Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

unfortunately, I am buying from a retailer outside NA,
so I do not have such options!
there are 2 configs available:

2.26 C2d/ L2 3Mb
14.1 WXGA LCD xbright
4GB DDR2
320 GB HDD
Intehl 4500MHD(1.3G)
Lan1000/WIFI/6cell
Vista
with modem/ without WebCam and FingerPrint!
1300$
===
intel C2D 2.53 T9400 1066 L2 cache 6MB
4GB ram
250 GB 7200rpm
14.1 WXGA+ LED
256 quadro nvs 160m
8x dvd+-rw
BT,wifi, GLan,56k modem, with all of the stuff!
Vista Business
1700$

that's why I have to ask again,
which offer do you suggest me to buy?
which factor should I consider more?

 

same drive. i don't mean to say that you can't hear it at all when it DOES spin, but it shouldn't be doing a whole lot, and it rarely gets above a whisper (and i am 24 with good hearing, in case that is in question). when i got the machine, i couldnt stand the noise it made. a LOT of that is fixed by the firmware updates. beyond that, it is fixed by the matrix drivers and sata controllers. (note: i was using vista x64, now using win7x64 -- i have not run this machine on XP). but i normally can't stand the noise of machines, and this one (now) is VERY quiet.

check the performance of your computer to check how much the drive is being utilized. it should be very low. (hovering around 0-2%).

 

Order placed! I can't wait!

 

i noticed in your signature you use a 22" external monitor... how do you have it hooked up? display port to hdmi converter? or just the regular analog hookup? how is the picture? what kind of monitor?

 

Even when there is very little disk activity, I can still hear the disk spinning. This is different than the sound it makes while it is seeking, of course. In fact, I thought it was a second fan in the laptop.

Perhaps if the disk stops spinning, it would be quiet. Not sure if there is any software that force the disk to go to sleep and not spin. I am using Windows Vista 64's Resource Monitor to look at disk activity.

The E6400 with a 5400 rpm HD is very quiet.

 

The laptop does not have HDMI.
The laptop has DP (Display Port) port with audio and VGA.
As far as I know VGA can output 1900x1080.
DP is completely backward compatible to HDMI with audio and DVI with a simple basic adapter.

 

I have it connected through the DVI port of the docking station. When undocked, I use the laptop's own screen. The picture is very clear, I use it at 1680x1050 with 32-bit color. It is a Fujitsu Siemens monitor, not sure on the exact model.

EDIT: I think it is this model, except that mine is white.

 

so the reason i ask is because i'm trying to figure out if it makes sense to get an external monitor that has hdmi or display port on it or will it suffice with the standard svga output? narrowing down my searches of nice external monitors is already slim but then adding in a requirement of having hdmi in is either more slim...

i ordered the display port to hdmi adapter for my laptop so i can hook it up to my 40" lcd hdtv to watch videos on from time to time but i am thinking about using an external 20-24" monitor when working at home as a desktop and trying to figure if the vga/svga (or whatever that analog cable is on the lappy) is sufficient (clear enough) or if the hdmi really adds that much more clarity? main reason i'm thinking about that is because the hdmi can give out sound to the external monitor which might be useful since the e6400's speakers stinks...

 

VGA is an analogue cable. Length of cable and quality of the cable is important. You want a well shielded cable to protect against interference, if you want the best of quality.

DVI/HDMI/DP are digital signal.. the cheapest cable partially broken (as only 1 wire per pin is left) will work just as great as the worlds most expensive ones (you won't notice the difference)... as digital signal is only 1 and 0's (binary), there are no 2's that can appear nor -1's. And length is not really an issue (well for your purpose).

Then you fall to the display... LCD technology is digital, so it's best to use a digital method. When you use VGA cable, there is a box inside your computer monitor that performs the translation from analogue to digital.. this converter box varies between LCD's... some are good some sucks. The bad ones tend to end up with a distorted image visible on certain solid colors, despite having a good quality VGA cable.

VGA is generally best used for CRT monitors (the one with a tube), or projectors.. well they are digital projectors.. like all the new ones, but the converter box has room to be good, and they tend to be good even on the low end models of the projectors.
DVI/HDMI/DP... well for any digital screen.

 

hi, i recently received the E6400 and see im not the 1st to be disappointed with the sound. it has about 1/2 the volume of my old D505 and the quality is as you describe. are there any other Dells with similar specs and better sound--at least as good as my old 505? i need the XP and worldwide warranty stuff. thanks for any suggestions Marc