The Latitude D820 is a sleekly designed notebook. Because of all its features, widescreen being one for example, it is not one of the smallest notebooks, nor the lightest. It weighs about 2.5kg (6lbs). When you look at the screen you can see it is not a high gloss screen, but rather a matt finish one. Which of these you prefer is a matter of taste and how you intend to use the system, but Dell does not seem to offer a choice.
Moving from the keyboard closer to the lid you can see buttons for power, mute, and volume. This is different from some notebooks where those buttons are integrated into the keyboard itself.
If you look closer at the screen you will notice a small square located at the base of the display. This is the ambient light sensor. It will adjust and change the brightness of the display based on the amount of ambient light. This is implemented to save battery power and can be quite useful at times.
On both sides of the keyboard you will find the speakers. They are stereo sound, and like most built-in speakers, you should not expect them to rock your world.
To make your way around the desktop of your operating system, there is a touchpad mouse and stick in the middle of the keyboard.
You might ask yourself what the device is in between the two mouse buttons. Well that is the fingerprint reader on the notebook. Along with the Smart Card reader, this is one of the security measures on the notebook. It hooks into the TPM chip onboard which handles security functions such as encryption. If you’re a business user and working with sensitive information, it could come in quite handy and keep prying eyes away.
With the notebook closed it still looks stylish. Whether you are sitting in the board room with the boss or scoring free Internet along with a cup (or three) of java at a local coffee shop, you are not going to feel embarrassed by this system.
The latch on the front is slightly different from other Latitude models. This is actually a metallic latch and not a plastic button.
