Mobile Workers

An increasing percentage of the business workforce have escaped the office. In the early 90′s remote working just meant having a desktop PC at home, these days it is having a laptop in your bag. Much has changed with the technology in between.

Last week Dell unveiled a new range of laptops targeted at all of us ‘digital nomads’ (“Dell Takes Business Laptops to New Latitudes” – slightly cringeworthy press release title, slides on slideshare here). Anyway, I like the digital nomad phrase – it sums up the modern business-tech lifestyle so well: wandering the wild universe with a laptop and clutch of other gadgets. So much more becoming than ‘road warrior’ or ‘mobile user’. I am now a digital nomad.

So, what does the nomad need in their tent? The full answer is another post, but focussing down on the laptop piece, here is my wish list:

• Enough battery power to get me through the working day.
• Or at least a power supply that doesn’t wrench my arm off with its bulk.
• Enough screen real-estate to do some meaningful work.
• And/or the ability to plug into an external screen and run at high resolution.
• Decent network connectivity (that means bluetooth/usb for mobile, and decent WiFi)
• Enough USB sockets and juice to charge my other gadgets.

The new Dell range manages all of that, with some nice features to boot:

• 19 hours battery life on some of the models (E6400) – enough to get through the day (if not two).
• Highly compact power supply (about the size of a Blackberry – interesting comparison pic).
• Charging from the USB ports, even when the laptop is off.

The last feature got me very excited. Thankfully James Governor (Redmonk) calmed me down by reminding me that the Asus Eee PC and others have had this feature for a while. Nonetheless, it is surprisingly useful and sorely missing from my current laptop. One feature I do already have, which is now in the Dell range, is a backlit keyboard – essential for those of us who endure long train journeys or try to type at the back of a darkened conference room. 

For those that want to do the big screen thing, there is the E6400 and E6500. However, having lugged a 17″ MBP around for a while, I’m more interested in the ultraportables: E4200 and E4300 (I’m after something in red – very Redcatco – I love the idea of branded laptops).

A couple of other things to bear in mind, depending on your CSR stance. Dell has been making very good progress on the ‘green’ front, managing to steer clear of most of the greenwash. I like the low power consumption (be green AND reduce the electricity bills). Likewise, the  backwards compatibility of the power bricks means that they can be reused – I’m amazed by how many people (including me) keep two or more power supplies these days – one for the office, one for the road and sometimes even one for home.

We’re less convinced on the carbon neutral front. Dell is jumping through the CO2 hoops with the very best of them (“Dell meets Carbon Neutral Goal Ahead of Schedule“), but we really wish that the industry wouldn’t. Consuming resources, then planting a tree is nowhere near as effective as minimizing the natural resource consumed during manufacture, and making products with a long life and good reuse capabilities. Dell is doing well on those fronts, and the laptops have Energy Star 4.0-compliance, so good job there. Environmental preach over…

Weight is another big issue for the digital nomad, and the machines don’t disappoint there. It really is something to think about – a light machine and a good laptop case are almost a health and safety requirement these days.

There are also some discussion forums for us digital nomads to swap tips on the Digital Nomad Site. Nice touch Dell.

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