Review: hard-working laptop puts strain on battery

The Precision M2300 has plenty of punch but users should not stray too far from the mains

Price: £1,296 as reviewed

Manufacturer: Dell

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Verdict

The Precision M2300 provides a bit more punch for business workers that need a portable computer for more demanding applications, but do not necessarily need a large screen. However, the battery life is too short for much serious use away from mains power.

PROS: Enough power for demanding apps; Sturdy design

CONS: Short battery life even with extended battery pack

Daniel Robinson, IT Week 25 Apr 2008

Dell’s Precision M2300 is a mobile workstation PC designed for running demanding applications in a thin-and-light format. As such it packs a decent level of performance, but does not have the large screen seen on some other mobile workstations, or the battery life to match many more modest laptops.

Available since December 2007, the M2300 is essentially a beefed-up version of the Latitude D630,which we reviewed last year. As befits a mobile workstation, the new model boasts a faster processor, more memory, and the display is handled by an extra Nvidia graphics chip - a Quadro FX 360M - rather than relying on the functions integrated into the Intel motherboard chipset.

In use, we found the Precision M2300 very responsive, and this was reflected by its Winstone 2004 benchmark score of 31.9 under Windows XP, which is one of the highest we have seen for any system, not just laptops. In comparison, the HP Compaq nc6400 that we tested last year achieved a score of 23.8.

Our review unit was based on an Intel Core 2 Duo T7800, a dual-core chip clocked at 2.6GHz, with 4GB memory and a 200GB Serial ATA hard drive. A Flash-based solid-state disk (SSD) up to 32GB is an option. Potential buyers should be aware that not all the 4GB memory is accessible under Windows XP, which reported 3.5GB available on our model. However, users can opt to have the M2300 with 64bit Windows or Windows Vista.

Although classed as a thin-and-light model by Dell, the Precision M2300 seems about the standard size for a laptop, and at 2.43kg with its standard 56Whr six-cell battery pack, it weighs about average as well. Our review unit was delivered with the optional 85Whr nine-cell extended battery that projects out from the front of the case by about half an inch, and also adds to the weight.

However, we found that even with the extended battery, the Precision M2300 only lasted for three hours and 27 minutes when tested under the BatteryMark 4.01 benchmark. This suggests that the M2300 is not suited for extended use while away from mains power, and is perhaps best viewed as a high-performance system that can easily be moved around, either to work from home or to visit a customer’s site.

With a 14.1in screen, the M2300 has the smallest display of Dell’s current Precision line-up and reflects the fact that this model is aimed at business users needing a bit more power, rather than at engineers or graphics professionals. However, with a native resolution of 1440x900 pixels, it is ample for most applications, and we found the display clear and easy to read in various lighting conditions.

The M2300 covers most connectivity options with 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, gigabit Ethernet and a built-in 3G/HSDPA modem for a mobile network. A slot for a SIM card is located behind the battery compartment, and a switch on the left side of the case lets the user turn the Wi-Fi radio off.

A removable DVD-RW drive is fitted into a bay on the right hand side of the case. This can be replaced with a secondary six-cell battery pack, extra hard drive or an empty Travel Lite Module to reduce weight.

Dell has equipped the M2300 with a pointing stick embedded in the middle of the keyboard in addition to the more common touchpad in front of the keyboard, catering for fans of both these styles of pointer controller.

For peripherals, the unit has four USB slots, a Type II PC Card slot, serial port and also an IEEE.1394 FireWire port. Users can also plug in an external display via a standard VGA connector, and there is even a modem port. For authentication, a smartcard reader is located on the left side of the case, but a fingerprint swipe scanner is an optional extra.

Our review unit had a number of tools pre-installed, many of which simply clutter up the Windows Taskbar and are not strictly necessary. These include Google Desktop, Roxio Drag-To-Disc - which lets users drop files onto a recordable DVD - and IntelliSonic Speech Enhancement for optimising speech input. However, we found Dell’s QuickSet useful. This includes a Wi-Fi Catcher tool to scan for available wireless access points and connect up to them, plus a power management wizard.

Overall we were impressed with the M2300, which manages to combine all the features of a high performance laptop without being too bulky or heavy to carry.

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