E6410 Owner's Thread

Thanks. I'm considering the U2713M, a little expensive, but it might be worth it for the long term.

BTW as one of the few active posters here with a 6410, how has yours held up? Do you feel 'held up' by it for your day to day? What kinda stuff do you use it for?

I am coming from the E6510 (which I hand down to a relative) and that thing was as good as the day I bought it. I hated giving it away, but the lust for a new laptop caught me and after going around the block, I hated everything available for some reason or another.

Was almost going to buy a similar config 6510 but it was costing too much! Just picked up this 6410 instead. Having used one before, I feel it's a great lappy. But I wonder how Lightroom/lots of tabs + (big) RAW converters etc will hold up on this dual core processor ( 620M )
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Have you consider dual monitors? I would go with two U2412M's instead of a single 27"...

 

Yes! That is an option I was considering. The problem is (physical) desk real estate despite it giving me effectively more screen real estate. I'll look into this a little more and compare prices.

 

Depending on the price, you might be able to get a new desk too.

 

Truth.


You didn't mention though, how is your 6410 holding up in day to day usage?

 

My work laptop is a Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch, and my personal E6410 runs circles around it except for battery life (but then again, I could grab any one of my 10 AC adapters and be good to go). I should have waited for an E7440 and regret it every day when I have to plug in two cables for the "docking" station and see 95% of the 4GB RAM in use, so my primary machine is a workstation with two U2412M's.

I've got an E6220 (with an IPS panel) for travel, but it won't be replacing my E6410 because the graphics are too weak.

 

That's great to hear. I don't want to sound all nostalgic, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought that generation of Latitudes was the best lineup overall! I was pretty bummed when I saw the 6x20s.

I was very tempted by the X1 Carbon myself two things kept me away - the screen resolution (given the price) and the 4GB RAM. I was also put off by the low travel keyboard as opposed to the classic Thinkpad keyboard.

The E7440 looks rather nice, but the one that's holding my attention these days is the Precision M3800.

Thanks for the mini-review. I was hoping the 6410 would be a good laptop for regular use.

 

You're not the only one feeling nostalgic...I prefer wired connections and physical buttons! Can't stand the tiny mice that are popular nowadays, which don't support my wrist and causes it to rub, or wireless peripherals that suffer from interference and need frequent battery changes. I can see how they are great for laptops, but they have no benefit for the docking stations or KVM on my desk. I just bought nearly a dozen wired Microsoft Comfort Mouse 6000 because there was word that it could be discontinued soon, and it was the last full-size wired mouse (and also has back/forward buttons on the same side)...

With the X1 Carbon, 1600x900 screen resolution isn't too bad. It's screen quality because IPS is not an option (and the TN screen is worse on the Touch, which has is an anti-glare film because the touchscreen is glossy by nature). Being used to my UltraSharp monitors and the IPS screen on my E6220, I had to decrease the brightness, gamma, and blue saturation to make it acceptable.

I've never understood what was so great about ThinkPad keyboards, so the only problems I have is that the arrow keys are too small and the position of the Fn key (there's a BIOS setting to swap them so that the small Fn key acts like Ctrl, but I don't know why they put the bigger Ctrl key back in the corner where it should be).

The M3800 looks like an XPS than a Precision, and the screen is glossy. I can't stand reflections on glossy displays, and it looks like it has a single-piece touchpad. On my X1 Carbon, the touchpad is a constant source of frustration because it lacks physical buttons, and it makes me use the touchscreen more often that I would like...

 

Wow, it sounds like I typed that post out. I have the exact same issues each and every one of them that you mentioned.

Yes, I meant not just resolution, but more or less the whole shebang. Coming from the 6510's excellent WLED 1080p (although not the greatest of all times) the X1 touch screen never felt appealing. I absolutely go crazy with the Fn/Ctrl swapped layout on the Thinkpads (and Macbooks). Why would anyone do that, I don't get at all! I wonder how many hand stress injuries they might eliminate by making the sane choice. (Ctrl left, Fn Right). I do indeed like the arrow keys to be full sized.

I don't use any wireless keyboards/mice. All wired. And boy do I swear my Microsoft Comfort Optical 3000 mouse! I've putting it off for a while but the minute I order a monitor(s) I'm going to order one of those MX-Blue mechanical keyboards as well.

About the m3800, I was hoping that they have a non-touch version with a matte display. Given that this is the Precision line, that was a foregone conclusion in my head. I'm not big on touch screens, yet. I absolutely will not trade a matte screen for a glossy one. I tried it, and unless they somehow reign in the reflections, it's not going to happen for me. The specs combined with the weight make it a desirable combo for me. We shall see upon release.

 

I've got a bunch of IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0 in use, but the left-click button tends to fail after 2-3 years and some were replaced with the Comfort Mouse 6000 under warranty.

On the page for the M3800, Dell mentions this: "Design on an incredibly vivid QHD+ 3200x1800 pixel display with multi-touch capability." They would have said "with optional multi-touch capability" if touch wasn't standard. Even if it was an option, the M3800 uses an XPS design, so there's a good chance that it would still have a glass overlay.

At the end of the day, an E7440 with IPS non-touch matte 1920x1080 might be the best compromise. Graphics could be a bit weak (NVS 3100M in the E6410 isn't a powerful chip, but at least it doesn't hiccup on 1920x1200), but it does have multiple advangates:

• IPS panel
• Matte
• Physical touchpad buttons
• E-Port Docking Station (not a fake USB "docking station")
• DIMM slots
• 2.5" SATA
• Decent port selection (it's ridiculous how many dongles come out in conference rooms, like Micro HDMI to HDMI, Mini HDMI to HDMI, Micro HDMI to VGA, Mini DisplayPort to HDMI, USB to RJ45, etc.)