Retro Dell Latitude C400 (TOP SPEC), collectable and very rare, being the very first lightweight netbook.

Dell Latitude C400 the worlds first ever lightweight Netbook, boasts a lightweight Magnesium Alloy chassis/case. This one has the top of the range Mobile Intel Pentium III-M processor running at 1.2Ghz, 512K L2 cache. Maxed out with the maximum memory 1.02GB RAM and the top of the range (original) 80GB hard drive.

This C400 has the built in, dedicated UMA 830M graphics chip with 48MB onboard, and a Dell 12.1 inch XGA LCD screen 1024 X 768 resolution, which was second to none, in it's day. Although small, still manages to boast a superb (95%) full-size keyboard.

Comes with the Mini PCI Wifi card Intel Pro Wireless 2915ABG, as well as 3com 3C920 10/100 fast Network LAN port, 56K v92 modem, USB and PC Card slot (PCMCIA). USB, VGA and serial, as well as speakers/microphone and infra red. Also with a Slot for external Docking bays, and IDE slot for external module bays.

These laptops are becoming extremely rare in the UK, there's still some available from the US and elsewhere in Europe, but at a premium postal cost. Even more rare are Dell C400's with these top of the range specifications.

Even more unusual, that this one has it's original Dell external module bay, along with original Dell media cable, with the 2 interchangeable modules, 1.44MB floppy drive and CD/DVD burner. These slot in and out of the media bay. (hot plug) Both working as they should.

Also unusual, this one is running Windows 7 SP1, these were originally Windows 2000 and Windows XP Netbooks. There was difficulty updating these to Windows 7, because Microsoft and Intel no longer supported the C400's Intel UMA 830M graphics chip. In this one a modified Window 2000 graphics driver is installed and working fine with Windows 7.

Also comes with an installation DVD and a USB pen drive loaded with software, drivers, manuals and full instructions on how to reload them, including a full tutorial on how to install the graphics card (which is no longer supported by either Intel or Windows) The laptop has recently been fully updated again.

A few negative points.

The magnesium alloy chassis/case is very tough and durable, but has developed a couple of hairline cracks on the touchpad/palm rest area, below the keyboard, but with no negative impact to the workings of the keyboard/mousepad or Laptop.

If you dismantle (this one is very easy), I believe some super glue would make these mostly disappear. Alternatively these hairline cracks are on the same piece, and a replacement part would be relatively easy to find. All of the Dell C400 model chassis were exactly the same, there's still some cheap parts to be found, if you wanted to get this one back into pristine condition, it would command a price of over £200 (and rising)

The battery is almost dead and will need replaced. I always had this plugged into the wall, and the laptop runs fine with the supplied genuine Dell power supply. New batteries for the Dell C400 are also readily available on ebay (and elsewhere) and cheap.

I replaced the original DVD ROM (non burner) drive with a more up to date DVD burner,(Toshiba-Samsung TS-L632D internal slim DVD dual layer ±R/RW Drive) Has a great specification, see below

DVD burner/L632D

5.25

DVD (SL): 8x/6x/5x/8x DVD + R/DVD + RW/DVD-R/DVD/DVD-RAM/DVD-ROM

DVD (DL): 6x/4x DVD + R/DVD-R DL

CD: 24x/24x/24x CD-R/CD-RW/CD-ROM

The module bay has a rounded shaped slot which didn't allow the square shaped faceplate to close properly. I decided to take this off, and the burner drive now ejects and closes as it should. It looks a bit untidy without the faceplate, but the DVD burner is working fine, and was used to burn the DVD supplied with the laptop.

Although this was the highest spec (top of the range) model, when new, by todays standards the laptop is on the slow side, running fine with Windows 7 and Office 2010, but it does take it's time loading webpages and browsing the Internet, with Internet Explorer 9, I would think another less power hungry web browser, like Firefox, Opera or Safari, would probably speed up online browsing?

Was Looking for £150, now down to £120