Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

I've had a look. Is it possible for these outlet machines to have been scratched or lightly scuffed by the first person who ordered them? Would people return them due to dead pixels maybe...

Might have another look at them now.

edit: Lots of systems but it seems they either have the NVS 160M and the CCFL display or the Intel graphics and the LED! Neither with both...

 

Parts replacement on the new notebooks is not so common. what you read here is the small minority who have had had problems. The basic design of the E6400 is very durable while the fact it is easy to service (the complete service manual is on the Dell website) is a major advantage. Software and BIOS issues will get fixed by Dell, in time. This is a new range which they will be planning to sell for another year or two so it is worthwhile investing in the development, unlike some of the other brands which change very frequently.

Any game which is a couple of years old should run OK. The Intel X4500 has performance similar to the Geforce 7400, and the NVS160 is about twice as fast (do you need it?).

As a minimum, free delivery. Also, the reps usually find it easier to give low cost upgrades rather than cut the price.

I would describe the webcam as mediocre. It's only 640 x 480 and doesn't flourish under indoor lighting. It's only intended to be something so that the person at the other end of Skype (or similar) can see that it is you who is talking.

The stock of E6400s in Outlet has run down. There were about 300 E6400s just after Christmas (did a company order a stack and then go bankrupt?). They might show up as some retailer such as itcsales who buy them in bulk.

You need to keep watching the Outlet so you can grab something quickly when it shows up. Any stock there should have been restored to as-new condition and, if there's something that isn't right, ask Dell to fix it.

John

 

But I was talking about E-Port Plus, which have DVI-D! So its supposed to support 30" 2560 x 1200, is not it?
Is there anyone with E-Port plus and 30" ?

 

The specs for the e-Port Plus state that it is dual-link. If it was only single-link it would still be able to support greater than 1280x800.

The monitor's scaler is not the issue, other graphics cards will display all common resolutions between 1280x800 and 2560x1600. I would like to see where you are quoting information that the WFP3007-HC cannot display resolutions due to the lack of an internal scaler.

I am going to delete the HDD and reinstall Vista with the PC docked to the (2) 30" monitors to see if Windows will assign the correct drivers for 2560x1600 during the install.

 

There are 529 E6400s in the Outlet as I type this, and a brief browse turned up several with both LED screen and the NVIDIA video card. They're not the cheapest configurations, but there are several available.

Keep rechecking the Outlet stock every few hours (read: several times a day) as units are added and sold on a continuous basis.

 

Thanks for the relief.
I still have one question: Will the 1280x800 screen do fine??? The model customized here is equipped with 1280x800 display.

Another thing: How much weight will add if I buy a 15.4 screen (E6500)?

 

The reinstall did not work. I have DisplayPort to DVI adapters coming in the mail from monoprice, hopefully they are dual-link.

 

The selection is kind of bad right now in the Outlet. I'm trying to get my friend something like the following:

P8400/P8600/P9500/T9600
Intel Graphics
6 cell battery
WXGA+
250GB 7200RPM
Camera

All they seem to have are just the Nvidia graphics when you find a fast processor and 250GB 7200rpm drive. Most of the ones with Intel Graphics don't have a webcam too and the vast majority are all T9400 (P series would be preferable).

But how much does P series make a difference in terms of battery life if the CPU is throttled down (ie no CPU intensive apps).

 

Depends on you frankly. Depends on your eye sight and your needs.
If you have a 1280x1024 display at home, and you want more real-estate (or close to it), than 1440x800 is for you, as the work area is similar.

- 1280x1024... has 1 310 720 pixels
- 1440x900..... has 1 296 000 pixels
- 1280x800..... has 1 024 000 pixels

For size comparison, I have the latitude E6400, with the 1440x900 display. Compared to my high-end 17inch CRT (16inch viewable) computer monitor, the Vista start button and quick launch icon are very close in size, they appear a little smaller. But for me, they are perfectly visible. In my case I do need work real-estate, already I am struggling with my computer disply (thinking of getting a 22inch LCD 1660x1024). If you get the higher resolution display and you find it too small for the purpose of laptop, they are many things you can adjust to enjoy the larger work area and enjoy (bigger) easy to see test/icons, etc... What i am saying is that if it's issue they are work arounds other than returning the machine and getting another one with the smaller display resolution. For one within Windows (vista doing the best job), you can increase the DPI, Font size (see Appearance panel) and set large icons (which affects all icons).

 

@nautikal, I don't know how much the computer in the outlet cost, but keep note that on a new system you can negotiate a price. My system is the Latitude E6400, with Vista 64-bit Business, 4GB of RAM, 160GB of HDD 5200RPM, 3 year warranty with 3 year next business day on-site service, Intel wireless N 5100, Nvidia Quadro NVS 160M, 144x900 display, backlit keyboard, DVD burner, 9-cell battery, P8400 2.26Gz. For 1680$ Canadian. And I know some people got it with blue-tooth and accident damage protection, faster CPU for even less.