[Dunhamzzz]

It has come to my attention that Dells educational netbook does not get the love it deserves. For those of you who do not know, the Dell Latitude 2100 is Dells netbook intended for the educational market. The 2100 features a 10.1'' screen and comes with an Intel Atom N Processor and GMA 950 chipset, identical to the Mini 9/10v. There are also a slew of features that the 2100 has over current models of Dell Mini. Touch screen? Yeah its got that, and it's quite cheap. Hard disk activity light? Built right in, flush memory card slot - a la Mini 9 - yeah it's there. Combine this with an easy hatch for upgrading the RAM and HDD (with 2 slots for RAM) and a fan, you have a very cool system.

Do all these extra features come at a cost or compromise? Not really.

Another thing that pleasantly surprised me is when I entered the configuration page on the Dell site, upgrading components was dirt cheap. For example, upgrading from a regular screen with no camera to a touch screen with webcam cost just £21.00, and the upgrade to wireless N using a Intel WiFi 5100 card was just £6! That's less than half the cost of upgrading the Mini 10 at this stage, and with the Mini 10, you only get a Dell branded upgrade and not the Intel model.

It looks like the the Latitude 2100 is a dark horse in Dells catalogue, with its cheap upgrade prices and unique design and feature quirks, also, as the 2100 comes with the same innards as a Dell Mini 9/10v, making a touch screen OS X fantasy is more than doable.

Check out the Latitude 2100, starting at £259 at Dell UK and Dell US for $329.

Also check out our Dell Latitude 2100 forum.

[dsf3g]

Looks like it would make a great notebook for my kid, especially with the touchscreen. Problem is, once you configure it with the red lid, touchscreen, bluetooth, 80 gig HD and 1gb RAM you're at nearly $500.00

That's not so netbooky a price any more.

[ppafford]

I agree with dsf3g, after configuring all the options that I would like to have the price was well over the $500.00 mark. And you can not apply any coupons to lower the price. I did however see some in the Dell Outlet: Dell Factory Outlet so you might pick up something there at a better price. Sticking with the Mini 10v for now

[ppafford]

BTW You can add a coupon if you purchase it from the outlet

[Dunhamzzz]

It seems the upgrades on the US cart are pricier than the UK!

I just checked with a currency converter and it seems the UK upgrades are 2/3 of the price of the US

[pmronline]

I have a Latitude 2100, but could not get to install Snow Leopard in it. Would love to see somebody provide a guide to install SL on Latitude 2100.

I have seen few threads in this forum, they don't seem to work good for me.

[TheLoz]

That looks gorgeous. I really want one now...

[mileslb56]

In the US, the Dell Outlet (preferably with a coupon) is the way to go. I got the touchscreen, camera, Bluetooth, 6 cell battery and 80GB harddrive for around $239 about 6 or 8 weeks ago. I did have to do my own upgrade to 2 GB RAM though. And although it was loaded with XP home, it's shipped with aVista Business reload Disk, and the unit qualified for the FREE Windows 7 upgrade through Dell.
Anyway, I've been playing with quite a few Netbooks, but am now in the process of selling my inventory which consists of a couple of MINI 9's, an EEeePC, and the 2goPC by CTL so that I can keep this Latitude 2100!

[DVelasco68]

If you choose Vista for $19 it allows you to choose 2GB (1 GB onboard) and an additional 1GB for $30....

Not bad considering that te mini 10 doesn't allow 2GB...

Not sure if this is based on the 10 or 10v???

Or if the additional 1GB is a mis-representation as they only have one slot?? Not sure on the memory config for the 2100...

[jdcnosse]

The 1GB limitation is probably a result of Microsoft's doing. Think of the 10v...if you get XP on it, you're only allowed 1GB because if I remember right that's some deal Microsoft made with Dell. I was going through the ordering process to see what I could get for what prices, and I selected Ubuntu and I could get 1GB of integrated RAM and 1 additional stick. From the looks of it though, it looks as though there's only 1 RAM slot.

Latitude 2100 features Dual Channel DDR2 Memory with a 512MB or 1GB integrated memory option. In addition, one memory slot is available that allows an additional 1GB. Total memory capacity is 2GB operating at a maximum memory bandwidth of 533MHz.