Almost ready to purchase E6500

I'm this close to ordering this E6500...

BASE SYSTEM OPTIONS

Latitude E6500

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8600 (2.40GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Operating Systems

Genuine Windows Vista Business Bonus-Windows XP Professional downgrade
Memory

2.0GB, DDR2-800 SDRAM, 1 DIMM
Internal Keyboard

Internal English Backlit Keyboard
Graphics

NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M
Primary Storage

160GB Hard Drive, 7200RPM with Free Fall Sensor
Fingerprint Reader Options

Internal Swipe Fingerprint Reader
LCDs

15.4” UltraSharp™ Wide WXGA+ (1440x900) LED Display-Regatta Blue
Bluetooth

Dell Wireless® 370 Bluetooth Module
AC Adapter

90W A/C Adapter (3-pin)
Primary Optical Device

8X DVD+/-RW w/Roxio and Cyberlink Power DVD™, Blue
Camera / Microphone

Integrated Webcam with digital microphone
Wireless LAN (802.11)

Intel® WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card
Systems Management

No Intel vPro™ Technology’s advanced management features
System Documentation

Resource DVD - Contains Diagnostics and Drivers
Primary Battery

6 Cell Battery
Hardware Support Services

3 Year ProSupport for End Users and 3 Year NBD On-site Service
Installation Services

No Onsite System Setup
Color Options

Regatta Blue
Environmental Options

Support Reforestation: Plant a Tree for Me (System Discount May Apply)
LCDs

Blue Wide Screen WXGA+ LCD Panel w/ Integrated Camera and Microphone
Processor Branding

Intel Centrino 2 Core Duo Processor
OS Labels

Vista Premium Label
Networking

Netgear WNDR3300 RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router

The online price is $1587. The last time I configured over the phone, the rep's config was cheaper than the first online one I did, so I'm guessing he may do better on this too. Anyone have any inside info if there are there any sales coming up on Latitudes?

I don't have any Bluetooth devices. Is Bluetooth an option worth getting? It's not that expensive and thought it might be a better option for a cordless mouse (to avoid dongle sticking out). Is there a wider selection of better USB mice? What other things would Bluetooth work better for than USB?

Is the GPU that much overkill, or worth the $70? How much faster will it drain a 6 cell battery if not loaded much? Is it just better in general to have dedicated graphics on a WXGA+ screen?

Can I pop in another 2MB of RAM cheaper if I order the config. with a single 2GB DIMM, rather than getting it built in from Dell ?
How small is text on the WXGA+ screen relatively speeking? Everything that has web access at Best Buy has lower res. screens to look at. Does making text larger defeat the purpose of WXGA+ or cause distortion?

Any general comments from E6500 on how you like your laptop? Most of what I've read has been positive, other than the crackling speakers which sounds like has been solved, and junk Dell software "extras".

For those who ordered a color, how's the finish? I think I may actually go for black, but just curious since there are no places to actually see one.

 

The same thing happened to me. I saved something like 150€ relative to the online price for an E6400. Without even asking for it! I just wanted to order from Finland but with a portuguese keyboard, and for that you cannot use the website. When I compared prices, it was around 150€ cheaper.

I don't use BT myself, but I ordered it. It can be used for mice (most typical use), but also for wireless keyboards, wireless headphones (very good if you usually make Skype calls from your laptop, I call home regularly and plan to use that) and communication with mobile phones, PDAs etc. I strongly advise you to get it, as you said it is not expensive and you can turn it off while you don't use it (to save battery power).

It depends. Neither that GPU nor the cheaper Intel one are great for gaming, but if you (like me) are into mild gaming, especially into games 2 years old or older, it's worth it. Especially if you need the laptop for 3D applications (CAD etc) it's also very worth it. But you can expect something like 20-30% more drain on your battery. If you plan on only doing Internet browsing, email, office etc, it's not worth it. For me, apart from the usefulness for games I sometimes have to work with 3D figures in MATLAB, and I don't plan to rely much on the battery. I need a laptop mostly to use at home and work, but I will have a power supply unit at both locations.

Definite yes. And since you are planning to buy it outside, why not order just 1 GB and buy 2x2 GB of RAM at 1066 MHz? Dell's RAM is 800 MHz only IIRC. I won't do that for now (laptop was a Xmas gift so I asked 4 GB of RAM included) but in a year or so I might upgrade the CPU, RAM and HDD into SSD.

Again, depends on the application. I work a lot with MATLAB and for me, the extra resolution (WXGA+ is 12.5% wider and higher than WXGA) is worth it. More important, the WXGA+ display on the E6400 has LED backlight, the WXGA does not. LED backlight deteriorates far slower and drains less battery. It is also way brighter. Not sure if the 1280x800 on the E6500 is LED or CCFL. I strongly advise you to get a LED-backlit screen.

One good thing you can do is go to your local computer store and ask to see a 14-inch laptop with 1440x900. Then just launch IE or Firefox and check for yourself. I did that and it looks fine to me. However, expect that someone standing behind your chair looking at your screen will need to lean over to read names of files etc.

No comment on that, mine is due to arrive Wednesday.

I ordered black. If you wait a couple of months, my girlfriend might order a red one

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask more

 

Cool!

Not sure if the MB will handle DDR3.

I was pretty well sold on the idea of LED, just wasn't sure of the resolution. BTW, is the screen anti-glare, or glossy?

Thanks again!

 

I had already edited out the DDR3 I'm not sure either, might be only DDR2 (not very important for my use anyway).

