Dell e6400 options and extras

Hi fellow dell fans.

After finding this forum pretty invaluable when I was researching buying a new laptop a couple of years back, I thought it was high time I joined up to say hello and also to ask for some suggestions from any e6400 gurus.

I bought my e6400 new sometime in 2008, and it still happily does everything I need it to do. This plus the fact I don't much like the design of anything post 6410 has kept me from upgrading.

However I've noticed parts and extras for the e6400 series are pretty much rock bottom on ebay and dell clearance sites and so I'm wondering exactly what is possible to upgrade on them to keep them going that little bit longer and to add any nice features.

Current spec is:

Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.40GHz,1066MHz)
Intel X4500HD graphics with WXGA LED screen
8GB of RAM
8x DVD+/-RW
Fingerprint Reader (sadly not supported native in win7 yet)
Webcam
Dell WLAN 1397 (802.11b/g)
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth
6 Cell 54W/h battery

I also managed to convince a nice lady called Anna in the small business team to let me have the backlit keyboard option, which wasn't selectable on UK build lists at that time.

Since then I've also added in the 5530 HSDPA card (did manage to get the GPS working but seems to be a bit iffy in win7) and found a DN249 56k modem for it as well (again not a UK option for some reason).

Just recently I've also picked up a the PR02X docking station which is really handy and the eSATA external caddy thing you can fit the cd/rom drive into, along with a newmodeus style hard drive caddy for some extra storage space.

I occasionally have the need for a serial port so I'm thinking about one of the XFR legacy port expander thing which can be picked up remarkably cheaply thesedays as well.

My question really, is there anything else I can add? What about processor upgrades? I also understand the 6410 batteries are slightly higher output and interchangeable as well. Are there any added extra options or accessories worth keeping an eye out for?

I appreciate the e6400 is pretty much old hat now and probably not much interest to anybody, but I just can't quite bring myself to upgrade just yet and the extra toys would be nice.

Comments and advice very welcome.

 

Nobody any suggestions?

Slight amendment to the above list, have got the intel 5300 AGN card - and by pure chance I also came across a very useful thread over on Ideastorm which very much to my surprise details a patch for integrated windows biometric support for the fingerprint scanner on the 6410. Even more shockingly it works like a charm on the 6400 too. Release date 24th August 2011

 

You can go up to a T9800 if you want to upgrade the processor... but since it does everything you need it to do, I don't think there's much of a point?

I'd recommend getting an SSD if you don't have one already.