E6410 Owner's Thread

I certainly appreciate all the experience with the E6410 in this forum! Can anyone recommend a good laptop case that is a good fit for this laptop that offers good protection and also has room for the basics (power supply, extra battery, mouse, external drive, and etc.). Thanks in advance!

 

Have a read of the Notebook Travel Guide which may help you to decide what sort of bag you want. My bag is featured there. Unfortunately, I don't know of anything similar in current production. Fortunately, the bag seems to be surviving well.

For me, the most important criteria are light weight and accessibility. Given that the E6410 has metal casing, I wouldn't worry too much about protection but look for something with a bit of padding. I don't like normal messenger bags because the flap impedes access.

John

 

What is the best way to disable and then be able re-enable the optical dvd drive when required on a e6410?. Not something i've ever had to do before!

I tried computer management but it wouldn't let me disable it.

Ive currently taken the drive out due to the blinking light issue others have experienced too, however i would rather not leave it out permanently.

 

1. Either try disabling the optical drive in Device Manager; or

2. Go into the Advanced Settings of your Power Plan and you will find an Optical Drive setting under the Dell Enhanced Settings. You can select enable or disable. This facility is intended to reduce power consumption when running on battery but it lets you disable the drive when on mains.

However, do you have the Intel Rapid Storage Technology software installed? This checks all the SATA devices at frequent intervals. They will still work without the Intel software running.

John

 

Thanks John.

Someone posted they uninstalled this and it made no difference so im tempted to just leave it. With that being a intel product and not Dell, i have faith in it being useful.

 

I've had my 6410 for a few months and originally i thought i could deal with the keyboard flex that was exhibited (pressing the "y" key makes flex that can be seen at "4" key). I read that the 6400 keyboard will fit and plan to buy the backlit version, however, is there anything special i have to do (wires and such) so that it will work where my non backlit version was? Also, what software will i need to download from dell to control the backlight? Thank you in advance.

 

The backlit keyboard doesn't have any wires to correct. You just slide it in, the same way you slide the current one out. It's like a USB keyboard. If it's backlight USB keyboard... then well there is nothing special.. it has a USB plug that you connect to your computer like any other ordinary USB plug. So it should work just fine.

You need Dell Control Point software to access the advance options the backlit keyboard, such as the time it last turned on between key press (I think it's 5 sec by default), and select the brightness of the keyboard. To turn it ON or OFF, you don't need any software for it. (Fn + right arrow key to turn in ON/OFF/Auto).

The backlit keyboard should have minimal flex. If it does, then the keyboard probably bended. I would get it out, bend it down a bit, and put it back (essentially make it flat).

 

Thank you very much for your help GoodBytes

 

Is the backlit supposed to be able to turn off completely? Mine seems to have low high high instead of low high off. Its aftermarket but supposed to be dell OEM.
No CPU throttling issues on this one, however.

 

You have ON/OFF/Auto
Auto means that it uses the ambient light sensor of the laptop to evaluate if it should turn on or off the backlit keyboard.
To adjust the brightness and time to stay turned on between key press (5 sec I think the default), fire up Dell Control Panel.