Dell Releases Its Lightest Laptop Ever

Designed with business travelers in mind, the X1 has a battery life of up to 6 hours, the company says.

Tom Krazit, IDG News Service

Dell updated its lineup of business notebooks today with a 2.5-pound laptop designed for executives who want to make last-minute changes to presentations while airborne.

The Latitude X1 was designed with business travelers in mind, from its reinforced casing (which wards off shifting airline baggage in the overhead compartment) to a sealed keyboard that limits the damage caused by coffee spills. Dell reduced the size of this model's power adapter and battery to reduce the system weight to 2.5 pounds, making this system the lightest laptop in the company's arsenal.

Business customers can purchase the notebook with service plans that promise next-day repairs within the United States, as well as with international plans that cover travel elsewhere in the world, Dell said.

Small Notebook Popularity

Ultraportable notebooks have remained a niche product category in the United States, despite their popularity in many other parts of the world. This has shown signs of changing in the past six months, however, as Intel has introduced newer versions of its Centrino mobile technology, lowering the cost of the older versions.

Rival PC vendor Hewlett-Packard's lightest business notebook weighs 3.5 pounds, but comes with the regular version of Intel's Pentium M processor, which outperforms Ultra Low Voltage versions. The HP Compaq Business Notebook Nc4010 comes with a six-cell battery.