Dell claims one model in its latest business laptop range can run for ten hours on a single battery, with another nine hours possible from an additional snap-on battery. It’s apparently down to new techniques for making components less power-hungry.

The firm says these techniques are protected and can’t be copied, but did reveal it includes tricks such as reducing the refresh rate on the screen where practical. The techniques are used across the new Latitude range, but Dell isn’t saying if it will add them to revamped models of existing consumer ranges such as the Inspiron.

The range has some impressive-sounding specs: the lightest model weighs just 1 kilogram, while what’s effectively the standard model has capacity for 8GB RAM and 250GB storage space.

As usual, there’s a price premium across the Atlantic. The range starts at $1,139, but the equivalent euro and British pounds are around 15-20% higher. To be fair, that’s less of a mark-up than many electrical goods, particularly considering Britain’s 17.5% sales tax is built into stated prices.

Interestingly the company is making a big deal about the inclusion of solid state disk (SSD) technology on the range. SSD manufacturers Samsung and Sandisk have both spoken out recently about the problems involved in making the disks work at optimum performance under Vista.

Perhaps the most enticing news in the slick marketing launch is that two of the models will allow users to access e-mail and internet browsing software without having to start up Windows. Depending on how clogged up your Windows system is, that may be a useful feature for business travellers who need to quickly check a site or their inbox, though chances are that type of person will be using some form of smartphone anyway.

There’s also a model launching next week which Dell describes as ‘semi-rugged’. It apparently meets military standards for resistance to dust, vibration and humidity, though presumably the ‘semi’ qualifier is a reminder that the machine won’t be able to pull double-duty as a Frisbee.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 2:03 pm under Notebook.

Read more entries by John Lister.
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