Latitude D630 - Feedback Please

I'm very close to purchasing the said laptop, and just want to gauge opinion on here from current owners before I dive in.

I'm in the UK, so it'd be interesting to hear of any recent delivery times etc. There haven't been many complaints recently that I've seen, so I assume all has been OK?

Also, how are the screens (WXGA) on these? I've heard the odd report of poor brightness/contrast.

Any feedback greatly appreciated!

 

I've had 3 D630's rotated out as replacements over the past month or so. The LPL screens are very nice. I received one CMO screen which was pretty bad. It looked dirty and just very noticeably subpar compared to the LPL. The LPL is very bright also.

The D630 seems like it has potential to be a great computer but all the ones I have sent have had the same poblem, a serious heat issue. From what everyone has told me that seems to be uncommon, but all 3 have had the same issue.

I'm in the U.S. so your experience might be different. Hope it helps at any rate

 

No time for a lengthy reply, but wanted to chime in. D630 owner (specs in signature) and very happy.

Take this with a grain of salt, but I noticed my notebook started to run cooler as I used it. The heat from the bottom of the notebook, as well as the heat emanating from the hard drive area, seemed to come down over time and use. Hard drive area is now cool to the touch.

Break-in period maybe? Either that, or i've just gotten accustomed to whatever heat I experienced when this was new.

Overall, very happy and satisfied with the D630.

Regards,
Paolo

 

I don't own a D630, but the most striking comment I heard about the thing was something on the lines of "the D630 is so trouble free it's almost boring". Dunno, that comment just stuck for some reason.

 

I, too, am a D630 owner now for about 3 months.

This is the most troublefree laptop I've had, or any computer for that matter.

Build quality is superb. It is almost "boring" that it is so troublefree. It is a speed demon, yet looks professional.

Best,
Ilham

 

I am happily enjoying my D630. Good looking, solid fast machine. The boring description is a riot! I do understand though. Just a solid machine that works. WOW, what a concept

Dave

 

that comment about it being trouble free is 100% true. Best laptop I've ever had the pleasure of owning.

 

So none of you have heat problems with your D630's? Interesting..

 

So mostly positive so far, that's encouraging.

I'm not one looking for stupid shiny surfaces and consumer 'wow factor', just a machine that works, is tough enough and gets the job done for a few years. I'm a uni student, with no need for powerful graphics, so the compromise between size and weight seems about right to me. It needs to be quite robust too, as I plan to use it out on the road in future for my weather photography etc.

 

You won't find a laptop that "just works" more than D630, even Thinkpads seem more troublesome in comparison.

 

I have a fleet of them in service, as well as my assigned unit.

the NBR review for the D630 is pretty much spot on.

Pros,
Solid, reliable, excellent battery life and battery options, value for money, serial port (important for those that need it).

Cons,
Heavy (for its class - solidity has its price), expensive docking options, so so screens


If you jsut need a laptop that will last you for a good number of years and dont miss any of the multimedia functions (buttons, webcam..etc), the D630 is an excellent choice.

Heat problems? not really. It does run warm if you push it for extended time periods but no hotter than any other notebook....

 

Looks like you barked up the right tree. The D630 will certainly serve you well for what you're looking for in a notebook.

My criteria exactly.

Regards,
Paolo

 

I've had one for about a month. It's a good laptop, solid, haven't had a single problem with it yet. For negatives, the screen is just okay, not great. Vista is annoying but you can hardly blame that on the laptop.

It is really boring though...it isn't remotely exciting, it's not flashy but looks okay, it works properly and is easy to use...i suppose it's doing alright if that's the worst i can say

if you get one, definitely get the new video drivers, bumped my vista score up from 3.2 to 4

also note i haven't used it for games or anything graphics intensive and ive read that it isn't the best laptop if those are things you want to do

 

I've had my D630 for about three months now. And I'll agree with what pretty much everyone has posted so far. A very solid notebook--no problems what so ever. I'm extremely pleased.

