Dell Latitude D830 Review: An Affordable Old Business Laptop

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Dell Latitude D830: At First Glance

Dell’s Latitude lineup is quite popular in the entry-level business laptop market. So, in this article, we will be discussing the 2007 release of the Dell latitude lineup – the Dell Latitude D830.

This Dell laptop was released as the long-awaited successor to the successful Dell Latitude D820. Also, despite being a decent-performing business laptop, the Dell Latitude D830 had a $100 starting price in March 2022 (when I wrote this review).

Are you curious to find out if the Dell Latitude D830 is the business laptop you need? Read on to find out.

Dell Latitude D830: Design, Dimension, and Weight

When it comes to design and build, the overall body of the Dell Latitude D830 is pretty solid. This is because it has a magnesium chassis that is very robust and sturdy, allowing the laptop to withstand rough handling.

For color, the Dell Latitude D830 comes with a combination of gray and black colors, which make it look very classy and professional. Moreover, due to its matte finish, the body of this laptop doesn’t collect smudges or scratches, which is very good for a business laptop.

Now that we have talked about the color and build of the Dell Latitude D830, let us discuss other design aesthetics of the laptop. Starting with the lid, you will find a “Dell” logo sitting at the center of the lid.

This logo features a shiny texture that adds to the laptop’s classy look. However, when you open this lid, you will find the laptop’s 15.4″ display surrounded by thick bezels.

One would expect a webcam to be located at the top bezel, as we see on most laptops. However, the Dell Latitude D830 does not feature a webcam.

This will disappoint those who need a laptop to handle their video calls with friends, family, and business partners. On a positive note, there is a shiny “Dell” logo at the middle of the bottom bezel.

Moving on, the Dell Latitude D830’s 15.4″ display is available in multiple resolution options. These resolution options are WXGA (1280 x 800), WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050), and WUXGA (1920 x 1200) resolution.

However, this review is based on the Dell Latitude D830 with a 15.4″ display and WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) resolution. With this resolution option, this laptop’s display offers decent picture quality and a maximum brightness of 200 nits.

Thus, with this amount of maximum brightness, this laptop is ideal for outdoor usage. However, you should be aware that the display on this laptop is not touch-enabled.

This is not surprising as touchscreen laptops were not common in 2007 when the Dell Latitude D830 was released.

Proceeding to the keyboard, the Dell Latitude D830 features a standard keyboard with a good layout and well-spaced keys. Performance-wise, this keyboard offers a comfortable typing experience due to its bouncy and spacious keys.

Above this laptop’s keyboard, there are three hotkeys for muting the laptop and tuning the volume. Moreover, in the middle of the keyboard, there is a pointer that serves as an alternative to a touchpad.

Speaking of the touchpad, the Dell Latitude D830 features a touchpad at the bottom of its keyboard. This touchpad features a smooth surface and two dedicated click buttons.

Interestingly, there is a fingerprint sensor in the middle of the dedicated click buttons. This fingerprint sensor allows for easy login and protects the laptop from unauthorized users.

Moving on to the ports selection, the Latitude D830 offers a good number of ports. Specifically, on the left side of the laptop, you have a Kensington lock, an audio combo jack, firewire, PCCard, and ExpressCard.

Meanwhile, on the right side, there is a DVD drive and two USB 3.0 ports. Finally, there is a LAN, a powered USB port, S-Video port, modem slot, VGA out, serial port, and a power connector on the laptop’s backside.

That said, let us consider the weight and dimension of the Dell Latitude D830. Measuring 361 x 262.6 x 35.3 mm (W x D x H) and weighing 2710 g, this Dell laptop is far from lightweight.

As a matter of fact, the laptop is among the heaviest business laptops ever. Moreover, when compared to the Lenovo ThinkPad Z60t, it is significantly heavy.

Specifically, the Lenovo ThinkPad Z60t weighs 2100 g and has a dimension of 336 x 244.8 x 24.7 mm (W x D x H).

Therefore, in this design review section, I will rate the Dell Latitude D830 a seven out of ten due to its heavyweight.

