Trying to decide between E6400 and T400...

My maximum budget is about $800 including tax and shipping.

Why, do you think I should have spent a little more to get a discrete gpu and non scratch and dent?

 

You may get different opinions, but I own 2 E6400's, one with Intel and the other one with Nvidia. I don't game on laptops. I much, much prefer the Intel solution because (a) it is cooler, (b) it is quieter, and (c) there is a significant battery life advantage. Now you will hear different numbers, but my own measurements showed a difference of between 1 and 1.5 hour in battery life, based on the 9-cell battery and light usage (brightness at 2 clicks above min., wifi and BT on, a few tabs open in Firefox, etc.). If you are really trying to save power, I believe you can get down to a 9W or so dissipation on the Intel graphics equipped E6400, and that gives you about a 9.5 hour battery life with the 9-cell. If you have the 6-cell battery, that equates to about 6 hours of usage. Not bad for a C2D laptop.

The only reason to get the Nvidia is if you game, and even then, the 160M is not a great graphics card for gaming.

 

agreed, the intel graphics does get you into T400 battery life territory. The nvidia 160M is ok at gaming, can do most current titles at low, and stuff from a year or two back at medium-high. but then again, the intel 4500MHD is a pretty decent platform for casual gaming. just dont expect to play recent games. stuff from 2 years ago should run fine.

if ur in the mood for a game, lots of great titles like no one lives forever 1 and 2, serious sam, etc should run fine on the 4500, heck, i've played them on my girlfriend's X3100...

 

Well I made the mistake of having it ship to the wrong address. I'm going to try calling early in the morning tomorrow, hopefully before it ships.

I'm having second thoughts though, still thinking about the T400. If I were to get a similar T400 it would be closer to 900. If I were to get a cheaper T400 (slower processor, no DVDRW, WXGA LED) it would be around 750. Reason I'm leaning towards a T400 is because I want something that is like a tool, low maintenance and reliable.

The Dell has more bells and whistles, mainly the WXGA+ LED screen, the DVDRW, the faster processor, bluetooth, and Windows XP with Vista Business license.

Your comments have been helpful though. I just wish there was a place for me to try out a E6400 before buying. And I'm wary of Dell's 21 day return policy, the 15% restocking fee for opened items is kinda steep.

 

Do you guys not have a distant sales policy there?
I know here we have 14 days to return an item for a full refund regardless of it being opened (though it has to be in sellable/as you got it condition) simply because you cannot see/feel/touch the machine before buying it

I have to say, I too was thinking of a T400 a little while back but having seen/used one in person, I was not happy with it at all.
It's just not what IBM used to be in terms of quality but that's just me.
I also needed a decent res which you had to pay a large premium at the time for.

As you mentioned, you do get a lot more for your money with the Dell - Back in the day, when the T61p came out , I would have got it in a shot over Dell but now Dell have almost got my loyalty back after a long gap

 

IMO the most attractive feature of the T400 is the switchable graphics, however if you're not really going to make use of it, the E6400 is definitely a better buy. i doubt you'll have any issues with the quality. its top notch.

 

I heard depending on who you talk to that restocking fee can be waived.

 

The switchable graphics is nice to have - in my SZ4XWN/C, I had switchable on there with an Intel or a Geforce card

I never once in 2 years switched apart from the initial testing out and installing drivers - reason being - it got too hot :- )

 

There is no restocking fee for Latitude's.

 

I've returned an outlet Latitude before without a fee, but can you confirm this? I thought I had just gotten lucky, or they were willing to waive it since the laptop had issues.