Dell D830, a younger brother of well-known D820, is very good, balanced notebook with business users as natural marketing target.
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Since Michael returned to Dell, the company is on the road again. The once unsatisfied users are satisfied with customer support and company lives up to its name. The model that we think is good choice for business user is Dell D830. As it is often the case, we are not the first to review it, but it's easier to write after few days, the picture is much clearer then.
So, we looked at D830 trying to figure out is it good for everyday business tasks, and we did't pay much attention to its multimedia capabilities, because there are other devices for that. The heart if the new D830 is Intel T7800 processor that beat on 2.60GHz, and data flows through 4MB L2 cache to maximum of 4GB of RAM with the speed of 667MHz. You can opt for slower processor but we would not recommend that. That processor coupled with enough memory makes D830 an ideal machine for our favourite operating system, Windows Vista.
The graphic chip in notebooks is often a weak link, but not in the case of Dell. the first choice is Intel's Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 with 256MB of shared memory. The name sounds good, but the performances aren't. It is better to ask for NVIDIA Quadro NVS 135M6, and Quadro NVS 140M5 is even better option, with 3D support and we recommend that one.
The second most important thing, at least for us, when considering business users, is connectivity. Fortunately, we can be very short here: D830 has it all. From 56K built-in modem (frankly, I don't where I'd use it for today probably every island in Pacific has some flavour of DSL, but it's good to know it's here), to Bluetooth 2.1 and all kinds of Wi-Fi, including fast 802.11n. Very good. The next thing worth to be mentioned is security. Dell D830 has Cable Lock Slots, Media Module and Hard Drive Locks, optional finger print reader (we recommend), and all wireless access is protected, too.
When talking about expansion, in your D830 you can put Type I, Type II PC card or Express card and transfer your data on huge 160GB hard disk. There's plenty of additional equipment such as CD-ROM- DVD, floppy and additional battery, so you can configure it as you like. All that is enclosed in very reliable case that will looks, and feel under fingers, capable to stay alive if you smash it against the wall. Very good for frequent travellers ("and ‘tender’ users like yourself", said Vesna).
D830 is younger brother of D830, but considering all new stuff inside, it should be named D1030. Or something like that... For business users, D830 is very good choice. ■