Dell Unveils New Notebook for National Small Business Week

In recognition of National Small Business Week, Dell has announced the latest arrival in its notebook family, the Latitude D510. Calling it a "mainstream" notebook, Dell aims the laptop at budget-conscious companies looking to extend the reach of their business by adding mobile capability.

According to a statement from Frank Muehleman, vice-president of Dell's SMB division, "The U.S. economy is being driven by innovative small business owners who are quick to adopt value-add technologies that can help them expand their geographic reach, stretch resources and increase productivity." Muehleman went on to say that, "Dell is committed to delivering cost-effective products that transform a desk-bound workforce into a flexible, mobile workforce."

Dell said it designed the notebook to withstand the physical demands of mobile life. Specifically, the company notes the "stiffened" keyboard designed to protect the internal circuits from dust and liquid spills; the "Strike Zone," a shock absorber intended to protect the hard drive, and a "Tri-Metal chassis designed to protect the unit from bumps, scrapes and other assorted accidental encounters.

Dell announced the D510, a notebook designed for small business.

The DC-510's starting price and weight come in at $929 and 5.2 pounds respectively and go up from there depending on the configuration you choose. Features include:

• Processor — your choice of: a 1.60GHz Intel Pentium M 730 or 740 (1.73GHZ) or a 1.3GHZ Celeron M 350
• Display — your choice of a 14.1-inch or 15-inch XGA (1040 x 768)
• Memory — 256MB to 2GB DDR2 shared SDRAM
• Hard drives — your choice of 30GB, 40GB, 60GB or 80GB
• Wireless networking — standard internal Intel PRO Wireless 2200 802.11b/g. See more customizable options.
• Extra drives — Standard 24X CD-ROM See more customizable options.
• Networking — Integrated 10/100 Ethernet and 56K6 V92 modem
• Ports — Four USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, parallel, serial, S-Video, VGA, audio in/out; one PCMCIA Type I/II slot
• Operating system — your choice of Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional
• Tech support — one-year, next-business-day, on-site service
• Dimensions — 1.4-inch high, 13.3-inches wide, 10.75-inches deep

Lauren Simonds is the managing editor of SmallBusinessComputing.com