E6400 Owners: Are You Happy W/ Your Purchase?

I'm in the process of selling a laptop and looking at the E6400 as a replacement. I was just wondering if you all are happy with your purchase, and would you recommend it? Also, I'm thinking of buying it refurbished; is there anything i should be wary of?

It's either this or a T400, so give me a reason to go with Dell! =)

 

Here's a list of cons that i have noticed:

poor speakers
dedicated GPU runs warm on load
flimsy screen bezel (but doesn't really affect the overall build quality)
small touchpad

 

There was an "E6400/E6500 Good/Bad" thread a couple of weeks ago... I think it does a good job summing up most of the usual problems with the two machines:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=335113

 

Generally happy. It's a new platform with some issues but worth working these out given its nice design and performance. The speakers are not great but serviceable. The build is not a tank, but it is sufficient and should last if you don't beat it up. Fine keyboard and screen make it fun to use. I'd guess most troubles stem from software... Vista and drivers but all still well within normal range of usability. Dell support is good. Heat, noise, weight, and battery life are all agreeable. I'd buy another one if I had to... small computers are always a compromise.

A clean install and getting to know your notebook seems required to maintain it best. And you will want to do this all with Win7 anyways. It's a 64-bit platform so I would go with that, if possible.

GK

 

I love my E6400. Superb battery life, runs very cool, the screen is great, it's light (though not as light as advertised) and is easy to service.

The touchpad could be a bit better, but over the past couple of months it has been significantly improved. Dell ControlPoint isn't great, but I can't say that I've had any major issues with it.

As with any notebook I've ever bought though, a clean install of Windows happened right away, about 20 minutes after I booted it up to check that all of the hardware was in working order. I don't trust the original Windows installations on any computer.

The speakers aren't great, but are fine for watching youtube videos or the like. I don't expect much out of laptop speakers and I have it hooked up to a 150watt amp right now for sound. Headphone quality has been excellent.

The webcam is also better than many other integrated webcams I've seen. Better than the 2mp one in my sister's Inspiron 1420 and better than the 1.3mp webcam in my father's Sony SZ420N.

The keyboard is excellent, easily the best notebook keyboard I've ever used. It's also very quiet.

Oh, and all of the drivers are Windows 7 ready.

Greg

 

Thank you all for your replies =)

To anyone that bought theirs refurbished: how was that? Good/Bad experience? Also, it's so hard to find the model you want on the site -___-. Is it possible to call them and see if they have any more that are closer to your match?? The sort features on the oulet site are balls.

Lastly, T400? I searched, and it seems they are about equal in satisfaction. What I wanna know is if the Thinkpad's higher price (although their refurb deals are pretty attractive) is worth it.

 

I bought my E6400 from Dell Outlet as a Scratch/Dent unit. In the last two years, I've purchased at least five other Latitudes from the Outlet (for my previous employer) and they're been both Scratch/Dent and Certified Refurbished. My E6400 and two of the D830s I purchased last year were tagged as Scratch/Dent on the Outlet website, but showed up looking BRAND NEW...no scratches or dents! Note- there is a tiny scratch on the bottom cover (as in the part that sits on the desk/table all the time) of my E6400, but it took me a week to notice it! And a Mr. Clean 'Magic Eraser' worked wonders getting rid of it.

Overall, I highly recommend the Dell Outlet...especially for Business laptops. Often, business notebooks are ordered NEW by companies in substantial quanities. If they decide to return them for some reason, it's not uncommon for them to return all of the units. A large order that gets returned could mean dozens or hundreds of almost brand new laptops ending up in Outlet inventory all at once.

FYI- All Latitude E-series (except E5400/E5500) have a standard 3-Year Limited Warranty. Certified Refurbished and Scratch/Dent units from the Outlet include the same 3-year coverage!

My sister has a new T500 (she works for IBM), so the comparisons I make are based on the assumption that the T400 has the same strengths/weaknesses.....

Design/appearance- The ThinkPad look is timeless, but I find it kinda dull. The previous-generation Latitudes were no better (maybe worse) with their drab gray exterior. But the new E-series, with the Brushed Metal Black lid and exposed, silver metal hinges, is the most stylish mainstream business notebook I've seen. It looks very modern and stylish, but still conservative and tasteful.

A story to make my point about the ThinkPad's unchanging appearance- My sister had her new T500 for weeks (I'm at her house almost daily) and I had no clue that it wasn't the T61p she had for the past year or so. It's possible to upgrade through several series without anyone else having a clue- you could be running a 1.7GHz Pentium M or a 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo, who knows!?

