Almost ready to buy a Latitude E6500

So I've been pouring over this and other notebook forum and review sites for a few weeks now, trying to decide on a laptop to buy. And I think I'm pretty sure about the E6500.

Just as some background, I'm mostly a desktop kind of person and I build my own, so I'm used to picking out each component and getting exactly the ones I want. So this picking a package thing is a little frustrating.

The main purpose of this laptop will be to edit photos using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. I'll probably use it for web browsing and watching movies on the go, too, but those are incidental and would be fine with most laptops anyway. I do not play computer games, so I'm mainly interested in performance with editing photos. I don't see any reason to need more than an integrated graphics card for photo editing, but correct me if I'm wrong here. It would also be important that the laptop be fairly durable and have a respectable battery.

First I thought I should get a Macbook Pro, since they had LED-backlit screens that were supposed to be very nice for getting accurate colors. I would have bought an older model with the matte screen. But looking around online, I found out that Dell and Lenovo have laptops that compete with the Macbook Pro in terms of screen and build quality.

The one option that has caused me the most frustration is the screen. I want something with accurate colors, good brightness and good contrast. I'll be calibrating the monitor, just so it's clear. So the screen that immediately jumped out at me was the RGB-LED WUXGA of the Dell Precision M4400. But it's glossy. I really can't stand glossy laptop screens. A few friends have them, and using them in anything but dark environments is annoying to me. So even though I've read all kinds of reviews saying that the brightness of the screen overpowers the glare, I have a feeling it would get to me. Plus, it's a lot more expensive. Not just in and of the option itself, but when I spec out an E6500 and an M4400 to similar specs the Precision is about $200 more than the Latitude. Of course, the Precision has a better video card (I don't care, I'd be getting the integrated graphics for better battery life), a better version of Windows Vista (I don't care, I'll probably try to go with Windows 7 anyhow) and 3-year on-site support as opposed to mail-in. This last option is somewhat appealing to me, but I'm not sure if it's worth the $100 cost to upgrade.

If only I could see the 2CCFL and RGB-LED screens in person, I might be able to make a more informed decision, but I guess I could always swap out the screen on my own later. I like the black lid of the Latitude more anyhow. I'm thinking that the 2CCFL will probably have accurate enough colors (75% vs 100% of Adobe RGB), is brighter and the battery life sacrifice is worth the savings. But if anyone feels I'm missing something, please let me know.

So anyway, here's the system I have spec'd out:
Dell Latitude E6500
-Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P9600 (2.66GHz, 6M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
-Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic SP1, With media
-15.4" UltraSharp™ Widescreen WUXGA (1920x1200) Display-Brushed Metal Black
-3 Year Limited Warranty and 3 Year Mail-in Service
-Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
-1.0GB, DDR2-800 SDRAM, 1 DIMM
-Internal English Backlit Keyboard
-Integrated Webcam with digital microphone
-No Intel vPro™ Technology’s advanced management features
-80GB Hard Drive, 5400 RPM
-8X DVD+/-RW w/Roxio and Cyberlink Power DVD™
-Intel® WiFi Link 5300 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card
-Dell Wireless® 370 Bluetooth Module
-No Modem
-No Fingerprint Reader
-Resource DVD - Contains Diagnostics and Drivers
-6 Cell Battery

Price: $1,316

For comparison, the M4400 with the P8600 CPU, 2CCFL screen and all other options the same came to $1,514 (with the RGB-LED, it is $1,637). As I mentioned, it has the better video card, better warranty and higher end Vista installation. But those aren't enough to me to warrant an extra $200. The M4400 also comes with a "FREE! Dell 19 inch UltraSharp™ 1908FP", but this isn't that great a screen and I'd probably just give it to a friend. Plus the M4400 doesn't offer P9x00 CPUs, so if I want a 25W TDP chip, it has to be the P8600. There is an interesting question here though. Since the E6500 and M4400 are so similar, does that mean they share a motherboard? More to the point, could I drop a Core 2 Quad in it later down the line if I want increased performance? It's not a huge deal, but it would be nice.

I'll be buying 2x2GB of RAM and a 7200rpm hard drive from Newegg to swap into the system, since it's cheaper to go that route. The only question I have in that regard is over the Free Fall Sensor of some of the offered drives for the E6500. I can't seem to find any of the FFS hard drives on sale at reputable dealers online, so I'm wondering if Dell simply uses a regular hard drive with FFS software to park the heads? I don't think it's that big a deal, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

So I know that was very long and drawn out (my computer-buying decisions usually are), but does it all seem to make sense? Am I missing out on anything?

