Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

Haven't tried "BT mouse + BT keyboard" but "BT mouse + BT sync with mobile phone" at the same time, is working fine.

The only thing that drives me mad is that after every restart BT is set to "Discoverable". I'm just not that into flashing myself all over the place

I think it's set up like that because of noobs who don't know how to make BT discoverable but - can't they just make it discoverable the first time and respect my choise to set it undiscoverable after that?

I wrote a script to run at startup, to change the BT to undiscoverable in registry but sometimes at startup the script runs before BT is able to get up and running, so there's no effect.

Other than that, BT is very nice and stable on E6400 as it was on my D620.

 

FWIW, my one BT device/mouse works well. Recently I had the E6400 on my desk alongside a desktop system with a new Logitech LX720 wireless mouse (which I like). The E6400 BT mouse worked fine, but the wireless mouse got a little laggy. Once I removed the E6400, the wireless desktop mouse returned to solid operation. I think the issue was radio interference, but it did not affect the BT.

My impression is that BT/wireless can work, but are sensitive to environmental conditions and individual device implementations... I think BT is more robust than wireless, and current BT 2.1 is more operable than past standards... read the Wiki and note this BT 2.1 feature:

"Secure Simple Pairing: radically improves the pairing experience for Bluetooth devices, while increasing the use and strength of security. It is expected that this feature will significantly increase the use of Bluetooth."

This suggests BT devices prior to 2.1 were/are problematic. And would explain a negative experience of early adopters as well as current spotty market presence of BT products, i.e. more wireless mice to choose from than BT mice. But this could be changing sooner than later, especially since wireless implementations are non-standard and will continue to have their issues that BT attempts to address.

So, I would troubleshoot environmental interference and then device limitations. What BT standard do your mouse and keyboard implement?

GK

 

that's an interesting question I need to find out. I have a kensington slimblade trackball and an apple mini bt keyboard. The one that gives me more troubles is the keyboard, I always have to pair it again, and then I have no feedback whether the battery is low or not. I noticed dell has drivers that support 2.1 but I don't know if my devices are 2.1. I should find that out and get back.
if anybody has other ideas please let me know.

also, is it a bad idea to use rechargable AA with this keyboard?

 

alas, I guess that once I get used to the alps I'll probably dig it

 

One problem with Apple is that they are so bleeding edge that their products go out-of-date first. If BT 2.1 is just hitting the market, more or less, a less than new Apple BT keyboard may not be v2.1.

The only problem I have with rechargable batteries is that they don't ever seem to give the brightest light compared to disposables, which can be a quality difference when it comes to lighting. But should work fine in a keyboard, subject to any peculiar discharge characteristics.

That new Logitech LX720 wireless mouse I have is suppose to last a year on two AAs!

GK

 

I have an Inspiron e1505 with the Synaptics touchpad too. I didn't know how great it was until I got my new Latitude E6500 with the Alps touchpad. At first I was pretty disappointed with the Alps. Now that I've been using it for a couple of months, I have gotten used to it and it's fine.

On another note, I used to really like the screen on my Insprion, but now I find that the LED backlit screen on my e6500 is so much better and brighter that I can hardly stand to use my old laptop.

 

A few quick questions:
1. What happened to the high-res screen option on the Dell website? the 1440x900 LCD is no longer available - hopefully it's a stock issue and not a problem with the screen.
2. Are there any problems with the Intel wi-fi 5100 in this notebook with 802.11n?

 

Dell Canada still has the 1440x900 LED backlit WXGA+ display.
I have the Intel Wireless 5100N, and I have no problem with my Linksys Wireless G router nor with other wireless router (Linkssy Wireless G router).

 

That option is definitely available. Were you on the Dell USA site?

 

Random question here guys. I've been playing around just to see how hard the Nvidia 160 Quadro card can game, and I'm wondering if there's any new GPU drivers to update to? I looked on the nvidia site, and they have a newer one (I think) but when I go to install, it says it can't find the right card/driver (?). Do I need to use one from laptopvideo2go.com? What has everyone else done? Does a GPU driver update improve performance?