Alternate chargers for the M6400

Thanks. PSU is the power adapter? So I can just exchange that and keep the original unit itself?

This was all a warranty replacement (laptop and port replicator) from an M90 so I didnt have any say in what I received. It just arrived and I must say I was pretty excited to see an M6400!

 

Yes, that is correct - and well done on the exchange!

 

Believe it or not, my M6400 will actually charge from the FA65 - 65 watt adaptor that came with a Vostro 1000.

It charges slowly but it's save me a few times when I left the brick at the office.

I try to let the unit charge itself before using it when I use the FA65 but it will actually run with it and still charge the battery.

T9400, 4GB, 2x320 - 7,200, FX2700, WUXGA, BT, 1510 Wi-Fi
- BT off
- WiFi on
- Display brightness lowest setting

 

T9400 25W
FX 2700 65W
WUXGA 10W
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100W during load --> the 65W Adapter will only work when you do almost nothing, especially no grafic intensive stuff. For that I prefer the M4400 130W charger. A lot lighter than the brick and works for anything but full loading stuff. For your specs it should even suppy enough power for full load.

All lower adapters I tried "work and charge" but they slow the system down, so I can't work with them.

 

i'd be interested in a good solution as well. I am going to look into buying the m4400's charger for traveling usage.

 

Out of interest, can I use M4400 charger on Dell xps M1730?

 

I just purchased a M6400 - quad core processor, 8GB, SSD. On lower power chargers "interesting" things happen
- message about power being low
- system runs at 1/2 cpu speed and less than 1/2 SSD speed
- battery does not charge while system is running
Also, I had the same problem with the docking station used for the M4400, even when using the 210 Watt power supply. Then my motherboard blew out when it was plugged into the docking station (maybe unrelated infant mortality - don't know). Dell promptly replaced it and the message when using the docking station with the 210 watt brick went away. My consclusion: If you buy this mobile workstation, carry an extra pound and use a 210 watt brick all the time.

I have seen some smaller form factor 210 to 240 watt bricks (for Alienware). But cannot find any place to buy them. Anyone know about these?

Jon

 

As another datapoint for everyone here. I've got the M6400 with 4GB ram, 250GB drive, P8400, 2700M, and 17WUXGA RGBLED (plus real fingerprint reader, 5300 network card, 370 BT card). I've been using the 65W travel adapter (Dell Model DA65NS3-00, P/N DK138) as my "bag" adapter. The BIOS complains when booting (or the OS when plugging in) but I don't see a big performance hit. I'll confess though that I'm not doing heavy 3D graphics very often, typically more along the lines of AutoCad. I use the mega adapter in the port replicator at my desk.

Using the 65W adapter it will charge the battery during use. I used a Kill-A-Watt to verify I wasn't really getting over about 60W when using the big brick adapter too (obviously without heavy 3D graphics).