Latitude E6500, what's to know? Prospective buyer.

I think the M4400 can handle the heat. Some users that use the FX770 and the QX9300 report that the temperatures do get high, but the system doesn't downclock. If you go to a low power Pxxxx CPU you should be fine.

By the way, the FX1700 produces considerably more heat and is just an overclocked FX770. Since you can overclock it yourself, there's no reason to pay extra for it.

Unfortunately you can't swap the graphic cards. You might be able to swap the motherboards with the graphic cards attached, but it will be almost as expensive as the $1000 you mention.

 

I see, in that case I suppose I will end up going with the E6500, as much as I'd love to have that gpu power, I'm just not willing to pay that kind of premium for it atm.

 

well you could always opt for a precision from the dell outlet

 

Either that, or if you are not willing to get a refurbished system I'd advise you to call Dell over the phone and do the following:

Configure the E6500 with the specs you want, but a little less: perhaps 2 GB of RAM instead of 4, or a slightly worse CPU and/or hard drive. Then start asking how much would those upgrades cost. Typically the reps on the phone will give you a discount.

Then ask how good is the Nvidia graphics card of the E6500. They will tell you that it is decent but not too powerful, and you ask if there is any way to get a more powerful graphics card. They will likely suggest the M4400 (if they don't, ask yourself if any other Dell Business laptops have better graphic cards). Ask how much more expensive it is and comment that it is too expensive. They usually give discounts that way, because they are interested in selling.

Users following this tactic have reported savings of 30% of the initial price! If it doesn't work, you can always decline the M4400 they offer and stick with the E6500. So you can't lose for trying

 

haha, I like your tactic.

Yeah, like you say, I "can't lose for trying".

 

Well, I just meant to give some quick input. And although the tactic is funny, it works. You can read stories of big discounts from Dell here.

 

So in general, it seems like some people with the E6500 have referred me to the E6400 due to it's weight and size, however, I intently aimed for the E6500 for it's size(as I'm using a 14.1'' notebook right now, and would love to have a 15.4'' 1920x1200 notebook for only 1lb extra weight).


Any other things I should know about the E6500 before I try and get this, or do most of you owners recommend it? (other than the size and weight thing.)

 

Thanks for the thread link, I was actually looking at it the other day. And thanks for some ideas on how to possibly lead a convo on with a rep. I certainly will talk to a rep before making the purchase, only thing I hope is to spend around $1300, with the discount factored in. So I'm not sure how feasible it is for me to get an M4400 for around there with the GPU, however, like you said, it's worth try. On top of that I hope to make this happen within a month or so.

 

My only further remark is: have you already tried 1920x1200 on a 15-inch laptop? I never tried but the fonts are considerably smaller than 1440x900 on a 14-inch, which is what I have. You have 21 days to return the laptop to Dell, so no big worry, but it might be worth a bit of consideration.

 

vista scales well, and windows 7 (i havent tried it myself, but basing this on reports from other people) scales even better, so i dont think the high res will be an issue.

1300 is possible for an M4400, from the outlet, but i think the QUXGA models may be a bit more, i reckon 1400-1500.

i dont get why people recommend 14" laptops. to me the size and weight difference from a 15" is not very much, but you have to sacrifice power etc because of cooling limitations.

its only the slimmer and lighter 14" notebooks where you can notice a difference from a 15", and they cost more and have less power.

carry a E6400 and E6500 in a backpack and you wont be able to tell the difference in weight.