Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

Thanks ExParrot and GoodBytes.

 

Regarding my overheating Nvidia card:

I managed to reach the senior Dell technician this morning and they will send me a new machine while they take mine to the factory for repairs. Apparently I will receive the new machine something like 2-3 days before they come to pick the old one so that I have time to swap the HDD and see if everything works okay.

As usual, Dell's service rocks... I guess I was just unlucky with the GPU

 

I ordered an E6400 on May 19th, and they just moved my expected delivery to June 19th (from June 6th). Anyone else seeing delays?

I don't think there's anything unusual in my config.

 

Sorry, I probably led to at least one new order being delayed since my replacement unit has higher priority.

 

I have a question on a problem that bothered me for quiet some time.
Is it just me, or everytime I have a full screen video or playing a game and I press any button which appears the on screen notification, it gains focus to it, and minimizes my game or exit the full screen of my video?

If its not me, does anyone know for the link for the original DCP software, the one sued in November release of the laptop? I know that these ones where the best of the best of all the versions I tried after that one. It even saved the position you places every notification.

Thanks!

 

Finally received my E6400 today (ordered 2), which I ordered maybe at the start of April. The first time, Dell accidentally canceled the order--and didn't notify.

When they finally arrived, Dell sent the wrong ones, ones that did not have the nVidia 160m. So sent them back. Ugh.

Well at least I'm thoroughly enjoying this so far. Although this Dell Control point/management software seems like complete crap, and from perusing this thread that seems to be the case.

My specs:

P8700
160GB 7200rpm HDD
Nvidia Quadro 160m
4gb ram, 2 Dimm
XPpro with free upgrade to Vista Business
Intel 5300 wifi link
Dell Bluetooth Module
WXGA+ LED LCD

Now, based on previous experience, I'm guessing I want to ditch the Dell Wifi Management, and download Intel's to take full advantage of the 5300?

 

Well if you run Vista or Win7, you really don't need any management tool, what so ever on anything. As teh OS does an excellent job at it, and in fact might make things worse.
But XP, in my opinion, desperately needs it as it's pretty much all wrong (ie: typing a wireless password hidden and 2 times?! Please), and also the lack of feature and bugs really makes you want to have the management tool.

So it's your choice.

You may also, like to use you dual core CPU more efficiently and have an OS that actually use them together, and may want to be able to use your 4GB of RAM and not ~3GB of RAM.
To have both things you need Win7 64-bit or Vista 64-bit. Apparently you can call and complain about the RAM being unused, and request for Vista 64-bit disk for free. The sooner you do it, the better. 32-bit OS should NOT be an option to anyone these days, specially for any 2006 or newer systems.

 

My vote is to ditch Dell's wifi management. When I first got my laptop, my internet was very, very slow, and disconnected every few minutes. From a fresh boot or resuming from suspend, the wifi never connected to my router. I installed the Intel drivers from Intel's site and that improved the issues a little bit. After uninstalling the wifi management module, my wifi is working perfectly now.

I'm running Vista ultimate 64 bit if that makes a difference.

 

I really like the Windows XP wireless management, and feel 3rd party apps from Intel or Dell are un needed and a waste of resources.

 

I second this, the software that comes with most wireless adapters is intrusive, XP's wireless manager is clean, simple, and easy for most people to understand (just like Vista's and 7's)