Dell Inc.'s new Latitude notebooks and Precision mobile workstations are built on Intel Corp.'s Sonoma architecture, which is the latest version of Intel's Centrino chip set, featuring a 533MHz front-side bus as well as a PCI Express bus architecture.

Unlike PCI, PCI Express is a serial link, enabling more data to move through fewer lines than is possible via the parallel delivery of PCI.

Dell added three new models to its Latitude line: the D410, D610 and D810. The D410 is an "ultraportable" notebook, weighing a little less than 4 pounds. It starts at $1,677.

The D610, weighing in at 4.67 pounds, is priced at $1,384. The D810, which adds a 15.4-inch-wide display, weighs about 6.5 pounds. It is priced starting at $1,549.

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Dell says standard battery life on these machines averages about five hours, and the company is also offering an additional nine-cell battery to extend battery life to about nine hours.

Read more here about Intel's Sonoma.

Security features on the new notebooks include smart card readers and TPM (Trusted Platform Module) technology for platform authentication and file encryption on the local drive.

And there's good news for users who tend to keep a cup of coffee next to their notebooks: Dell has sealed the notebooks' keyboards against spills.

Dell's new mobile workstations include the Precision M70 and M20. The M70, which weighs 6.7 pounds, starts at $2,099. The M20 weighs 4.9 pounds and starts at $1,649.

Dell also expanded its services to offer business users a new program to help expedite PC deployment. Under Dell's new Weekend Notebook Exchange program, a user can send in his or her notebook on Friday and have data and files from that system transferred to a new notebook by the following Monday or Tuesday.

Dell will reimburse users for their old machines based on market value as well as recycle the old machines.

To read more about recycling PCs, click here.

"The initial purchase of hardware is a fraction of the cost of the hardware," said Steve Myer, vice president of Dell services. "The deployment of new desktops and notebooks often takes too long, costs too much and is too disruptive."

Also new is Dell's ComputraceComplete Recovery Guarantee service. Under the new offering, Dell will load Absolute Software Inc.'s ComputraceComplete software onto new machines. This software is aimed to help IT departments recover lost notebooks.

If a machine has not been recovered in 60 days, the company will reimburse users $1,000 or 90 percent of the cost of the machine, whichever is less.

The Round Rock, Texas, company also unveiled a new chassis for its OptiPlex workstations on Tuesday. The chassis complies with the European Union's directive for electronics manufacturers to reduce or eliminate chemical compounds, such as lead, in products shipped in the European Union by 2006.

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