Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

Update on the saga with my ongoing hardware issues:

(Reposted from the M4400 lock-up thread for those interested over here.)

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This new system has been stable for the first 12 hours of usage. Not a single crash. I migrated my data yesterday and choose to reinstall the apps. (I didn't want to chance that I had some software badness that would follow me to the new machine.)

My only complaint: The new unit has an LG display panel instead of a Samsung. It's a noticable difference, not as bright and the colors don't "pop" as much, but you know what? I'll live with it for the stability. If this plays out without any crashes I'll be confirming that this issue has to do with faulty hardware.

I'm going to be posting experiences with the laptop over the weekend on my twitter feed if anyone wants to follow me. http://twitter.com/shedmyskin

 

My E6400 has LG-Philips WXGA+ display and Intel graphics. I adjusted the contrast very slightly, but otherwise it is excellent. I normally use at at around half brightness since it does wash out a little at full brightness.

BTW, I've now had my E6400 for over 2 months, have done a fair amount of travelling (hint: check my current time zone) and, so far, the E6400 has given me no cause for concern. The hinges which were very tight when new have now loosened to the extent that there is now about 5mm looseness at the top of the display.

The backlit keyboard has come in very useful in places where the lights are like candles while the good battery life means I'm not forever having to look for a power socket.

John

 

John, don't get me wrong ... the LG is still a nice panel ... but when sitting next to the Samsung I noticed the difference. Had I not seen the two next to each other I doubt it would have bothered me. (Ironically, I went through the same thing when buying my flat panel TV. I went to the store to get an LG, went home with a Samsung.) LOL

 

Just updated the display driver for my E6400 with Nvidia graphics. Found the driver version 176.53 on laptopvideo2go.com. It's WHQL certified and it's meant for the NVS160M with matching device and vendor IDs.

I've already noticed a slight improvement in the smoothness of window transitions.

 

I have the LG panel as well, and while the contrast is decent (better than average at least), the color accuracy is pretty bad. I've been editing lots of fall color images the past two weeks, and I have to keep doing it twice, or more, because the reds, and to a lesser extent, greens, are so far out of balance from every other monitor I use (usually semi-calibrated for gamma and white balance, both pc and mac). My old laptop had a really washed out screen by comparison, but that was easier for me to mentally compensate for than individual colors, so I'm actually finding this more annoying at the moment.

Sure I may be able to improve it with full calibration techniques, but it's a shame for anyone trying to use it for home photos... you'll think it's the printer or store that's giving you horribly blown out reds, when it's really a consequence of doing your editing on a monitor (which has washed out reds) that I personally would expect better from for the price.

 

I ordered an E6400 today but keep thinking that I maybe should have ordered an E6500 instead. My main concern is heat. I have a D610 today and it gets very hot on the bottom and the fan is running on high speed almost constantly making the laptop noisy. I really want to avoid this problem on my new laptop. I figure that since the E6500 is bigger it should be easier to get rid of the heat without noise in the this laptop.

Is this true? Does the bigger E6500 run cooler than the smaller E6400?

The reason for going with the E6400 instead of the E6500 is that I got a better price on the E6400. I felt a bit stressed when ordering since Dell in Sweden raised the prices with more than 10% this week (Q4). I managed to get the old lower Q3 price after some negotiating but it also meant I didn't have time to think through every possible aspect of the laptop purchase, e.g. heat issues with the smaller model.

I can probably not change my mind and get the E6500 instead without having to pay the new Q4 price that is much higher. So should I be worried that I ordered the wrong model or can I sit back and relax knowing that my new E6400 will not have any heat or noise issues?

The E6400 I have ordered have the following specification on the most important parts:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600
Graphics: Intel X4500HD
HD: 160GB 7200rpm
Screen: 1280x800 CCFL

Örjan

 

That config runs ice cold. Most of the time the fan will be off or inaudible.

Mine is almost the same config, and I am usually blocking the intake vent, and it still stays cool.

Greg

 

I've seen more adverse comment about the Samsung LED backlit WXGA+ than about the LG. However, there does seem to be quality varation between what should be identical panels.

I second that. P8600 + Intel GPU = little heat, even under full load. In fact, with winter coming I can't even use my E6400 to warm my hands!

John

 

Greg and John, it sounds good that your E6400's are cool and quiet!

I had a look at the E6400 and E6500 pictures on the Dell site today and it surprisingly looks like the air exhaust grill on the E6400 is bigger than on E6500. I guess this means that the E6500 doesn't have a larger and more silent fan than E6400.

Örjan

 

Sorry for the noob question, but how do I indentify which panel came with my E6400? I have the 1440x900 LED backlit display and can't seem to find out if its a Samsung or LG-Philips panel.