Confused on all the choice

So I'm looking at a new business class to replace my aged Latitude e6410 my first choice is Dell as they have always done me right with warranty support etc but I'm torn on models, I'd like a dedicated card (even though the options aren't super beefy I don't plan to do major gaming, just nice to have the option to install something and have some kind of card to fall back on)

So whats the better buy the E6440 or the E5450? They seem very similiar (the e5450 uses a newer chipset, and the 6440 has an optical drive that can be swapped for a 3rd drive) It looks like their graphics cards are roughly equal (8690 vs 840) neither great but able to play a couple of games on medium (with the nvidia card seeming to do slightly better) All things being equal which would you go with? I asked dell and they said they didn't really have plans for a skylake refresh on the latitudes just the precision line (which are tempting if not more expensive in their own right) are there any pros to buying one over the other or is it simply a matter of a slightly newer chipset and no optical drive like it looks on paper to me? It looked like the can both use at least 1 2.5 and an msata/m.2 drive correct?

 

I'm sure that Dell do have plans for Skylake Latitudes but they don't want to tell us yet. The new Precisions announced yesterday won't be available until Q1 16 so I would expect any new Latitudes to have a similar timescale for availability.

Yet another option to add to your confusion is the dGPU version of the E7450. I recently bought one and it is reviewed here. However, it is limited to one mSATA drive.

How much do you value portability?

John

 

What'd you have in mind? I'd consider under 7lbs to be fairly portable but I'm a rather large person...

I'm assuming it's going to be the m2800 or 4800?

Edit: If the m4800 how is the fhd battery? As much as I'd love a QHD screen I've read that it disables optimus and battery life is a thing of dream, I haven't found a solider fhd answer, if I can get 4-5 hours on battery of life work/watching movies I'd be happy

 

I'm at the other end of the weight range so the E7450 is heavy enough. It's around 2/3rds of the weight of the E6410 that I once owned.

I can't help you with the questions about the Precisions but a starting place could be whatever is on offer at Dell Outlet. And don't forget that the M3800 is substantially the same as the XPS 15 9530. However, you can either have the bigger battery or a 2.5" drive, but not both.

John

 

I'm not sold on the precisions the reviews list the battery as too low. While a quadcore would be nice I'm not sure its worth giving up the ability to just grab and go without worrying about how long my charger cable is got a bit of research to do before I pull the trigger either way, thanks for the input

 

Yes, the quad core CPUs will tend to use a bit more power while if the graphics aren't switchable then the GPU will also leak some power. Big displays and more pixels also use power.

This is one reason why I was suggesting you look at the dGPU version of the E7450. It is quite frugal under light usage (and you could carry a spare battery and still have less weight than the other notebooks you are considering) while the 840M GPU is there for when you need it. I had contemplated getting the M3800 but, apart from the extra size and weight, one aspect I didn't like was the glossy screen.

John

 

Ugh I agree about that glossy screen!

The E7450 only supports one drive correct? That I suppose could be doable however would be less than ideal...

 

Yes, only one drive (mSATA) although there's the prospect of an additional M.2 drive in the WWAN card slot if/when one of the right size becomes available. One other comment about the E7450 (or any other notebook) - avoid the 1366 x 768 display.

John