Buying decision: E7450, E7470, E5450, E5470, can't decide, opinions welcome!

Hi there, the outlet has some really good deals going on right now.

All four of these models are specced and priced similarly. There is definitely a difference but not more than 100-$150 between them.

Can someone weigh in? Any answers or opinions would help.

- I plan on either dual booting linux or only installing linux.
- I care about fan noise and how the fan powers up and down.
- I care about Screen quality (are all FHD panels IPS on these?)
- I care about the keyboard quality and typing experience
- Is the finish, rubbery on all the models? It tends to catch finger prints and dust.
- Is the build quality comparable?
- Is the battery life comparable? (I think the E5470 is an outlier)
- I care about the weight.
- Any known issues in any of these that would make them eligible for elimination? I would have gone for the E7440 because of the keyboard layout, but it's actually costlier than the newer models and it's hard to justify that price.

Thanks!


I would have gone for the 15 inch options (E5540 or E5570) if it weren't the off center keyboards with numpads.

 

Fan noise:
The E7470 appears to have the same, relatively noisy, fan as the E7440 (see my review - link in signature) while the E5470, because it has the GPU option, appears to have the same (quieter) fan as in my dGPU-equipped E7450. In fact, I only bought this version of the E7450 because forum members had reported on the benefit of the superior quality fan. I'm now using an E5570 which is also easy on the ears. I agree with you about the off-centre keyboard - after over a month my fingers haven't adjusted - but my eyes demanded a bigger screen.

Displays:
I think you will find that Dell describes all the FHD panels as wide viewing angle and these may be from AUO, LG or possibly Samsung with IPS or equivalent technology. There's not much between them and which you get is a lottery.

Keyboard:
The separated key keyboard has less bounce than the previous generation keyboard because there are some fixing screws between the keys. It's probably the same keyboard for the four models you are considering. Get the backlit version of possible.

Finish:
I've not noted rubbery paint and fingerprint problems. It's just boring black.

Build quality:
Not a lot of difference in my experience.

Battery:
The E5570 has a slightly higher capacity battery than the others so, with the same internal hardware, should give a slightly longer battery time. If you want yet more time then the E7450 has an externally swappable battery (check what the E5450 has).

Weight:
The E7xxx are slightly lighter and noticeably thinner. However, weight depends on configuration - eg an HDD weighs more than a minicard SSD. Features such as the smartcard reader also add to the weight.

John

 

Thanks John.

Still unable to decide. The prices are really tempting. Does the E7450 without a dGPU have fan noise issues?

I wish Dell had stuck to the centered keyboard, I would have gone for the E5570 blindly.

 

One of my friends bought a non-dGPU E7450. The fan is the same as on the E7440 which I used to have (and photos suggest that the E7470 has the same fan). He has commented on the noise. It won't be noticeable under normal office conditions but if you, like me, are working in the relative quietness of home, then the fan noise is noticeable.

The E5470 could therefore be a better option. Although it is slightly fatter and heavier than the E7xxx you get a better cooling systme and another benefit is the slightly higher battery capacity. It's also a lot lighter than the E5570.

John

 

I have eliminated E5470 and E7470 from these four choices. As tempting as they were for the price offered in the outlet today, I passed.

Now I have to decide between the E5450 and the E7450. I am definitely not going for the dGPU or quad core option (E5450).

I'm getting a higher specced E5450 for almost the same price as the E7450.

 

John, do you know how fan on the E5470 (without a dGPU) would compare to these others?

I'm swayed more towards the E5450 right now.

 

I would assume that it's the same fan with or without the dGPU - that's the situation with the E5570. Page 23 of the E5470 owners manual shows a long heatsink with two heat spreaders. The non-dGPU E5470 most likely has a shorter heatsink and only one spreader in which case the fan will be the same for both - see the internal photo in my E5570 review as an example.

John

 

Cool. Thanks. I'm skipping the E5470 though.

I'm 95% sold on the E5450. The other 5% is making me wonder about the E7450 instead.

 

Did you mean E5470 or E5450?
Anyway, I would just like to share my observation that seemingly there are at least two inherently different cooling systems in E5470 models. From the internal pictures of notebookcheck, E5470 with i5-6300u and iGPU has a significantly smaller fan (which seems to be even smaller than the fan of E5450) and a thinner heatpipe than E5470 with normal-voltage CPU.

On the other hand the E7470 with i7-6600u and iGPU has fan and heatpipe of similar size to normal-voltage E5470. Since i7-6600u is also low-voltage CPU, I guess the i5-6300u version has the same cooling system.

So, seemingly, if we list the models by fan sizes, the order will be:
E5570(HQ, iGPU and dGPU)
> E7470(U, iGPU) ~= E5470(HQ, iGPU and dGPU)
> E5450(U, iGPU)
> E5470(U, iGPU)

(Also, it seems that bigger fans tend to be more quiet.)

 

Thanks for that.

I think I'm going to roll the dice on the E5450 and see how it works out. It seems perfect on paper (and in photos).