Dell Latitude 2100 Netbook Teardown

Overview / Main Features

The Dell Latitude 2100 under analysis here is netbook computer designed for the educational market - specifically, K-12 market. The 10.1" Dell netbook is designed with "children-friendly" features such as texture surfaces for better grip, anti-microbial keyboards to ward of germs and SSD storage for better resilience to "rough" handling and drops by inexperienced users that make up the target market.

From the perspective of a netbook, the Latitude 2100 uses the common Intel Atom N270 and 945GSE chipset platform. This appears to be a dated design as most netbook manufacturers are migrating to the N4xx series Atom processors with dual core.

Overall, the 10.1" netbook comes equipped with a 1GB of onboard SDRAM and capacity for expansion via SO-DIMM slots, a Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN module and a 16GB SSD featuring MLC NAND. The Dell offers usual assortments of connectivity as well as a pair of anchor points for an optional handle attachment which is included in this teardown. Also, a second 3rd party handle was analyzed per request of the client and included in a separate bill of materials (BOM) in this analysis.

Target Market

K-12 Educators

Released

unknown

Pricing and Availability

Pricing - For this specific configuration, the netbook cost approximately $400 direct from Dell.com

Availability - Global (assumed)

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed a lifetime production volume of 250,000 units.

As a reminder, teardown volume production assumptions are primarily used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially). Unless assumed volumes are different by an order of magnitude, minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis because of this.

Cost Notes

Main Cost Drivers (Representing ~75% of total materials cost)

$35 - Samsung Electronics - MMBRE16G5MSP-0VAD1 - Solid State Drive - 16GB, MLC NAND, 2.5", SATA 3Gb/s

$32 - LG Philips - LP101WSA - Display Module Value Line Item - 10.1" Diagonal, 262K Color TFT, 1024 x 600 Pixels (WSVGA), 222.72mm x 125.28mm Viewable Area, 217.5um x 208.8um Pixel Pitch, 16:9 Aspect Ratio, 200cd/m^2, 400:1 Contrast Ratio, 16ms Response Time

$23.91 - Intel - AU80586GE025D - CPU - Intel Atom Processor N270, 1.6GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB, 45nm Process

$13.90 - Simplo Technology -

$10.80 - Elpida - E1108AFSE-8E-F - SDRAM - DDR2-800, 1Gb (128M x 8), 1.8V (Qty:8)

$10.28 - Foxconn - 8-Layer - FR4, Lead-Free

$9.95 - Intel - QG82945GSESLB2R - Northbridge - Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (82945GSE)

$7.45 - Lite-On - LA65NS1-00 - AC Adapter - 19.5V, 3.34A, 65W, w/ 6ft Cord & Silicone Rubber Strap

$6.32 - Intel - NH82801GBMSL8YB - Southbridge - I/O Controller Hub (ICH7-M)

$5.65 - Sunrex - Keyboard Assembly - Injection Molded Plastic Keys, Mounted on Stamped Metal Backing Plate, w/ Interconnect Flex

$5.50 - Broadcom - BCM94312HMG - WLAN Half Mini PCIe Module - IEEE802.11b/g

$4.87 - Enclosure, Main, Bottom - Injection Molded Flame Retardant ABS Polycarbonate, w/ 3 Brass Inserts, ESD/EMI Coating, & Rubberized Coating

Direct Materials $220.78

Total BOM Cost$234.29

What Is Not Included in our Cost Analysis

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

Manufacturing Notes

OEM/ODM/EMS Relationships / Manufacturing

According to iSuppli's Global OEM Manufacturing and Design Analysis (GOMDA) Compute Platform Q2 2009 report, Dell outsources 100% of their netbook among Wistron, Quanta and Compal with 35%, 34% and 29% manufacturing split respectively.

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

Based on markings, the unit was assembled in China. Furthermore, we have assumed that custom mechanicals (plastics, metals, etc.) were also sourced in China.

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of "finished" sub-assemblies (such as WLAN module), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Remember also that labor rates are applied directly only to hand inserted components and systems in our bill of materials, and although regional assumptions do, these new rates do not have a direct effect on our modeled calculations of placement costs for automated SMD assembly lines. "Auto" inserted components (such as SMT components) placement costs are calculated by an iSuppli algorithm which allocates a cost per component based on the size and pincount of the device. This calculation is affected by country or region of origin as well.

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

The Dell Mini 10 netbook has an overall component count of 1468 (excluding Box Contents), of which, 241 is mechanical in nature. This complexity level is on par with other netbooks from Acer and HP we have analyzed in the past.

Component counts have a direct bearing on the overall manufacturing cycle times and costs, and also can increase or decrease overall yields and re-work. Our calculations of manufacturing costs factor counts and more qualitative complexities in the design. The cost of manufacturing is also, to some extent, decreased in this case because of assumed labor rate applied for China.

Note that manual labor has a much smaller effect on auto-insertion assembly lines (for the Main PCB, for example), where manufacturing costs are much more capital equipment intensive and driven by these investment costs.

Design Notes

The Dell Latitude 2100 features a now ubiquitous Atom N270 and 945GSE chipset design that we have encountered for the past year in netbooks. However, Dell has differentiated this netbook and customized the enclosure deisgn for the specific target market which the Latitude 2100 was designed for. By use of a 16GB SSD, the netbook now is purposed for more of a cloud computing environment than that of true storage. Also, the implementation of a SSD instead of a traditional HDD gives the device more assurance that it would survive frequent drops. Both textured surface finish and optional handles make for ease of use by small children.

Here is a summary of the major components used in the Dell Latitude 2100 netbook design:

Motherboard

Chipset

• Northbridge - Intel - QG82945GSESLB2R, Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (82945GSE)
• Southbridge - Intel - NH82801GBMSL8YB, I/O Controller Hub (ICH7-M)

CPU

• Intel - AU80586GE025D - Intel Atom Processor N270, 1.6GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB, 45nm Process

Memory

• SDRAM - Elpida - E1108AFSE-8E-F, DDR2-800, 1Gb (128M x 8), 1.8V, Qty. 8

I/O & Interface

• I/O Controller - SMSC - MEC5035-NU
• Ethernet Controller - Broadcom - BCM5764MKMLG, 10/100/1000 Base-T, PCI Express
• Memory Card Controller - Realtek - RTS5158E-GR
• Audio Codec - Realtek - ALC272-GR, 4-Channel, High Definition

Display

• Display Module - LG Philips - LP101WSA, 10.1" Diagonal, 262K Color TFT, 1024 x 600 Pixels (WSVGA)

Storage

• Solid State Drive - Samsung Electronics - MMBRE16G5MSP-0VAD1, 16GB, MLC NAND, 2.5", SATA 3Gb/s

WLAN Module

• Broadcom - BCM94312HMG - IEEE802.11b/g