question about the heat

i am thinking about buying either the e4200 or e6400 soon to replace my HP. How is the build quality on it. I see that it's made out magnesium alloy but are there any build quality issues? also the main reason that i am replacing my hp is because of heat. the hard drive/palmrest area heats up a lot which becomes uncomfortable, how is the e4200 and e6400 in terms of heat

 

I've never had heat problems with my E6400 (which has a P8600 CPU and Intel graphics). I've also got an E4300 which keeps reasonably cool under load, but I should also point out that the CPUs of both are undervolted. The E4200 has a ULV CPU and should not get very hot.

Note that the E6400 etc are now superseded. However, the basic principle of using integrated graphics and still applies and avoid the i7 CPU.

John

 

yeah im gonna buy used so that's why i am asking about those models. by the way e4300 is also considered i juts forgot to say it. so all of these laptops are always reasonably cool on the palm rest and the base of the laptop when using internet and watching videos?

 

also some of the latitude e4200 and other e series latitudes have a glossy cover rather then a brushed aluminum cover. is it only blue and red ones that are like that? are there any blue or red ones with the aluminum cover?

 

The E4200 covers are glossy in looks, not sure what they're made of. The E4300 and E6400 all have magnesium alloy covers and I don't believe the colored ones have the brushed look.

 

1. I've run some subjective temperature tests on both the E4300 and E6400 by running the wPrime 2024M benchmark twice on each machine. That's over half an hour of full CPU load. On the E4300 the CPU cores reached 81 and 79C while on the E6400 they reached 61 and 69C (both CPUs are undervolted to 1.05V @ 2.4GHz so heat generation should be similar).

While the E6400 had the lower CPU temperatures (presumably as a result of a bigger cooling system) the bottom of the E4300 stayed cooler than the bottom of the E6400 although it was getting quite warm near the left side (ie under the CPU).

I've not had problems with hot palm rests (although both computers now contain SSDs). In fact, I remember that the E6400, when it had a HDD, made a very poor winter time hand warmer compared to my previous notebook. However, I should note that I have always used 5400rpm HDDs to minimise heat production and give the best battery run time.

Regarding the paint finish, my E4300's red paint has about the same shininess as my E6400's black brushed aluminium finish. The red paint appears to be metallic - similar to the metallic paint on cars.

The E4300 makes a nice laptop but still packs good CPU performance (unlike the E4200). The one advantage the E6400 offers over the E4300 is the option for the 1440 x 900 display (although it usefully has a couple more USB ports) but the E4300 is about 0.45kg (1 lb) lighter.

John

 

My E6400 also has no problems with heat and even using it on my bed in 80 degree weather, HWMonitor reports the processor around 40C (unlike my sony, which burns my hand when I touch the underside :/).

 

HPs commonly have problems with heat, you probably won't see any Dells with issues that bad.

I would stay away from the E4200, it doesn't use standard 2.5" HDDs, is lacking with performance, and is just too small for everyday use. The smallest I would go is 13". The E4300 is a nice machine if you need something portable. Have you checked out the Dell Outlet? There are some great deals on the E4300 and E6400.

As for the E6400, if you get both a T-series CPU and the Nvidia graphics, you're bound to have more heat than other configurations (but not necessarily so much that it would be a problem). A P-series CPU and the Intel graphics will give you the best battery life and lowest temperatures. However, if you need a better graphics card, or watch a lot of videos, getting the Nvidia graphics could actually help, as it is more efficient at decoding video than the CPU.

With the back of my D630 jacked up and using a stock configuration (no undervolting, no hardware mods, etc.), I'm able to get 85F on the CPU and 136F on the GPU. I have an E6400 with a similar configuration as my D630, and I would guess that it's around the same (can't test it as I don't have it with me).