Also, the only coupons I see for Dell are for the personal lines of laptops. Any idea if there are some currently available discounts for the Latitude?

 

Seagate ASG HDDs are freefall, and they are what Dell ship. I've bought a new 500GB 7200RPM one and it works great in my E6500.

I don't think the E6500 has a large enough cooling system to handle the quad core CPU.

I've got the WUSXGA (etc) 1920x1200 CFL screen and its very good, bright outdoors etc. I don't do photo work with my machine though.

 

the cooling is identical, but i dont think the E6500's mobo/bios supports the quad.

in addition to this, you cant swap the screen, as the back panels are different for 2ccfl and RGBLED units.

if you ask me, 200 more for the precision of that spec is fine.

if you call dell you can normally get a discount by bargaining.

how much battery life do you need? my precision with the 9 cell lasts 4.5 hours surfing wifi, under mid load with max brightness it lasts 3hr45mins

if you want to save money, go with the latitude, but dont think about upgrading it later.

its a design decision not to use the 25w cpu's on the precision, with the other power hungry components, the difference in battery life would not be significant.

i think you're having paralysis by analysis. a notebook is a highly integrated system, unlike a desktop. dont look at the individual components, look at its spec as a whole, in the sense ...dont look at the cpu wattage etc, look at the advertised or review reports of battery life etc.

the older IBM's that had the ffs had a g sensor chip on the mobo, but now hard drives come with g sensors built in, so yes, its the hdd not some software.

note that you will get a cheaper upgrade to the business equivalent of windows 7 if you already have vista business...

 

The new MacBook Pro and This laptop are similar screen. Apple decided to use a lower end screen... 6-bit instead of a 8-bit panel.
The matte screen on this laptop reduces view angle... well actually it doesn't reduce.. this is the initial view angle, but companies uses glossy to cheat.
Matte are easier to clean and maintain. Also does not reflect light or yourself, so you can focus on yourself and use it outdoors.

I strongly suggest you get Vista Home Premium/Business 64-bit with your system. 4GB will not be used under any Windows or even Linux.
It will use 3.2-3.5GB if you have a dedicated video card, and you may get system slow downs.
When Microsoft and Linux says "Support up to 4GB of RAM" it means that it will BOOT... not actually use it.
There is nothing to be scared about 64-bit Vista/Win7. Microsoft got the experience with XP 64-bit. As long as you don't have old peripherals purchased before 2006, they should have Vista 64-bit drivers. As for software, if your software is fully updated they should work fine under Vista 32/64. How come? Simple. Vista/Win7 64-bit is actually 2 OS. 32-bit and 64-bit. Every program that comes with windows and all it's system files and processes are both available in 32 and 64-bit variety so that no issues exists... and well .. no issues exists (other than the drivers). More than the RAM, you have a 64-bit CPU, why lock it down to 32-bit. Unlock it and use its full power.


This laptop has 2 battery options:
- 6 cell battery which the E6400(14inch) can give you up to 5h and half to 6 hours.
- 9 cell battery which the E6400(14inch) can give you up to 8h and half to 9 hours.

On my laptop (see signature), I have 8 hours despite having Windows saying 7 hours and half. However I can stretch it to 9 hours with a new battery if I disable everything with Dell Control Panel.

 

So there wouldn't be enough space?

But that $200 is before I'd even go for the RGB-LED option, which would be my only reason to go with a Precision. So basically, to get the RGB-LED, it would cost me an extra $330 over what I would pay for 2CCFL WUXGA E6500. I'm just not sure it's worth that.

When I called before to ask about differences in the specs of the Latitude and Precision, I actually got shuffled around a lot and didn't seem to get the best customer service. They wanted to sell me a Studio XPS instead, since it is for personal use mostly.

Is there some line of questioning I should use to haggle with the agent and get a better bargain than available online?

I'm not a fan of batteries that stick out from the laptop and add a decent amount of weight if not necessary. And since I'll usually be connected to an outlet of some sort when doing photo work, it's not the biggest deal. But it would still be nice to watch a movie on a bus ride to NYC or something with it. So if I were to get 3 hours of light to medium use from the 6 cell, I think I'd be happy. And most of the reviews I've read lead me to believe I would.

