Dell rounds out their Latitude line with budget D520

It might not be as snazzy as its older brothers, the D620 and D820, but Dell's new Latitude D520 manages to squeeze a 1.83GHz Core Duo processor into a $699 laptop (after $200 instant savings), for what looks to be one of the cheapest ways to get your hands on that processor short of a five finger discount. The laptop is even fairly svelte for a budget unit, measuring 1.4-inches thick and weighing 5.24 pounds. Otherwise, the base configuration is pretty weak, with a 14.1-inch XGA display, 512MB of RAM, a 40GB HDD, and a 24X CD-ROM, along with the WiFi trimmings of the Centrino spec. For $120 more you can upgrade to a 15-inch SXGA LCD, and it shouldn't be that hard to bump the ram and HDD with a little bit of part hunting, so there's still hope for making a decent system out of this thing without breaking the bank.

[Via MobileWhack]

[paris @ May 3rd 2006 7:28AM]

If that was available in UK for the same price (�380) I'd buy one right away.

[bob @ May 3rd 2006 7:48AM]

whys it running osx ?

[bob @ May 3rd 2006 7:50AM]

even dell are ashamed to show windows on the computers, more and more computer manufacturers show pics of their machines with 'other things' on the screen so as not to associate them with misery

[sn @ May 3rd 2006 8:22AM]

It's basically just the old D610 with a Dual core CPU. Reusing the old manufacturing stock is how they are able to get the price so far down. I bet it has crappy speakers, like my D610!
SN

[Buck @ May 3rd 2006 8:23AM]

How can their line be rounded out when they haven't released the d420?

[strider_mt2k @ May 3rd 2006 8:27AM]

I'm spoiled on the new widescreens.

The way laptop pricing has gotten, I may never go back to desktops mine dies.

[MDJ @ May 3rd 2006 9:07AM]

Exactly, where the hell is our Core Duo D420??

[dan @ May 3rd 2006 9:43AM]

So, if you look at dell's site, it says it's 802.11n ready. What does that mean? If you look at the specs it as the a/b/g antenna. So... huh?

[Segura @ May 3rd 2006 10:17AM]

Does it really only have a 667MHz Duo Processor? What a big jump back. Go configure one and see:

Intel� Core� Duo T2300 667Mhz Dual Core [Included in Price]
Intel� Core� Duo T2400 667Mhz Dual Core [add $170 or $5/month2]

[Razib Ahmed @ May 3rd 2006 10:57AM]

"Dell's new Latitude D520 manages to squeeze a 1.83GHz Core Duo processor into a $699 laptop (after $200 instant savings), for what looks to be one of the cheapest ways to get your hands on that processor short of a five finger discount."
It is really amazing. I wish that DELL brings this product to our part of the world ( South Asia ). Many people here can not afford a laptop because of the price factor.

[Froggy @ May 3rd 2006 1:05PM]

cool. which means you can get one of them babys - add a little memory, a little HD space, and still come ahead of the E1505. And you don't have to reformat the HD and re-install MS just to get the Dell crap off when you get it.

go Micky Dell, go!.



ps. @9-_Segura

yeah... that's wierd. typo. I think it's meant to be 1.66 T2300 and 1.87 T2400.

[Manu Sharma @ May 3rd 2006 1:13PM]

This post is misleading. The $699 base price is for T2300 core duo processor which is 1.66Ghz.

You can upgrade to a T2400 core duo but then the price would be $869. Add a 15 inch SXGA+ display and the price shoots to $989.

Dell D520 customization: http://tinyurl.com/rpuxo
Core Duo clock speeds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core#Clock_speed

[MDJ @ May 3rd 2006 3:16PM]

Segura, that is the bus speed retard

[Amidal @ May 5th 2006 10:32AM]

I also am prevented on new widescreens. Also I can not really return to desktops. Though the tube on quality is much better.

[ian @ May 8th 2006 10:40PM]

Why does everyone like the widesceen? I have an regular 14.1 inch screen and do most of my reading online or on my computer. Having a widescreen would limit my vertical scrolling by about an inch and a half. One of the big reasons these widescreens are becoming popular is because the manufacturers want a wider base and keyboard area. Anyway, the fact that this is NOT a widescreen notebook is a BIG part of the reason I am considering buying it.

[Danx @ May 14th 2006 7:03AM]

I prefer 14.1 too. This widesceen laptops are pretty heavy and take lot of space in my luggage :-) .

[Rajarshi Muhuri @ May 15th 2006 4:21PM]

I wish that most laptops would be non wide screen. I like the 15.1 inch format the best . They were better in all ways ecspecially for developers who has to scroll vertically down to read codes...