Help me choose a Latitude E Series, please?

Hi Dell community,

I have been the happy user of many a Dell Latitude over the years as my employer has chosen Dell as the global IT Hardware provider.

I have been enjoying a D410 with XP without much hassle and have now been asked to choose between a 6400, 4300 or 4200. I have written off the 6400 already - I think - as it is too big and I like the portability of my current D410.

Also I have an Alienware m9750 at home for gaming and an old Sony Vaio FS Series that I have bequeathed to my GF, so I am chosing the new Latitude for business only.

Any advice on which I should go for, please? (the 4300 is current favourite).

Thanks,

Clean.

 

Well, the E4200 is very light, small, and portable, but it is very underpowered and you'll probably end up banging your head in frustration at some points when it decides to lag or stutter.
The 4300 is more powerful, but still pretty small and light. I'd go with it.

 

Maybe you should fill out the What Notebook Should I Buy FAQ.

 

I see a E4300 in your future

 

I wouldn't call it underpowering, considering it looks like this laptop will be a secondary machine.

For a secondary machine, I'd choose mobility over anything else.

It helps if you fill out the FAQ, as it will allow us to discern your needs better

 

I would vote for the E4300. It offers the power of a medium spec E6400 but is 0.5kg lighter. It also uses a standard 2.5" HDD / SSD which makes a storage upgrade easier. However, the E4200 is lighter still.

One consideration is whether you want access to an optical drive while on the move.

John

 

I second the E4300.

It's small and light which makes it very portable yet it still offers tremendous performance for work-related apps.

My machine handles Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008, and it even runs virtual machines very well! Not to mention MS Office 2007 and general web browsing.

It offers great battery life for on-the-go work, and the screen isn't as bad as others make it seem (IMO, of course).

The E4300 is great as a "main computer" (which it is in my case) but it would also do well as a secondary.

 

The E4300 is also my recommendation for the following reasons:

1- E4300 is priced about $400 less than similar E4200 models.

2- E4300 uses the 2.4GHz SP9400 or 2.53GHz SP9600 compared to the 1.6GHz SU9600 in the E4200. Unless battery life is the primary goal, the E4300 provides excellent performance (comparable to the larger E6400) and still highly portable and energy efficient.

3- E4200 has 1GB of DDR3-1066 integrated memory and one open slot for a 1GB or 2GB DIMM of DDR3- making it impossible to have 4GB installed! The E4300 also uses DDR3-1066, but has two open slots for installing a pair of 2GB DIMMs (or more)!

4- E4300 can be configured with a variety of mechanical hard drives (5400 & 7200rpm) or SSDs. The E4200 only accomodates smaller 1.8" SSDs, which limits future upgrade options.

5- E4300 has an optical drive bay.

 

I've been using the 4300 for a few months now and it has far exceeded all expectations I had for it. Having the optical drive on it (vs. the 4200) has been worth the extra money and weight.

 

Now if Dell would just offer a 1440x900 display option for the E4300, it would be PERFECT!