Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

I suggest you have a look at this page on Toms hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2.5-hard-drive-charts/benchmarks,25.html

Notice that the biggest 5400 RPM drives perform almost as well as a 7200 RPM drive and they cost less too.

Good luck!

 

just bought a 'previously sold as new' e6400 thanks to the 20% outlet coupon. it's my first notebook purchase, and i'm quite excited.

Latitude E6400 Laptop:
Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 (2.53GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Documentation
Service Software
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
No Modem
No Fingerprint Reader
Back-lit Keyboard
Operating System DVD
14.1 inch UltraSharp WXGA+ LED Display
Brushed Metal Black
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (1 DIMMs)
90W AC Adapter
NO Intel vPro Secure Advanced Hardware Enabled Systems Management
Previously Ordered New
125V Power Cord
No Camera
Resource DVD
Dell Control Point software
Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD With PC-Card
6 Cell Primary Battery
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module
Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card
Genuine Windows XP Pro with Vista Business License
250 GB Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Roxio Creator
Lat E6400: 3Yr Basic Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service (Included In Price)
TOTAL: $687.20

grand total with tax was about $735. similar configuration was going to run me close to $1200. quite pleased, however, this being my first laptop, i'm a little wary of upgrading the ram myself. is this the best resource for doing so? and is there a consensus here about the best option, value-wise? if i want 4gb, should i buy 1 2gb dim, or buy 2x2gb and replace the existing chip?

 

The documentation link that you provided in your post is correct.

Changing RAM is really easy. The only tricky part is to ground/earth yourself before touching the system internals. To do this, just touch at a pipe that touches the ground or wash your hand (the water conduct electricity which will touch the metal pipe and ground you (unless the pipe in your wall is in PVS or anything not metal).

Before opening the laptop internals, make SURE that the system it turned OFF (not sleep or hibernate), and remove the battery and power cable.

A little tip: When you flip the laptop on the desk to access the bottom panel to change your RAM, put a soft, cloth the protect the laptop lid from being scratched by the desk. It's not a big need, but you never know, and I don't want you to end up scratching your laptop on the first few days you have your system.

Onto your next question: Well this is tricky.
2x 2GB of RAM (to make 4GB) is cheaper for you, and you gain a little performance as you use your memory in dual-channel. However, you power-up 2 RAM stick. If you don't know, RAM constantly uses the same amount of power under idle or load, and no mater how much it's being used.
Using 1 stick of RAM of 4GB will be more expensive for you, and lower performance as you don't use dual channel, but you gain battery life.
How much battery life? I have no idea, really. My guess, about 15min tops.

Here are some suggestion for your new system:
- Call Dell and upgrade your laptop with Next buisness day On-site service for the length of the warranty. It's not super expensive, and personally I find it worth every penny, as it ensures that:
1- The job is done correctly, in front of you.
2- Have the system always with you, even when a replacement system is sent to you.
3- Any damages, including scratches, done by the technician is covered by your warranty.
4- you get to decide what day (starting from the next buisness day, on a buisness day) and at the time you want, for the technician to come and fix your system (including replacement of parts).

- The second thing, is to call Dell and request Vista 64-bit disk instead of XP.
I have explained several time on this thread the advantages of this, but in ultra short, hyper speed: Vista is the only Windows currently release (it will be like for for all newer Windows, of course), to actually fully utilize itself your dual core processor, and takes advantage of the new technology that your laptop is well, only that. XP doesn't like new technology.
Also, you will need Vista 64-bit, to actually use your 4GB f RAM, else you power up 4GB of RAM but will only use 3GB. Vista 64-bit has other performance gain as your going 64-bit, but that is all discussed in detailed some in several posts before.

Congrads on your new system purchase. I hope it will be without issues, and that you enjoy it.

 

Same on mine too lol. It goes from 169/100 to 500/250.. I even set underclocked it using NTUNE to lowest setting. But that doesn't seem to have any effect. I want to keep the heat and fan noise as low as possible.

 

John is right - I took my E6400 to DELL, they took it apart and said there are no screws to tighten that could fix this. The problem is between the hinges and the screen.

So they are going to replace the lid (warranty).

 

Has the paint on anyone's speaker mesh peeled yet? Mine's (the left side) coming off for no reason, revealing the silver color beneath the black paint.

Called up Support before and they said they need to send me a whole new palmrest part because the left speaker mesh is part of the palmrest part - which means my touchpad will get replaced (as its part of the whole palmrest) as well. Decided to hold first as it's a cosmetic thing and I'll need to take apart just about everything to change the palmrest.

So just wondering if anyone experienced peeling paint for this?

 

Hmm...I called Dell yesterday to replace my Samsung screen because a cluster of dead pixels showed up on the left side of my screen one day, and the tech should be calling me tomorrow, so hopefully it is all sorted out.

 

The speaker mesh is totally not part of the palmrest itself... It's a separate piece you can remove yourself after removing the keyboard. Check the dell service manual.

 

Darn. Service Tech just got done replacing my Samsung screen with...wait for it...another Samsung screen that is even worse than the one he took out. It is now dim, dark, grainy, and has vertical striations. It also has the shimmering effect. At least there are no dead pixels on the screen.

 

Mine peeled too. It's on the right speaker grill though so I guess I'm a little luckier. I won't need to replace the entire palm rest Seriously, a corporate class notebook shouldn't be having these issues IMO.