That's where the new Latitude 7000 series comes in. Available in 12- and 14-inch screen sizes (the E7240 and E7440), it features a carbon fiber lid similar to what you'll find throughout the XPS line, except here, you'll also get TPM, Intel vPro processors, NFC, a mix of hardware and software encryption, optional fingerprint / SmartCard readers, and compliance with the MIL-STD 810G standard for ruggedness. The three-cell battery is rated for about 8.5 hours of runtime, and it's swappable, too -- good news for road warriors. (If you like, you can get a beefier four-cell instead.) You'll also enjoy a good deal of ports, including full-sized Ethernet and HDMI, along with three USB 3.0 sockets. As for docking, you can pair it with a wireless WiGig dock, but there's also a connector on the bottom that'll fit the company's existing E Docks. All told, despite its ruggedized design, the 12-inch version weighs in at a reasonable 2.99 pounds, with the 14-incher coming in at 3.6. Not bad.
On the inside, the two machines run Haswell processors up to Core i7, along with integrated HD 4400 graphics. Both the 12- and 14-inch models start with 1,366 x 768, anti-glare, non-touch displays, meaning not all of the configurations technically fit the Ultrabook specification. Still, in either case you can upgrade to a full HD Gorilla Glass touchscreen. In the case of the 14-incher, there's a non-touch, matte, 1080p panel available too. Finally, in terms of storage, you get up to a 256GB SSD on the 12-inch model, and either an SSD (up to 256 gigs) or a hybrid hard drive on the 14-inch version.
The 7000 series starts at $1,049 and will be available on September 12th. Additionally, the company also announced two other lines -- the mainstream 5000 series and the entry-level 3000 family -- both of which include 14- and 15-inch models. Like the premium 7000 series, the 5000 (shown above) will be offered with optional Gorilla Glass touchscreens (the 14-inch model goes up to 1,600 x 900, while the 15-incher tops out at 1080p). Under the hood, you get a choice of Haswell processors (Core i3, i5 or i7); optional discrete graphics; a four-, six- or nine-cell battery; and up to either 1TB of HDD storage or a 256GB solid-state drive. Unsurprisingly, too, they're also thinner than the last-gen models they're replacing.
Meanwhile, the 3000 series (pictured directly above) is similar in that it'll be sold with Haswell, optional discrete graphics and a mix of touch- and non-touch displays. Here, though, the optional touchscreens don't go up to 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, and there don't appear to be any SSDs offered. Also, there's no nine-cell battery for those notebooks. Look for all of these soon, with the lower-end 3000-series models arriving September 12th, starting at $599. No word yet on how much the 5000s will cost; just that they're arriving sometime in October.
source engadget
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