I think the screen is matte (= anti-glare) but very bright and colorful nonetheless because of the LED backlight. Best of both worlds and with low power usage too!

 

Oh, by the way: there is one discount available called "Smart value BASE" or something. If you choose that, it takes off around 200€ from the normal price. It is available on Dell's site on a brown rectangle that keeps scrolling the available promotions, after you click "laptops and tablets" under the business menu. Make sure you search well for it, and then call their reps and say you want that in your config. Then ask, for example, if they have a student discount, IT-professional discount, or some discount applicable to you (even if they don't, it brings "discounts" to the conversation ). Even if you just say "hey, I'm a plumber, got promotions for that?".

 

I would suggest the Intel 5300 Wifi Card as some people hav eproblems with the 5100.

 

LED is the reason I'm looking at the 6500 instead of the 5500

Most of the screens are the lower resoultion

Not quite sure I understand the "brown rectangle". Maybe it's not on the U.S. site. I will definitely mention "discounts" or promotions to the rep.

 

>>Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8600

Seems a lot of buyers go for the P8600. I've always paid for more CPU to get a scrunch more performance and longer machine life. Seems to have served me well over the years (thanks partly to XP). I went for the P9500... clocked up and bigger cache but still similar power rating to conserve battery life.

>>Genuine Windows Vista Business

64 bit? It's a 64-bit platform and the time is right to move to 64-bit computing if you can make the break from legacy peripherals/apps.

>>2.0GB, DDR2-800 SDRAM, 1 DIMM

Have a 2GB waiting to install. You'll want 4GB with 64-bit. Although I've always tried to install matching spec (identical) RAM. (I removed Korean hynix RAM from my E6400).

>>160GB Hard Drive, 7200RPM with Free Fall Sensor

Good choice, imo. I have about 85GB free after loading it up. Bigger drives with more heads and platters could be the noiser ones... mine is very quiet.

>>Fingerprint Reader

I skipped this and subsequently learned I could skip re-installing all of the security drivers and related Dell ControlPoint stuff. Feels leaner and meaner to me and the keyboard is less cluttered!

>>15.4” UltraSharp™ Wide WXGA+ (1440x900) LED Display-Regatta Blue

1440x900 is probably optimum at this sharpness on a 15.4" display. On my 14.1", I set the dpi scaling to 120/125% and it is quite readable. So, you have an out to bump the dpi if you need it.

>>Dell Wireless® 370 Bluetooth Module

Why not! Cheap PAN that may be useful. I'm a BT newbie but I like the idea. I don't like the idea of BT peripherals that consume batteries and must be turned on and off. BT to a printer seems slick. Get it and learn, imo.

I'm going out now to buy a $30 MS Mobile BT Mouse 5000 just to try it out.

>>Intel® WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card

Intel 5300 is supposed to be designed for Centrino2... better power conservation and such. Also, if you get the dual band router, make sure the 5100 uses dual band... the 5300 does (300Mbps max).

>>Resource DVD - Contains Diagnostics and Drivers

Scroll down and select the option that includes the free system guide... a handy paper reference that goes with your system, if you ask for it.

>>3 Year ProSupport

If you are knowledgeable, you can demand sufficient support out of anyone. If not, you may not be able to make use of prosupport in a prosupport type case. Sort of a catch-22. I used basic support recently and only one guy was useless... the others were good enough to research the info I needed.

Your call, of course. I recall Prosupport being a hefty adder.

>>Netgear WNDR3300 RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router[/B]

Again, will the 5100 use dual band? Also, check that is has gigabit Ethernet ports these days.

Rule of thumb is that you can source non-Dell accessories cheaper elsewhere.

>>Is the GPU that much overkill, or worth the $70? How much faster will it drain a 6 cell battery if not loaded much?

Isn't the power rating on the P series all the same?... 25W vs 35W for the T series.

I'm thinking the 15.4" display might hit your 6-cell more than my config. My call was to assume I did not need to compute off the grid for too long... so 6-cell was preferred... cheaper and does not stick out. If you go with 6-cell and it works out, you enjoy a cheaper, lighter, more compact, and greener notebook.

>>Is it just better in general to have dedicated graphics on a WXGA+ screen?

Knowing a notebook was not going to be as fast as my desktop, I went for a scrunch more performance despite the minor battery hit. So far no problems. Lucky you... the nVidia in the E6500 has a faster clock and uses faster DDR3 RAM, so you should enjoy good video performance.

>>Can I pop in another 2MB of RAM cheaper if I order the config. with a single 2GB DIMM, rather than getting it built in from Dell?

Yes, but I always feel better about use matched DIMMS since RAM specs appear to vary slightly... CAS 5 vs. CAS 6 and stuff like that I'm not an expert at. For $45, I got 2x2GB matched RAM... that's cheap precaution.

>>How small is text on the WXGA+ screen relatively speeking?

Small! But really sharp and clear. The WXGA+ LED has the best LCD specs and should be fine at 15.4". On a recent walk through Circuit City, nothing could compare.

>>junk Dell software "extras".

Hardly none... not a problem.

Black is cheaper? Also, a neoprene sleeve is very useful if you don't want to use a full brief.

Your opinion may vary!

GK

 

Thanks GK! Good info when I configure. You're the second person to mention the 5300 WiFi card, so I'll try and remember that, and the System Guide in Documentation. Fingerprint reader is more trouble than it's worth? I've read others having problems with Control Point.

 

You can save some money if you can find a machine in the outlet center with the setup that you want. You won't find very many blue ones but there should be plenty of black ones to choose from. When I was looking a few weeks ago there actually were a couple of blue ones there.