Dell’s school netbook seems priceworthy to me!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 19 May 2009 12:37

Opinion and Analysis

Questions have emerged about whether the new education-focused Dell Latitude 2100 netbook is “worth the price”, but after having actually used one, my initial thoughts are that, despite cheaper units being available, the extra features definitely seem worth paying for. Why? Read on!

Earlier today I wrote an article on the launch of Dell’s new education-focused netbook, the Latitude 2100.

Coming at a cost of AUD $700 for a 1GB unit with 160GB of disk space, Ubuntu 9.04, no touch screen ($50 touch-screen upgrade cost) but all the other standard netbook features, the price of this unit loaded up with Windows XP (a cost as yet unknown) shouldn't be much more than netbooks already cost in this country (see JB Hi-Fi’s netbook sales page as an example).

So it was a bit surprising to see ZDNet’s Christopher Dawson come out with an article suggesting that the Dell Latitude 2100 didn’t seem to be value for money - when the price seems on par with competitors at retail, and the 2100 has features unique to the netbook category. 

Right off the bat, the Latitude 2100 has a “rugged” rubber casing, making it much more impervious to scratches and bumps that your regular plastic-clad netbooks, and helps to better protect the screen from damage when a backpack is dropped, stepped on, or otherwise manhandled. 

It's also easier to grip, while still looking stylish, making it a lot more useful than fancy artwork alone.

There are no vents at the base of the 2100, unlike most netbooks, which makes it much harder for kids to accidentally put their netbooks on a wet table, wet grass or anything potentially wet and then having liquid seeping in and zapping its parts.

I checked an Asus Eee PC 1000HE I'm reviewing, and sure enough there are vents underneath. While this is a little thing, it's the little things that are often the most important, and is a nice potential problem for the 2100 to have eliminiated.

Dell also offers admins a range of tools to remotely update student PCs or even a “poison pill”  device if it is stolen, thus rendering the 2100 useless to thieves.

Although Dell only offers the “touch screen” as an option, and not as standard, I don’t see HP, Asus, Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo or anyone else YET offering netbook touch-screens in this market, and at an approximate extra AUD $50 to upgrade to a touch screen, this doesn’t appear to be bank-breaking pricing, either.

Asus has shown off touch-screen netbooks at trade shows and will undoubtely be selling them around the world soon enough, Lenovo has committed to delivering them in the future and clearly most PC companies a plenty of touch products to come in the future, but right now, it's Dell who is selling them in netbooks - and in volume.

As more players come into the market, the price competition that naturally brings will be very welcome by all consumers, so it's nice to see someone has finally made a definitive move to make touch effectively "standard" for netbooks at a retail level.

Dell is also offering its “next day business” service option as a standard inclusion, coming either to a student’s school or home to fix issues when they occur. I don’t see many other netbook companies offering this option either.

An anti-microbial keyboard option is available. It's a shame it's not a standard feature - but at least it's an option that few competitors can, at present, match.

On top of all that, Dell has included a “light strip” on the lid of the notebook, enabling teachers to know whether students are idly surfing the web thanks to ongoing network activity, or whether they’re actually paying attention in class.

Dell says future models will feature different colours and light sequences to make the alerts and messages more descriptive to teachers.

I can only imagine kids and teens using such models in the future figuring out how to hack the light so teachers and network admins are none the wiser to students surfing in class or whatever other inappropriate use of school Internet and network access that smart kids will try to get away with!

So, does Dawson truly have a point, or are we being given the pointy end of the stick? Please read on to page 2.