Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

In my earlier review i listed a few cons of the e6400. But now, with the SRS and Digital vibrance enhancements things change. Alot. I'm very impresed by the new sound enhancement, it seems as it replaced my speakers - so, although it's not a miracle, it's almost a miracle. It sounds better and louder. Also, with digital vibrance from the nvidia control panel you get absolutely beautiful and vivid colors to your led screen. I can finally enjoy pictures and movies!

 

I realize this is the E6400 Owner's Lounge, but I hope my participation is welcomed, since being a potential owner of the same laptop. Before I make the purchase, there are a couple of aspects which I'm - after days of reading online user experiences - still wondering about. I'm planning to buy a high-end model with fast CPU and nVidia GPU, and I'm planning to run Linux on it. Noise (the lack of it) is important to me, and to make a long story short:

(1) Will docking the E6400 make it noisy? I have read dichotomous reports about this issue. Some saying that docking it will cause major fan noise, while others are not confirming it.

(2) Will running Linux on the E6400 make it noisy? I have read reports about poor fan handling in Ubuntu, for instance.

Although I would prefer the E6400 with its great docking solution, if it turns out that noise actually is a problem, the Lenovo T400 is a worthy competitor. Replies are read with great interest; thanks in advance

 

That was fast...you got them to downgrade the HD and GPU for you?

 

i am one whose E6400 is docked 95% of the time, using the (a) standard e-dock attached to (b) the notebook stand; and have zero issues with noise.

to be honest, i don't see why docking to (a) by itself would reduce heat dissapation and increase fan activity. docking just means the notebook is on a piece of plastic slightly elevated instead of the plastic / wooden surface of a desk. but (b) completely elevates the notebook by many inches, and definitely increases air flow.

i'm very pleased with the E6400 + the docking solutions. in fact, the availability of different docking possibilities was the reason why Dell was the only contender for me really.

 

Since there are no drive that runs at 5200 rpm, I assume you have the 5400 rpm drive. Yes, those 160GB/5400rpm drives that Dell ships in the E6400's are very, very quiet. The difference between them and the 7200 rpm drives are very noticeable. FYI, I changed to the WD 400GB/5400 rpm Scorpio Blue drive, and it makes a bit more noise than the 160GB drive I used before. Still quieter than the 7.2K drives, though, and runs very cool.

 

Huh, I have a 7200 RPM hard drive come with my unit and I don't notice the extra noise at all... On battery, it's nearly silent though on AC power it's noiser (though I think that's the CPU).

 

Which graphics option do you have, and do you run dual monitors? (intel/dual is my plan, and Im interested in noise in that configuration)

 

P8600, nVidia, dual monitors; internal at 1440x900, Displayport at 1080p.

zero fan noise when doing routine stuff (web surfing, music, standard def movies). fan does come on when video transcoding, or play back of high def movies (720p mkv's).

 

Even with the intel and an SSD Id guess the fan would come on with 1080p .MKVs then. But not too loud, hopefully.

 

I also agree that WXGA+ is the best option at this size.

You can recover most of the performance by getting one of the highest capacity 5400rpm HDDs.

Less heat = less noise and it meets the needs of most people.

I've found that the 6 cell meets my needs although I sometimes wonder whether the additional capacity of the 9 cell would be useful.

Glad to know that you have found your right config - almost the same as what I got (first time around).

John