Dell Latitude D830: Processor (CPU) Performance

In the aspect of processor, Dell powers the Latitude D830 with a dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo T7800 CPU. This processor has a 2.60 GHz standard frequency and a 4 MB cache memory.

Furthermore, with this processor, the Dell Latitude D830 is only capable of handling basic computing tasks. Thus, this laptop might not be able to perform effectively when handling intensive tasks like video editing.

To further verify the performance of this processor, let us now examine the laptop’s result on a Cinebench R10 test. The Cinebench R10 benchmark test measures the performance of a computer’s processor by evaluating its cores under intense workloads.

Furthermore, this benchmark test offers two test results – single-core test and dual-core test results. First of all, the single-core test evaluates the processer’s performance when one of its cores is in use.

On the other hand, the multi-core test evaluates the ability of the processor when all of its cores are in use. You should be aware that a high score on both tests represents a good processor performance.

So, according to the Cinebench R10 results, the Dell Latitude D830 scored 2633 points on the single-core test. Meanwhile, on the Cinebench R10 multi-core test, the laptop scored 5014 points.

In comparison, the Lenovo ThinkPad T61 which also uses an Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 processor was outperformed by the Dell Latitude D830. Specifically, on the Cinebench R10 single-core and multi-core tests, the Lenovo ThinkPad T61 scored 2408 points and 3600 points respectively.

In conclusion, the Dell Latitude D830 comes with a low-end processor that can only perform basic tasks like word processing. However, this laptop outperformed one of its closest competitors on a benchmark test.

Hence, I will rate the Dell Latitude D830 a seven out of ten in this processor review section.

Dell Latitude D830: Memory (RAM) Performance

The Dell Latitude D830 is equipped with 512 MB 667 MHz DDR2 SODIMM standard memory. In 2007, when this laptop was released, this amount of standard memory may be a big deal and sufficient for most people.

However, trust me, 512 MB of standard memory nowadays is nothing. Thankfully, the Dell Latitude D830 features two memory slots and supports a maximum memory of 4 GB.

Thus, you can upgrade the laptop to up to 4 GB of RAM. Although 4 GB memory may not be adequate for heavy-duty tasks, it should be enough for handling basic computing tasks and light multitasking.

Speaking of multitasking, with 4 GB RAM, this Dell Latitude D830 should be able to comfortably operate when it has 10 Chrome tabs opened. However, switching between these Chrome tabs may cause the laptop to slow down a bit.

For more information concerning the Dell Latitude D830’s performance with 4 GB RAM, let us now discuss the laptop’s PCMark 5 test result. This benchmark test is an application-based test that assesses a computer memory performance by simulating real-world productivity tasks.

Moreover, like the Cinebench benchmark test mentioned in the CPU section above, a high score in the PCMark 5 test represents good performance. So, at the end of this test, the Dell Latitude D830 delivered a score of 4629 points.

Comparatively, this score is a few points lower than the 4742 points achieved by the Lenovo Thinkpad T61.

All things considered, the Dell Latitude D830 deserves a seven out of ten rating in this memory review section.

Dell Latitude D830: Storage Options and Performance

For storage, the Dell Latitude D830 features a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) that supports a maximum storage capacity of 160 GB. Honestly, for a laptop this old, 160 GB of maximum storage is quite fair.

However, I doubt it would be enough for most users nowadays. Thankfully, this Dell laptop offers a 2-in-1 card reader that allows for storage expansion.

That said, to verify this Dell Latitude D830’s storage performance, we will now discuss its result on the CyrstalDiskMark test. In case you’re wondering, the Crystaldiskmark test is used to estimate the read and write speeds of a computer’s storage drive.

For better understanding, when a computer’s storage drive opens a file, it is known as “read”. On the other hand, when the storage drive saves a file, it is known as “write”.

Hence, read and write speeds represent how fast a computer’s storage drive can save and open a file. Similar to previous benchmark tests in this review, a high “MB/s” value on the CrystalDiskMark test indicates fast read and write speed.

