E6400 or M2400

I have a 2400 with Vista 64, T9600 and 4G ram, and the lower resolution led screen. I have used it mainly for photo and video editing and some office work. I have had some trouble with the dell cp software (that i need to reinstall every once in a while), and also some issues with the graphics card driver (also solved by reinstalling). Also i was promised a black lid when i placed the order, but this later turned out to be impossible. A bit anoying at first, but i have now accepted this.

The colors of the led screen is ok but not more. With the stock settings it showed quite alot of blue cast. This was corrected after profiling the screen with a ColorVision spider. The colors are now fairly accurtate, but the color dept in shadow aerias is quite limited. I would not use this screen for color proofing (i have a separate screen for that). Apart from this the screen is really bright and has a decent contrast.

The smaller battery gives me about 2,5 - 3 hours of full throttle work. I also have the 84Wh battery slice wich will give me a full day of battery (about 8 hrs) The slice is a bit bulky and heavy, but i still think that it feels fairly portable. I have found this setup to be a good compromize, giving me the option of "2,5 hrs compact" or "8hrs bulky".

 

Thanks for the quick reply!

weirdo81622, I won't be doing video editing on a daily basis nor any gaming on this laptop so I guess the 160M might be sufficient for me. However, will it run 3D programs such as 3DHome? Regarding the price, actually the E6400 & M2400 are tagged at around the same price so that's not a problem.

stViktor, did you experienced both low & high Led resolutions? What's the main difference between the two? I also care for the backlid keybaord which I understood comes only with the LED screen, is that correct?
Regarding the battery - the smaller battery is 6cell or 4 cell? and the 84WH is it the 9cell batter or the 12cell battery slice? The 12cell costs around 299$ so I guess I'll have to drop this idea. :/

I see you too have a configuration with the T processors rather than the P ones? Is that a good choice? Is there any substantial different in performance? I assume the battery life should be better with a similar P processor, isn't that right? Would you recommend having a T or P processor?

BTW, can you post here the Actual laptop weights of both E6400 & M2400? I know that Dell's number are misleading.

Thanks again for your assistance!

 

I have the 6 cell and the 84 Wh slice battery (only thought there was one version, mod gn752 art. 451-10585, have no idea of how many cells). I got the slice as compensation for the false promised black lid. I guess it is a bit expensive (if you have to pay for it), but as said - it is a nice setup. i really like not having to think that much about remaining battery time when away from office. I would probably have bought the slice anyway if it was not given to me.

The P series processor was not available on the 2400 when i ordered. At least not the most powerfull ones. Otherwise the P series is probably a better choice. If equally specd the only difference between P and T would be price and battery time. No huge differences i would think.

I have no experience of the Higher resolution led screen. I actually think the screen is quite ok, meaning I have yet not seen a notebook screen that is really good. This one is quite decent. I got the lowere resolution one since i think 14" is a bit small for higher res (only my opinion). And as said - I have a bigger and better screen at hand when I need it.

The illuminated keyboard is really great. I would never consider a regular keyboard again.

 

Great input stViktor!
I guess I'll stick with the E6400 with a P processor, will have to pick either 8400 (2.26) or P8600 (2.4) depends on the price.
Should I expect big different in performance between these two processors?

Regarding the battery slice, it seems that your 84Wh slice is indeed the 12cells battery slice. As you're saying your 6cell battery last for aprrox 2.5-3 hours I think upgrading to the 9cell battery might be a good idea after all.
I thought that the 6cells will last longer however there's nothing better than a real user experience!

As this will be my first laptop I'm trying to think on all elements so I'll be sure I'm happy with my setup. In regards to resolutions I was only experienced with the standard 1280x800 resolution with no LED so I'm not sure how the 1440X900 LED resolution will look like. As I usually work with a loaded-icons desktop and many running applications & tabs, the higher resolution might be a good choice for me. However I do get your point and already read numerous similar reviews in regards to the 1440x900 resolution on a 14" screen. I wish I could see this in person.
There's a great post with actual resolution comparison here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=293631
I guess the 1440x900 looks alright.

The illuminated keyboard is a must for me as I work a lot at night so this will be the most useful feature for me! Thank you for the clarification.

 

The battery time is very much dependent on the work done. 2,45 - 3 hrs would be full on image editing. Low intense browsing and office will give maybe the double.

If your on a budget the P8400 will work fine. The difference will be minor.

 

I see. I wasn't sure what 'full throttle work' means so thanks for clarification.
In that case a double number of around 5-6 hours of office & WLAN browsing is pretty impressive in my opinion.

So I guess the 9cell battery will give around ~150% battery time.
I should try to get to a store and have a look at a similar configuration with both batteries to get a real fill of it.
Thanks again!

 

Ask David,

He owns both notebooks.

 

Thanks Red_Dragon,
However for some reason I cannot PM David :/
Could you ask him please to either contact me or respond to this post?
Cheers

 

I'd love to get some more user reviews if possible. Wish I could contact David but for some reason the forum blocks me from PM him