Intel’s Pentium M processor never ceases to amaze. Take the edition found in the new Dell Latitude X1 by way of an example – it’s the 1.1Ghz ultra low-voltage model. It never gets hot, places the tiniest of drains on the battery, and punches well above its weight in performance terms. After using it, you would swear this ultralight laptop is packing a 2Ghz CPU – this could be due to the chip’s 2MB L2 cache. Either way, it offers fantastic performance that belies the specifications.

And that spec-sheet is good. The 12.1in WXGA screen is squeezed into a chassis that barely breaks the one-kilogram mark, and offers a native widescreen resolution of 1,280x768 – ideal for watching DVDs. The 915GMS chipset includes Intel Express graphics, which can borrow up to 128MB of system RAM for its rendering needs. It’ll chug a little under heavier loads, such as serious Photoshop work, but the overall set-up is more than powerful enough to handle a bit of photo manipulation, PowerPoint presentations and commensurate graphics applications. And all this in something about the weight of a hardback book.

Mobile heaven
With the Centrino logo gracing the chassis, the X1 obviously has 802.11g wireless onboard, as well as LAN and modem ports. There’s only one USB port though – it looks like there’s a purpose for that USB hub after all. And while the chassis also boasts Secure Digital and Compact Flash card readers, there’s no provision for PCMCIA cards. Strange, given the Sonoma architecture, you would expect one of the new Xpress slots tucked into the side. But this PC is all about mobility, and frankly, there’s not a spare gram or millimetre of chassis-space wasted on the X1. It’s hard to get across just how compact the X1 is. But take it from us, as ultra-portables go, this clever notebook is at the top of its game.

Battery life is decent, with MobileMark 2002’s productivity tests clocking it at 2 hours 57 minutes from a full charge. There’s also an optional high-capacity battery available, which offers a much weightier 4 hours 42 minutes. Even the high-capacity battery is tiny in itself, at least by other notebook battery standards, so we would definitely recommend packing this for longer trips. Dell’s ExpressCharge technology also means that you can charge a battery to nearly full capacity in around an hour, which is very useful.

There’s no onboard optical drive; this functionality is provided by an external USB DVD writer, something we’re definitely in favour of. When the drive isn’t plugged in, you’re saving precious battery life, as it’s not spinning up every time you click on My Computer. The drive itself supports rewritable discs, but not dual-layer writing; no great shakes, granted, but it would be a nice provision. And for times when you just don’t need an optical drive, you can leave the extra weight, size and battery-drain at home.

Design-wise, the X1 is about as stylish as a business model is likely to get. The gunmetal grey may leave us unmoved, but form follows function, and the sheer dinkiness of the machine is a very large plus. However, we would prefer to see some alternative colour options for the chassis. It may be aimed at business users rather than the consumer, but a machine this compact is going to appeal to many sectors. Companies such as Averatec have proved that there’s a market for stylish notebooks; it’s a shame more don’t follow suit.

Small but powerful
But the X1 isn’t competing on the catwalk; its strength lies in its mobile performance. It handles office applications with ease and 512MB RAM is adequate for a business machine. When it’s in a bag on your shoulder, you barely notice it; when it’s on the table, working away, it performs; and it does all this with a reasonably long charge. For something this size, you can’t ask for more.

About the only letdown is the trackpad. It’s quite insensitive, so you really have to press down while moving your finger to get a good cursor response. The first accessory we would go for, besides a USB hub, would be a decent USB optical mouse – as it stands, it’s entirely usable, but the lack of sensitivity is an ongoing annoyance.

For just over a grand, you don’t really expect something as small and capable as the X1. If value is a consideration, and you want decent performance from an ultra-portable notebook, the Dell Latitude X1 is well worth considering.