Dell Latitude E4200 Info

Hibernation (equal to RAM) + page file (equal to 1-1.5x RAM by default) + files your user account doesn't have access to.

EDIT: I've not used Windows 7 yet, but it might also subtract the system restore and recycle bin space.

 

24GB is way too big. I tested Win7 last month and my fresh install was at least half of that. This was the first public beta though so it was a different build.

 

Yeah I noticed yesterday in a well ACed room. The fan spins up at around 40c. I am thinking of disassembling the notebook and apply better thermal paste to see if it helps. Cant get much worse than it is now.

 

Windows sets the page file to be 3GB, same as my RAM size, and that's part of the 24GB that is used on the hard disk. I have not figured out how to turn off hibernation yet (I know it can be done with earlier builds), but that should save another 3 GB. But the numbers still seem large, and don't add up. I do not have anything in the Recycle bin, and at most one restore point. The Windows directory takes up 10.5 GB, and that seems too big.

I had a Dell mini-9 briefly, and out of the 16GB SSD, I only used 11 GB on a Windows 7 x86 installation. That was with hibernation and restore enabled. On the other hand, I just checked my E6400 that has Build 7048x48, and the hard disk usage is similar to what I have here on the E4200.

 

This is an interesting article on disk usage. The actual windows installation is smaller than what is computed by explorer:

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2008/11/19/disk-space.aspx

 

When you have the E4200 docked, how exactly are you supposed to detect HD activity? The LED is not visible with the lid closed and the SSD doesn't make noise...

 

The only way it will work is if you turn off areo and use something like the windows 7 basic theme

 

I think the SSD silence in this laptop is nullified by the constant fan noise. So in terms of noise, it doesnt really matter. Why does the fan have to run ALL the time? the only thing I'm running is Firefox./

 

Tried that. It still does not work. Do you have Win7 and can you control LCD brightness with and without ALS enabled?

 

While I am no engineer, it seems like the inherent design of the E4200 is flawed to begin with. The ventilation and cooling appear to be the Achille's heel. It's also possible that thermal paste usage has not been appropriate on the CPU though I doubt it. It's a very small chassis that carries a hot CPU, it's tough to dissipate the heat. The irony is that Sony and LG have been doing this effectively for years. An excellent case in point is the new TT. It's a smaller chassis with the same CPU sometimes packing TWO RAIDed SSDs, yet you barely hear the fan.

Then again, an average TT is twice as expensive as an E4200 when it is fully loaded--Outlet prices be damned! So we shouldn't complain. I would be screaming though had I paid 3 grand for my E4200!