Dell Latitude E4200 Info

^ unmarc, many people here (myself included) got their full-featured e4200s for a fraction of the original price, mostly in the $700-$800 range or less (sometimes, MUCH less), but that was about 2-3months ago when price didn't change when coupons appeared. I did notice that recently they have been hiking prices lately... tough luck

why don't you consider the e4300s... for just 1lb more, they have a faster processor, built-in optical drive, larger HDs and are substantially cheaper at the outlet, starting in the $600 range. add to that the coupon, you'd have a great machine! this one - D0KDWTV8 - is red, with all the features you want and is only $640 after coupon. I'm tempted to go for it myself...

 

Calm down dude, so you miss out, try another brand then.

I know Dell had a lot in stock and they sold a lot out, so perhaps they have fewer stock to sell. These go new for over 1800 dollar. The last time I check outlet, they were selling 950 at the lowest, use a 20% coupon to get it around 700-800.

 

I'm suffering from a little bit of confusion here. I'm trying to buy a 5720 Broadband card for verizon (and trying to avoid paying the 180 that dell wants for it.

I'm seeing sprint versions, verizon versions, and different revisions. I want to make sure I get the one with GPS. The ones I'm seeing on ebay all seem to be older versions.

 

The replacement information is available in my account now, the new system is not exactly same as what I got originally, anyway I regard them as upgrade: 6cell battery, 65W adapter, etc. Now I hope the 6cell appearance looks OK to me.

For others' information, the battery life of the 4cell: in my case it can only last about 2 ~ 2.5 hours for light web-browsing only, with ~30% of highest brightness level (bright enough though). Initially the CSR quoted me 3.7hrs for 4cell, 7.5 hrs for 6cell.
However, I think my battery is not that healthy (has lost some capacity): press the button on the battery and HOLD it for a few seconds, 2 lights out of 5 will flash; well I forgot whether the full capacity battery have 5 or 0 light flash, either way 2 lights flash looks weird.

BTW, people say 6cell can be used as handle and help user to hold the laptop firmly (by one hand), actually 4cell functions the same as it sticks out a little bit.

 

Another experiment for reference: using other A/C adapter.

I have 4 DELL-brand AC adapters at home, the slim 45W for the E4200, and old bulky ones (65W/65W/90W) from other 3 latitudes. For our old laptops, we always use these adapters randomly depending on the convenience to reach.

One day I was using the old 65W adapter to charge E4200 while working on the laptop; after a while, it started to alert with popup window telling me that I should use the 45W adapter, and the battery stopped charging ...the popup cannot be closed until I switched to the standard 45W adapter. (probably some trick in DCP)

Then we conducted some experiment: charging E4200 with either of the four different adapters, and connecting a current and power measurement tool between A/C adapter and wall outlet. The current and power values flowing into the A/C adapter are exactly the same. So I assume it is safe to use either adapter? Anyway, later on I don't see such an alert anymore...and of course I always try to use the standard adapter.

 

And you have applied better thermal grease to get the temperature down.... But it is still not enough it sound like?

I was also hoping for a hardware revision that solves the fan issues.

 

My 64 ultra performance is the same model, what makes you think it is MLC? I can't find any info on it.

 

i think the humming is worse than the fan. one day i will open my laptop and put glue on the coils. i can hear that humming across the room if it is quiet.

the fan isn't that loud. i live close to a main road, and often the noise from the road is louder than then fan.

 

weirdest thing just happened - like everyone else running win 7, i am only able to adjust screen brightness when the light sensor is enabled.

well, i was just moving my desk setup around, and when i plugged in my A/C adapter i got a message that it wasn't recognized as a proper charger. No big deal, I replugged it and everything was fine. Then i went to adjust the screen brightness and suddenly i had full control of the brightness setting, with the ambient light sensor on or off ?! Then i rebooted and now it's back to being locked out

 

WOW they used overnight shipping so I got the new system today. With 6 cell battery it looks still nice. 6cell performs much much better, I checked its "health" too, a perfect new battery this time.....The 65W adapter is much bulky than the 45W one though.---correction: Just found out that it's a 90W adapter.no wonder so big.

And this one has 2G memory, better than my original 1G on-board only

weight: 4cell system 35.1 oz (2.2 lb); 6cell system 41.7 oz(2.6 lb).
adapter: 90W w/cord total ~ 1 lb! 45W w/cord ~ 8 oz.


p.s. New one is still refurbished, but they put price about $2k on the invoice, crazy!