Trying to decide between E6400 and T400...

Is the noise, heat and battery significantly worse with the Nvidia GPU?

 

Under load, definitely. When just running productivity tasks like surfing, office etc, you can notice a difference, but not a huge one.

i cant remember how many watts the 160M consumes vs the intel 4500MHD, but if i find the link i'll post it.

 

Ok thanks. I did find one for a good deal on the outlets, I'm just reading up on the throttling issues.

I want a workhorse that will withstand abuse from being in a backpack with books and whatnot. I hope the Dell is up to it...

 

it certainly will. any business grade laptop will be. either way, it comes with the 3 year NBD onsite warranty as standard

my computers are on 24/7. only switch them off to move them. at one point my current laptop was on for 3 months continuously lol, i dint move it.

business class laptops, be it from dell, HP or lenovo are of extremely high quality

 

I don't know about Intel GPU power consumption, but the Nvidia solution is 12W max consumption. Obviously, under idle and battery it doesn't consume 12W all the time.

The difference in battery life between the Intel and Nvidia solution is there, but nothing really significant. It must be noted that the Nvidia solution is more powerful than the Intel one, so it is to take in consideration.

Again, I overclocked my GPU using a on-demand profile system with the Nvidia system tool, and the laptop can handle the extra heat, without much problem. On batter, the Nvidia GPU is at minimum speed, your games (today games) will be slide shows on battery, but playable when you plug the system in (as it doesn't conserve power). In result, heat produce is low on battery and when idle.

Again, the keyboard and palm rest will be at worst warm, but not hot, even when I overclock after several hours of playing games. (I use my desktop for games normally, but I tested this on my laptop with the CPU, overclocked GPU, and wireless card (it's online) intensive game (for this laptop), Team Forterest 2).

 

The laptop itself will sustain that, provided that you have a proper backpack with a laptop section in it. The keyboard never touch the screen. However, a perfect laptop doesn't exists, it always has down sides, it's either quality, some aesthetic issue, hardware power, hardware quality, or service. In this case it's aesthetic issue, however fixable (WARNING, this issue MIGHT be fixed in today revision... this is affected my laptop and others which hold this laptop since a long time ago (November in my case)).

The issue is that the pads on the laptop is too "mushy"... which means with high pressure the screen frame touches the 2 labels and speaker grip (keyboard does not touch the screen), and can scratch (turn smooth) over time at certain areas. The solution is to replace the pads with more sturdy ones, or add under each pad a small peace of black plastic (like a small cutout peace of cable tie that comes with computer accessories). Just something to prevent the pad to squish all the way down when pressure is equally place on the laptop such as several books. Again, this issue might be fixed today, but I still want to mention it especially that you get yours form the outlet. Frankly, I am so impressed with this laptop, that this downside is something I can ignore, despite usually I am the type of person that would freak out. No to cause some hype, but it should say to you, something about this laptop (service of warranty and next buisness day service include in my impression)

 

its a pity there is no torture test available for the latest generation (montevina) business notebooks. would be great to see a hp-dell-lenovo shootout.

 

Ok well I'm about to buy a scratch and dent one off of Dell outlet. It has a P8700, 3gb ram, 160gb hdd, bluetooth, ultrasharp WXGA+, Intel 5300, integrated camera, DVDRW, and Intel graphics. For $630.

I'll buy it now to hold onto it. However, I'm still debating over the discrete graphics card and whether scratch and dent could be a mistake.

I'll cancel the order latest by tonight and order something else if I change my mind.

 

whats the return policy in america? scratch and dent seems to be a bit hit and miss. lots of ppl have reported that its like brand new, but you get some horror stories as well.

cant really go wrong for $630 i suppose.

 

What is your max budget?

Keep in mind that outlet only has the 3 year warranty and not the 3 year next business day service, you have to order that one once you get your laptop or maybe over the phone while your order it from the outlet. I suggest to get it, as it ensures you will always have the laptop in hand. Unless it doesn't bother you to send it to Dell every time something is wrong which could take few days before getting it back.

Try your system with 4GB of RAM and 64-bit Vista (I don't know if you get free Win7 upgrade, but if you do, that means you'll get Win7 64-bit of the same edition). 64-bit OS will unlock the full potential of your CPU, allow you to run 64-bit applications, and use 4GB at it's fullest (and not a value between 3.0GB to 3.7GB).

If you wonder the throttling problem:
1- some people where affected but got the poblem solved with motherboard and/or heatsink replacement.
2- It SEAMS to affect more Intel GPU users than Nvidia's, but I can't rule out the fact that probably there is more Intel GPU users than Nvidia.
3- Someone said that Dell said that they are working on a BIOS update.. but I really dont' know if this is true or not (from him/her or from Dell)