So it would seem now. That's ok. I might upgrade the RAM if 4GB DIMMs ever drop in price to a reasonable level.

So does that mean then that if I buy a FFS HDD, I don't need to worry about installing software to manage it? On the one hand, I like that idea, because I don't like having any software I don't need installed and running. But on the other hand, it would be nice to tune the FFS if it is too sensitive.

This is one area where there doesn't seem to be much information. Can you tell which screens are 6-bit and which are 8-bit? Specifically, the 2CCFL WUXGA and the RGB-LED WUXGA.

Exactly why I want a matte screen.

While I might have an XP installation for testing, I'll more than likely be using only 64-bit OSes (Vista or Windows 7 and probably FreeBSD as well). This is really the least of my issues. So far as I can tell, most of the hardware involved has pretty universal support (not sure about *nix support of the bluetooth), so that's not really an issue either.

I'm only considering the 15" laptops at this point, primarily so that I can have a WUXGA screen. I would assume that the E6500 would use a bit more power than the E6400, 'specially with the big 2CCFL screen, but I think the battery life achieved will be sufficient.

Thanks so far for your help.

 

yea, you dont need software for the FFS.

no point thinking about the screens, as the 2ccfl and rgbled screens on these two models are the best available on the market for 15 inchers.

since you hate glossy, i suppose your only option is the 2ccfl regardless.

why dont you get a precision from the dell outlet? they're going at really good prices there, you might even be able to find a quadcore one at a decent price.

they all come with the full 3 year warranty anyway, so no worries about that

 

I'm running 2 x 4GB from G.Skill in my E6500. Its only PC5300, but it also only cost me $500AUD, and works great.

http://newgskill.web-bi.net/bbs/vie...n&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=27

 

Cool. But is there any way to tune it in case it is being hypersensitive? Also, on your Seagate ASG drive, are you troubled by any clicking noises? I seem to find a lot of chatter here and elsewhere about those drives being prone to lots of noise.

Also, these FFS drives seem to be hard to find through my normal outlets. Neither Newegg nor Amazon have the ASG line of drives listed in stock (the don't appear to have the BJKT line of WDs either). I've found a few at other online stores, but it seems odd that the big retailers would be ignoring an entire segment of the market.

Yeah, it would seem that I'm pretty set on the screen, I suppose.

One thing I noticed though. When I started looking at the Latitude line of laptops, the only screen option with an LED backlight was the mid-range 1440x900. But since then, the low-end 1280x800 screen is also available with an LED backlight. This begs the question of whether there is some kind of LED (RGB or white) backlight in the pipeline for the 1920x1200 screen. That would really grind my gears if I saw it announced a month or so after I make mu purchase.

I have looked through the outlet, but I wasn't always pleased with what I found. For one thing, I can't sort by screen resolution, so I have to sort by something like price for an idea and view each specification, looking for the options I want. Kind of annoying. And when I found a few that had the screen I'd like, invariably, they lack the other options I'd like. I'll give a couple more looks, but I'm okay with paying the premium for new. It is nice to know the outlet models still have the three year warranty. Thanks.

 

Dell has to differentiate the Latitude and Precision models, so I doubt the E6500 will ever get the RGB LED from the M4400.

I'm thinking that the reason they added the WXGA LED to the E6500 is because the E6400 has a standard WXGA LED. The E6400's standard display at launch was a WXGA CCFL, but it was phased out months ago. Now, both the WXGA and WXGA+ displays are LED-backlit on both models.

Have you considered the P8700 processor instead of the P9600? There's a $130 difference between the two and I doubt the incremental performance increase will be worth it. The P8700 is 2.53GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3mb L2 cache, so the P9600 is 0.13GHz faster and has 6mb L2cache (double).

I have two E6400 systems (one for work, one for home). My work system has the P9500 (2.53GHz/1066MHz FSB/6mb L2) and my home system has the P8600 (2.4GHz/1066MHz FSB/3mb L2). I don't notice a difference, even when I'm heavily multi-tasking. I've also ran several benchmarks and the P9500 only managed 2-3% better results.

Just my two cents...

 

I'm pretty sure the E6500 can support a Quad Core, as it has the same primary heatsink as the M4400.
In fact, it should run cooler than the M4400 because it doesn't have the Quadro 770M sharing the same fan/exhaust vent.
I'll be posting some new mobile quad core CPUs & a few 4GB sticks of memory on here soon at really rockbottom prices.