Latitude E4300 first impressions

Hi!

Mine was expected on 10/31 too, but, it is in preparation for shipment right now.

So i expect it now by the beginning of next week.
(SP9400, blue, camera, 6-cell, bluetooth...)

 

Did you get it yet? Looking forward to your impressions.

 

He should have it by 3pm definitely. It's the Purolator way

I hope he picked up a Z too!

 

First time poster here. I ordered a E4300 about three weeks ago and it was delivered yesterday. I must be among the first people in the US to get one. I haven't had a lot of time to play around with it but I did get it up and running while watching the Presidential debate last night. I've been using an IBM Thinkpad T42 for the last 4 years.

My quick impression is that this is a very impressive and impressively built laptop. The keyboard feels extremely solid -- at least as good as, maybe better than, the Thinkpad. The Trackpoint device works nicely (this is key for a former Thinkpad user). It runs very fast and is very quiet. The hard drive is nearly silent, and the fan comes on rarely and only for a few seconds. The screen is very bright. I haven't weighed it but it certainly feels very light, even with a 6 cell battery; with a 3 cell battery, it would be extremely light. It also looks very sharp.

My only gripe is that I thought the backlit keyboard was standard and it turns out it is an option (something the sales rep didn't tell me), so I just ordered a backlit keyboard from the spare parts department.

 

great quick review... I've ordered the 64GB SSD so I'm hoping it will be even more quiet unit... really sucks your rep didn't tell you about backlit keyboard so all the best with the "surgery"

if you got time post some pics for us please Mine is showing delivery 10/31 :/

 

Everyone,

I thought I'd chime in here as well. I received my E4300 yesterday. Here are some initial thoughts:

1.) Wow this thing is small and light! Coming from a 15" Macbook Pro and 15" Latitude D830, the difference is outstanding. The build quality is very good with no noticeable body flex and solid screen hinges. The lack of lid latch doesn't seem to be missed here.

2.) It runs a bit warmer than my old Thinkpad T60 14" but its also a much smaller laptop so this is expected. The fan, when it does come on periodically, isn't much of a nuisance.

3.) The LED screen is fair at best. It gets VERY bright but its viewing angles aren't nearly that of the LED screen on the Macbook Pro. The black levels are also not nearly as dark as the MBP and there is some light leakage at the bottom of the screen. The whites are also a bit yellowish. It's a little disappointing but I'm also an extremely anal individual. The resolution and readability is great however. The 113 dpi of the e4300 is a good choice. I would be concerned that the 1440x900 on the X300/X301 would be too small at 128dpi.

4.) The keyboard, while it isn't bad, to me doesn't have the tactile feel of a thinkpad nor a D630/D830. It's not a deal breaker but its not an overwhelming winner either.

I haven't had a chance to take pictures but I am happy to do so this evening for those of you who would find this helpful. Also, please feel free to ask me any questions about it.

After using larger 15" laptops and purchasing this one before seeing it, it honestly is probably too small for me to use as my primary/only computer. Maybe I'm crazy or plain dumb or just used to the big clunkers....

In any case, I'm debating putting it up for sale here on the forums. I got a *really* good deal on it and would rather pass the savings on to you guys than pay a restocking fee. It would also get to you much faster than the Dell standard wait time on these things...(it was almost a month for me). If anyone is interested, please PM me or email me at [email protected].

I hope this very brief review helps a bit!

Take care and have a good day!

Andrei

 

Just a simple question:

What are the differences between top bezels of the display? It seems larger on top center, but if you look at the official photos of the laptop... nothing... flat...

OK, images are far better than my terrible english...

 

Just guessing, but on the first picture you can see a web cam, the laptop on the second picture has WWAN (see configuration in the first post) and the third laptop probably has none of the above. Which would explain why you can only order the web cam OR the WWAN...

 

Would it be possible, that you have a camera installed?

brc

 

Would be interesting to see a picture of the larger part with the laptop closed. Does it exceed the base? Is it irritating in daily use?