Thinkpad T430 vs Dell E6430

Hi - I have the option of buying the T430 right now or next month the Dell E6430.

Anyone know a good site comparing them both?

Any suggestions, though I know this is a Lenovo forum

Thanks

 

I would take the T430... Ultrabay is very useful, cause you can replace the optical drive with another hard drive.

 

Hit the " What Notebook Should I Buy" forums, as I'd think you'll get more support there.

 

The E6430 should be able to cater a hard drive via the optical drive too, my friend had a E6420 which is similar to the E6430 and got a caddy to fit his SSD in. I think the main differences is that the current generation Latitudes are slightly larger than their ThinkPad counterpart of similar size (here's a picture of a T420 vs E6420, the newer ones should be similar) and that the Latitude is the last major business line notebook to retain traditional style keys compared to chiclet style of the current generation ThinkPads and Elitebooks.

If you're a trackpoint user then the ThinkPad is still the best in terms of comfort and responsiveness, Dell unfortunately lags far behind in this area the last time I tried to use it.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I am a trackpoint user, i guess i should stick with the thinkpad line

 

Thinkpad T430______ vs______Dell E6430
NVS 5400M_________________NVS 5200M(-25% performance)
___4.7 lbs__________________ 4.5 lbs (ATG version 5.7 lbs)
Red TrackPoint______________ Black TrackPoint
Water Proof Keyboard_________ water resistant as E420-like (except ATG)

other specs are quite similar, their designs are depend on your personal interest. I recommend to ask which laptop you co-workers are using then the answer is simply there.

 

Well, I'm pleased to see that the opinions aren't too biased here, but realize you're among ThinkPad users and could be getting a slight bias toward ThinkPads here so it would be better to ask in the What Should I Buy forum. I think the Latitude brush metal finish lid is more stylish looking, so it's got that going for it. Outside of that I prefer the ThinkPad T430. The thing that kills me with purchasing a Latitude on Dell.com is they get so expensive to configure. A Core i5 configuration is something like $1,099 starting out but a ThinkPad T430 with Core i5 I saw for around $800 last week with a coupon. In the past when I've purchased a Latitude I've gotten it via the Dell Business Outlet where prices tend to be 40% off with a coupon.

Like was previously stated, there's also a big advantage in going with whatever your co-workers use.