Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

I have that Dell SSD in my E4200. It is made by Samsung, and is a first generation MLC. Speeds are decent, but definitely slower than the Intel. For $140 in Denmark, it is probably a very good deal. It gives your notebook better start times, and overall responsiveness. The difference between that drive and any hard drive is noticeable and welcome.

My one concern is whether 64GB is big enough for you. Prices of SSD are falling, so keep that in mind.

Here in the US, the decision is a little easier. I would get the cheapest hard drive from Dell, and upgrade myself. The 128 GB Indilinx drives (Vertex) or the second generation Samsung MLC's are available for about $300 if I shop around carefully. I would get that for the higher capacity.

 

If your new drive has the bezel already mounted (like from another Latitude), then it is extremely easy. If you have to put the bezel on yourself, then it is a little harder, but still an easy thing to do.

 

Yeah, I think I'm gonna order it with the standard drive, then maybe watch the drives drop a little further in price, maybe even wait till I have to reinstall when Windows 7 comes out.
Thanks for the help from both you and veritas72, much appreciated.

 

I have a question about the sound card.

When I compare the sound of my headphones on my desktop to my E6400, the E6400 sounds noticably more hollow. I installed the latest IDT drivers (twice -- the first time sent my machine into an eternal bluescreen reboot cycle) but it did not improve the sound. I'm not an audio geek by any means, but it's enough to bother me. Is there anything I can do to help the sound chip along? My desktop also has an integrated IDT chip, but it gives a much more full sound.

 

Open your Control Panel, set to it to "Classic View" (see left side column).
Then on the main panel, you will find the "IDT Audio Control Panel". In it, you have the ability to turn on SRS and adjust the sound.

 

What headphones are you using? I doubt that the DAC and analogue output of either your E6400 or desktop is any good. Both are probably pretty comparable. If your headphones are good enough - something like a Shure E310, Etymotic ER-4, etc. - then software EQ will make everything sound less hi-fi but perhaps more to your taste (less hollow), if you bump up the lower-mid-range frequencies. Be cautioned that there will be increased distortion and loss of fidelity in other frequency ranges due to EQing. A lot of people seem to prefer artificially enhanced sound and visuals though --for example, nVidia's "digital vibrancy" boost gives unrealistic and oversaturated hues, but some folks like it that way.

 

I have an issue related to the screen. I seem to have the Samsung(SEC5442) panel. When I reduce to screen brightness (Fn + Down Arrow key), towards the end the screen goes completely dark(blank) and even if I try to increase the brightness back(Fn + UP Arrow key) it would not display anything, would stay blank(or too dark to see anything). The only way to get back the display is by toggling the ambient light sensor back to Enabled(Fn + LEFT Arrow key), I normally disable the Ambient Light Sensor. Once I turn on the sensor the dispaly would act normally again until I bring the brightness down to the lowest.

Anyone else face this issue?

I'm running Win 7, DCP System only, MS Default Intel GMA driver. Any idea?

p.s.: Also just before the screen goes blank, i.e the lowest visible screen brightness level possible, my screen would flicker. Not sure if this is normal behavior.

 

I haven't experienced this. With my LG panel, I can't get the brightness level turned completely off --the lowest level still displays quite a bit of light. This might be a Windows 7 issue (I'm running Vista Ultimate).

 

definitely NOT normal behavior. I am not using DCP right now, but I was for some time, and am running win7 -- never experienced what you are talking about. I almost wonder if there isn't a hardware problem with your LCD that is obvious when the power to the screen is reduced.

 

Does your audio sound compressed (as in, everything is the same volume, with no dynamics)?

Its annoying me slightly