E4310 Owner's Lounge

I doubt fabrication has anything to do with it. The E6400 is capable of better battery life because of the 25W P-series CPU's. The E6410 is only offered with 35W CPU's, and features such as Turbo Boost won't help with battery life. The E6410 also has a slightly larger battery, 60WHr.

The differences between an E6400 with a T-series CPU and the E6410 can't be too far off. I've certainly not been able to note much difference with a brand new customer E6410 vs. my E6400, and the customer system has Intel graphics and mine has the Nvidia (although mine has a SSD and the customer system a 7K RPM HDD).

 

Don't overlook that the 35W rating of the new CPU includes the northbridge and Intel GPU. However, if the GPU isn't working hard then the CPU can be pushed nearer 35W.

I haven't seen or heard much of the 25W rated Intel Core-i series CPUs. They might offer performance at least as good as the previous CPUs but with lower power consumption. However, they seem to come only in BGA (soldered) packaging but would be logical successor to the SP series CPUs in the E4300 (also BGA).

John

 

Thanks guys for your good comments.
Anyway I think I'll try the E4310 for my next command. I am actually managing 6 E4300 and I'm quite happy with them - much more since I can use Win 7 x64 on them (Vista was an headache, to many bugs). They are all with P9400 processor + 6 cells batteries, to allow a better battery life (the SP series was not recommended for optimal power performance so I discarded it from scratch) and I can reach up to 7h of battery life when new and with the use of the Dell ControlPoint's extra battery life option.
Indeed the main request for my users is CPU power + good battery life in the smallest form factor possible. And with this E4310, the 1st CPU offered seems similar to the P9400 (with more cache) and the use of the new platform plus the removal of unneeded plug (iee 1394) should save battery life.
I agree nonetheless that it is sad that Dell didn't changed the VGA by a DP and USB2 by USB3. At least there is the powered eSATA port, but USB3 compliant devices should be easier to find in the mass market (but personally I use a 2,5" powered over eSATA external HDD (delock) and this just rocks!).
Otherwise all my users have a docking station, so the point to have only two usb is not really problematic, nor really the lack of DP/hdmi port which can be found on the docking station (not the DP, but dvi-hdmi compliant ports). Nonetheless if today a vga port is what you need in the business world, taking into account that these kind of machines are made to last around 5 years, I think that by 2-3 years most of the new installations of video-projectors will propose a DP or DVI port and VGA will disappear. Anyway, as long as the VGA can handle a 1080p signal, even with the problem of interferences, this port may stay alive a little bit longer than expected - as interferences problem are not a big deal if this is only used to display PowerPoint files.
I just hope that the release of the E4310 will be with less drivers problem than the E4300 - as early E4300 adopters remember that the first firmware versions were containing several bugs including one freezing from time to time the computer, bug which was removed only around 9 months after the initial release of the E4300.

 

Why is the E4310 so much more expensive than the E6410 ? I get
a 500-600$ difference here in Canada. The screen is only slightly
smaller, the internals and case seem the same, the power adapter
is only 65w.

Paul P

 

Smaller = pricier. It's more expensive to put things into a more compact package, as well as more R&D.

 

The E4300 almost fit in a handbag and weight like a standard water bottle... Indeed the E4200 could be a better choice for that kind of preoccupations, but do not have the same versatility. So E4300 line is for my colleagues (almost girls) a very good option.

 

The 2008 E series models were a completely new platform. The current models are an evolution, not a revolution, and should have fewer teething problems.

In addition, Dell substantially changed the E4300 soon after release. NBR has a review of an early E4300 which had a single piece base (as on the bigger E series). This must have cause problems because the E4300 disappeared for a while and reappeared with a base with a couple of covers.

John

 

Indeed this was the case too for the webcam or 3G modem. The 1st version of E4300 was webcam OR 3G modem and then a new release of E4300 offered the possibility to have both. To my knowledge they were experiencing interferences problem which were solved with a new design of the antennas.

 

Hey everyone,

I just upgraded from an E4300 to an E4310. I'll try to get a mini-review posted after I've used it for a few weeks but my initial impressions are positive. I had one of those early E4300 units with firmware issues so I'm glad to be rid of that. Otherwise the E4310 is an improvement in many ways, but with two notable exceptions: loss of some screen height in the switch to 16:9 screen and an increase in weight of 6 ounces (170g) according to my measurements of two equally spec'd systems.

It would be nice if Dell offered a higher resolution display option like 1440x900 or something but I have started using firefox in full screen mode (hit F11) to maximize display real estate given we are down to 768 pixels vertically.

The weight issue is also annoying. Especially with lenovo offering the T410s at under 4lbs it is aggravating that Dell can't design their 13.3" offering at a similar or lower weight. I measured my E4310 with standard HDD and optical drive at 4lbs 5.6oz. My old E4300 is 3lbs 15.6oz. The difference is slight but noticeable. This is due to the E4310 having a wider frame than the E4300.

That being said, I like the new E4310 more than the E4300 and will elaborate on that once I've spent more time with it.

 

Thanks for posting your initial impressions! I too was trying to decide between the E4310 or the E6410. I currently have a E6410 and a E4300 as well. I loved the portability size + weight of the e4300 yet love the performance of the new 2010 Intel Core i5/i7 processors on the E6410 so was going to get an E4310. Its very unfortunate to hear about the increased weight on the E4310 from the E4300. 4lbs 15.6oz? My current E6410 is 5lbs 2.2oz (Core i7-620m, 4GB RAM, bluetooth, 1440x900 res Screen, nVidia Quadro 3100m, 6cell battery). So 4lbs 5.6oz -> 5lbs 2.2oz is much less of a difference than say the 3lbs 15.6oz on the E4300 -> 5lbs 2.2oz.

Is the battery you are using in your E4310 a 3cell or 6cell? If 6cell I suppose there is still hope for me for the E4310 as I'd just get the 3cell to lower the weight (I dont need much battery life as I'm usually pretty close to an outlet).