Dell Laptop Aims to Impress Impression Makers

Your pay grade is just that high. It says, “I’m better than this clunky laptop docking station. I’m better than sticking a power cord into my computer. And I’m better than waiting for Windows to check my e-mail.”

The Latitude Z laptop.

Well, demanding executives tired of mingling with the masses, fret no more. Dell has the laptop for you. And it’s not even a Mac.

On Tuesday, Dell bestowed the Latitude Z upon the upper crust. According to Dell, it’s the world’s thinnest (14mm) 16-inch laptop, and it starts at $1,999.

The laptop has a slick, black cherry finish that makes it look black in certain light and burgundy in other light. All the other finer touches are there, including a backlighted keyboard, a high-definition (1600×900) WLED display, solid state disk drives, a 2 megapixel camera and carrying cases designed by Cole Haan and Timbuck2.

But the Latitude Z’s real magic lies elsewhere.

For example, most laptops require brute force and crunching noises before making their way into docking stations. But not the Latitude Z.

It glides onto a shiny, thin platform that fuels the laptop via an inductive charging mechanism much like you would find with a fancy toothbrush that recharges on a stand. The platform then uses wireless communications to link with a small, rectangular docking station that handles a connection to the office network and monitor.

So, the executive looking to impress can buy a wireless mouse and wireless keyboard and then plop the Latitude Z onto the platform, revealing a one-cord (power) wonder. `

But the most impressive feature on the Latitude Z may be the ability to check e-mail, calendar and contact information and to browse the Web via an instant-on software package.

The software fires up the moment you open the laptop and connects right to a wireless network without Windows.

(Under the hood, it’s Linux running on top of an ARM chip on a mini-motherboard that provides this quick access feature. You’re basically talking about most of the components needed to run an iPhone being hitched to a large battery. So, the computer can run in instant-on mode for days.)

Some users Dell surveyed spent 70 percent of their time working in the instant-on mode. Microsoft is sure to take note of that figure. Windows has turned into a clunky cup holder.

The laptop has some more bells and whistles. You can, for example, just slide an identity badge (RFID) across the keyboard, and the computer will read it. The laptop also uses the camera to see when a person is at the keyboard, and will lock down when the person leaves. And then the right side of the monitor acts as a sort of touch-wheel, letting you scroll through application icons and start applications just by rubbing your finger along the edge of the laptop.

While nifty, that last feature didn’t seem to work that well, and I’m not sure why anyone would actually use it. Dell said that people have come to expect some bit of touch wonderment on their gadgets, so it threw that in.

The wireless bits and pieces do impress, but seem more about form than function. You still have to put a plug into the docking station even if the laptop then uses inductive recharging.

“This is designed for impression makers and executives on the go,” said Todd Forsythe, the vice president of life-cycle management at Dell.

To that end, Dell seems to have accomplished its goal.