Latitude E6500 or E4300???

Hello, newbie here.
Can anyone tell me the advantages of the E4200 which is about 500.00 more? I notice the 6500 has NVDIA Quadro NVS 160M and the 4300 has the Mobile Intel Graphics meisa accelerator 4500MHD.

I need something for my small business but need good photoshop use and would like to be able to run DVDs as well.

Thanks for any help. It's HARD to choose when lacking nerd-think.

 

The E6500 is a 15.4"-screened notebook. "NVDIA Quadro NVS 160M" refers to the option of having a dedicated gpu. There is also the option to have an integrated gpu, the Intel 4500MHD.
The E4300 is a 13"-screened notebook with only the option of the integrated gpu, the Intel 4500MHD.
The E4200 is a 12.1"-screened notebook with an integrated gpu, the Intel 4500MHD.

The performance of photoshop depends less on the choice of gpu than the choice of hard disk/SSD, cpu, and amount of ram (depending on size of photo files).

The E6500 has an internal DVD-reader (one option also writes DVDs, the other just to write CD's).
The E6400 an internal DVD-reader/writer.
The E4200 has an optional external DVD-reader/writer or else DVD-reader/CD-writer.

 

You mention the E4300 and E6400 in the title, but in the first line you ask about the E4200. Did you mean to say E4300 above...asking why it's $500 more than the E6400? I'll compare all three just to be on the safe side....

Latitude E4200
12.1" 1280x800 LED display
1.2GHz Intel SU9300 or 1.4GHz SU9400 Ultra-Low Voltage processor
DDR3-1066 RAM
Standard Solid State Disk (SSD) main drive
Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics
No Optical (CD/DVD) drive
Starting weight of 2.2lbs

Latitude E4300
13.3" 1280x800 LED display
2.26GHz Intel SP9300 or 2.4GHz SP9400 Medium Voltage processor
DDR3-1066 RAM
Choice of SSD or conventional hard drive
Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics
DVD-RW optical drive
Starting weight of 3.3lbs

Latitude E6400
14.1" 1280x800 or 14.1" 1440x900 LED display
2.26GHz Intel P8400 up to 2.93GHz T9800 processor
DDR2-800 RAM
Choice of SSD or conventional hard drive
Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated OR nVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M discrete graphics
DVD-ROM, CD-RW or DVD-RW optical drive
Starting weight of 4.3lbs

The E4300's selling point is its smaller size and lower weight. It also lasts up to 6:45 on the standard 6-cell battery compared to 5:19 for the E6400.

If you don't need the ultra-portable size/weight, the E6400 makes more sense. It can be equipped with a faster processor, dedicated graphics (if desired) and a high-resolution 1440x900 LED-backlit display. The E6400 has superior performance with the trade-off being that it's a slightly heavier and not as energy-efficient. If long battery life is a concern, the E6400 can be ordered with a 9-cell battery.

Does that help?

 

the E6400 was never mentioned in the original question, though probably it should have been. There does appear to be a fair bit of confusion, as the subject heading is "Latitude E6500 or E4300???" yet the discussion refers to not only them but also the E4200. I guess the thing to do first is decide on screen size (12.1, 13.3, 14.1 or 15.4"). If I were using photoshop a lot, I would go for a bigger screen as I can manage, and as high a PPI (pixels per inch) as available in that screen size. Photos look way better with more pixel density...

 

You're absolutely right...I've only added to the confusion! I read the title as saying the E6400 vs. the E4300 because they're closer in size (13.3" and 14.1") than the the E4300 is to the 15.4" E6500....that's what I get for staying up so darn late!

As for the E6500, I'd only suggest it if you want the WUXGA (1920x1200) display. Otherwise, the E6400 does everything just as well and is lighter and smaller when it needs to be portable. The only other difference between the E6400 and E6500 is on models with the nVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M graphics card- the E6400 has the slower DDR2 version and the E6500 has the faster GDDR3 version. The difference is about 580 points on 3DMark06- 1698 (E6400) vs. 2278 (E6500).

 

it's a bit like comparing oranges and bananas. you need to understand what screen size you want first.

 

Another thing is that the E4300 is an ultra portable system and the E6500 is a full fledged laptop. Are you looking for a laptop with stronger graphics capabilities or are you looking for one to carry around on a day to day basis to surf the web, and use the office suite on?

 

Unless you want it for travel, you probably want the E6500. I use photoshop a little bit and I want as much screen as I can get for it. A 12" or 13" screen would be too small. OTOH if you intend to use the machine in airplanes a lot, 15" is probably too large.

The E4200 and E4300 seem to cost a little more because of their reduced size.

You might also consider the E5500. It is a 15" machine that looks like the E6500 but has a less expensive case.