Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

I paid 1668$Canadian before taxes. I have 4GB of RAM, no webcam, 160GB 5400RPM, 9cell battery, 3 year normal support with 3 year Next Business day on site, no sleeve protection, no bluetooth, no extended battery service (well that is just useless crap, but anyway), Vista 64-bit Business WITH proper disk.

However I might get something more... as they screwed my order:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=320290&goto=newpost

My laptop only crap that was installed was Roxio.
I had my drivers and Dell main stuff (onscreen, control Point), latest Flash and Java player and that is It. Nothing more.

 

You fight with them. there is a specific document ID that you have to give the rep if they are being unhelpful, but I cannot find the link for it offhand. I am fairly certain it is referenced in this forum, but I do not have the time to look for it now. I will look later. And as for bloatware, simple, do a clean install.

 

1. Why do you say the extended battery service is "useless"? I paid $89 for it, while a new battery from Dell is $199. I figured that a battery will lose its juice after a year or so, right when the 1-year battery warranty expires. The extended battery service will get me a new battery. I figure I'll get a new one 1.5 yr from now to last me the rest of the system's life. If you think I made a mistake, maybe I can change my order.

2. Regarding support, did I overpay for the Pro Support ($178 extra from default)? I need 24-7 phone support for any question I may have about my system and on-site service for parts replacement. Does the regular NBD on-site service include the tech support for software related issues? It was my understanding that it didn't--it only covers parts replacement.

3. You got the disk for 64-bit Vista, but you had 64-bit installed as default. I had 32-bit installed and am trying to get the 64-bit install disk for future upgrade purposes. Do I still have rights to this? I also remember reading something on this forum about sending Dell a bunch of legal verbage that guarantees you the 64-bit disks.

thanks
David

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=296512&highlight=64+bit+dell+dvd

 

The sales rep told me that it is only covers if the battery "brakes" or "stop charging" not normal usage... but then again he was wrong about Latitude On on my laptop. So who knows.... Following 3 retails stores policy where I worked as my first summer jobs type. Normal usage of the battery is not covered... so I didn't feel comfortable. What I suggest you is to NOT do like me, and read the details of this warranty.

I have the same thing. The Pro Support is for business with low or none IT support. So you have an IT team ready to fix any problems you have, as if your business has such department. I you know really well your stuff on computers and self troubleshooting, and you see yourself as a pro in this domain, then this service is useless, as you'll rarely (even none) need to call them.

Ah, now I understand. If you have no compatibility issue with your peripherals, and don't use software made by a 5 year old kid that is being imposed by the company you work for, 64-bit should not cause you any issue. Also a 64-bit Vista a bit more polished than it's 32-bit version, as it was originally developed and not a last minute thing. Anyway...

Technically not for OEM licenses form the side of Dell (not you, you can switch no problem if you have the 64-bit disk using the SAME product key on 1 computer, Microsoft doens't know, and doesn't really care). This is why, when you buy OEM version of XP/Vista you need to choose if you want the 32 or 64-bit not both. Only RETAIL licenses allows you to do this (on all editions you need to order the 64-bit vista retail disk from Microsoft, except for Ultimate edition where both disks are provided)
So technically speaking, giving you the 64-bit disk, will cost them a second Vista. And they must provide the associated product key. Now, they MIGHT do it to do a sell, but as you negotiated the laptop so very low, I don't think they will, but try, you don't lose anything.

 

Re: the extended battery warranty (which I also bought), I found the attached document on Dell's website. The key clause says:

The issue is the definition of "failure". IMO, the loss of 1/3rd of capacity would be a reasonable trigger point (eg the good 5 hours of run time drops to an unacceptable 3.5 hours).

John

 

Justin77, I joined just because I found your reply doing a Google search. I have the same issue with my new E6400: an unknown device in Device Manager. I have not had Dell replace the mobo yet, but since we're getting ready to have a couple dozen of these shipped to our offices, I figured I better get on it.

What did you do to fix it?

Oh, and, hi all!

 

mine shipped with xp and vista 32bit, I just downloaded a vista 64 or ultimate image off the Internet, burnt it into a dvd. Using the product key found under the battery, I got it authenticated to 64 bit Vista Business. I don't think there's any legal issues with this method as all vista versions should come with 32 or 64bit, just the media problem.

 

I'm glad to hear you did this and it worked successfully as I'm planning on doing the same thing but I wasn't convinced it would work. If you don't mind, which vista image did you download?

 

The problem when downloading an ISO of an OS, is that if the file is damage their is no real data correction on the setup, so it might install successfully, but a system file could be damaged, which leads to have your system act monkey on you.

Before going downloading such thing, see if you have a friend that can lend you Vista OEM or RETAIL 64-bit SP1 (any edition all disks are the same in reality, it's your product key that selected which edition you want to install) WITHOUT their product key.