending on who you talk to, it could mean anything from an anorexic sliver slate like the Toshiba Portege R100 to a thick chunky ThinkPad X31. Even talking to the same company doesn't help - ask Dell for an ultra portable and you could end up with a gorgeous notebook like the X200 or a Latitude D400.
The D400 stretches the definition to the extreme and is perhaps only called an ultra portable because there's no integrated optical drive. This in itself is quite a disappointment, especially considering its 30mm-thick chassis. Comparatively, the IBM ThinkPad T40 is also 30mm thick yet squeezes a DVD-ROM and CD-RW combo drive into the chassis, although the T40 weighs 2.25kg against the D400's 1.8kg with adapter such as Dell XPS 1640 Ac Adapter, Dell XPS 1645 Ac Adapter, Dell XPS 1647 Ac Adapter, Dell XPS M1640 Ac Adapter, Dell W298C Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron 11Z Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron Mini 10V Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron Mini 1010 Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron Mini 1011 Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron Mini 1010N Ac Adapter, Dell PP19S Ac Adapter. Instead, the D400 has a USB 2 external combo drive, which might offer a fast 24x/10x/24x CD-RW and 8x DVD-ROM, but still takes up much more space in the end.
The problem for the D400 is that times have changed. Back in 2001, the Latitude C400 won our ultra-portable Labs (see issue 91, p98) with its amazing price and feature set, but this isn't enough any more. The D400's £1,125 price may be incredible for the specification and features on offer, but you can't help feeling that the design could have been improved with minimal effort.
The theme of wasted space continues when you open the D400, with a huge bezel around the 12.1in screen. There's over 20mm of plastic on each side, when the IBM ThinkPad X31 managed to squeeze the same size screen into a chassis that's 22mm less wide. Thankfully, the screen itself is pretty good, with decent image quality and reasonable brightness. The viewing angles aren't great, either horizontally or vertically, but it's still quite acceptable from head-on.
So how has Dell filled all the extra space inside? Well, fortunately the D400 has just about everything you need for work on the move. You'll notice a Centrino badge on the palmrest, which means there's Intel 802.11b WLAN inside, and if you're prepared to forego the Intel branding Dell can upgrade this to a switchable Dell TrueMobile 802.11b/g card for no extra cost.
Bluetooth is also integrated as standard, and the wireless features can be disabled just by pressing Fn and F2. This will be handy for saving battery life, particularly as the D400's longevity isn't that great. It only lasted for three hours, 33 minutes under light use, which again would have been amazing last year but is a disappointment compared to other Centrino machines. If the smaller IBM ThinkPad X31 can last for almost five hours, why can't the Dell?
The IBM also offers better build quality, particularly when it comes to the keyboard. While the X31 has a solid, high-quality keyboard that's a pleasure to type on, the D400's has a bounce in the action, especially when your typing speeds up. There's another annoyance with the layout too, as the PgUp key is right next to the right Shift key, and you often find yourself typing at the top of your document by accident.
The lid has a slightly worrying amount of flex in it compared with the IBM's too, although the Dell's matte graphite finish certainly looks the business. The Dell logo is even the right way up, so it's not upside down when the lid's open. With the exception of the lid, the D400's build quality is impressive, with a solid chassis and firm palmrests that don't flex when you're typing.
There's a good range of ports for an ultra portable too, which includes two USB 2 ports (one on the side and one on the back), a four-pin FireWire port and a serial port that you won't find on the IBM. Plus, there's the added bonus of a smart card security reader and a single Type II PC Card slot. Considering that Bluetooth, WLAN, Gigabit Ethernet and a V.92 modem are already included, you're unlikely to need more.
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