Latitude On ECM as compared to Latitude On FLASH

Hi. We are looking at getting some Latitude E4310 systems. Since fast boot up to access the web is important, we see that the Latitude On FLASH option is required. The downside is that Dell will not install this along with the WiMax card option. They have a combo WiFi and WiMax card, but it can not be installed with the FLASH option.

They also list Latitude On ECM as an option instead of On FLASH. The ECM runs $149 more. With ECM, the system can then have the WiMax card which would be nice.

The people at Dell have not been able to provide a good explanation on what the ECM option does. There is a write up on the FLASH option, but not a good one on ECM. Does anyone know what the ECM does differently than the FLASH?

Key points of the FLASH option are (we need these functions):
Boot Fast, 8-10 seconds
Wi-Fi and LAN 10/100/1000
Web access via browser Firefox Browser
Supports Java and Adobe Flash
Read Microsoft Office
Edit Microsoft Office 2000

So the ECM does something different? If you know about this, please let us know. It would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

The Latitude ON ECM is basically the one with a whole sysmtem on that mini-pci-e card. So when you power on your computer to that Latitude ON, you will running using your battery, your touchpad, keyboard, monitor and that card. As you can see, you save alot of energy here.

Latitude on Flash is simply a flash chip with a light OS installed on it. You will still be using your RAM and high powered C2D proc to run it.

For more information search google for Latitude ON ARM processor

 

Thanks for the reply. So does the ECM give the user the same functions as the FLASH? Flash gives the browser with java and adobe flash support. Does the ECM do this?

I am not sure if paying the extra $149 for ECM actually gets us anything other than better battery life. I would not want to loose the functions that the FLASH gives us.

So does the ECM include the FLASH user experience and then just add battery life or does it add something else? Since there is not a good basic ECM function description written up on the Dell site, like there is for FLASH, we do not know.

Thanks.

 

Hi charlie2727,

Using ECM, you LOSE these FLASH features:

LAN
Java and Adobe FLASH
Read/Edit office docs


Features ECM provides OVER FLASH are:


Battery life
Cisco VPN



Hope that helps.

 

My advice is to avoid Latitude ON altogether. It's slow, buggy and doesn't load any more quickly that Windows 7. If you really need a quick starting, lightweight Linux distro, keep in mind that Ubuntu Light is coming up shortly, along with the 10.10 release. Dell is apparently going to start shipping dual boot Window 7/Ubuntu Light systems in a matter of weeks.

I can honestly say that Latitude ON Flash was a brilliant concept with a very inept execution. HP did even worse with its own version of Splashtop. Very few people apparently have purchased this option. I would never order it again. I also wouldn't even order Latitude ON Reader.

It's worth noting that Latitude ON Flash is no longer offered on the E6410/E6510 and the default option is now "No Latitude ON." Latitude ON might be on its way out, while Ubuntu Light seems to be the ultimate replacement.

 

That's my plan also. I have use a Linux on USB before on notebook, and I generally find it provide better battery life than booting into Windows in HDD. That said, I don't think linux will fit everybody. It's generally higher learning curve and if the notebooks are to be deploy on large scale, training and security can be an issue.

 

For fast boot-up, what I would recommend is getting a SSD, 8GB RAM, and booting to Windows. Windows 7 is pretty speedy, and it'll offer much more than Latitude ON or Linux.

 

While that's true, not everyone can fit all their data into SSD drive. Once you have over 300GB of stuff, SSD is no longer an option. Not to mention the affordability of large SSD. In comparison, a copy of Linux on USB thumb drive cost like $10(DSL if you want very light, with customize boot option you can boot into GUI in seconds). For me, even if those two reason do not apply there is a reason why I would never use SSD, atleast for the time being. Like a lack of data recovery software in the event you needed.

 

You really can't justify a SSD drive solely on the basis of boot speed - not when upgrading to a 128GB SSD costs as much as 8 or 9 replacement 160GB HDDs. You really only buy a SSD drive for shock resistance, and even then, it can be overkill.

Similarly, the upgrade to 8GB RAM is not a cost effective way of increasing boot speed. You buy 8GB RAM if you really need it. For the average business user who's opted for the 32-bit version of Windows 7, even 4GB of RAM is overkill.

 

I agree 100%. As much as I like the concept of a notebook with a SSD drive, I'd be more than a little worried about data loss due to corrupted solid state memory. It happens. It's happened to me.