E6410 Owner's Thread

In Windows 7, load the power profile called "Dell extended battery". You can customize it to not disable Aero (it should reduce battery life if enabled, and if you don't your windows around too much or use Flip 3D, which either will kick in the GPU to go full speed.) This option will cut the power on many components on your system such as the media card reader, firewire, and optical drive. If you have a bluetooth card, I would disable it. Also you can do Fn+D to turn off the screen but not the system, to save power when you don't need to see the screen. Press any key or Fn+D again to tun the screen back on.

Your system is very power hungry, mostly because of the CPU, and 7200RPM HDD. A bigger 9-cell battery will greatly help. It should provide you (estimation based on time you provided.. so I could be completely wrong), of 6-7 hours. Alternatively, you can buy Dell battery slice, where it's a second battery that you add to the bottom of your system (like a plate), to provide you more battery life at the cost of a heavier and thicker system... but you get to use your 2 batteries, and provide you even more battery life. Also, if you got the drivers from Nvidia, be sure you got the mobile drivers and not desktop (power management policy are different).

Also, remember that a laptop is not a desktop. don't run many programs at once. You should restrict yourself 2-3 programs max, on battery.

For A/V I have none on my laptop (E6400 - I have almost 9 hours with Dell extended battery life, with a new 9-cell battery) to extend battery life, but if you want one, I highly recommend (I have it on my desktop) Microsoft Security Essential. It's very light, available in 64-bit, doesn't bug you, doens't slow down your system, the best at detecting virus and spyware (based on reviews), and it's 100% free!. Great UI too. http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Make sure you have virtually no startup programs:
- Remove everything except: Dell ControlPoint (they are 2 of them) shortcut in the Startup folder in your start menu (responsible for: keyboard shortcuts, and on screen notification), Apoint (trackpad driver form Alps/Dell), MSE (Microsoft Security Essential if you have it), and Sidebar (if you use gadgets).

Also, be sure you have the latest drivers for your motherboard, wireless card, wired Ethernet card.

Hope this helps.

 

Available info suggests that the i7 CPUs are more power-hungry than the i5, even on idle, and the same applies for the dedicated GPU relative to integrated graphics.

One thing you can try is Firefox with Flashblock and Adblock Plus help make sure than unwanted animated Flash stuff isn't wasting power. In the past I have also found that having Bluetooth enabled used some power if it is regularly searching for other BT devices.

Also check that you have a Dell Enhanced Options category in your Windows Power Plan. This includes various Dell-specific ways of saving a bit of power.

John

 

these will never happen...
that fact that it's i7 on nvidia.... it's not gonna past the 4hr mark UNLESS you leave it on idle.....or upgrade to a 9cell batt

 

Awesome thread!

Quick question: I ordered a refurbished E6410 and I don't know if it features PCMCIA or ExpressCard. Can I figure this out by looking at the order details? If anybody knows the Item Number for ExpressCard (or PCMCIA), please post it here. Thanks!

 

Look at the eject button. If it says EC then it's Express Card, if it says PC it's PC card. You can also look at the plastic cover share that comes out. in the slot. If it's a perfect rectangle, it's PCMCIA, else it's ExpressCard

 

OK, thanks!

 

Just got one. It only came with a 160GB 5400RPM drive.

I bought a 640GB Samsung 5400RPM drive, and I plan to reformat it.

Any special tricks or OS install guides, or is it just pop in the new HD and load the OS?

 

Eject the DVD-Rom tray of the laptop, insert the Windows disk, restart your computer by booting from the disk, and follow the Windows setup instructions.

 

LOL... wasn't sure if there were any special steps like loading the HD driver during the Win7 install process.

I'm up and running on the 640gb Samsung and man its a lot faster then the 160gb wd drive, and HD tune says the HD is about 50% faster.

I like the lid a lot better on the E6400 over this silver lid. But other then that, its nice.

 

unlike XP (this ultra aged thing that doesn't want to die), Windows 7 knows what SATA is (and the rest of the technology used inside your computer), providing easy and fast setup (in terms in getting a system up and running), all by providing very high performance on a new system, as we all know.

So, all you have to do really is install and your system should be up and running fine. To make it run perfectly, meaning ensuring excellent operation out of the hardware, maximize battery life and gain a little bit extra performance points, install all the latest drivers for the system (motherboard, wireless card, bluetooth (if any), video card, sound card, etc..)