When it comes to building a notebook that can withstand abuse, companies used to simply sacrifice general aesthetics in favor of overall ruggedness. But the Dell Latitude E6400 XFR—a bulked-up version of that company’s business-class E6400—has all the amenities and performance a field worker could need, and is durable enough to handle much more extreme environments than the boardroom. In fact, Dell’s exclusive Ballistic Armor Protection System is designed to meet or exceed military standards (MIL-STD-810F). At $5,137, it’s hardly inexpensive, but for those who work in harsh conditions—EMTs, firefighters, and the military, for example—will appreciate the XFR’s durability.
Design
Road warriors who carry around the E6400 XFR will actually look the part; its gray and black exterior, with large, raised “XFR” letters on either side of the lid, has a don’t-mess-with-me quality. The entire chassis is made from PR-481—a proprietary composite material that Dell claims has twice the impact strength of traditional magnesium alloy. Dell combines this with PrimoSeal (to keep water and dust from entering the ports), DirectVue (for screen protection), and QuadCool (to prevent overheating) for a total package that it calls Ballistic Armor.
Each corner of the notebook has a black rubber bumper, further protecting it in the event of a drop. All of the screws holding the bumpers are exposed, and the zinc hinges are a silver color, making the XFR look all the more tough. Inside, the bezel and sides of the notebook are the same gritty, gray plastic. Finally, the lid of the XFR is held shut by a spring-loaded aluminum latch.
While the XFR looks like it could survive any post-apocalyptic future imagined by Hollywood screenwriters, that doesn’t mean it abandons all aesthetics. On the contrary, the system has a level of elegance and design sophistication that is somewhat lacking in the General Dynamics Itronix GD8000, and the most rugged of Panasonic Toughbooks.
Measuring 13.9 x 11.5 x 2.2 inches, the XFR is larger than the GD Itronix GD8000. Checking in at 9.0 pounds, the XFR’s weight is mitigated by the large, comfortable carrying handle on the front, but you’d definitely notice this machine if it were stowed in a backpack.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Like the consumer-grade E6400, the XFR’s black, full-size keyboard is very comfortable to type on. In contrast to the rest of the chassis, the keys are smooth, but we didn’t find our fingers slipping. There is no flex whatsoever in the keyboard, and the keys themselves offer responsive feedback. Additionally, the keyboard is backlit, and can be automatically or manually activated and adjusted; we found this quite helpful when typing in darkened rooms. While the GD Itronix GD8000 goes a different route with glow-in-the-dark keys, the result—a white keyboard on a gray deck—doesn’t look nearly as classy.
In between the G, H, and B keys is a concave trackpoint; while consumers used to the convex trackpoints found on systems such as Lenovo’s ThinkPads may find it unfamiliar, it was easy to use.
Below the keyboard is a 2.6 x 1.5-inch touchpad, which seems a bit small considering the space on the chassis. However, it had little to no friction, and was easy to use. The buttons below are covered in a soft rubber membrane that repels water, but they didn’t feel overly mushy.
Display and Audio
Befitting a notebook that will see a lot of outdoor use, the E6400 XFR’s 14.1-inch, 1280 x 800-pixel resolution screen was incredibly bright. With 730 nits at our disposal, we were able to comfortably keep the display at 40 percent brightness while working indoors; outdoors, the matte screen was also easy to view. On an overcast day, we were even able to turn the brightness to its lowest level.
The display also had excellent viewing angles. We could easily see the picture on the screen from nearly 90 degrees horizontally, and the images didn’t reverse themselves until the display was almost parallel to the chassis.
An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display and keyboard depending on the surrounding brightness; at times, we found it to be a little hypersensitive, but you can easily disable this feature. As mentioned previously, you can also manually adjust the brightness of the keyboard backlight to your liking.
Audio, too, was better than we expected, given the utilitarian nature of the XFR. While listening to music streamed via Pandora, the stereo speakers were able to fill a small room. However, we noticed a slight echo, undoubtedly caused by the cavernous interior of the notebook.
