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S$1996.05
Product Summary
6.2
out of 10View score
The bad: No discrete graphics option; lacks a fingerprint sensor.
The bottom line: While the Latitude D520 won't wow you in any one respect, its satisfying combination of speed, battery life, features, and price will serve basic business users well.
Read full review of the Dell Latitude D520 »
Average User Rating
CNET Asia Review
The D520 is the latest member of Dell's
corporate-focused Latitude line to get a tune-up. Following in the
footsteps of the thin-and-light D620
and the midsize D820,
the D520 now
features Intel Core Duo processors and a slightly enhanced case design.
With these changes, the D520 delivered faster mobile performance and
markedly better battery life than its predecessor. Unfortunately, the
system retains its 15-inch standard-aspect display--a dying breed among
laptops (most of today's portables have wide-aspect screens, which we
prefer). Still, with a starting price of
Design
The Latitude D520 weighs 2.81kg and measures 337.8mm wide, 271.8mm
deep, and 35.6mm thick. Another business system, the Lenovo
3000 N100,
has a 15.4-inch screen which makes it a bit
more broad than the Dell. However, they weigh
within a few grams of each other. The Latitude D520's average-size AC
adapter tips the scales at 0.36kg. The total package is a bit heavy,
but not unreasonable, for regular travel.
The main design differences between the Latitudes
D510
and D520 lie in their coloring (the D510 is silver all over) and
the D520's lack of a parallel port. Otherwise, they're nearly
identical. The D520 offers a spacious, spill-resistant keyboard, as
well as a big touch pad and mouse buttons, all of which are quite
comfortable to use. The system's crisp, bright 15-inch screen features
a typical 1,024 x 768 native resolution that's too low to render
graphics
in fine detail but makes text big and readable. Anchoring the display
to the laptop's base are strong steel hinges, and the base itself
contains a sturdy magnesium-alloy frame. Finally, the two speakers
along the front edge emit adequate sound for a business laptop. While
this design will suffice for an average employee's basic tasks, the
D520 is entirely devoid of bells and whistles, such as biometric
security (a fingerprint sensor) and dedicated volume controls, found on
the D620 and D820, not to mention the Lenovo 3000 N100.
Features
The Latitude D520 doesn't supply an overabundance of ports, jacks, or
slots, but its offerings cover all of the standard bases. The laptop
includes headphone, microphone, 56Kbps modem, and Ethernet jacks;
FireWire, infrared, S-Video out, VGA, and four USB 2.0 ports; and a
legacy serial port to accommodate old peripherals. The D520's single
Type II PC Card slot supports the Express Card/34 standard as well.
This selection is about the same as the Lenovo 3000 N100's, though it
includes a flash media
card reader, which the Dell lacks. The D520 also omits
the Trusted Platform Module chip offered on the D620 and the
D820, though
it does include the same hard drive shock-protection capabilities found
on the other Latitudes. In terms of software, the Latitude D520 comes
with the typically limited bundle of the average business system:
Either the Windows XP Professional or Home operating systems (our test
system shipped with the former), plus a handful of utilities and
disc-burning programs.
Our Latitude D520 evaluation unit wasn't brimming
with spectacular components, but its
Performance
And
Battery Life
For a basic business
system, the Latitude D520 showed more than enough speed in CNET Labs'
mobile benchmarks. It achieved an identical score to the Lenovo
3000 N100 that we tested, which included a faster
processor and a higher-end, discrete Nvidia GeForce Go 7300 graphics
chip. The Latitude D520's
performance should be plenty for working in Microsoft Office and
keeping up with e-mail.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 | BAPCo MobileMark2002 performance rating |
The Latitude D520 also finished far ahead in our Labs' drain tests: It lasted just 8 minutes shy of 5 hours, improving on its predecessor, the Latitude D510, by 50 minutes. The Lenovo, on the other hand, managed only 3 hours 9 minutes. For even better battery life, look to Lenovo's higher-end ThinkPad T60, which held out for nearly 6 hours.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| BAPCo MobileMark 2002 battery life in minutes |
Service And Support
Dell offers a three-year international warranty for the D520. However, the battery comes with only a one-year warranty period. The warranty covers both parts and labor. Should there be a problem with the notebook, the company will send a technician onsite within the next business day. Updated drivers and other documentation can be downloaded from Dell's Web site. Users can also purchase additional warranty packages such as HelpDesk phone support and international coverage online.
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