Dell Latitude E4200 Info

Does anyone have info regarding color options and backlit keyboard? I heard November availability before, does it still stand?

Even black models are quoting November shipping date right now. By the time I order it in color and backlit keyboard, I would be lucky to have it in hand before Christmas.

 

There is no way to know until we see the actual drives but its my understanding that the Mobility drives are Samsung MLC (rather than the Samsung SLC which are dubbed the Ultra). I could be wrong though. Dell's had a terrible experience with the Sandisk 5000 in the D430. Not that this would be the sole determinant but it would be one of the factors in the sourcing decision along with the fact that you have a single supplier (higher discounts with volume).

CorpT: Novermber (post Thanksgiving) is a good guess for all major options to become available in the US.

 

Tried to weigh it today, but was too heavy for the scale (so > 500 grams, doh) 6 Cell battery is about 355 grams.

A few things after using it for a while:
* Speaker sound is horrible. Yes, it's a business laptop, but this is still very bad (very hollow, high and lower voices give resonancy on the platic...) D420 was MUCH better.
* It's fast. Very fast.
* Problems w/ Intel 5300 AGN seem to be in the 'powersave' function, you need to set it to maximum performance to connect/stay connected with some wireless networks
* Battery life is ok for a full afternoon. Not for a full transatlantic flight (unless maybe you kill the light etc., but I doubt that)
* Have I mentioned it's fast ? Must also be the SSD (see attachement), especially compared to the 4200rpm HDD in my old D420

 

Finally had a chance to play with the E4200. It arrived at my office (Chicago) on Monday and I just got back. My perspective is from using a Dell X1:

1. Keyboard is going to take some getting used to. Seems to be a lot of travel compared to the X1.

2. Fan is loud, but the X1 didn't have one so it may just be me. There is absolutely no flex in the keyboard.

3. Seems more plasticy feeling than the the D-Series, but is still solid. The bezel around the interior of the monitor flexes all little to much on the edges of the LCD for my liking.

4. Screen is brighter than the X1, and looks good to me.

5. 64 GB SSD Ultra is really fast.

Overall, I like the thing. It meets my needs for a light laptop. We'll wait and see how well it handles weekly air travel and getting knocked around.

 

Can someone please tell me what the Latitude ON feature is?

 

http://mashable.com/2008/08/12/dell-latitude-on/

 

DNABio...congrats on your brand new E4200. I am gonna sound like a broken record here but if you are able to weigh your E, can you tell us the weight? Do you have the four or six cell battery?

 

I'm not sure why people keep asking about the weight. Do the math yourself. The post on Dell's Community forums says that the notebook alone weighs 1lb 13.6oz and the 6-cell battery weighs 13.3oz. The 4-cell battery should weight about 67% of that, or 8.9oz. That means that the E4200 + 4-cell should be within an ounce or so of 2.4lbs.

If you all REALLY want to know what it weighs then I'll check mine when it gets here Monday (or possibly today if DHL fixes an earlier screw up).

 

Uhh..we keep asking because the weight seems a bit off. That's ONE post over at the Dell forums. We need the information to be corroborated for a number of reasons, the primary one being that scales can be uncalibrated throwing the measure off and when you are talking about two pounds, even a small deviation makes a big difference. To prove my point, The post over at Dell states 13.3oz for the weight which is roughly 377 grams for the six cell battery yet the poster in this thread states 355 grams. And once again you are extrapolating the weight of the 4 cell battery, which, while being a good way to estimate, doesn't ensure accurate measurement.

 

The reason people really want to know about the weight is that Dell has shamefully misled people about the weight of all the E series laptops. Instead of publishing actual weights, or no weights, Dell has published weights that are far below what people are actually reporting. Since different configurations will have different weights, people are trying to get a sense of what their particular configuration will actually weigh.

When Dell is selling ultra portables, actual weight is a pretty big deal to many people. How Dell is able to publish these ridiculous spec weights without running afoul of laws against misleading advertising is beyond me.