buying a latitude, some advice please

Hi

I'm looking into buying a machine for my work
I mainly do web development on it (.net) and also run SQL server express.

i dont play games, but do a lot of file access stuff
I currently have a inspiron
core 2 duo 1.87ghz
2 gig ram
7200rpm hard drive

it runs ok, but i need to run dual monitors, at the moment i'm stuck with a laptop screen and another monitor, but everyone else runs 2x 19" screens with their docking stations, so thats why i'm looking at a latitude.

i think i'll be going for the 6400 or 6500
when i look on the site it confuses me a bit in sections
e.g. they give me lots of options for wireless card, but i dont know why the more expensive ones are better

also, i'm looking for to ideally increase teh processor to a 2.8ghz
Can anyone give some advice on if i should wait till the quad cores are more popular etc
Is there any processor to avoid/go for?
i notice some are 25w and some are 35w, but i guess this is to do with battery performance?

i'll be going for 4gig ram and also another 7200rpm HD

also, is there such thing as a Backlit LCD, if so whats the benefit
and where are backlit keys option gone? i'm sure they were there before

advice and direction on the above and more appreciated

 

1. The Intel wireless cards usually have good compatibility (I've had no problems) and 5100 is a good choice unless you want to start streaming video in which case the 5300 offers higher bandwidth.

2. The 25W P series CPUs offer slightly cooler operation on mains power as well as giving more battery time. However, the 35W T series give more bang for your buck. Quad core may help you if there a lot of concurrent multi-tasking.

3. The backlit LCD comment describes the form of backlighting for the display. The best of the current panels use LED backlighting. You may have to order the backlit keyboard over the phone. it is definitely available.

4. Depending on your budget, you may want to consider an SSD. It will reduce the bottleneck that will occur if your concurrent processes need disk access. Depending on Dell's pricing, you can do your own upgrade.

5. In theory, you can connect two monitors to the DisplayPort socket. However, using a docking station station is the safe solution. The Intel GPU can handle dual monitors and produces a little less heat (= less fan activity) than the nVidia GPU option.

John

 

thanks john

you highlighted some interesting points there, and i've been looking into them

firstly the SSHD (solid state hard drive)
This does sound quite appealing actually, i do lots of file access stuff and i do find this a bottle neck.
Will i notice a big improvement over a 7200rpm HD?
the price is silly though, between £270-£500 extra, (128GB - 256GB)

What options do i have for aftermarket upgrade and do you know a ball park figure on what this may cost?

The second point i wanted to look into was the DisplayPort socket.
A) Do these allow you to run 2 completly seperate monitors? (without the need for a docking station)
B) Do you need any additional hardware to achieve this (i.e. DVI adapter)
C) Will i be able to run 1 VGA and 1 DVI monitor (i also have a setup which will need 2 VGA connections)
D) Do other dell laptops come with this DisplayPort socket?
(i know i wont have a docking station, but my main focus is dual monitors)

my original post was wrong, the 2 im looking at is the E5500 and the E6500
not sure if that makes a difference?

thanks again!

 

The difference to me is comparable to Lenovo's R and T series. The E6500 is a slight step up in terms of quality, also it should be lighter and have better options (though I'm not that familiar w/ the E5500 so correct me if I'm wrong).

SSD will be significantly better than any HDD and definitely noticeable. If you don't need the DVD, I would swap it with a 500GB HDD. I recommend the new Intel G2 80GB SSD since I've heard it's cheaper than OCZ and other Indilinx based SSDs in the UK.

 

the E5x00 series uses a polycarbonate chassis with magnesium frame where else the E6x00 series uses a magnesium alloy chassis.

 

The bigger SSD's aren't cheap. I recently gave my E6400 one of these as its 1st birthday present. However, this new Crucial SSD promises similar performance at lower price.

Aside from offering at least double the transfer speed of a HDD, the main benefit of an SSD is the ~0.1ms access time. This will make a big difference if people are wanting different files. A broad indication of the performance difference is, with SSD, my E6400 boots in 37s whereas with a 320MB 5400rpm Fujitsu MHZ2320BH (exact cloned copy of SSD) the time is 112s.

It is easy to do a DIY upgrade later: Get the SSD and a USB or eSATA enclosure (this one is fine - I have a couple) and some cloning software. eSATA offers the same speed as if the HDD / SSD is mounted internally.

I'm not an expert on the monitor question but one connected to the VGA port and one to the DisplayPort (probably using a DVI adaptor) should be easy.

John

 

When you order you system, do it over the phone as you negotiate a price and get free shipping

if you deeply use the HDD, then SSD might be a good choice or if budget doesn't allow it, go with a 7200RPM but expect them to be nosier and depending on the model you get (it's kinda on random), you might get one that make a fan like noise, over a 5400RPM HDD.

To present an alternatice eSATA external drive enclosure, I have the nice lookiong Vantec Nexstar 3. They are different models USB only, USB + eSATA, USB + eSATA + firewire and on both IDE and SATA, and in different colors. (I have the glossy metal black one with USB and eSATA for SATA drives). This one provides everything you possible need:
- Power plug
- eSATA cable
- SATA to eSATA adapter PCI slot bracket (for desktops, so that you can use eSATA on a non eSATA system but has SATA)
- USB cable
- vertical stand.

The only downside this enclosure has is that the vertical stand doesn't have pads at the bottom to absorb some vibrations. If you plan to use it vertically, get some pads. The drive on horizontal has pads.
Pads are very cheap, so it's no problem, and you can even grab some from old devices/keyboard, etc.. that you may have and don't use.

http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/pro_list/76
http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/pro_list/74

 

Recent SSD's from various manufacturers are a vast improvement on all HDD's. They are especially great in laptops as they are silent, have no vibration, create little heat, and are much tougher in the case of sudden impact - as well as being so much quicker in operations - especially reads. You can get a 3rd-party SSD for around 2 1/2 times the cost of a HDD. If you can afford it, nothing improves any notebook more than moving away from a HDD to a SSD. It is like night and day. The speed of the storage media is the weak link to most computers, and reducing that bottleneck gives system-wide performance improvement. As for 7200rpm HDDs. the good ones are just as quiet as well as faster than good 5400rpm HDD's (I recently compared a 7200rpm Hitachi with a 5400rpm WD). I had used 5400rpm HDD's for 15 years, and was a sceptic about 7200rpm - I had read reports warning against them (and others saying the opposite), and was worried about the faster spin and supposed noise and vibration problems with 7200rpm's, but was pleasantly surprised. If I were to forced to use a HDD in a modern laptop, I would not go for anything less than a 7200rpm now.

 

Thanks guys

i asked a sales guy in dell if i would be able to run dual monitors (1 on vga and 1 on Display Port)

however he said:
"it will not be able to connect two monitors . For this you will require a docking station and a dedicated graphic card with the system to get a good resolution "

Is this true?
(he doesn't seem to be very clued up on other questions i've asked.)

 

Hmmm... maybe...
When I tried dual screen, it was Laptop screen + CRT monitor on VGA, which it is for sure Intel solution will do. But 2 external display.... that very specialized thing. Well you try and call another sales rep, and just ask (don't provide your info, as they transfer back to him).