Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

laptopvideo2go.com is the greatest source for nvidia drivers -- although there may be an issue with the sensor readings on the e6400 (there seems to be with the e6500). Not an issue of safety, though.

on another note :: dell finally admitted that they WOULDNT void my warranty for flashing back to a06... lol

 

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/
You need to use the modded .ini file (instructions are on the site (it's a simple copy and paste within Windows). You can use the Geforce drivers. There are no issues in doing this. I tested on 3 Dell Latitude E6400, soon to be 4
Man I think I am the reason why Dell stock dropped lately.
However, I don't think they get the message about the easily scratch plastic, due to the lack of mentioned on reviews and information on Dell.

 

yo, GB, why do you care about the plastic scratching? I mean, of all the things to concern yourself with .... lol

 

Because I paid ~2000$ (after taxes) for a supposed to be high-end machine. Not to have problem like these after the first week. If it's like this after a week, how about year?

it is like if you buy a nice car, and the inside color pass from a nice black (or whatever color you want) to pink after the first week due to the sun. Sure it gets you to point A to B... but I mean come on!

If it was after a year, or a small scratch thing I would not care... but everywhere... I think not.

After analyzing this issue deeply I think I know the solution. Dell need to increase the height of the 2 pads just a tad and have the hook for the screen a little bit longer (so that it closes).

 

yeah, thinkpad feature is great as well! I don't think there is a third party utility, and my e6400 remembers that I disabled charging if I don't turn off the mains.

It's an option in the BIOS as well so you can quickly press Fn+F2 even before windows is loaded. I prefer a mechanical switch for this function, so there will not be any such "software issues" with the charging feature. Haha

 

Whoa hold it right there, most geForce drivers drop performance in workstation applications significantly, as well as direct 3D applications (aka gaming) ... on a Quadro card. What grounds do you have for feeling L2VGs drivers are better than Dells?

 

I wish there is. Most I see are just battery monitors to check charge level or remaining battery time...

if anyone knows of something, please let us know...

 

Info on the charging problem

I read on another board that Dell is aware of the charging problem on E6500. It apparently concerns only the first generation models and not the second or the third (current). The first generation also apparently suffers from overheating problems. That particular person on that board will be getting a new motherboard and cooling system on his E6500. But those who don't suffer from overheating will probably get another BIOS update soon.

 

Since the Latitude E6500 thread is, well, moribund, I thought I’d “enter out of the shadows” so-to-speak and offer my observations on my new E6500, since it differs very little from the E6400 in every respect but the size. I also thought it only right to repay the effort of those who have posted here, since reading through this thread was instrumental in my decision to go with Dell’s new Latitude series.

First, here are the machine’s specifications:

Latitude E6500, Intel Core 2 Duo P8600, 2.40GHz, 1066MHz 3M L2 Cache, Dual Core
2.0 GB, DDR2-800 SDRAM, 1 DIMM for Latitude
Internal Backlit English Keyboard for Latitude E
256MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M for Black Latitude E6500
160GB Hard Drive 9.5MM, 5400 RPM for Latitude E6X00
No Fingerprint Reader for Latitude E6X00
Black Wide Screen WXGA+ LED LCD for Latitude E6500
Vista Business Service Pack 1 with media, English, Latitude
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth 2.1 MiniCard for Latitude E/Mobile Precision
8X DVD+/-RW for Latitude E-Family
Integrated VGA webcam with microphone for Latitude E6500
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (802.11 a/g/n 3X3) 1/2 MiniCard for VPRO Latitude E/Mobile Precision
6-Cell/54-WHr Battery for Latitude E/Mobile Precision
No Intel vPro Technology advanced management features for Latitude, Mobile Precision

I’ve only had the machine for a few days, but my original impression of the Latitude is that it’s very solidly built. It’s also, um, heavy – at least compared to my well-loved Sharp M4000. Since I’ll probably be using it as a desktop “replacement” with only an occasional foray out into the world, weight is not a particular issue. (It replaces an old, unbearably loud Optiplex GX400 that I used for six years or so with nary a hiccup.)

I’ll admit that reading through this thread caused me some alarm, but I have not experienced any of the issues that flow through these posts. Sure, the speakers are unsuitably shallow even for a notebook, but headphones or speakers address that issue for me. I’ve noticed no crackling or anything unusual, so maybe Dell has addressed this with new drivers, a fix in manufacturing, or the newest BIOS.

The LED LCD screen is fine, too, although I’ve yet to calibrate it. It’s quite vibrant and bright. Keyboard’s as solid and nice as my old T40; it has just enough feedback and it’s unobtrusively quiet, too. No touchpad issues, really, after I turned off the squirrely gesture stuff and narrowed the scroll areas, but I prefer to use an external mouse 98% percent of the time anyway.

Next to my Samsung 940SW, the LCD is noticeably cooler (blue). No BSODs or any other aberrant behavior so far, although I’ve got to say that the Dell ControlPoint software is sort of a work-in-progress. In fact, if I finally figure out what functionality will break if I uninstall the thing, well, I’d just as soon say goodbye to it.

I’m slowly discovering the ins-and-outs of the machine (and Vista, for that matter) and getting to know its strengths and weaknesses, so-to-speak. I’ve ended up turning off ALS, for example, because its attempts at “sensing” the ambient light level were just too distracting; the backlit keyboard, on the other hand, is a joy.

I’ve got the machine docked to a new E-Port Replicator with the Samsung as a secondary screen (sometimes extended, sometimes primary, sometimes mirrored) and there have been no crashes when docking or undocking. I did have trouble rebooting once, but realized that the machine was trying to boot from a USB memory stick; as soon as I removed that, it booted just fine. BIOS setting, I guess, although I’ve not had time to explore the BIOS (A09) yet.

The only real issue from the thread which I do seem to have is the hard drive LED pulses almost rhythmically and constantly – docked or undocked, on battery or main power. I originally thought it might be Vista indexing files, but it’s still doing it even after I turned that service off.

In this vein, I’m astonished at the amount of processes that are loaded at login! Indeed, if I have any complaint at all, it’s that Dell has seen fit to load multiple processes for stuff that could as easily have been done by Windows.

I’ve even got fingerprint security stuff, although the machine (supposedly) came without it. (In fact, I’ve even got “Broadcom USH CV w/o Fingerprint Swipe Sensor” and “USB Smart Card reader” loading somewhere, since I’m seemingly able to “safely remove” them with the Remove Hardware Safely taskbar widget. Does anyone know why? Is this stuff loading in the BIOS, or with ControlPoint?)

Overall, I’m a little like John Ratsey and a few others: I’ve had few if any problems (taps his head and says, “Knock on wood!”). Either I have been lucky or Dell has been reading this thread -- perhaps you early adopters paid the price for we who have followed?

My concerns these days will be to try to winnow the cruft from the startup queue (without blowing everything up) and trying to optimize Vista. Not that the machine is slow or anything (it’s not), but I’m just sort of anal that way.

All in all, I’m pleased. At some point I’ll go ahead and run some tests for some real world numbers, but overall, I’m impressed.

 

Thanks for your observations and I'm happy to know that we haven't misled you.

I'm an early adopter but I've had few problems. I still haven't got the security stuff under control and, as you say, Dell need to do more work on the ControlPoint suite.

My E6400 takes far too long to boot, but my workaround is to try to reboot one a week and then hibernate between sessions for the rest of the time.

John