Dell launches new business laptops

We've all been waiting for the rumoured Dell "E" netbooks - and that may still come out of today's announcements - but right now we can reveal the company's new line of Latitude notebooks.

The E4200 is a 1kg (!) 12.1-inch laptop. The E4300 has a 13.3-inch screen and starts, weightwise, at 1.54kg.

So much for the light stuff. Next up are the 14.1-inch E5400 and the 15.4-inch E5500, both starting at £469. Those will be the cheaper ones then. Also launched today are the 14.1-inch E6400 and the 15.4-inch E6500 - both just a bit more than £700.

Interestingly, that E6400 has a claimed battery life of 19 hours - we'll certainly be testing that claim!

There's also a semi-rugged laptop - the 14.1-inch E6400 ATG, built to "military" standards.

Still no "E", but one anticipated feature has come up. From the statement: "The company also previewed Dell Latitude ON, a new technology that will enable near-instant access to e-mail, calendar, attachments, contacts and the Web without booting into the system’s main operating system (OS). Expected in the coming months on the Latitude E4200 and E4300, Dell Latitude ON uses a dedicated low-voltage sub-processor and OS that can enable multi-day battery life."

So, a bit like Asus's "Express Gate" technology, then.

Two "mobile workstations" were also announced - the super-specced Precision M4400 (starting at £939) and the lightweight Precision M2400 (starting at £889).

We'll have more details and pics soon, but that appears to have been today's announcement in full. Sorry folks, no netbooks (though I hope I'm wrong about this).