3. The Dell Latitude D610 In Action

Case And Power Supply

The D610 from Dell.

The case and design of the Latitude D610 make it look relatively cheap and/or scraggy. That's partly due to the fact that the keyboard is made of plastic in several shades of gray, which may lead some to turn up their noses.

A closer look at the notebook's case reveals large gaps.

If that weren't enough, there were relatively large gaps in the display frame of our test device. The cover of the hard drive tray also had very wide gaps.

The PC card slot is shielded against dust by a cheap-looking plastic dummy.

The noise resulting from closing the display is striking. It strongly reminded us of the sound when you open a Tupperware container. A feature perhaps? Answers on a postcard, please.

The sound waves from the loudspeakers make their way out of the case through two narrow slits

"Form follows function" is a tad clichéd, yet an apt description for the power supply. The case and connecting cable socket on the power supply are designed so that the cables can be simply wrapped around the case and out of the way when on the move.

The leads to the power supply coil up to save space.