
Dell e4300 w/ Latitude ON
Dell created some excitement with their recent announcement of the Latitude Z notebook with wireless charging. During the announcement they touched on a new “instant on” technology they were launching, Latitude ON. Instant on technology is nothing new, but Dell’s approach with Latitude ON is novel. Dell was good enough to send me an evaluation notebook, the E4300, with the Latitude ON inside to give you my thoughts. I have been playing with it for a few days and am sharing my first impressions of this new technology.
I will be shooting a video of Latitude ON in action as that is the only way to demonstrate what it does. The rolling thunderstorms today have precluded my ability to do that, so that will have to follow next week.
What is Latitude ON and what makes it new technology? Most instant on solutions use a BIOS solution to allow a notebook to boot into a Linux environment for quick access to information. This method is designed to allow quick access to the web, or email, and thus extend battery life. It is primarily designed to prevent the need for booting into a full Windows environment for quick work sessions.
Latitude ON takes this method a step further. Dell installs a computer on a small motherboard (1 inch x 1 inch) that contains an ARM processor and a small amount of memory. This creates a second computer within the computer, intended to handle the quick sessions it provides. There is a second power button on this Dell laptop that boots into Latitude ON, a process that only takes a few seconds.
This environment is a very stripped down Linux implementation that only offers email, web and PIM functions. Email, calendar and contacts are handled with Evolution and the web browser is Mozilla. That’s it as far as what can be done in Latitude ON. This is designed strictly for the enterprise, in fact it’s of little use to the average consumer.
What makes Latitude ON such a good solution for the enterprise is the second processor. While Latitude ON is running the only part of the system that is powered is the little ARM processor, the display, Wi-Fi and the integrated 3G modem. The system is dedicated to communication with corporate servers to provide all the application horsepower needed. It is configured to work with Citrix servers out of the box, and Exchange Servers, too.
Dell envisions the technology to be used by companies that require that employees access all applications through the Citrix environment. This uses the processing power of the servers to do everything, with clients being in essence dumb clients. This is exactly what Latitude ON is designed to do, and it does that well. The user can be online in just a few seconds, via Wi-Fi or 3G, and connected to the secure corporate network. The Mozilla browser is the conduit to execute applications, and all of this takes very little power.
This is because Windows, and all of the big power consumers like the Intel processor, hard drive and memory, are all powered off while Latitude ON is running. The little ARM processor takes very little power, and Dell claims that the notebook can run all day in this environment. If Windows is running when the Latitude ON button is pressed, Windows goes into hibernation quietly in the background while Latitude ON is firing up. Hitting the conventional power button in Latitude ON shuts it down and fires Windows back up.
The Latitude ON environment is slow, as you would expect with the ARM processor running things. This is not that big a factor if applications are running on a server. The Mozilla browser used is not very capable for anything other than interfacing with the servers. Flash and other plugins are all disabled to tightly control the environment.
I am impressed with the technology that Dell has incorporated into Latitude ON. It makes sense to have a second, low powered processor to run the environment. It is like having a smartphone in the notebook for these special sessions. The integrated 3G works very well in these sessions; the notebook is online with no user interaction at all, and in only a second or two.
Latitude ON is an option on a number of Dell notebooks. It is provided by the single card that can be configured at the time of purchase. I can see enterprises deploying these to workers as a mobile solution that is simple to support.
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