So, according to the test, the Dell Latitude D830 delivered a read and write speed of 101.01 MB/s and 71.20 MB/s respectively.

Comparatively, the Acer Aspire 1, which also uses an HDD, has a faster read and write speed than the Dell Latitude D830. Specifically, based on the CrystalDiskMark test result, the Acer Aspire 1 has a read and write speed of 124.12 MB/s and 96.83 MB/s respectively.

All in all, I will rate the Dell Latitude D830 a seven out of ten in this storage review section.

Dell Latitude D830: Graphics Card Performance

When it comes to graphics, Dell offers three graphics options for the Latitude D830. The first graphics option is an integrated Intel GMA X3100 GPU.

This GPU has a 500 MHz base and boosts frequency. Also, as an integrated graphics card, this GPU lacks a dedicated VRAM.

Thus, the graphics card has to share the system memory with the processor to perform graphics-related tasks. As a result, with this graphics card, the Latitude D830 won’t be able to perform graphics-demanding tasks effectively.

That said, the second and third graphics card options are both dedicated graphics cards that feature dedicated VRAMs. These graphics cards are the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 135M and NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M GPU.

These GPUs both offer a base and boost frequencies of 400 MHz each. However, the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 135M has a 256 MB dedicated VRAM while the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M has a 512 MB dedicated VRAM.

Although these graphics cards are dedicated GPUs, they won’t be able to run modern games. This is because they feature limited dedicated VRAM.

However, with either of these dedicated graphics cards, the Dell Latitude D830 should be able to play outdated games smoothly. For example, with the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M GPU, the laptop should be able to play F.E.A.R at 55 fps (frame per second).

Also, this Dell laptop should be able to achieve a frame rate of 43.9 fps while playing Fifa 11.

That said, in order to verify the Dell Latitude D830’s performance with the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M GPU, let us consider its 3DMark 05 test result. 3DMark 05 test is a graphics benchmark test that measures the 3D and 2D graphics rendering ability of a computer.

Furthermore, according to the setting of the benchmark test, a high score means a good graphics performance. So, based on the test result, the Dell Latitude D830 delivered a score of 2943 points.

Compared to the Lenovo Thinkpad T61 which uses the same GPU, the Dell Latitude D830 was outperformed. To be more specific, on the 3DMark 05 test, the Lenovo Thinkpad T61 scored 3223 points.

To conclude this graphics review section, I will rate the Dell Latitude D830 a seven out of ten. This rating is based on the fact that the laptop offers three graphics card options.

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Dell Latitude D830: Battery Life and Performance

The Dell Latitude D830 is powered by either a 9-cell 85 WHr battery or a 6-cell 53 WHr Lithium-ion battery. However, Dell did not disclose the battery life of the laptop with any of these battery options.

Moreover, this review is based on the Dell Latitude D830 that features a 9-cell 85 WHr battery. Thus, to confirm the battery life of this laptop, we will now discuss its result on a web-browsing battery rundown test.

As the name suggests, this web-browsing battery test involves continuously surfing the web over a WIFI connection until the laptop dies. So, at the end of the test, the Dell Latitude D830 delivered a battery life of 4 hours.

Compared to the Acer Aspire One 751, this laptop has short battery life. Specifically, on the battery rundown test, the Acer Aspire One 751 delivered a battery life of 6 hours and 25 minutes.

Hence, I will rate the Dell Latitude D830 a six out of ten in this battery review section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

In my opinion, the Dell Latitude D830 offers adequate performance for a 2007 business laptop. To give more details, this laptop comes with a sturdy and durable magnesium body that can withstand rough handling.

Furthermore, the laptop offers adequate specs for handling basic computing tasks and office-related works like word processing. In fact, this laptop offers three GPU options with two of them being dedicated graphics cards.

However, this laptop cannot handle intensive work-load like video editing or heavy multitasking. Also, the battery life of the laptop is subpar.

Nevertheless, if you don’t mind an affordable old business laptop for basic tasks, you can consider the Dell Latitude D830.

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