Review of DELL Latitude 10-ST2e tablet

The DELL Latitude 10-ST2e tablet is a Windows 8 tablet that's tailor-made for business users. It's not only durable, it offers a host of security and manageability features IT managers will appreciate. Snap in the 4-cell battery, and you get a device that lasts all day -- and most of the night. Starting at $499 ($704 as configured), the Latitude 10-ST2e tablet also works with an optional pen for taking notes on the go and using other pen-enabled apps, while the optional dock lets you connect a larger monitor.  
 
In its black, slate-style design, the Dell Latitude 10-ST2e tablet is very similar to the Microsoft Surface Pro, Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, and other Windows 8 tablets. All have black bodies, with edge-to-edge glass over a touch-sensitive display, with a handful of ports along the outer edge.

If the front of the Latitude 10 is attractive in its simplicity, the rear is anything but. It's not that it's ugly, it's just too busy. Positioned horizontally across the top of the rear panel is the tablet's 8-megapixel camera and LED flash, below which is a glossy black Dell logo. To the right of that is a Windows Pro 8 sticker. Below the Dell logo is the Latitude 10's large removable battery panel, which is flanked on either side by the stereo speakers. Finally, underneath that is the battery's slide lock.

By itself, the Latitude 10-ST2e doesn't have much in the way of ports and connections, with only one USB port, a Mini-HDMI jack, an SD card slot, and a separate Micro-USB port for charging accessories.Adding the optional dock gives you four additional USB ports, plus HDMI and Ethernet, making it pretty handy for converting the Latitude 10 for desktop use. But, as we're dealing with the Intel Atom platform here, all the USB ports are the slower 2.0 variety, not the faster 3.0 version found in Intel Core i-series devices.

While the Latitude 10-ST2e looks and feel a lot like other Windows 8 tablets, even ones with faster Core i5 processors, when we ran our standard PC benchmark tests the difference was obvious. Atom-powered systems, such as the Latitude 10, Acer W510, or HP Envy X2, were much slower, with the Dell taking nearly five times as long as the Surface Pro to run our multitasking benchmark.

 On the LAPTOP Magazine Battery Test, which includes continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi with the display set to 40 percent brightness, the DELL Latitude 10-ST2e tablet battery lasted 7 hours and 16 minutes, just barely beating out the tablet category average of 7:08 and much better than the HP Envy X2's 6:52 time. Still, the Latitude 10-ST2e tablet couldn't match the Acer Iconia W510's 8:49.

DELL Latitude 10-ST2e Laptop Battery:

• Battery Chemical: Li-polymer
• Battery Voltage: 7.4V
• Battery Capacity: 3850mAh
• Battery Color: Black
• Condition: original, brand new
• Warranty: 9 months
• Battery Source: http://www.laptop-battery.org.uk/laptopbattery/dell/latitude%2010-st2e-batteries.htm