Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

It looked like severe 'static' all over the screen. Didn't matter what was displayed. Wallpaper, browser, email, all the same. It literally looked like extremely bad TV static.

 

So I sent an e-mail to Dell about that system I ordered and got this reply:

Standard feature?!

 

Not very standard but maybe their explanation of why these features weren't mentioned in the listed spec.

Wait and see. Has it been despatched?

John

 

I also had that happen at boot up with the last 181 drivers. The problem was not consistent. It happened on both of my monitors but luckily never both at the same time.

I have had a couple blue screens with the 185 drivers.

 

I received my E6400 today! I've got another question. I ordered the notebook with 2GB of RAM and therefore Dell included the 32 bit Vista Business edition reinstallation DVD. However, I've got 4GB on the way and want to take full advantage of it. If Dell would send me a copy of the 64 bit version I would guess I would need a new activation key as well. Is there any workaround for this?

If there isn't, I have a unused 64 bit Premium installation I could use.

 

product key for Vista is the same for the 32 and 64-bit.
Meaning you can switch version using the same product key and it will work. In my case, I have Vista 64-bit, and is interesting and during the setup using Dell Vista Disk (which includes only Vista, and dell logo on the system properties panel), Vista setup never asked me to enter the product key nor activate windows, even when I don't have the internet (no drivers). My guess is the provided product key is in case you can change significantly your system that a re-activation is required.

 

I've now got 4GB in my E6400 with 32-bit XP, and My Computer properties shows 3.45GB of RAM, which is good enough for me.

John

 

I've just posted a review of the LG XD1 Combo external hard disk drive.

Compare its performance with the Hitachi Travelstar 7K200 series 120 GB, 7200 RPM drive that my E6400 came with. The 5400 RPM Western Digital drive puts it to shame! The Hitachi is barely faster. No wonder Vista takes so long to boot up compared to others with 7200 RPM drives.

For those looking to upgrade to a faster and bigger hard disk, have a look at the Seagate Momentus 7200.3 or the Western Digital Scorpio Black series models. Here's a review on Tom's Hardware to help you.

 

If it helps anyone, I've been using the 180.70 Vista 32bit driver for about 3 weeks now without any bluescreens. Sleep works for me just fine as well.
The only problem I occassionally see is when I hot dock. The driver fails, screen goes blank for a few seconds and then restarts.

 

It was dispatched today and they say it will be here on or by Monday the 12th.

Found the service tag from the packing slip and the configuration does indeed say:

1 PALMREST : FINGERPRINT READER
1 CAMERA : INTEGRATED 0.3 MEGA PIXEL CAMER

so that's confirmed. Originally shipped at the very end of October in Portugal. Wonder what state it's in now...