Anyone upgrade from Latitude E6400 to E6410? Opinions?

I've had my E6400 for almost two years and it has been the best laptop I've ever owned! It has the 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo P8600 processor, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics and I'm still running Vista Home Basic. I'd like to upgrade to Windows 7 and a Core i5/i7 processor and the newer Intel or maybe even NVIDIA graphics would be a nice boost in performance.

Thoughts or experience making a similar upgrade?

 

To be honest, the differences won't be all that noticeable. Unless you really need a Core i-Series, I wouldn't upgrade. Did you check if you qualified for a free Windows 7 upgrade?

 

I did the upgrade a couple of months ago when a red E6410 caught my eye. My change was from P8600 with Intel graphics to the i5-540M with Intel graphics. Benchmarks suggest that the new hardware is about 40% faster. Even the Intel GPU, while being basically the same chip, gets a useful performance boost (see notebookcheck) because it is closely coupled with the memory controller and CPU. I wouldn't get the Nvidia GPU unless I really needed the 3D performance.

However, if long battery run time is of high importance to you then you may want to stay with the P8600. My E6410 is probably drawing around 20% more power on idle than the E6410 did: The i series CPUs can't be undervolted and lack the SLFM mode of the previous CPUs. [But individual CPU consumption varies and mine isn't one of the best- see some recent posts in the E6410 thread.]

For me, one reason for getting the E6410 is that we can't be sure if the E6420 will still offer a 1440 x 900 display. Maybe by the time it arrives the display manufacturers will have prevailed over common sense. Also, for me, my E6410 was reasonably-priced ex-Dell Outlet stock and I managed to sell the E6400 for half the cost of the replacement because it still had one year of warranty remaining.

John

 

I concur. Save for i-Series performance, I just didn't feel that the E6410 offered any benefit over the E6400. It's not thinner, not lighter, doesn't get more battery life, doesn't have a better display, no USB 3 (though some of the bigger EXX10 machines and derivatives have it?) i8kfangui still doesn't work... etc, etc, etc.

 

Unless you have minimal changeover cost to a E6410 it might be worthwhile waiting for the E6420 Sandy Bridge refresh. John notes too that you may see decreased battery life.

If you did want faster graphics, consider investing in a US$220/$280 GTS450/GTX460 Optimus DIY ViDock. GTX460 will get > 10k in 3dmark06 and 3dmarkvantage.gpu. The performance improvement leagues ahead of what Intel HD or NVS3100M could offer.

Win7? E6400 had a Win7 factory upgrade process at some stage. Some details here.

 

I should also add that, in everyday usage, an E6400 with a decent SSD will outrun an E6410 with a HDD. So, if you haven't got an SSD then make that upgrade first. You can then move the SSD over to a new computer when you get one.

John

 

Honestly, battery run time isn't much of an issue for me. My E6400 is plugged in at least 95% of the time and travel very little these days. I didn't know that the i-series couldn't be undervolted. I undervolted the P8600 in my E6400 more to keep heat to a minimum than to reduce energy consumption. How is your E6410 in terms of heat output (and dissipation)? Does the fan run quietly when it does kick on?

I'm considering an E6410 for all of those same reasons! I'm concerned about the next-gen E6420 (or whatever they name it) and whether it will have a 16:10 aspect ratio display and what resolution upgrades will be available? I'm in a position right now where my E6400 is covered under warranty until January 2012 and I could sell it for around $400 or so. I've found some E6410s in Dell Outlet with the specs I want (i5-450M or higher, WXGA+ 1440x900 LED, Win7, DVD-RW, Backlit Keyboard, 4GB RAM, 9-cell battery) and I'll upgrade whatever hard drive is included myself. I could get one for around $650-700 when Dell is running their 25% off coupon, which they do all the time.

I don't want to get in a position where I've run out of warranty and/or start having more problems with my machine. The most important feature on my E6400 is the 14.1" UltraSharp WXGA+ (1440x900) LED Display. I love it and in two years of daily use, it still looks as good as it did brand new. Is the E6410's 1440x900 display the same quality as the E6400's?

I'll also admit that I really just want to buy SOMETHING new....and I'm afraid it's either new E6410 or a new Mazda3....my budget can handle the E6410 much better. Especially since I pay off my 2006 Mazda3 in three more months! BTW, can you tell I'm a create of habit? If something works for me (laptop or car, for example) I just replace it with a new version of itself eventually. =)

 

The CPU temperature of my E6410 (with Intel graphics) can reach about 80C under sustained heavy load and the fan becomes quite loud (about 4300rpm). Under normal usage the CPU temperature is in the range of 40 to 55C with the fan running at 2900rpm (second speed, I think). At this speed the fan is audible in a quiet room. Once CPU core is about 8C hotter than the other and, I suspect, results in the fan not spending much time at its lowest speed.

Is the E6410's 1440x900 display the same quality as the E6400's?[/QUOTE]My E6410 has a Samsung SEC5442 panel. In side-by-side comparison with the LPL panel in my E6400 it has a slightly different colour balance but overall it is at least as good.

John

 

Mazda3Speed if not a new notebook!

I'm in the same situation. My parents need a notebook to replace the bulky CRT they own and my E6400 would be great! But, I trust y'all and probably won't be thinking of upgrading just yet.

On a side note, I'm loving Windows7 on this bad boy.

 

I'd hesitate to put CRT parents on the 14.1" E6400. That could be a drastic vision change if the CRT is bigger with lower resolution (likely) than the smaller E6400 with higher resolution.

GK