640m/e1405 Owners Lounge

Yeah. I've replaced my screen once and the replacement exhibited the same grainy appearance and washed out coloring. I mainly use my E1405 with an external monitor so it does not bother me that much. The screen quality (or lack thereof) is the biggest negative against the E1405 IMO. Your unit is not defective, it just has a crappy screen.

 

Hi everyone, my 640m just got delivered the other day with Vista loaded on and I was testing out everything plus installing some programs, I just noticed that the Bluetooth is inactive and can't really figure how to activate it. BT is enabled in bios but not showing up in Windows.

Anyone had this sort of problem?

Cheers

 

Speaking of bluetooth, I've noticed that the lndicator light is always on during startup eventhough the bluetooth is actually disabled/inactive. The only way to turn off the blue light indicator is to enable the bluetooth then disable it. Is there a way to fix this? Thanks in advance!

 

has anyone tried installing or testing Ubuntu on 640m/e1405? please post your experiences...
thanks!

 

So I just pulled the trigger on this config at Dell SB, what can i expect from the screen, I purchased a E1405 last year and got a horrible screen 3 times... that purchase was for my mom she loved it so my dad has made me jump on one of these for him, has anything changed in a year or is Dell still shipping these units with bad screens?
Specs:
Inspiron 640M | Core Duo T2350 | XP Home | 14.1 WXGA+ | 2GB RAM | GMA 950 | 120GB 5400RPM HD | Intel Pro/Wireless 3945 & Bluetooth | 8X DVD+/-RW Drive

All for $708.08 w/tax and shipping included

 

would it be worth waiting for the dell xps m1330? cuz if not, im gonna get a 640m

 

That's pretty much the same configuration I've been looking at although I'm going with the Dell wireless, why did you choose the Intel?

I've been thinking about Vista but can't find it configured like this for this price.

Edit: One other thing, when I was looking at this same deal earlier today the standard battery was the 6 cell, tonight it's the 9 cell, and the 6 cell was $ 30 more, odd.

 

Hi fellow 640m/e1405 owners!

I have joined your family today when I received my Dell notebook. The notebook seems to be build pretty nicely but there is one potential issue that bothers me - power connector. It doesn't seem to be very sturdy nor very well connected to the back of the computer. When the plug is connected - it can be moved a bit and seems a bit loose. I think that it shouldn't look like this in a completely new computer... Do you see similar issues with your machines? If this is only a problem with my notebook, I will return it to exchange it to another.

I would appreciate any opinions about this issue.

Greetings from Poland!
Tomasz

 

Yea i just cancelled my order and got the 9 cell one. anyway i got the Intel wireless cuz it gives you the Centrino badge... i guess im just a sucker for name brands... lol

 

i just recently found the 1405 deals and specced out a nice $700 laptop for wifi and light gaming

unfortunately, like all home model dells, it ships with vista. i have a win xp pro cd that id like to reformat with, but will all of dells hardware be compatable? i read somewhere that HPs wifi card doesnt work with xp so i dont want something similar here. since theres a comparable small business model with xp could i just use that driver database?

intel pentium dual core t2080
1 gb ram
120 gb hd
8x cd/dvd burner
integrated ati 950
9 cell battery
1 yar warranty (ill probably upgrade later)

 

I believe all current hardware is compatible with XP so you should have no problem at all formatting with XP and being able to run your wifi card. All the drivers should be available online through the dell site.

Ah yes one more thing this laptop isnt really made for gaming the graphics card is integrated, the Intel GMA 950 is a very weak card. also you probably wanna upgrade to at least a core duo processor

 

i just found that u can still order with xp, the link is kinda hidden on the site. but i think im gonna go with vista anyways so i have something to upgrade with in the future

well i think im gonna pick up a 1501 since i found the $350 discount on this site and for gaming i mean day of defeat which is run on the half life 1 engine, which was made to run on a p2 and that would only be for vacation in california on rainy days. 95% of the time itll be for surfing the net using wifi

 

so my E1405 got cancelled due to delays caused by the truelife screens, I was upgraded to the D630 free of charge as Dell had missed the shipping date they promised twice. same specs except i get in on the new Santa Rosa processor. Looking forward to getting this machine in my hands it just shipped today.

Latitude D630 | Core 2 Duo T7100 | XP Home SP2 | 14.1 WXGA | 2GB RAM | GMA X3100 | 120GB 5400RPM HD | Intel Pro/Wireless 3945 | 8X DVD+/-RW Drive

all of that for a Final Total: $713.37 great deal!

 

I'm selling mine. :/

 

Wow, I am very jealous. I would love to get a D630 for anywhere near that price. I knew I should have ordered the e1405 when it was on sale....

 

my 640m is about 4 month-old. Yesterday, I noticed that there are small white dots on my screen which looks brigther and visible on white background. On colored background, they are not visible. Is this normal? How can I get rid of these? Please advise.

 

sorry maybe a naive question but couldnt find an answer anywhere.
Is there an in-built microphone in 640m or i can only skype with the headset? please tell me someone

 

Has anyone been able to get a higher resolution than 1024 x 768 via an external monitor hooked up to the VGA out on the E1405. Say for example 1440 x 900 (it's native resolution) on a 19" Widescreen LCD? Thanks in advance!

 

hello everyone,
this is my first post here. i bought my 640m 8 months ago & have no problem from it so far.
recently, i reformated the laptop with xp pro sp2. since i lost my drivers CD,hence i downloaded all the recommended drivers from DELL website. But to my surprise, none of the driver works for my laptop. can anyone give me some suggestion on which particular application i should download.thanks

 

hi
i brought E1405 last month with the following configuration
Core2duot7200,2Gb RAM,intel 945Gm chipset, 120 Hard disk. very happy with the speed,etc except the graphics. some time i am getting the message"igfx Driver stopped working and Recovered successfully" can some one tell me what is the reason for that. When i am watching movies the screen is flickering once in half an hour.
Can someone tell me whether we can upgrade graphics card in E1405.

 

hey guys looking to join your family very soon,
quick qn
has there been a drop off of support or are there good forums and support from dell?

thanks in advance