New Latitude E4310

Anything this model lacks compared to the E6410? Not so much things like hardware specs, more like the small things and services like ports, backlit keyboard, etc. For example, I see they don't offer 4 and 5 year warranties with this like they do with the 6410, only a 3yr. Does this take 1.8 or 2.5 drives? Can the optical bay be swapped out for a HDD bay? Differences like that. As a student this is a much more acceptable form factor/size. There seems to be a lack of 13" business class notebooks. EliteBooks and ThinkPad T-series only come in 14" or 12", and I'm not too keen on the 13" ProBook

 

Extrapolating from the E4300 (99% sure the E4310 is similar):

The optical bay can be swapped out for a HDD bay. Dell's HDD bay is only 1.8'', but there is a company selling HDD bays for 2.5'' HDDs which work very well, including the latch mechanism and "blending" with the rest of the laptop.

From Dell's website, so 100% sure on this:

It uses 2.5'' HDDs.
There is a backlit keyboard option, as well as a fingerprint reader.
As for ports, it has only two USB ports, one of which is also eSATA. The ExpressCard slot is 34 mm instead of 54 mm and it doesn't have DisplayPort.

 

Thanks for the help. It seems to have almost everything I want, plus equivalent battery capacity if I use the 6 cell and the slice when needed.

Found the spec sheet on dells website. The lack of DisplayPort or HDMI is kind of a bummer, VGA only. Other than that seems like a great mini-6410. The only competing notebook (at least in that size) that I'm looking at is the ProBook 4320s, and I'm liking the Dell better.

 

If you plan to use it with a dock, the lack of DP and HDMI is minor.

If not, then I agree it's a bit disappointing. However, it looks like a great way of convincing a Dell rep to throw in a docking station for a reduced price *wink*

 

See here for more discussion on the E4310.

For me, the WWXGA display is a step backwards. The E6410 has retained a 16:10 display. I have both the E6400 and the E4300. The former's main strength is the 1440 x 900 display while the latter's strength is the 25% less weight. The performance of both is very similar (comparing the P8600 and the SP9400).

If you don't actually need the potential performance boost offered by the new Intel hardware then an E4300 from Dell Outlet may be an attractive alternative. You can use the money saved to install an SSD.

John