Dell Latitude on the Orient Express

Very Civilised way to travel

Here’s a picture of what a bunch of tech journalists look like on one of the most luxurious trains in the world. Come to think of it, old bean, it’s not every day that geeks like me get invited on the Orient Express to find out about the Dell Latitude ‘E’ series… I also filmed a special Geek Chic one-to-one session with a Dell Jedi which should be out on youtube as soon as humanly possible, and yes, dear reader, I shall indeed stick a link here just for you.

Annie Mole, esteemed underground blogger and I both arrived at Victoria Station earlier than everyone else.  I was incredibly excited by the thought of going on the Orient Express, although it was probably uncool to blurt loudly “ooooh!! I’m going to go on the Orient Express!!!!! Woop! Woop!”, where “Woop” is an approximation of a train whistle.  I’m pretty sure I overheard someone say “Yeah, I’ve been on the Orient Express before” in an unexcited monotone.  What????  Well, I’m pretty certain that if I was ever lucky enough to catch this train again, I would probably have infinite “Woop”s remaining for the second time, I can tell you.

Right, back to the tech.  These are the E series Latitude notebooks, which boast a longer battery life, not just because of battery quality, but also because of new power management software tools and components which drain less juice inside.  The motherboard is inverted (i.e. upside down!) to improve accessibility and heat conduction.   The E series also have Zinc hinges and Magnesium Alloy casing (Yeah!! Metal!!), and a backlit keyboard function, useful for late night surfing (whatever you do on a computer in the dark).

Spooks-watchers and Bond-fans will appreciate the Remote Delete Service, which (if selected) will totally wipe your computer the next time it connects up to the internet after it’s been reported stolen.  Oh, and while the gun-sighting credits and dancing girls are still on your mind’s screen, it’s also worth mentioning that once this process starts, it cannot be stopped  even if you format the disk, as it’s burned into the bios.  And if that’s not enough spy-tastic talk, there’s GPS tracking within 10 metres (1 in 4 Dell laptops with GPS are recovered, apparently).  Finally, there’s the on-screen flag saying “This machine has been stolen”, even if you didn’t get the hint when you bought it from that dodgy-looking bloke.  In Cash.

Video to come: Markus from Dell tells us all about his Torture Chamber…

…and here’s a little gallery of the day. 

Waiting for the Green Signal

Orient Express Memorabilia in Waiting Room

Orient Express Ticket Wallet

Golden Ticket (note Dell Logo!)

Agenda – mainly eating and listening

The seats in the waiting room are the same as the train

Woop! Woop! All aboard for the Round Trip

View from the Orient Express

Passing Battersea Power Station

Very Civilised way to travel

Dell Semi-Rugged ATG laptop

Outside of Dell Semi-Rugged ATG laptop

Sneak Preview of E series

Everyone likes it in red

niiiiice

Dell Laptop Notebook Swag. It’s a fake laptop, i.e. a real notebook.