Keyboard- The T500 is the first ThinkPad that I've seen/used that has significant keyboard flex. I'm uncertain whether the T400 suffers the same misfortune. The keyboard itself is still a pleasure to use, as with every ThinkPad I've used, but the flex is a disconcerting. Because the rest of the T500 is so solid, the keyboard flex stands out as a weak point.

The keyboard of the E6400 is a very different story. I can honestlly say that Dell has managed to top the ThinkPad's renowned keyboard with this one! Obviously, that's a subjective statement and everyone won't agree with me...but I'm writing this from my POV. There is absolutely NO flex or give even when you press hard on the keys. The backlighting option only makes it even better, it's something I never thought I'd need or want, but now I couldn't imagine not having it (kinda like I felt about having audio controls on the steering wheel of my car...can't live without them now)!

Lenovo ThinkVantage vs. Dell ControlPoint- Lenovo has been widely praised for the ThinkVantage security and system managerment software that they include with each ThinkPad. I actually know at least one IT manager who sticks with Lenovo for this very reason. BUT, for a non-corporate user (small business or personal/home user), its usefulness varies. It also can cause significantly longer startup times and it runs server services that have a minor impact on overall performance.

Dell's ControlPoint isn't as comprehensive nor as intuitive to use if/when you use it. But it also loads almost instantaneously and runs mininmal additional services in the background.

Pointing devices- The touchpads are a draw in terms of tactile feel and ease of use, but the Dell's seems a bit smaller. The Dell Trackstick works fine after a bit of practice, but the ThinkPad's Trackpoint is somehow more intuitive and it just works! The ThinkPad's mouse buttons (both for the Trackpoint and Touchpad) require less travel and have a satisfying click and resistance that the Dell doesn't quite match.

Warranty & durability-All Latitude E-series (except E5400/5500) include a 3-Year Limited Warranty STANDARD. This applies to NEW systems as well as ones ordered from Dell Outlet. ThinkPads have a standard 1-year warranty, but Lenovo's warranty upgrades are reasonably priced. A 3-year warranty comparable to Dell's is priced at $119. Then again, I've never had a ThinkPad (or Latitude) that needed any sort of repair, warrantied or not!

Return policies- For Business products purchased NEW, Dell allows returns for up to 30 days from the invoice date with NO Restocking Fees. For Outlet purchases, returns are allowed up to 21 days from the invoice date and "may" be subject to a 15% restocking fee. In reality, they have NEVER charged me this restocking fee nor anyone else I know who orders from their Outlet. Their return policy also states that you must send the return at your own expense...but for at least the last year, they send a pre-paid UPS label via email (on their dime).

Lenovo has a uniform return policy that applies the same to NEW and Lenovo Outlet purchases- a 15% restocking fee applies and returns must be initiated within 21 days of invoice date. They DO charge the restocking fee (and rarely waive it even for IBM employee purchases).

MY ADVICE- Both the ThinkPad and Latitude models have their followers and with good reason! The risk-free decision would be to order the Latitude E6400. If you get a new one, you've got 30-days to try it out and return it. If you order from the Outlet, you've got 21-days. Either way, the most you stand to lose is any expedited shipping costs you might pay.

If you love the E6400 (and I bet you will), all is well. If you don't, send it back and order a T400...

***Forgot to mention this: On the E6400, both the standard WXGA and optional WXGA+ displays are LED-backlit. The T400 has a standard CCFL-backlit WXGA and the option of WXGA+ in either CCFL or LED varieties.

 

My E6400 has now had over 5 months of hard work and travel and is surviving very well. I can't think of anything else which would provide a better match for my needs.

As already noted, the keyboard is very good and the backlight option has justified the extra cost many times over.

A couple of other features which I have appreciated are the eSATA port and the USB port which still provides power when the computer is off (useful for charging other devices).

John

 

I've only had my e6400 for a couple days but I've already fallen in love with it. This thing is sleek as hell, quiet (very important for me), SO FAST after using my 5 year old athlon xp desktop computer, runs games surprisingly well, I am really impressed with the quality of my WXGA+ screen it's so beautiful. What else.....I get ~5 hrs on my 9 cell battery....pretty much everyone summed up this awesome laptop. I'm really happy with my purchase as you can tell =D.

Only issue I've had with my refurb e6400 is the left button below the touchpad gets stuck when i push it, but others say they also had this issue and it stopped doing it after ~month of use so i'm not too worried.

 

Speaking of the E6400 keyboard... it inspired me to consider a similar low-profile notebook-style illuminated keyboard from Logitech for an i7-920 system I'm building. I just got it out of the box and powered it up last night and I think it's pretty nice... it's like the E6400 keyboard on steroids and feels solid.

GK