E6410 Owner's Thread

That would be insanely tiny! Having seen 1440x900 on 14.1", I suspect 1440x900 on 15.4" is my sweet spot.

GK

 

I suppose it is possible to bundle CompleteCare with Computrace tracking/theft recovery services, but the CompleteCare service agreements I've seen do not include CompuTrace.

 

Oh no, 1440x900 is actually OK in size.. that is like the standard.
In term of size of elements, it's the same as a 24inch 1900x1200 or a 17inch 1280x1024 display (not exact, but very close of course), As I am up close to the system (a little more than a arm length) I can support smaller text.

 

I've just received my E6410 today after almost having read this entire thread. I must say it was bracing for the worst after reading all the negative comments here. I received mine from the outlet (refurbished). I think I lucked out on the screen, it's the LG one with higher resolution. Everything seems to be really fast. I have the i5 520 processor with 128 GB SSD and NVidia card. It seems to be getting fairly warm, but I guess that is to be expected.

What I'm most disappointed though is the weight. I can't believe how Dell manage to make it so heavy. Mine came with the larger battery and I wish I had the standard size to make it more portable. I even called Dell if they can swap it with a smaller one but they suggested I return it. I guess I'll be looking in ebay to find one.

Most people here suggest a clean installation. To my untrained eye, there is hardly anything junk on this machine. I'm not really computer savvy and not sure if all the trouble would worth it. Would you guys still suggest a clean install?

 

You are correct. You have to look at percentage.
See if 1 person complains.. then it sounds good.. but if Dell sold only 2 systems... then not so good. Here we have most likely million of people using the same model that you have, so consider with the people complaining here.. it's not so bad. Also, everyone has different expectation on this.

Really? It's not dad really. I touch much heavier systems.
The laptop is made in magnesium allow... metal if you prefer, so it's heavier then thin cheap plastic. The system is solid though. I dropped mine at about your elbow level when you sit at your desk, it hit the corner, laptop lid was open, system turned on. Ok well it was on carpet, but there was concrete under it. And there is no trace of any damage, even at the inside. Like if nothing happened. Granted the carpet presented any scratch, but the shock.. wow... I was impressed.

Good, it will last you longer.
You see battery life on laptop degrades FAST. You start with 8-9 hours max, and poof next year you are at 4-5 hours, which might not enough for your needs anymore, and need to buy a new one.
In your case, you'll have less recharges to do (assuming you recharge your system when the battery empty out) so it will last longer, and, let's say you need 2-3 hours, then you get to keep your battery for 2 years, maybe. I say maybe as it's all estimation, no 2 battery is made the same, and it depends on your usage, and if you disable recharge (Fn+F2 I think) or not, every-time you use your plug-in and only recharge when the battery is low.

There is no junk on your system.. maybe PowerDVD or Roxio... if you have alternative programs that you prefer (well PowerDVD is now useless, as Win7 32/64-bit comes with excellent DVD codec (both in 32 and 64-bit) for Media Center and Media Player 12).

Some people prefer to re-install, just to be sure they get the latest drivers installed for every component (did not skip one). And also can be a reflex from their experience with non buisness system or other manufactures.

 

GoodBytes makes some good points on the battery... although 6-cell is lighter.

You have a good notebook. Just use it for now... you can always re-image it later.

GK

 

Yes. In my opinion, the Core i CPUs tend to run a little hotter than the Core 2 CPUs, perhaps becasue of the absence of a SLFM mode and no potential for undervolting.

The weight is very similar to the other notebooks with similar build and features. More use of lightweight metals could reduce the weight but would also push up the cost.

Get an E6400 / E6500 6 cell battery (these are interchangeable with the E6410 / E6510) on ebay and keep the 9 cell for the occasions when you want a decent battery run time.

I would not recommend re-installation unless you really need to. However, before you forget, go into the BIOS and change the SATA access mode to AHCI. It is set to IRRT by default but few people use IRRT's facilities. The Dell Windows installation includes drivers for all 3 SATA modes but if you do install your own Windows then changing mode will cause a BSOD.

John

 

Hello All,

Hope you can help before this laptop (E6400 ATG) goes through a window

Basically I have a bootable DVD which has Symantec Ghost and a ghost image of the machine it run PC DOS.

Now with the E6400 ATG it works fine.

If I set the machine to ATA mode (which is needed to load the GCDROM.SYS drivers) then try to boot off the DVD then eventually I get the message:

"Selected boot device failed."

"Press any key to return to F12 menu and choose a LEGACY BOOT or UEFI BOOT option."

I have tested this disk and it works find in other laptops and desktops.

I have also got an E5410 and have exactly the same issue. I have tried a known working DVD drive in the E6410 from an E6400 and get the same result.

The drive does not even seem spin up.....

If I change it to ACHI mode then the DVD boots but then obviously I can not load the SATA drivers.

Also if I use a bootable USB memory key in ATA mode which has the GCDROM.SYS driver I have been able to boot from this and then am able to load this driver and MSCDEX and then access the DVD.

I suspect this is a BIOS issue/bug.

Anyone got any ideas ??

Best Regards

Jason

 

Presumably the bootable DVD does not load the SATA/AHCI driver required to enable the E6410 storage controller.

GK

 

But it does not even get that far. It does not get to the point of loading any drivers.

BR Jason