What would you change on Dell Latitude E6400?

Hi all,

I am at home (sick) so I will take the time to make a more thorough post than usual. I really like my E6400 but there are a few things that I would like to see improved. My hope is that we will gather enough information to come to a consensus, perhaps good enough to send to Dell (if someone here knows who to contact).

Please provide them in order, from most important to least important.

Here are the things I don't like about the E6400:


1) My major complaint is that the heat solution could be improved. Although I have not had serious problems but once, the laptop's video driver did stop that time because of heat, but I have since unobstructed the air exit and toned down the graphics of the games I play (I was being optimistic about the capabilities of the Quadro NVS 160m) and now the GPU temperature never goes above 99º. Furthermore, using GPU-Z to make a plot of temperature over time shows that even under serious load the GPU spends most of its time under 93º. The GPU driver never downclocks after I unobstructed the air exits so it must think it is managing heat properly. STILL, the truth is that people who replaced the thermal pads on their Latitudes and Precisions with proper copper contacts and a better thermal paste have improved idle temperatures by around 5º, enough to considerably diminish the fan usage, and load temperatures by 20º, no small amount. I would love to do this myself, and I can do it, but do not want to void my warranty. This would add something like 1 euro to the manufacturing cost of the E6400 and would probably save Dell considerable hassle in warranty repairs.
Please don't get me wrong, the laptop is very quiet and using the chassis as something like a heat dissipator is a good idea (you should never use laptops on your lap anyway). Comparing reviews of the E6400 and for example the T400 shows that chassis temperatures are similar. But Dell could have made this a very cool laptop (and I mean low temperature, not good looks) and even use that as a selling point.

2) [Thanks to GKDesigns for this item] The out-of-box experience. Granted, it's a pretty nice effort by Dell relative to the state of the mobile computing industry, but I sense that way too many customers are having to troubleshoot way too many functional issues with their new systems starting from the minute they turn them on. Dell compensates for this by offering generous support and trouble resolution, but this does not resolve all of the issues nor come close to compensating customers for their lost time, energy, and productivity. Clearly, we should all want this to change for the better.

3) A modular bay battery and a modular bay HDD caddy that could hold 2.5'' drives would be very nice (I would definitely buy the battery and would probably get the caddy as well). A modular battery is not the same as a battery slice. The former is more ergonomic and much less intrusive, although it is also considerably less powerful. Therefore it would make sense to have both.

4) The latch that holds the screen in place is fragile. I know this because it was broken when I got it. Dell has since fixed it at no charge and gave me no hassle, but it still seems fragile. A more sturdy latch, or a magnetic solution like in Macs would be much better.

5) Switchable graphics would be a nice option, like in the E6400's biggest rival the T400. Still, people including myself report around 5 hours using the Nvidia card and around 6 hours using Intel graphics. It's not that big of a difference for my purposes anyway. It would make a lot more sense on the M4400.


A final remark: do not use this post as proof that "OMG da E6400 sukz a§§ !!!1". Like I said, I am very happy with it, would buy it again and these are the only things that could be bettered IMO.

Please share your views!

 

1. Put some rubber bumpers on the top of the display bezel to stop it rubbing against the palm rest (very easy - I've done it).

2. Bigger speakers (perhaps oval shaped)

3. Figure out how to get the E6400 down to the originally advertised weight

4. Round off the front edge of the palm rest

5. Bigger touchpad (probably need to have a different keyboard option without the pointing stick and second set of buttons).

6. Put the Page Up and Page Down keys each side of the cursor up key so they are more accessible. Those two empty seats are unused space.

I have no problems with the cooling system (Intel GPU) and I wouldn't want to pay extra for switchable graphics.

I might be interested in the bay battery to give an extra couple of hours while those who want the bay 2.5" HDD can buy the Lenovo module. Personally I use eSATA.

John

 

Thanks for the reply John! Regarding your points:

1) Mine came with those bumpers.
2) Agreed, although it is a very minor point to me.
3) True, although weight is on par with the competition I think. But I do hate false advertising (I never look into the brand's website for weight etc).
4) True, would make it easier on the wrists.
5) Yes, forgot this one. It would make it a lot nicer to use. And not having the pointing stick would be an added bonus, I hate the thing.
6) I disagree. I like having the PgUp PgDn Home End Ins Del keys with the exact same layout as a desktop keyboard.

