Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

The Intel graphic card is not bad per say. It's equivalent to a Geforce 7300, which is not bad.
It should be able to play HD movies and run Aero without issues. I would say it's Windows 7 ready. However, if you plan to play games on it, or any kind, even once or twice per year, then the Intel won't be good. Not because of the lack of power the card can give but the utterly bad drivers.

I have the Quadro card with I think the LG panel (LED, 1440x900). I must say that the colors are quiet nice, and the screen is pretty sharp (for an LCD). The only down side would be the view angle... but for a single person usage, I see no issues. Unless you plan to have 10 people around you watching content where color is critical, then yea this monitor is not great. Both video card should be very stable.

On my laptop, the output sound produced in a quiet quiet room (windows closed, no fan noise... nothing!) you can hear the fan of the laptop. I would say a bit quieter than the Mac Book Air. The sound produce is a smooth woosh which is not annoying at all.

The keyboard doesn't flex at all. Not the Canadian English/US keyboard anyway. Even if you press hard on it, it doesn't flex. I got mine with the backlight keyboard (which the brightness is adjustable with Dell included software, also you can set stuff like "turn off after XX seconds/minutes of inactivity of the keyboard")

The 9-cell battery is lighter than the laptop is about as heavy as an optical drive for a desktop computer. It sticks out only a bit on the back, and compared to the Dell XPS M1230 it's holds VERY well. It still shakes a tiny bit up/down if you move the battery up or down (meaning not ultra tight fit). However I think it's made on purpose for easy battery change. I would not worry about it. Like I said on the XPS M1230 is moves like crazy, like if it's in your bag and you run you hear the battery jumping. It never NEVER fell. So I say people are too worry about the battery.

My specs:
- P8400 CPU
- Quadro NVS 160M
- 5400RPM HDD
- Intel Wireless N 5100
- Vista 64-bit
- 4GB of RAM on 2 dimm

With the above with the wireless ON, with Aero turned ON, with transparency, where Vista is set to "Power Saver", I get 7 hours of battery life. If you need more battery you can get for ~400$ Can, the 12cell battery that is supposed to give you 19 to 21 hours of battery life with your 9 cell battery.

If you get 4GB of RAM which I do recommend if you plan to use your machine for 3 years. I say get Vista 64-bit if you don't have any really old peripherals, or really old company software that is badly programed.

If you DO need Vista 32-bit, I say forget 4GB of RAM, as for one you won't be able to use it all (3.2 to 3.5GB.. varies depending on system configuration) and you will get system running slower then if you got 3.5B of RAM. Windows 7 is said to be released in 64-bit by default on retail stores, and you can order the 32-bit if needed.

 

My fix is shown here. It's not ideal since the glue seems to be squeezing out, but it achieves the core objective.

If you are not into 3D games or do 3D CAD rendering then the Intel GPU will be fine. It's as good as the dedicated GPUs for normal 2D graphics.

John

 

What kind of electric tape you used that have the texture matching the Dell computer frame?

 

Standard black insulating tape. You can see it if you look hard, but it is much less obvious than scratches on the palm rest.

John

 

You could try the felt pads you can buy in shops. They are meant to prevent abrasive contact between objects. They usually are too thick for this application but it's nothing a sharp knife can't fix. In fact, that's what I'll do too.

 

I agree with others who've said that the Intel X4500 will suit your usage. However, I recommend a 7200 RPM hard disk as it makes an appreciable difference towards performance. 4 GB RAM is best but if you can't afford the rather high price quoted by Dell, you should just buy 2 GB x 1 SODIMM and buy another 1 GB or 2 GB aftermarket. Finally, I recommend using Vista since I believe it handles newer hardware better than XP. From what I've read on various forums, people using XP seem to have more hardware related problems. It's just a personal observation so you'd do well to do some research on your own. Personally, I'm quite happy with Vista and have had no problems with it so far.

 

Has anybody installed the new Intel Video Driver R199173.exe to test if it is stable or makes any significant improvement?

 

Hi all,
I am trying to connect my E6400 to my dell 2405fwp monitor but I can't create a custom resolution using Nvidia software. It said "Custom Test Mode Failed". Anybody have better luck then me? I am using DVI port on the E-port Plus to connect to my monitor (1920x1200). Any help will be appreciated

M

 

the best advice I have to you is to get the cheapest RAM option from dell directly, and buy ram aftermarket from newegg. I am also personally of the suggestion that you use vista x64 to really utilize this machine, especially in the longer run, but i think you may actually be able to pick that up aftermarket as well for cheaper than what dell charges AND get a retail rather than an OEM license. (do not discount my advice on ram just because you might not like vista ). I saved my self 210 dollars buying it aftermarket -- and got better/faster ram.

let me know if you want any advice on particular RAM.

 

Network connection stopping while machine is locked!

I am running Vista and have my power settings set to maximum performance. When I lock my machine and come back 30 minutes later, my remote desktop connections and email are basically stalled and have to reconnected.

I cannot find any power settings anywhere to adjust for that. The machine is not set to sleep at all. It only happens when I am away from the machine.

Problem 2:

Also I have been randomly getting 0x000008E BSOD on boot up. Sometimes it will take 5-10 reboots for it to boot normal. I have ran memtest on the memory overnight and no errors, all diags come back fine. I have completely reinstalled the OS and all the latest drivers. It can go for a couple days with out the error and then be problematic every reboot for a few days.

Vista is set to write a minidump on BSOD but when this happens no dump is created. Nor is there an event in the system log.
Any ideas?