I have a WXGA screen, and I really like it. The vertical viewing angle isn't as good as it could be, but with a laptop, that's easy to adjust.

I don't think you'll be disappointed if you purchase the D630.

dordale

 

I have this laptop for almost two months and I'm really satisfied. The build quality is great..
but sometimes I have a little problem because I'm writing for example here in this forum and from time to time it moves the writing cursor somewhere else. Or it stops to write because the text box isn't active. I don't know what's wrong.. i don't think so that I'm touching the touch pad.. It's so strange..
maybe I should record myself when I'm writing..

 

I thought it was ME doing something wrong and was trying to find out what that might be !!!

Agreed when one is writing a text it becomes annoying seeing suddenly the cursor keep writing somewhere else in the text

 

I have had my D630 for about a month (on Vista) and I am very pleased. It is solid, reliable and fast.

My only slight gripe is that I have had an intermittent problem with the wifi dropping out randomly, but it maybe Vista.

I am in the UK and I had to wait a long time to get mine. See sig. Worth the wait though.

P.S I have the WXGA+ screen and I like it... no issues with heat either.

 

Have you had all drivers updated, BIOS included ?

Read in these forums the bug you mention could get fixed once driver is updated. Mine is fine but then, drivers have all been updated, A03 Bios included.

 

Do you have the same problem? I don't know what's wrong.. maybe my hands but I didn't have this problem on my previous laptop.. And I'm quite sure that I'm not touching the touch pad..
It can be the two "mouse buttons" near the space bar.. I try to figure out how to disable them.. I hope it will be better..

EDIT: I don't know how to disable them in W Vista..

 

Well, having configured my system and adding to basket, I came up to the shipping cost:

£58!!!

There's no way I'm paying that for just delivery I'm afraid, so I shall look elsewhere I think - real shame as it looked like a good laptop, but that just takes the *.

 

I phoned up when I ordered mine and I managed to get the delivery charge waved.... (i'm in the UK). Try it, you might be surprised.

 

No not yet... this is my next port of call. I asked the question in a seperate thread and someone else also suggested updating the wireless card drivers. I will report back once it's done.

 

Where is the info for updating the drivers?

Should mention, I am running XP Home.

Thanks.

 

Try:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen

Either enter your service tag or your model - Afterwards it'll let you filter by OS.


Cheers.

 

Just my grain of salt here but we have about 3 D620 and 8 D630 here where I work and it's been the most trouble free laptops we had, great product, great build quality but a bit heavy for a 14 inchs, I recommend this laptop to everyone that is not gaming.

 

Out of interest, what do you put in the 'business name' section when registering when you're a home user, and does it affect my rights if I buy a 'business' laptop for home use?

 

For me, since I was having it shipped to my work address, I used the name of the company I work for.

For my Mother in Law's computer, she just put her name again as the business name.

As far as I know, there isn't any difference in your rights, warranty, etc. when buying a business laptop for "personal" use. In fact, several people run businesses out of their house, so I can't see how they could differentiate between user types.

dordale

 

I had the laptop for 3 months. I have the CMO screen and it is nice and bright. Very happy with the laptop, I have travelled with it quite a bit for work in different continents and it is very solid.

 

Could you please elaborate on LPL and CMO?
What are these screens and how can you identify them?

thanks

 

Hardware ID's is where you find the manufacturer.

CMO is Chei Mei Optrics or something

LPL I believe is Phillips?

I'm not really sure to be honest. I think most CMO screens are just as good as the LPL, but I was just saying the one that was sent to me was noticeably bad, and sitting it next to one with a LPL screen made it worse

 

I know this is an old thread, but anyone wanting to know whether this has cured it, well, the answer is yes!

Not had one single random drop out since I updated the Wireless card driver.

Thanks for the suggestion to do so.

 

jameshurrell, thanks for the update.

Highly suggest upgrading the touchpad drivers, believe it's been released within the last 2-3 weeks.

My issue with cursor suddenly moving elsewhere, while typing, got solved.