 

On the display bezel? If so, please provide a photo. My E6400 came with two very small bumpers, one at each side of the palm rest, an no others.

There are now several other 14.1" notebooks below 2kg including optical drive, but none that I know of include a WXGA+ display. However, I would accept that the E6400 feels very solid.

Then Dell could become very creative and provide two unmarked keys and a utility for users to define their preferences. Mine would become Pg Up and Pg Dn but you may prefer the right Windows key and a second Fn key (which Samsung put on some of their keyboards).

John

 

1) Sorry, my bad. The bumpers are on the palmrests. I have not noticed any cosmetic problems coming from not having the bumpers you mentioned.

3) Two programmable keys would be fantastic, I really miss the 4 programmable buttons on my old Fujitsu.

 

a much better touchpad, responsive, consistent. larger surface area for touchpad. more ergonomic. better buttons that don't squeak when pressing down the touch pad. Maybe a slightly more stream-lined look with a bit more rounded edges, not consumer-like, but possibly a bit more modern instead of un-finished looking with sharp edges. I love the blue lights on the laptop- keep that, great keyboard. Loud space bar. Extra USB output to make it 4.. esata is ok but not everyone uses it. get rid of the roxio cd creator, it causes system errors upon shutdown, i had to remove it, it's a wasted add-on. find a software that works or stick with windows media player. a better screen. it is super bright which is awesome but the consistency of the color and the quality of the color is severely lacking. an easier approach to re-installing drivers, perhaps a way to order updated cd's instead of manually having to update on site with internet connection. a scrolling sound/volume control like an older walkman control. get rid of the faster hard drive, its too loud, the base one works flawlessly. a different upgraded video card, it gets way too hot for the system, i reverted to the intel card and lower hard drive and it runs fast and cool.

 

I must disagree.

Putting a rubber pad in the screen latch mechanism, or making the hole area less deep, and increase the height of teh pad solved the problem completely.

Ok that I have to agree, but seriously I was expecting these speakers and sound quality at 100% despite never having a laptop before. And they are REALLY loud, beating most laptops out there.

I don't know how you sit.. but your arm must be 90degrees from the keyboard. That angle no mater how you position your arms, you should have any problem. Having rounder corner would make the laptop look like 60's design, or like the old ugly Latitude series. Also, when I put my arms I don't even touch the corners.. you probably have extra wide elbows, and are the type of people that require ergonomic keyboards (if you have not tried them, then I THINK you should)

No it's fine, what they need is to have a better one, like any other Dell laptop. Alps sucks.

Hell NO! One of the MAIN reason why I got this laptop is because of the standard keyboard layout.I am tiered of companies buttering our dear old QWERTY keyboard. If you are to lazy to move your arm few centimeters, then that is not my problem. You can perfectly use the keys, even when you are not used to the keyboard yet, and even without really looking. All laptop with these keys on the edge of the keyboard or mixed with the direction area sucks, to a point where yu always must read carefully each key, before pressing it.

For you I suggest a Logitech VX nano mouse. It has a ultra small receiver to you can leave it on your laptop, and can you fast scroll trough documents really easy, and has 2 configurable button that you can use for back/forward or page up/down keys if you really want.

 

A few keys (QWERASDFG) + Fn key can be programmed for a few things with Dell ControlPoint. "Lanch Program" is the most important of these. I used this for a while until I learned about the Windows+1 (+2 +3 etc.) shortcut to launch programs from Quick Launch.

 

That eSATA port is a combo USB/eSATa port so, if you are not using eSATA then you can use it as a USB port.

John

 

1) Thermal profile. My HP starts its fan at 60C and turns it off at 50C for the CPU. Subsequently, it never runs unless I'm at full load. The E6400 (with the Intel GPU) runs its fan at 50C and turns off at 40C for the chipset. And this isn't even consistent; sometimes it does 47C to 37C or who knows what. This thing could be perfectly silent with 60C to 50C, but it isn't. Worst of all, on warmer days (this is California), I hover just at the border of 50C, so the fan runs relatively often.

Very. Annoying. Where's my A13?

2) I'd second switchable graphics.

3) I'd second the modular bay battery. That was one of the best things about my old Inspiron and D830.

Hmm, those are actually probably the extent of my major concerns. I'd have liked it to be closer to the advertised 4.3lb weight, but that's not really a big deal. Better latch, better speakers, bigger touchpad, more durable keyboard (as in the surface material), would all be nice, but again, not a big deal.