D630 Owners Thread

Order placed yesterday:

Latitude D630, Intel Core 2 Duo T7700, 2.40GHz, 800MHz 4M L2 Cache
14.1 inch Wide Screen WXGA+
2.0GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM
128MB NVIDIA Quadro
120GB Hard Drive 9.5MM 7200RPM
Touchpad with UPEK fingerprint reader
Vista Business
Dell Wireless 360 VSTA Bluetooth Module
Verizon Wireless built-in mobile broadband
Dell Slim Auto/Air/AC Adapter
8X DVD+/-RW w/ Roxio Creator and Cyberlink
6-Cell/56 WHr Primary Battery
$1,325

Due to arrive 2/22.

This is a replacement for a returned M1530 so they cut me a bit of a deal on it. Have heard a lot of great things about this machine, scoured this thread for information, and looking forward to trying it out for myself.

 

Just got my D630 today. I have not even plugged it in yet. The thing I found interesting is there is absolutely no information about the battery in the box. I got the 9 cell and I was wondering if there was anything special I should do before using? Should I charge for a specific time frame before using?

 

Dell batteries comes charged. Just pulg and play.

 

do you all recomend removing the battery when using the power cord for long periods? I do not want to damage my battery with over charging.

 

Rechargeable batteries detect a full charge and have a resistor that stops additional current when it's not needed. No worries.

 

My laptop is always plugged into the mains and always has the battery on.
I had my D620 for 2 years and did the same with that. I use the battery kind of like a UPS, in case power ever fails, which is rare anyways TBH.
Never had any problems whatsoever.

 

hi
for those of you with the D630 and a 6-cell battery, i have a question
when you're holding the laptop, does it feel unbalanced since the battery is in the front?
also, does the screen have a mechanical latch to keep it closed? if not, do the hinges hold up well?
just a few things ive always wanted to know before buying

 

The 6 cell battery doesn't stick out at all, so I assume you're referring to the 9 cell. From what I've read, it doesn't horribly unbalance it and it functions as something like a palm rest. I'm plenty happy with my 6 cell + media bay battery though, and it doesn't stick out.

And yes, there is a physical latch that keeps the lid closed. You slide the little mechanism sideways to unlatch it. I know that this wasn't exactly your question about the hinges, but my hinges are holding up beautifully. Very minimal wiggle.

 

Expecting delivery of a new D630 today.

Aside from running PC Decrapifier, installing necessary software, joining it to the network, are there other suggestions on things to do fresh out of the box? For example, any particular graphic driver updates to pay attention to?

 

I wouldn't worry about running PC Decrapifier, the only thing installed that could remotely considered to be junk is Dell Quickset, and I actually find that pretty handy. The rest was pretty much a standard Windows Vista installation.

I would just do a Windows Update, install antivirus, etc. As for graphics, if you have integrated graphics, don't even bother going to Intel for new drivers, somehow, Dell or Intel has blocked them from installing (I meant to ask about this myself, LOL) and I think the one on Dell's site is the latest one supported for the D630. Use that one if you want. I don't know about the Nvidia drivers though.