Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

IDT drivers are terrible. You know its bad when you wish you had Realtek drivers.

It used to be possible to skip the codec maker's driver and use the Intel BA/BAM driver for generic ac'97 output... but you would lose HDCP and audio over HDMI/DisplayPort if that is important to you. I'll try it since I use unsigned video drivers (which also breaks HDCP).

 

Wow, realtek. I have had the pleasure. And yes, I would say better than IDT.

I'll just live with it for the moment. But definitely - anyone who wants a great audio experience can look elsewhere.

 

Um, I re-ordered after shaving the price. Got rid of stuff I did not need right away like docking station and built in wifi. So here is my new E6400. I found that I STILL had to have the BLUE, I could not help myself.

Quantity Item Number Description Unit Price
1 223-9335 Latitude E6400, Intel Core 2 Duo P8600, 2.40GHz, 1066MHz 3M L2 Cache, Dual Core $1335.70
1 311-9218 2.0GB, DDR2-800 SDRAM, 1 DIMM for Latitude $0.00
1 330-0841 Internal Backlit English Keyboard for Latitude E $0.00
1 330-1652 Documentation (English) Latitude E-Family/Mobile Precision $0.00
1 320-6972 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M, 256MB With PC-Card, Latitude E6400 $0.00
1 341-6970 160GB Hard Drive 9.5MM,7200RPMFFS for Latitude E6X00 $0.00
1 311-8849 Internal Fingerprint Reader Latitude E6400 $0.00
1 320-6943 Regatta Blue Wide Screen WXGA+LCD for Latitude E6500 $0.00
1 467-5791 Vista Business 64-BIT Service Pack 1, with media, English Latitude $0.00
1 430-3090 Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth 2.1 Minicard for Latitude E/Mobile Precision $0.00
1 330-0876 90W 3-Pin, AC Adapter for Latitude E-Family $0.00
1 330-0879 US - 3-FT, 3-Pin Flat E-FamilyPower Cord for Latitude E-Family $0.00
1 313-6722 8X DVD+/-RW for Latitude E-Family $0.00
1 420-8010 Roxio Creator Dell Edition,9.0Dell Latitude/Mobile Precision $0.00
1 420-9184 Cyberlink Power DVD 8.1,with Media,Dell Latitude/Mobile Precision $0.00
1 313-6710 Integrated VGA webcam with single digital microphone Latitude E6400/MPWS M2400 $0.00
1 430-3362 Intel WiFi Link 5300 (802.11 a/g/n 3X3) 1/2 MiniCard for VPRO Latitude E/Mobile Precision $0.00
1 330-0884 No Intel vPro Technologys advanced management features for Latitude, Mobile Precision $0.00
1 330-0895 Resource DVD with Diagnostics and Drivers for Latitude E6400Notebook $0.00
1 312-0729 6-Cell/54-WHr Battery for Latitude E/Mobile Precision $0.00
1 989-1602 Basic Support: Next Business Day Parts and Labor Onsite Response 2 Year Extended $0.00
1 989-4560 Basic Support: Next Business Day Parts and Labor Onsite Response Initial Year $0.00
1 991-2948 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty Plus Onsite Service Extended Year(s) $0.00
1 991-2947 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty Plus Onsite Service Initial Year $0.00
1 991-2878 Dell ProSupport Service Offering Declined $0.00
1 900-9987 Standard On-Site Installation Declined $0.00
1 313-6737 Latitude E6400 Color - RegattaBlue $0.00
1 313-6707 Blue Finish for WXGA+ Backlight, Latitude E6400 $0.00
1 313-6714 Integrated 0.3 megapixel VGA webcam with single digital mic for WXGA+ LCD, Latitude E6400 $0.00
1 313-6719 Dell Webcam Central Software for Dell Latitude $0.00
1 320-6945 14.1 inch Wide WXGA+ AntiglareScreen for Latitude E6400 $0.00

 

I love the blue lid. My black one is all scratched up so I might get a blue replacement.

I have the good warranty - I wonder if Dell will give me a new lid.

 

Yeah, the BLUE should be really different. I may be the only one at the coffee shop with a Regatta BLUE Dell. YES! I like the darker BLUE at Staples on the Inspiron, but I think I like this blue better. I wish it would come fast, Dell seems to be pretty backed up. Recession? Not at Dell!

 

Both my palm rests are rock solid. Did your E6400 get assembled correctly.

9.5mm thick, SATA. Looks to be what is used in some Macs. GS21N or UJ-867. However, they are noisy feeders, 8cm disc support is patchy and, after having to dismantle one to get a disc out, I've decided to stick with tray loaders for the foreseeable future.

Yes, that IDT driver makes Realtek look wonderful. People are using the standard Vista driver with better results.

I can't recall if it applies to the Vista driver, but with XP it is necessary to mute the internal speaker in order to get any bass out through the external audio socket.

Or maybe Dell anticipated the current situation and avoided over-expansion?

John

 

Ah, if only the car and all the retail stores were so smart Not to mention BANKS! After all, Dell did practically invent "just in time" manufacturing.

Good management is most impressive in a BAD market.

 

Recession has smacked Dell very hard.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122783103416262959.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

 

Hi all,

I have just plunged and got an E6400 which was delivered yesterday.

Considering that my previous machine was a 2004 Inspiron 600m it's a bit of an upgrade...

However, I'm not perfectly happy with it. I've noticed a couple of issues:

1) The laptop is not completely flat. The right front foot (from the point of view of the user) does not completely sit on the table and can be pressed down by pushing on the palmrest. Is this normal, abnormal? It's about 2 mm off the table. Nothing seems to creek though.

2) What I believe to be the hard drive is pretty loud. It actually sounds more like a loaded and spinning CD-ROM and is causing both the palm rests and even the table to vibrate *somewhat*. It is coming from underneath the left palm rest.

I thought originally that it was the fan, but it is not. I have installed i8kfangui and and I see that the fan is not spinning under normal circumstances and only starts to spin when under load. However, when it does spin up (to 'slow' admittedly) I can't hear it over the HDD.

The drive is the 250 Gb 7200 rpm disk from Western Digital. Are these unnecessarily loud? My previous laptop had a 7200 rpm 100 Gb Hitachi drive that made nowhere near this much noise?

 

That's definitely not normal. I'm currently using my E6400 on a glass table without a hint of wobble. Check that the one-piece base is fixed on properly (remove the one screw in the middle and then slide it towards the front). Check if the base sits properly on the table by itself.

We've had someone else complaining about a loud HDD in the E6500. Check that the fixing screws are tight and the whole unit is not vibrating in the chassis.

John