Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

Sorry if this has been answered before;

I'm considering the e6400 primarily for taking notes while in class and other school work. so I'm wondering what kind of real world battery life would i be able to expect doing basic word processing and internet browsing. Please let me know what battery you're using and if you have the intel IGP or the nvidia GPU because i'm debating which to get.

 

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That depends on a bunch of things - CPU (P vs T series), LCD (led vs ccfl), HDD (5400 vs 7200 vs SSD), wireless, etc....

Please post specs of your config so someone with a close config can help you out...

 

P8600 + Intel graphics + 6 cell battery (see my review for more details). 5 hours for the type of tasks you indicate and may be squeezed to 6 hours with maximum power saving enabled. Note that this is for a new battery. As the battery wears then you will get reduce running time in proportion.

If you want to get through the school day without looking for a power socket then the 9 cell battery is the better choice. Add 50% to the above times.

John

 

P9500 (2.53ghz 6mb L2, 1066FSB)
4GB (2x2)
LED
7200RPM
Intel wifi (cant figure out whats the difference between 5100 & 5300)
Probably dual booting XP Pro and Vista Business x64

Most likely going with the 9 Cell. i'll probably see how that works for me before i think about ordering the slice or an additional 9 cell.

If i decide to go with IGP thats going to leave me with another choice, wait till the 4300 becomes reasonable or stick with the 6400.

 

5100 vs 5300 = 5300 has an extra antenna for mimo or better range and throughput, IIRC.

Well, with your config and a 9 cell, I would say 4.5 hours. You picked the right processor as the P9500 has a TDP of 25W.

To be honest, I think ppl overstate the power-saving features of the IGP vs. discreet.

For instance, I have a Sony Z520 which has switchable/hybrid graphics between Intel 4500 and nvidia 9300. When using the 2 I don't see a whole lot of difference in battery life. MAYBE, and that's a BIG maybe, 30 minutes or so.

 

I'm confused, John Ratsey said that with a 6 cell he was able to get around 5, does that 7200RPM HDD really drain the power that much? Or is that 5 hours with the wireless active, because in all honesty if i'm in class i'll probably have it off unless i absolutely need it.

 

To be honest, I don't know. I was giving it my best guess

Hopefully someone will be able to give you a more accurate answer.

 

Definitely more than 4.5 hours, especially if you turn on the aggressive power saving features; and this baby has a lot. All the options are fully configurable. Si let say in a class you don't need wi-fi, and ODD, you can turn them off. In one of the settings windows reported almost 7 hours of battery life, with the 6 cells. I'd recommend the 9 cell anyway for school tough for a little more headroom and since the laptop is light enough anyway, it wouldn't make such a difference in weight.

 

thanks, the last laptop I used for any period on battery power was an ancient inspiron 8100 that was lucky to get 1.45 hours, so no matter what I think i'll be happy. I was considering getting a Z but last week sony annoyed me with another insane DRM idea so i've decided to not give them any of my money.

Wow. I assume dell includes an install disc for that power saving utility cause I plan on doing a clean install of XP (maybe vista too) to get rid of all the crapware.

 

That persuaded you away from the Z?

Sorry, I am typing this on my new Z520 and I can't believe that I got this computer for $100 more than the E6400 I returned.

I love Dell and all, but there just is no comparison. This computer is better in every single way. I love it!