E6410 Owner's Thread

Wow, thanks for all that info!

 

Just want to know something about the wireless cards. I am pondering between Dell 1501 wireless-N card and Dell 1520 wireless card. How much different are the two? I know they have different claimed data rates, the 1501 one being up to 72.2 Mbps, the 1520 being 300 Mbps. But in reality, will we be able to notice the difference? And also, is the 1520 one more "future-proof"?

Thanks!

 

I received my E6410 about a week ago for college in the fall and installed my school's copy of Windows 7 Enterprise on it. From what people reported here and from what I read on other sites, I chose the i5 Core processor to avoid what seems like power and temperature issues with the i7 on laptops.

So far from browsing, email, typing, and installing programs, using SpeedFan, the i5 stays around 31 - 38 degrees Celsius with the min and max at 29 - 40. I also have the Nvidia discreet graphics card for CAD work and that runs around 63-65 C at idle. So far I have not used anything graphics intensive yet.

It was also easy to upgrade the RAM; the slots are at the bottom of the laptop once you remove the metal casing with one screw in the center. I purchased it with 1 GB RAM at Dell and bought 8 GB from another vendor at a cheaper price.

 

Can any users comment on the outdoor viewability of the standard WXGA display? I'm actually very fond of the 1280x800 resolution - and less that thrilled by the oddball 1400x900. I've already had an E6410 with the 1400x900 WXGA+ display andthe display itself was so bright that it was readable in direct sunlight. Sadly, there were multiple issues when I connected to various 16:9 and 16:10 external monitors.

I'm hoping that for my next E6410, the standard WXGA display would be acceptable outdoors and wouldn't have any issues when connected to an external monitor with a VGA cable. In past, I've had good luck with Intel integrated graphics and WXGA displays.

I know I'm comparing a 220 nit display with a 300 nit display. I'm just looking for personal anecdotes from other E6410 owners, ideally from someone who's owned both the WXGA and WXGA+ displays? Failing that, does anyone own the base WXGA display?

The scary thing is that the every E6410 I've seen listed in the Dell Outlet has the WXGA+ display. It looks as if only WXGA+ equipped E6410 are being returned for the most part?

 

that's just a popular display. i'd just go with the higher res one and call it a day

 

In regards to the outlet, my theory is that they don't have both options to choose from when the person is inputting the system specs. One day I went through every single E6410, around 300 I believe, and they all had WXGA+. I find that hard to believe. If I was close to buying one though, I'd call the sales number they have at the top of the screen to see if they have any WXGA.

 

Oddball?! 1400x900 is the what is considered normal resolution for a 14/15inch laptop. It's like the perfect resolution, any lower you have way too big pixels, making text harder to read (well.. it compensate by beeing bigger... but less smooth).

Always use 16:10 for computer monitor to have the best experience (for wide screen displays).
This means: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920x1200, and 2560×1600.

16:9 is the crap made for home HD TV's to reduce signal bandwidth for your cable/satellite provider, and save a bundle of cash. And because of this, we have blu-ray movies in 1080p, which leads now computer monitor having 16:9 displays.. but you see what happens. The worse for computer monitor is that, as programs have tool bars on top, you need the most height, width is barely used, in comparison. What I noticed, is that people with 16:9 displays tend to put the start menu on the right side of the screen, as they need more height, which leads to more mouse travel. And annoying mouse calibration issue (slide the mouse on the side (left or right) way too much compared to up/down, so basically you want a mouse (which doesn't exists), that is faster at moving horizontal than vertical. So now you have another problem)
16:9 should be banned... way to many problems.

Also, if you want better support for different displays, a discrete video card is recommended. Intel doesn't really design their graphic card for those who uses multiple monitor support, and those who does advance 2D or any 3D content. It's just optimized for single display to fit ones need who only surf the web, uses some basic (in graphics) office related software, and watch videos, with the occasional HD video content.

Basically Intel IGP solution is not good for your needs, especially if you use different aspect ratio monitors, like you saw.

Additional information:
- For LCD, it's is best to use digital connection rather than VGA. Keep VGA for analogue projectors, and CRT TV / computer monitors (the ones with the large tube on the back.
Using VGA for an LCD is the worst thing to do, as your signal pass form digital (inside your computer) converted to VGA (analogue), than pass trough a standard barely shielded analogue cable all the way to your monitor all by capturing interferences, which in turn gets converted back to digital. 2 conversion and signal degradation = bad image (not the best colors, not as sharp, and visible interference on some colors on the screen).

Stay digital. Display port can be converted into HDMi or DVI with a simple adapter of few dollars. Please use that for the best image quality.

As mentioned 1440x900 should be the only choice for a 14 inch laptop. People know that, and hence it's a very popular choice.

 

For people with poor eyesight, WXGA is a much preferred choice.

 

New review on Notebookcheck.com: Notebookcheck: Test Dell Latitude E6410 Notebook

Display color and contrast seems to be the only major con, but it still ranks quite a bit better than the T410 in their tests.

 

Of course, because an English speaking community in an English forum all understand German.

Anyway, I don't have this laptop model, but all I can say about the exterior design, the E6400 is WAY nicer.
- eSATA port connection does the shape of the port so that you don't see the port naked. (I guess Dell was cheap)
- SD Card reader that stick out looks like an after though. I have no problem with the E6400 SD reader.. why did they changed it? Because of the few morons can't find it? WHat's next? glowing arrows pointing on it on the E6420.
- Gray colors makes it look like the old Latitude D series... it's outdated... bring back black
- You can see the blocked area of the laptop of where the finger print should be when you don't have it. What happen to the longer (same size of the left) speaker grid. I guess it's made ugly to push finger print reader sales, as it would look a bit better. I have a feeling that next time it will be pink cover, just to annoy you and get the finger print reader.
- More and a bit longer fins could be added to the heatsink (where the air passes on the heatsink itself) to reduce heat.
- LED notification cover above the keyboard is now separated in 2 form what I can see, making the vol up/down/mute button on different plastic part... why?! what was wrong before? It's just ugly now.
It's like if the plastic is different and the semi-transparent cover, where it cost a few fraction of a penny which Dell tried to save.

When I saw the E6410/E6510.. I saw one thing: "We at Dell went cheap, but still considering a high end laptop! ".
Maybe the E7400 might be more interesting.

There I finally let this inside me out.

/rant... well not really as I won't change my laptop anytime soon... more being critical.